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Evan Friss, author of The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore

Bookstores have always been unlike any other kind of store, shaping readers and writers, and influencing our tastes, thoughts and politics. They nurture local communities while creating new ones of their own. Bookshops are powerful spaces, but they are also endangered ones. In THE BOOKSHOP, we see the stakes: what has been, and what might be lost. Evan Friss’ history of the bookshop draws on oral histories, archival collections, municipal records, diaries, letters and interviews with leading booksellers to offer a fascinating look at this institution beloved by so many.

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Week of April 6, 2026

Paperback releases for the week of April 6th include SOUTH OF NOWHERE by Jeffery Deaver, in which reward seeker Colter Shaw races against the clock to save a flooding town from a full-fledged disaster, where the culprit lurks in plain sight; NIGHTSHADE, which launches a new character into the Michael Connelly universe --- Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell, a cop who relentlessly follows his mission in the seemingly idyllic setting of Catalina Island; Beatriz Williams' UNDER THE STARS, an epic tale of family legacy, love and truths that echo down generations; and THE BOOKSHOP by Evan Friss, an affectionate and engaging history of the American bookstore and its central place in American cultural life --- from department stores to indies, from highbrow dealers trading in first editions to sidewalk vendors, and from chains to special-interest community destinations.

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