Rather than prestige, this cultural moment is dominated by metrics, as George S. Trow predicted in a 1980 New Yorker essay called “Within the context of no context”:

“That movement... from wonder that a country should be so big, to the wonder that a building could be so big, to the last, small wonder, that a marketplace could be so big—that was the

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As a historian, though, I think there is one big thing missing from discussions of whether we are witnessing the end of books — or really, the age of sustained attention on anything .

“Mass market” books and periodicals were, themselves , once assailed as damaging to mental health, to attention, and to society.

Mainstream offerings are dominated by sensationalist non-fiction, formulaic and #BookTok-approved YA, and an endless parade of self-help. The few compelling books still being published for mainstream audiences occupy niche spaces, without the broad public engagement they once enjoyed. If intellectuals have always complained about the fragmentation... See more