Best Seller: A Century of America's Favorite Books

McParland (English, Felician Coll.;{amp}nbsp;Beyond Gatsby: How Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Writers of the 1920s Shaped American Culture) discusses U.S. reading habits from the 1890s to the present through a review of titles on various best seller lists. Beginning with an overview of the 1890s{amp}ndash;1930s, each following chapter covers a single decade. McParland gathers his data through a composite study of best seller lists, both national (e.g., the New York Times, Publishers Weekly) and regional (e.g., the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post). Admirably, he discusses both literary works and those considered "lowbrow," formulaic productions, providing summaries of certain books and biographical details of writers. It's important to note that this is more of a fun discussion than a serious study of what the reading habits mean socially, politically, or culturally. Although McParland does mention current events of each time period, it's often not clear how the events correspond to the discussion of the titles themselves.