One cannot happen upon a book they didn’t know about, nor could you experience a personalized book signing following a talk if there were not bookstores, book owners or environments where books are the star. Having before written previously about bicycles (another tradition worthy of staunch support), Evan Friss makes a spirited case for the ever-enduring need for bookshops, and the people who run them. This love letter to the American bookstore gives needed space to its central place in our cultural life – shaping readers and writers, influencing our tastes, thoughts, and politics. Beginning with Benjamin Franklin’s first bookstore in Philadelphia, through to the Strand, Marshall Field & Co., Gotham Book Mart, Oscar Wilde and Drum and Spear, sidewalk used booksellers and many more, The Bookshop shares what has been, and what is at risk – a charming chronicle for anyone who cherishes these sanctuaries of literature (as we do!), and essential reading to inform how these vital institutions have shaped us and why we still need them.
If you are unable to attend the event but would like to purchase one or more signed copies, please visit Buxton Books here.
About Evan Friss
Evan Friss is a professor of history at James Madison University and the author of two other books: The Cycling City: Bicycles and Urban America in the 1890s and On Bicycles: A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City. He lives with his wife (a bookseller) and two children (occasional booksellers) in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
About the Book
