Evan Friss is the author of the new book The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore. His other books include The Cycling City. He is a professor of history at James Madison University, and he lives in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Q: What inspired you to write a history of the American bookstore?
A: Amanda. She's now my wife, but when we were dating and living in New York City, she lucked into a job at Three Lives & Co., one of the world's greatest independent bookshops.
I was then in graduate school, studying American History. And so the two passions combined: bookselling and history. I thought there had to be some popular history book that covered the influence of bookshops on American life and culture. When I learned that there wasn't, I set out to write it. It just took me a while to actually finish it.
Q: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said of the book, “The Bookshop is a paean to those magical places and is a must-read to understand why bookshops have been such an integral part of American life for so long, and why they—even in an age of social media—remain an ‘influencer’ today.” What do you think of that description?
A: It's a very kind description. I'm so grateful for all of the positive feedback from critics and readers alike.
I do think the point about the power of the bookshop is an important one. Bookshops are small but also mighty. The power to shape what we read is one that shouldn't be taken lightly or overlooked.
And it's amazing how often booksellers can hand sell titles and tell someone (a stranger) walking through the door what to read. That's influence. That's power.
Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?
A: I spent several years doing research, crisscrossing the country's archives and libraries. It's less glamorous than it might seem. I was trying to gobble up as much material as possible, as quickly as I could.
And I came across a lot of "junk"--or at least material that's not useful for the book. And sometimes it's hard to know what's useful and what's not until much later. But I do love doing research, digging and digging to find scraps I can stitch together into a (hopefully compelling) story.
I also did many interviews with booksellers and bookshop owners, which were incredibly helpful.
One thing that surprised me was that not all of the great booksellers were terribly bookish people. There's a bookseller stereotype (cardigan sweater, glasses, quiet, learned, etc.) that pervades popular culture, but several of the booksellers I profile didn't fit that mold.
Two examples are Craig Rodwell, who was really an activist and started one of the first gay bookstores in the country, and Frances Steloff, who supported the avant-garde and modernist literature, but didn't read many of the kinds of books she became famous for promoting.
Q: What do you see looking ahead for American bookstores?
A: First a disclaimer. Historians are as bad at predicting the future as anyone else. That said, I think there's reason to be optimistic. I don't think we'll return to the level of brick-and-mortar bookstores we once had, but I think (and hope) that the great decline has ceased and that in today's world the need for local bookshops is clearer than ever.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am working on another history book, but I'm not exactly ready to share. Selfishly, I want people to keep asking me about bookshops for the time being.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Since finishing the book, I've come to learn even more about bookshops. My wife opened a small shop in our small town of Harrisonburg, Virginia. Parentheses Books is a gem and a model of what the next generation of bookshops can look like. I occasionally pull shifts there too, which is loads of fun.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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