The cheap, mass-market paperback gave us a truly popular yet sophisticated literary culture.
Its decline has at least as much to do with corporate consolidation as shifting consumer preferences. jacobin.com/2026/10/books-publ…
Publishers Killed the Paperback, Then Blamed Readers
In 1939, the 25-cent paperback made America a nation of readers, delivering thrillers, classics and Pulitzer-winning books. So why did the Big Five publishers just kill the mass market paperback?Ned Rust (Jacobin)


Nanook
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