{"product_id":"a-feeling-for-books-the-book-of-the-month-club-literary-taste-and-middle-class-desire-paperback","title":"A Feeling for Books: The Book-of-the-Month Club, Literary Taste, and Middle-Class Desire - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJanice a. Radway\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDeftly melding ethnography, cultural history, literary criticism, and autobiographical reflection, \u003ci\u003eA Feeling for Books\u003c\/i\u003e is at once an engaging study of the Book-of-the-Month Club's influential role as a cultural institution and a profoundly personal meditation about the experience of reading. Janice Radway traces the history of the famous mail-order book club from its controversial founding in 1926 through its evolution into an enterprise uniquely successful in blending commerce and culture. Framing her historical narrative with writing of a more personal sort, Radway reflects on the contemporary role of the Book-of-the-Month Club in American cultural history and in her own life. Her detailed account of the standards and practices employed by the club's in-house editors is also an absorbing story of her interactions with those editors. Examining her experiences as a fourteen-year-old reader of the club's selections and, later, as a professor of literature, she offers a series of rigorously analytical yet deeply personal readings of such beloved novels as \u003ci\u003eMarjorie Morningstar\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTo Kill a Mockingbird\u003c\/i\u003e. Rich and rewarding, this book will captivate and delight anyone who is interested in the history of books and in the personal and transformative experience of reading. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor anyone who is interested in the history of books and in the personal and transformative experience of reading. Radway offers both an engaging look at the Book-of the-Month Club s role as a cultural institution and a profound meditation on the love of books.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eJanice A. Radway is Walter Dill Scott Professor of Communication and professor of American studies and gender studies at Northwestern University and author of \u003ci\u003eReading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 448\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.3 x 9.2 x 6.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e August 30, 1999\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42130729402503,"sku":"9780807848302","price":72.9,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/4f13ce3b91a5ec7a47b91d5e52c09561.webp?v=1732613281","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/a-feeling-for-books-the-book-of-the-month-club-literary-taste-and-middle-class-desire-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}