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A History of the American Bookstore
by Evan Friss
Book Reviewed by:Evan Friss's paean to bookstores, booksellers, and readers, The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore, is a delightful romp through time reflected through the lens of this brick-and-mortar institution. In its pages the author explores the development of the trade, how the social climate impacted the establishment of specific shops, and how bookstores — and especially booksellers — influenced societal attitudes in return.
It isn't an exhaustive history, but more of a series of vignettes, with each chapter focusing on a different bookseller. It's laid out chronologically, starting with Benjamin Franklin's Printing House in Philadelphia and ending with Parnassus Books in Nashville, established by author Ann Patchett and her business partner Karen Hayes in 2011. The early sections are more focused on the evolution of the book trade, discussing, for example, how ...
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