Great American Bestsellers: The Books That Shaped America

By: Peter Conn, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Peter Conn

Best-selling books have played a critical role in influencing the tastes and purchasing habits of American readers for more than 100 years. But there is more to America's great best-selling books than the sales figures they rake in. American bestsellers also offer us ways to appreciate and understand particular periods of American culture.

In this series of 24 lectures you'll enjoy a pointed look at key best-selling works and their places within the greater fabric of American cultural history. Guided by an award-winning teacher, you'll explore representative bestsellers at various stages of American history, from the first book published in the English-speaking New World to the blockbuster authors who dominate the 21st-century publishing industry.

The result is an expert look at the evolution of American culture - its tastes, its hopes, its dreams - through the unique lens of the books that have captivated its readers at various points in American history.

Each of the 22 works discussed - from literary masterpieces (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) to enduring self-help books (How to Win Friends and Influence People) - has had a crucial and unique impact on American society.

Studying these representative works will give you a deeper understanding of how American literature can both mirror the events of its time and, in many instances, have a pronounced impact on them. These lectures are your opportunity to see our nation's best-selling books as more than just popular forms of entertainment that have managed to make their authors lots of money, but as stunning microcosms of American cultural history.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2009 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2009 The Great Courses

Not bad some ok nuggets

Bit long but ok as author knew subject matter very well….Some good classics discussed

Just what I'd expect from this series.

Narrator was great, and demonstrated good knowledge of history. Books were well chosen. Wonderful lecture.

Much More Than I Expected

Bought on a whim. A better guide through American history than most American History text books. This series of lectures on page turners flys by much quicker than the running time.

GREAT!! Much prefer LISTENING!

Great readers! Very enthusiastic. A good addition to great content.

Five more words are NOT necessary!!

Fascinating

Excellent narration and much more than the title suggests. I consider this course a well-done survey of US cultural and social trends.

Engaging, focused on context of the book.

I really enjoyed this, particularly as the lectures focused on the context in which a book was published, which informed why it may have been a bestseller. He also discussed the plots of the books enough that if you had not read it (one went back to the days of the Puritans) you could still understand how it fit in its period of history.

It's final lecture on 'mega-authors' (I don't think that's the word he actually used, but it's how I think of them) was a little depressing. It's an important comment on how the business of publishing impacts what will be presented to readers, but it's also something that people need to be cognizant of if they want to understand why some of the great novels of the past may not even have been published today. The lecturer does this without sniping at the actual writing of the mega-authors, which I think is important.

BESTSELLER

Professor Peter Conn prefaces his lectures on “Great American Bestsellers” by noting a bestseller’ label is not necessarily a measure of good or great writing but of popular consumption. Historically, bestseller has meant high purchase volume for a book; usually, higher than expected. In the modern age, a bestseller label is often degraded by publishers; i.e. it is used as a marketing ploy rather than a measure of sales volume.

However, by more accurate measure of popular consumption, Conn argues bestsellers shape American culture, either by reinforcing or changing the direction of cultural norms. The books Conn identifies are American bestsellers because they fulfill two criteria. One, the books Conn selects and reviews are widely purchased. Two, Conn’s bestseller’ selections arguably reflect or shape American’ belief.

Though guardedly praising bestseller’ literature, Conn argues that each American author in his lectures provides a window into American culture. Conn suggests there is no surprise that today’s most prolific bestseller’ author is an attorney, an attorney in the most litigious country in the world. Conn’s final lecture notes today’s most prolific bestseller’ authors are–number one John Grisham, two Stephen King, and three Danielle Steele.

In 24 lectures, Conn surveys many of yesterdays’ bestsellers; some of which have outlived their relevance but many that continue to speak “…volumes about the nation’s cultural climate” (a partial quotation from the publicist of the series). Conn’s lectures provide insight and motivation to visit or re-visit books that reflect on America’s past and offer hope for America’s future.

Very Interesting and Enjoyable!

I am very impressed on how these lectures were put together. Not only did Professor Conn give a detailed summary of each book, he gave us SO much more. I found myself going from one lecture to the next with eager anticipation. I don't necessarily want to read all the books talked about in these lectures; however, Professor Conn has piqued my interest in several of them. This was a very enjoyable series.

fantastic course

Loved the course. Would definitely recommend this series of lectures to anyone interested in American literature.

Good summaries

All those books you read in high school and college lit. classes, put into historical context. The times they were written in and how those events influenced the author. All the contemporary best selling authors were not left out. Well presented, I learned something.