A History of the Book in America

In a period characterized by expanding markets, national consolidation, and social upheaval, print culture picked up momentum as the nineteenth century turned into the twentieth. Books, magazines, and newspapers were produced more quickly and more cheaply, reaching ever-increasing numbers of readers. Volume 4 of A History of the Book in America traces the complex, even contradictory consequences of these changes in the production, circulation, and use of print.

Contributors to this volume explain that although mass production encouraged consolidation and standardization, readers increasingly adapted print to serve their own purposes, allowing for increased diversity in the midst of concentration and integration. Considering the book in larger social and cultural networks, essays address the rise of consumer culture, the extension of literacy and reading through schooling, the expansion of secondary and postsecondary education and the growth of the textbook industry, the growing influence of the professions and their dependence on print culture, and the history of relevant technology. As the essays here attest, the expansion of print culture between 1880 and 1940 enabled it to become part of Americans' everyday business, social, political, and religious lives.

Contributors:
Megan Benton, Pacific Lutheran University
Paul S. Boyer, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Una M. Cadegan, University of Dayton
Phyllis Dain, Columbia University
James P. Danky, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ellen Gruber Garvey, New Jersey City University
Peter Jaszi, American University
Carl F. Kaestle, Brown University
Nicolas Kanellos, University of Houston
Richard L. Kaplan, ABC-Clio Publishing
Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette, Washington, D.C.
Elizabeth Long, Rice University
Elizabeth McHenry, New York University
Sally M. Miller, University of the Pacific
Richard Ohmann, Wesleyan University
Janice A. Radway, Duke University
Joan Shelley Rubin, University of Rochester
Jonathan D. Sarna, Brandeis University
Charles A. Seavey, University of Missouri, Columbia
Michael Schudson, University of California, San Diego
William Vance Trollinger Jr., University of Dayton
Richard L. Venezky (1938-2004)
James L. W. West III, Pennsylvania State University
Wayne A. Wiegand, Florida State University
Michael Winship, University of Texas at Austin
Martha Woodmansee, Case Western Reserve University

The contributors are Megan Benton, Paul S. Boyer, Una M. Cadegan, Phyllis Dain, James P. Danky, Ellen Gruber Garvey, Peter Jaszi, Carl F. Kaestle, Nicolas Kanellos, Richard L. Kaplan, Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette, Elizabeth Long, Elizabeth McHenry, Sally M. Miller, Richard Ohmann, Janice A. Radway, Joan Shelley Rubin, Jonathan D. Sarna, Charles A. Seavey, Michael Schudson, William Vance Trollinger Jr., Richard L. Venezky, James L. W. West III, Wayne A. Wiegand, Michael Winship, and Martha Woodmansee.

History of the Book in America: Volume 4: Print in Motion: The Expansion of Publishing and Reading in the United States, 1880-1940
Carl F. Kaestle is University Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Education, History, and Public Policy at Brown University. He is author or editor of six books, including Literacy in the United States: Readers and Reading since 1880.
Janice A. Radway is professor of literature at Duke University. She is author or editor of four books, including Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature and A Feeling for Books: The Book-of-the-Month Club, Literary Taste, and Middle-Class Desire (both from the University of North Carolina Press).
[Kaestle and Radway's] careful editorial hand is evident in the execution as well as the planning of this volume.--The Library

A model of scholarly publication and institutional cooperation. . . . A timely achievement and a great one. . . . Without university presses, we would still be waiting for HBA.--Journal of Scholarly Publishing

Eminently measuring up to the superior standard set by the previously issued volumes, Print in Motion is noteworthy not only for the light it sheds on the history of the book, but for the skill with which its contributors set that history in the context of its times. . . . An engrossing narration that will stand for many years as the definitive history of the book in the United States. Persons interested in this subject are encouraged to acquire all five volumes.--Library & Information History

This superb collection proves that the history of print culture, when smartly done, is the history of American culture.--The Journal of American History

What the History of the Book series shows so clearly is that the world we know, the communities to which we already belong, are reified and reinforced by books. Such is the incredible and incredibly flexible power of this primitive technology. Behold the book: It is limited but perfect.--Humanities magazine