Rating: 
Summary: Part Insight, Part Lament
Review: This book is by Jason Epstein who also did a series of lectures on this topic (this is from the introduction). It is part autobiography, part history of publishing, part lament, and part prediction. At times, it provides a romantic view of editors and what they wish to accomplish. It then shows where the publishers of today are not keeping with this view.For the most part, however, it provides an analysis of why things don't work they way they should. Although it seems as if Epstein is crying about it, he couches this in language that shows how the whole publishing industry remains in a state of flux and that this is just another view of this flux. The book has good flow, and it is a quick read. If you read New Grub Street and felt emboldened rather than defeated, then this is the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Neat book, if you're interested in books and bookmen.
Review: ____________________________________________
Just a quick note recommending this short book. Epstein, who spent most of his career at Random House, remarks on how publishing has changed over the years, with plenty of juicy anecdotes. Forex, the Dickens:
As you may know, the US was a book-pirate haven in the 19th century, and Harper Bros. grew to be the nation's largest publisher by pirating Dickens, Thackeray, the Brontes, Macauley -- really, the entire roster of bestselling British authors. Macauley's (pirated) History of England sold a remarkable 400,000 copies here.
Charles Dickens, who kept a close eye on revenues, made a trip to the US in the 1840's, to protest the theft of his work. His plea was ignored, and he didn't much like the country, either. He wrote a short, glum account of his visit, _American Notes_, which Harpers promptly pirated.
Dickens recounts a train trip from Washington to Philadelphia through what he thought was a storm of feathers, but which proved to be spittle from passengers in the forward coaches. He also reported that US Senators spit so wide of the cuspidors that the carpets were "like swamps".
WH Auden, Epstein reports, had the disconcerting habit of showing up an hour or so early for parties and dinner invitations, so he could be home in bed by 9 PM.
Epstein was the first to publish a line of quality paperbacks (Doubleday Anchor) in 1952, and was a founder of the NY Review of Books. From his memoir, I'd say he had an interesting and fun career in publishing .
Happy reading!
Pete Tillman
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