Book Clubs and Book Commerce

In the twentieth century cumulative millions of readers received books by mail from clubs like the Book-of-the-Month Club the Book Society or Bertelsmann Club. This Element offers an introduction to book clubs as a distribution channel and cultural phenomenon and shows that book clubs and book commerce are linked inextricably. It argues that a global perspective is necessary to understand the cultural and economic impact of book clubs in the twentieth and into the twenty-first century. It also explores central reasons for book club membership condensing them into four succinct categories: convenience community concession and most importantly curation. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.