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.
Praise for The Bookshop
“A pleasure. . . . A spirited defense of this important, odd and odds-defying American retail category."
—The New York Times
"Serious browsers will love this history of American bookstores . . . . Lively. . . . [Friss] has produced a work of popular history that is both entertaining and informative.”
—The Washington Post
"Fascinating. . . . A heartfelt, essential love letter to the literary sanctuary of bookstores and the people who run them."
—People magazine, "Book of the Week"
"Engaging."
—The Wall Street Journal
“Marvelous. . . . The Bookshop is a paean to those magical places and is a must-read to understand why bookshops have been such an integral part of American life for so long, and why they—even in an age of social media—remain an 'influencer' today."
—The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"A series of thirteen mini-profiles of notable bookstores and their owners. . . . Friss sees the small bookstore in contemporary America as a haven from commercialism—a place where books are treated as more than mere merchandise—and as a community-building space. . . . In Friss’s account, the bookstore survives by redefining itself."
—The New Yorker
"If you love books, and bookstores, you're absolutely going to love Evan Friss's The Bookshop. . . . 'That bookstores continue to endure is, in some ways, something of a miracle,' Friss writes in his introduction. But we're so thankful they do—and that there's this tribute to them."
—Town & Country’s “39 Must-Read Books of Summer 2024”
"Attentive and thoughtful. . . . Evan Friss is the companionable guide we all deserve on this trip to bookstores throughout time, offering a treasure trove of information and anecdotes, and bittersweetly reminding us all how important these institutions are, how necessary to our culture and communities and how we must do everything in our power to protect them."
—Julia Hass, Lit Hub's "Most Anticipated Books of 2024"
"Upbeat and immersive. . . . An entrancing deep dive into the book industry."
—Publishers Weekly (STARRED review)
"Eye-opening. . . . A thoroughly engaging, delightful excursion into the wondrous world of books.”
—Kirkus Reviews (STARRED review)
"There’s something here guaranteed to evoke a warm memory in every bibliophile. . . . A book you will cherish."
—Book Reporter
“Bookstores are such idiosyncratic expressions of the humans who run them, and it is a delight to wander through the bookstores of American history in this warm, generous book. I find myself in excellent company amongst the featured booksellers—all fully dedicated, driven by passion, and slightly mad. It's a wonderful business we're in.”
—Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author and owner of Books Are Magic
“This bookseller read Evan Friss’s The Bookshop with the greatest delight. Friss’s history of the independent bookshop in the United states is very much like his subject—deeply authoritative, very personal, and very engaging.”
—Paul Yamazaki, City Lights Bookseller and Publisher
“Is there anything better than a bookshop? Perhaps, just perhaps, a book about bookshops. This is what Evan Friss has given us, and like its subject, it is a portal to endless discovery. The histories and personalities, the challenges and pleasures, everything happening behind the scenes—all come alive in his marvelous account.”
—Glenn Adamson, author of Craft: An American History
“Evan Friss has written a charming, deeply researched history of the understated but vital role that booksellers have played in forging the American identity. Rich in incident and richer in the colorful characters who have sold—or tried to sell—books to a reliably intractable public from the days of the Old Corner Bookstore till today, The Bookshop is an absolute delight.”
—Stephen Sparks, owner of Point Reyes Books
"Delightfully similar to actually being in a favorite bookstore. . . . Peculiar and wonderful things are learned along the way. . . . Friss assembles all these terrific details and anecdotes like a Georges Seurat of history—little drops of fact come together to create a solid portrait of the bookstore business in America and its decline."
—New City Lit
"Very well-researched. . . . Friss tells the story of an institution that has been deified, mythologized, and made the subject of novels. . . . Bibliophiles, bluestockings, and history buffs will want to dive in."
—Air Mail
"The Bookshop argues persuasively that not only are these institutions a crucial part of U.S. social and political history, but that they are also worth fighting for in the face of a new generation of technological and financial threats."
—Shelf Awareness
"[An] entertaining romp through history. . . . More than anything, Friss is a storyteller. Each chapter introduces us to fascinating, dedicated booksellers."
—BookPage
"A lively history."
—Booklist
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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