Must Read: Rediscovering American Bestsellers - More Advance Praise

I'm pleased to say that Must Read: Rediscovering American Bestsellers from Charlotte Temple to The Da Vinci Code has garnered some more advance praise. The first comes from Leon Jackson, author of the brilliant The Business of Letters: Authorial Economies in Antebellum America:

Must Read breathes new life into the study of best-sellers, rescuing them from not only the enormous condescension of posterity but also from the flattering but often reductive readings of modern academics. With its artful blend of textual analysis, historicization, and theoretical speculation, the contributors challenge us to reread and rethink a host of works, ranging from short stories and sentimental novellas to advice manuals and modern blockbusters. For anyone with an interest in the contours of American print culture from the eighteenth century to the present, Must Read is itself a must read work.

The second comes from Lisa Botshon, co-editor of the essential Middlebrow Moderns: Popular American Women Writers of the 1920s:

This pathbreaking collection provides a unique contribution to the study of American literature, bringing to the fore a broad survey of popular literature from a variety of eras and genres, and bringing to our attention a number of previously neglected yet essential bestselling works. A valuable addition to literary and cultural studies, Must Read is a must read for students and scholars of American popular culture and American literature more generally.

More updates soon.