SKU: 58001667293

The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore

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The Bookshop: A History of the American BookstoreA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Goodreads Choice Award Winner in History & Biography One of Time's 100 Must Read Books of 2024 "A spirited defense of this important, odd and odds defying American retail category." The New York Times "It is a delight to wander through the bookstores of American history in this warm, generous book." Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author and owner of Books Are Magic An affectionate and engaging history of the

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Goodreads Choice Award Winner in History & Biography

One of Time's 100 Must-Read Books of 2024

"A spirited defense of this important, odd and odds-defying American retail category." --The New York Times

"It is a delight to wander through the bookstores of American history in this warm, generous book." --Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author and owner of Books Are Magic

An affectionate and engaging history of the American bookstore and its central place in American cultural life, from department stores to indies, from highbrow dealers trading in first editions to sidewalk vendors, and from chains to special-interest community destinations

Bookstores have always been unlike any other kind of store, shaping readers and writers, and influencing our tastes, thoughts, and politics. They nurture local communities while creating new ones of their own. Bookshops are powerful spaces, but they are also endangered ones. In The Bookshop, we see the stakes: what has been, and what might be lost.

Evan Friss's history of the bookshop draws on oral histories, archival collections, municipal records, diaries, letters, and interviews with leading booksellers to offer a fascinating look at this institution beloved by so many. The story begins with Benjamin Franklin's first bookstore in Philadelphia and takes us to a range of booksellers including the Strand, Chicago's Marshall Field & Company, the Gotham Book Mart, specialty stores like Oscar Wilde and Drum and Spear, sidewalk sellers of used books, Barnes & Noble, Amazon Books, and Parnassus. The Bookshop is also a history of the leading figures in American bookselling, often impassioned eccentrics, and a history of how books have been marketed and sold over the course of more than two centuries--including, for example, a 3,000-pound elephant who signed books at Marshall Field's in 1944.

The Bookshop is a love letter to bookstores, a charming chronicle for anyone who cherishes these sanctuaries of literature, and essential reading to understand how these vital institutions have shaped American life--and why we still need them.

Author: Evan Friss
Publisher: Viking
Published: 08/06/2024
Pages: 416
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.33lbs
Size: 9.28h x 6.20w x 1.36d
ISBN: 9780593299920


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 03/01/2024 pg. 1
Kirkus Reviews 05/15/2024
Publishers Weekly 06/24/2024
Booklist 07/01/2024 pg. 12
BookPage 08/01/2024
Shelf Awareness 08/08/2024

About the Author
Evan Friss is a professor of history at James Madison University and the author of two other books: The Cycling City: Bicycles and Urban America in the 1890s and On Bicycles: A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City. He lives with his wife (a bookseller) and two children (occasional booksellers) in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
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SKU: 58001667293

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