"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.
0 有用 撒冷的乌凌 2025-03-21 12:26:37 美国
细节很丰富,相当引人深思,很希望也有类似的书讲美国的公共图书馆。其实在见证了两个我很喜欢的免费软件因为无法盈利被卖出去然后变得又贵又差之后,渐渐体会到了用户付费让喜欢的东西生存下来的必要性。对于书店而言这更是永恒的课题。不过在书店和城市化如此紧密联系的时代,独立书店视网购以及电子书如洪水猛兽多少有点精英主义。
0 有用 万万 2025-04-18 12:39:14 美国
还是蛮有趣的nonfiction的,开实体书店真是用爱发电的慈善工程啊
0 有用 水色 2025-09-15 15:11:43 湖北
2025.9.8 读书会八月非虚构。爱书的人总会喜欢关于书店与图书馆的书。这本书围绕美国书店的发展历史,从富兰克林的印刷店,到独立书店文化空间,到商场里的书店,到街边的二手书摊,到亚马逊,穿插了很多(并不熟悉的)美国文化名人和历史事件,还有一些曾被历史忽略的女性视角。在读书会的讨论中,大家也分享了很多成长过程中关于书和书店的美好回忆。想到本书一开篇说,有研究显示在仅仅是在充满书的环境中长大,哪怕只... 2025.9.8 读书会八月非虚构。爱书的人总会喜欢关于书店与图书馆的书。这本书围绕美国书店的发展历史,从富兰克林的印刷店,到独立书店文化空间,到商场里的书店,到街边的二手书摊,到亚马逊,穿插了很多(并不熟悉的)美国文化名人和历史事件,还有一些曾被历史忽略的女性视角。在读书会的讨论中,大家也分享了很多成长过程中关于书和书店的美好回忆。想到本书一开篇说,有研究显示在仅仅是在充满书的环境中长大,哪怕只是住在书店附近,也会带来终生的受益。至今仍然爱逛书店。 (展开)
0 有用 mipropiocentro 2025-08-20 04:04:32 加拿大
好浅啊。more like a series of podcasts transcribed. [excerpt] In their 1920s study of “Middletown” (Muncie, Indiana), sociologists found that 76 percent of working-class families purchased no books apart ... 好浅啊。more like a series of podcasts transcribed. [excerpt] In their 1920s study of “Middletown” (Muncie, Indiana), sociologists found that 76 percent of working-class families purchased no books apart from those required for school. (展开)
0 有用 阿蒙 2025-02-26 23:31:30 美国
前期节奏比较缓慢,中间陡然变得有趣起来!越读越觉得欣喜😃这书讲的主要是美国的书店,尤其是独立书店的发展史以及存在的意义,期间夹杂着大量的美国人权发展史、BLM运动的前生今世、LBGTQ🌈Pride等讨论。