The further I read what is in essence a listing of Americas best selling books through the decades the more dispirited I became. This was caused by the sheer volume and proliferation of the seemingly same authors who have come to dominate the fiction book buying market. The likes of Danielle Steel, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Grisham, David Baldacci, Tom Clancy, Mary Higgins Clark, Clive Cussler, Patricia Cornwall, Nora Roberts, Sidney Sheldon and towering above them all in terms of output the indomitable James Patterson. Having sold more than 230 million books Patterson is now regarded more of a money making brand than an author of artistic intent and like some others now frequently co-authors his work with other writers and even one former US President.

With such authors the producing of a novel seems now more akin to a car assembly line than producing a work of literary art. As a UK resident I thought that perhaps we would be perhaps somewhat immune but on visiting the display of books in the local book selling chain I saw that there were no fewer than 3 James Patterson's in the top 30 current best sellers. The corollary between a best seller and critically acclaimed literature can be seen as rather weak. However there are some exceptions and one immediately thinks of the quality of Jonathan Franzen's work who has produced only 5 novels or the "middlebrow" work of say Anne Tyler or John Irving who all feature here. Indeed the greats of modern American literature Bellow, Updike and Roth have all been on the best seller listings. There was rather bizarrely a period in the late sixties when Philip Roth was even battling it out with that rather less critically acclaimed literary icon Jacqueline Susann for the prestigious number 1 spot.

Robert McParland's book not only provides a listing and a brief summary of many of the featured books plots but also places in context why certain literature was popular during a particular period for instance the success of spy novels during the Cold War or the more recent theme of terrorist related plots. But the old standbys of family sagas, historical fiction and romance have always appealed to a mass audience. I did not realise how popular Daphne du Maurier was in the 1950's before reading this book.

Interestingly it was not until Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby in 1967 that horror would make an impact with the baton being taken on with such effect by Stephen King. Through the best seller listings will see how new genres like the vampire themed novel would emerge, firstly appearing in the 70's with the work of Anne Rice and of course later the phenomenon of the Harry Potter books would so distort the market that it would lead the New York Times to produce a separate children's listing.

Covered too is the non fiction chart which is equally insightful with the preponderance of self help, diet and child rearing books with of course the inclusion of that ever popular chart favourite the Bible. In addition to the celebrity biographies there are also more books of a political nature than you would find on the UK markets the Hillbilly Elegy becoming the non fiction number 1 best seller in 2017.

I'm a big fan of books about books and this was no exception but perhaps this may not appeal so much to the general reader as it may be perceived as rather academic and towards the end it does seem repetitive as the same names and the suspiciously same sounding plot lines reappear over again. However if you are a lover of books and have an interest in American culture then I would recommend this.

I'm very torn. This book is what it is described as, but it was incredibly dry and I only skimmed through the parts that interested me. I wish there'd been some photos of book covers to lighten it up a bit. I kind of expected more of a list type book with more illustrations. Something like a bestseller encyclopedia of sorts. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy it, but other readers who read more non-fiction or academic titles might love this.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an egalley.

Thanks to Rowman and Littlefield and Netgalley for the ARC of this title. I did not enjoy this and quit reading before I finished. I found the introductory part to be quite scholarly and dry. It reminded me of something I would have written for my undergraduate thesis. I read a lot of non-fiction that I find interesting, but this didn’t live up to my expectations. I browsed through the decades sections, but found the textbook approach continued throughout.

Robert McFarland traces the development of the bestseller in a thoughtful and detailed manner. The book is comprehensive and clearly makes use of research in a way that leads me to believe McFarland spent considerable time looking into this topic. I especially enjoyed the additional commentary the author provided about many of these titles.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC.

I like reading books about books because it gives me ideas of what to read next. Some of these I had never heard about, because I guess they did not withstand the test of time and I am going to have to check them out. Especially those published in the 1920's and 1930's.

Very informational. The i production eas long einded as is most of the book. Reads like a nonfiction that would not be for everyone.