Must Read: Reviews

Must Read: Rediscovering American Bestsellers from Charlotte Temple to The Da Vinci Code has been receiving some gratifying reviews recently.

Out Now: Must Read: Rediscovering American Bestsellers from Charlotte Temple to The Da Vinci Code

I'm happy to say that Must Read: Rediscovering American Bestsellers from Charlotte Temple to The Da Vinci Code (Continuum: 2012) is out now in all formats, including Kindle. Here it is on the Continuum website, Amazon US and Amazon UK. You can read early reviews here.

You can also get a taster of the book on the Bloomsbury Literary Studies blog, who posted an edited extract from Ardis Cameron's great chapter on Peyton Place, here. Enjoy.

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.

Advance praise for Must Read: Rediscovering American Bestsellers

Some advance praise for Must Read: Rediscovering American Bestsellers (coming soon) from Paul Gutjahr, editor, amongst many other things, of this fantastic anthology of popular nineteenth century literature. He writes:

"Although the past two decades have seen a sizeable increase in scholarly interest in bestsellers in the American context, there remains a great deal of unexplored territory when it comes to such literature. Must Read goes a long way in addressing this deficiency by examining a tremendous range of such literature with great critical care, insight, and theoretical sophistication. Must Read is a must read for anyone interested in American bestsellers."

Coming Soon: Must Read: Rediscovering American Bestsellers

It's been a while in the planning, but I'm very pleased to say that Must Read: Rediscovering American Bestsellers from Charlotte Temple to The Da Vinci Code, co-edited with my colleague Professor Sarah Churchwell, will be published later this year by Continuum. Above, a sneak peak of the cover. Below, a little bit about the collection.