An affectionate and engaging history of th e American bookstore and its central place in American cultural life\, fro m department stores to indies\, from highbrow dealers trading in first edi tions 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 those stakes: what has been\, and what might be los t. Evan Friss's history of the bookshop draws on oral histories\, archival collections\, municipal records\, diaries\, letters\, catalogs\, and inte rviews with leading booksellers to offer a fascinating look at this instit ution beloved by so many-not just as a merchant\, but as a gathering place for likeminded people who cherish books. The story begins with Benjamin F ranklin's first bookstore in Philadelphia\, and takes us to a range of boo ksellers including The Strand\, Chicago's Marshall Field &\; Co.\, Goth am Book Mart\, specialty stores like Oscar Wilde and Drum and Spear\, side walk sellers of used books\, Barnes &\; Noble\, Amazon Books\, and Parn assus. The Bookshop is also a history of the leading figures in American b ookselling\, often impassioned eccentrics\, and a history of how books hav e been marketed and sold over the course of more than two centuries-includ ing\, for example\, a 3\,000-pound elephant who appeared to sign books at Marshall Field's in 1944. \;
\nQuestions? Contact \;paigeb@deschuteslibrary.org\, \;541 -617-7078
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