Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption

I have worked in bookstores for the last 30 years, and it's so interesting to find out that what I have experienced fits in perfectly with the themes of this book. It looks at the history of bookstore culture and its intersection with capitalism. It isn't brand new, but it does feel dated in the least. Important themes and ideas.....Everyone who works at a bookstore (or library), or owns a bookstore or is even thinking about owning a bookstore will learn something from this book. If bookstores are to survive, this is the kind of information that will help in decision-making along the way.

The author looks a bookselling and especially book buying from a very sophisticated standpoint taking many economic, social, and cultural factors into account. The idea that the book both is and isn't a commodity like any other is examined up down and sideways. One interesting point: the rise of giants Borders and Barnes and Noble has made buying a book an entertainment experience (e.g., people go on dates at Borders!).

An outstanding book for those that appreciate bookstores and the selling of books. Loads of history on booksellers--B. Dalton, Crown, Waldenbooks, etc. Of course, the information stops just before the time of the most dramatic changes in bookselling history: the e-book. Should Laura J. Miller decide to update this book, add to it, it would be a terrific textbook for college English classes on publishing.

Booklovers who wouldn't usually be inclined to read something about the bookselling industry will appreciate this detailed account of the business, particularly in light of the ongoing -- and often ruinous -- competition between independent bookstores, the mega-chains, the "big box" retailers and the online giants.

A very well-done study of the book selling industry. So clever to use books as a focal point for a discussion of the complexities of buying and selling. Refreshingly free of jargon, though there are occasional traces of academic production (I intend to show in the next chapter ...). But this is minor given the generally clear-headed writing and thinking the author displays. Along with all the fascinating information about the development of book selling, as a vocation and as mere commodity pushing, she has included excellent reflections on the nature of the consumer and the consumer's choices to exhibit pure marketplace rationality vs. politically informed cultural activity.Personally, I remain caught in the complexities of these choices: I bought this book on Amazon but feel it's critical to support independent bookstores (I do that too). I've just returned from a cross country trip and it's dreary out there in places that have no independents. Coincidentally they seem to be places that have no city centers, no architecture, no newspapers, few cultural events ..., nothing but cars and roads and big box stores.