Samantha's Reviews > The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore

A very readable, well-paced basic history of bookstores in the US, and probably a great pick if you don’t know a lot about the topic.

Personally I was hoping for something a bit more esoteric, or at least broader in scope. I would have preferred a lot more early history and less common information than things like another re-explanation of the trajectory of Barnes and Noble, which has been repeatedly summarized in basic news articles for years.

There’s more here about “outsider” bookstores than I would have preferred, not because these aren’t extremely important to the history of bookshops, but because the author is saying largely the same things about each one, so this section (which accounts for maybe a third of the book) could have been cut down into a chapter or two and left more space for more interesting and less commonly discussed bookish history.

I’m also not certain focusing purely on American stores was a good decision. There’s brief mention of basics like Daunt Books and the bouquinistes on the Seine, but it’s just rudimentary background information.

In all, I loved the spirit of this book and I think it’s a good place to start if you don’t know much about bookstores, but for great enthusiasts of the topic or those who have some background knowledge, you’re unlikely to get much out of this.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*