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20th-Century American Bestsellers

A LibGuide to ENSP 3559: 20th-Century American Bestsellers

The Bestsellers Course

General Resources on Bestsellers

Archer, Jodie, and Matthew Lee Jockers. The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel. St. Martin's Press, 2016.
Blanck, Jacob, and Bibliographical Society of America. Bibliography of American Literature. Yale University Press, 1955.
Churchwell, Sarah Bartlett, and Thomas Ruys Smith. Must Read: Rediscovering American Bestsellers From Charlotte Temple to the Da Vinci Code. Continuum, 2012.
It's on reserve, and it has a chapter on Peyton Place.
Elson, Ruth Miller. Myths and Mores In American Best Sellers, 1865-1965. Garland, 1985.
Hackett, Alice Payne, and James Henry Burke. 80 Years of Best Sellers, 1895-1975. R. R. Bowker Co, 1976.
This is an essential cumulative overview of American Bestsellers for much of the 20th century. It is engagingly written, well organized, and well documented, with cumulative sales figures you can't get anywhere else, which is why this edition is on reserve.
Hackett, Alice Payne. 60 Years of Best Sellers, 1895-1955. R. R. Bowker Co, 1956.
Hill, Brian, et al.. The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories From Authors and the Editors, Agents, and Booksellers Behind Them. Kaplan Publishing, 2005.
Hinckley, Karen, and Barbara Hinckley. American Best Sellers: A Reader's Guide to Popular Fiction. Indiana University Press, 1989.
Justice, Keith L. Bestseller Index: All Books, by Author, On the Lists of Publishers Weekly and the New York Times Through 1990. McFarland & Co, 1998.
Korda, Michael. Making the List: A Cultural History of the American Bestseller, 1900-1999 : As Seen Through the Annual Bestseller Lists of Publishers Weekly. Barnes & Noble, 2001.
A mediocre book by a knowledgeable insider.
Long, Elizabeth. The American Dream and the Popular Novel. Routledge & K. Paul, 1985.
Loudermilk, Kim A,. Fictional Feminism: How American Bestsellers Affect the Movement for Women's Equality. Routledge, 2004.
Also available in print in the stacks: PS374 .F45 L68 2004
Mott, Frank Luther. Golden Multitudes: The Story of Best Sellers In the United States. Bowker, 1960.
The New York Times Bestseller Lists
Sutherland, John. Bestsellers : A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, UK, 2007. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uva/detail.action?docID=415119.
Also available in print, in the stacks: PS371 .S86 2007
Wikipedia page on Bestsellers
Wikipedia is a fine place to start, but this entry (like many others) is uneven in quality. The sections on Descriptions and Types of Bestsellers is pretty good; the section on Early Bestsellers is pretty bad. Caveat Lector.
Winship, Michael, et al.. Bibliography of American Literature: A Selective Index. North American Press, 1995.