General

'This is a truly important book: no noval reader should travel the fictional road without it.'JOHN SUTHERLAND, CRITIC AND LITERARY GUIDEHOW TO READ AN ENDORSEMENT: A USER'S GUIDEThere are two approaches: If you're a trusting soul, treat an endorsement as you would the icing on a birthday cake - dip ... More

In the aftermath of America’s centennial celebrations of 1876, readers developed an appetite for chronicles of the nation’s past. Born amid this national vogue, the field of American literary history was touted as the balm for numerous "ills"--from burgeoning immigration to American anti-intelle... More

Is a book the same book---or a reader the same reader--the second time around? The 17 authors in this witty and poignant collection of essays all agree on the answer: Never.Is a book the same book--or a reader the same reader--the second time around? The seventeen authors in this witty and poignant ... More

A hilarious and offbeat collection of the wildest and weirdest book titles, subtitles, and author names ever compiled. This unique and fun collection includes color illustrations of some of the most extraordinary book jackets ever produced as well as some of the most unusual book descriptions ever p... More

As book reviewer for NPR's Fresh Air and contributor to many publications, Maureen Corrigan literally reads for a living. For as long as she can remember, books have been at the center of her life, a never-failing source of astonishment, hard truths, new horizons, and welcome companionship. Now Corr... More

One of the country's most popular book lovers wryly recounts the stories and authors that have shaped her life, from the classics of English literature to the hard-boiled detective novel--and every page in between."It's not that I don't like people," writes Maureen Corrigan in her introduction to "L... More

"Do we still know how to read a novel?" John Sutherland, Chairman of the 2005 Booker Prize Committee, asks. His disheartened answer is an unequivocal, "No." But Sutherland has not given up hope. With acerbic wit and intellect, he traces the history of what it used to mean to be well-read and tells r... More

The original stage adaptation of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, winner of the 1993 Booker of Bookers, the best book to win the Booker Prize in its first twenty-five years. In the moments of upheaval that surround the stroke of midnight on August 14--15, 1947, the day India proclaimed its inde... More

"What is at stake in this book is nothing less than a dramatically new way of approaching literature, one which in its unostentatious, low key way scandalously smashes a whole range of liberal humanist icons."--Terry Eagleton Who is more important: the reader, or the writer? Originally published in ... More

What does "postmodernism" mean? Why is it so important? Now in its second edition, "The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism" combines a series of in-depth background chapters with a body of A-Z entries to create an authoritative, yet readable guide to the complex world of postmodernism. Following f... More

Throughout history, tyrants, totalitarian states, church institutions, and democratic governments alike have banned books that challenged their assumptions or questioned their authority. Even today, attempts by school boards, local governments, and religious fanatics to restrict our freedom to read ... More

Each volume begins with a substantial introduction by a distinguished authority on the text, giving details of the novel's composition, publication history, and contemporary reception, as well as a survey of major critical trends and readings from first publication to the present.The Sun Also Rises ... More

The sunlight and the calm of the French Riviera have drawn countless writers into its embrace: the Cote D'Azur has provided inspiration and setting for some of the greatest literature of the nineteenth and twentieth century. The French Riviera offers a literary tour of the region, covering the lives... More

Why do literary theorists see reading as an act of dispassionate textual analysis and meaning production, when historical evidence shows that readers have often read excessively, obsessively, and for sensory stimulation? Posing these and other questions, this is the first major work to bring insight... More

"The Book History Reader" brings together a rich variety of writings examining different aspects of the history of books and print culture. Arranged in thematic sections and featuring a general introduction to the "Reader" as well as an introduction to each section, the editors illustrate how book h... More

Since the invention of the printing press in the fifteenth century, books and print culture have been central to the shaping of culture and society. "The Book History Reader "is the first comprehensive volume to bring together a variety of work - much of which is now out of print or impossible to ac... More