Short answers, pulled from the story.
New American Library was founded in 1948 by Victor Weybright and Kurt Enoch. They purchased Penguin Books assets to establish the company after English Penguin Books terminated their association due to exchange control complexities.
Signet Books, an imprint of New American Library, sold over 50 million volumes annually by 1965. This sales figure represented staggering heights for a single edition of books like From Here to Eternity which moved more than three million copies in 1956 alone.
Victor Weybright testified before a House Committee examining pornography in 1952 during the height of federal investigations into communist influences. He endorsed self-regulated censorship policies rather than accepting government restrictions on content.
Odyssey Partners and Ira J. Hechler purchased New American Library from Times Mirror Company in 1983 for over fifty million dollars. At that time of sale, the company held more than one billion paperback books in print inventory.
In June 2015, Penguin announced that starting fall 2016, Berkley would publish fiction while New American Library focused exclusively on non-fiction titles. President Leslie Gelbman stated this decision was made to sharpen their publishing identities according to market strategy.