In 1979, a very serious, meticulously researched book by an academic historian became a national bestseller, earning its author numerous accolades in both academic and popular circles (e.g., the cover of Time magazine!).
I am speaking here, of course, of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism, and if you’ve been around Current for any time at all, you likely know that editor Eric Miller has written a magisterial intellectual biography of Lasch. And we’re grateful that Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn is one of our Contributing Editors.
But here’s the thing. Lasch’s book was decidedly not meant to be a walk in the park. While it earned its author the title of “cultural critic,” Lasch’s strengths lay in his ability to bring together a broad array of sources to tell an intriguing story that was anything but easy beach reading. Again, he was an academic historian—a really good one.
Dan and I recently had a conversation about the kinds of books people are reading these days. “Can you imagine Lasch’s book becoming a sensation today?” he asked. It just seems that, on average, we are not reading as many serious, heavy books. It does seem that many people are still reading (although increasingly more are not), and many are reading quite a bit. But what are they reading?
This is a question that I think about both as an avid reader, as a writer of books myself, and as Current’s book review editor. I try to strike a balance in commissioning reviews and essays and interviews about books of different sorts—some more academic, some less academic, even children’s literature.
In other words, there’s no getting around classifying books.
One useful resource that I keep recommending people is Brad East’s blog piece, “Four tiers of Christian/ theological publishing.” While the title notes that this is focused on Christian and theological books, really, East’s classification readily applies to all nonfiction.
What are these four tiers? We move from the most popularly oriented and “beachy” Tier 1 to the most academic and inaccessible but for a few experts Tier 4. A few specifics on each one:
Tier 1: “Universal.” These are authors who started out as, maybe, bloggers or influencers or YouTube stars, and got book deals from there. East notes that their book sales, at least in the Christian market, comprise about 90% of all books. Whoa. I guess the equivalent outside the Christian market would be Britney Spears, The Woman in Me.
Tier 2: “Popular.” These are books that target the college-educated but non-expert/non-academic readers. East explains further:
The concepts in the book may be complex or abstract, but the language in which the concepts are presented is not. It is as simple as possible. Not only no jargon, but little vocabulary above a high school level. That’s no slam on either reader or writer: as Orwell and Lewis both observed, it’s harder to write this way than it is to rely on fancy words as a crutch. Go read Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. The prose is flawless, and yet there may not be a single word in six hundred pages that an eighth grader (at least, one from Texas) wouldn’t recognize. That’s a gift and a virtue, not a shortcoming.
Tier 3: “Highbrow.” East describes the audiences for this tier as “Seminarians, pastors, scholars, literary types, lay intellectuals.” Among examples of authors in this tier, he includes Dorothy Sayers, Wendell Berry, and Tim Keller.
Tier 4: “Scholarly.” Basically, these are serious academic books, written by serious academics and for serious academics. Readability varies, but generally, there is no expectation, alas, that such books would be readable and accessible. They are usually published by academic presses.
Okay, with all of this in mind, let’s go back to Lasch’s Culture of Narcissism for a second. Where would it fit? I believe it would be in Tier 3 but, again, it’s not an easy sort of Tier 3 read. But then, neither are any of Wendell Berry’s nonfiction books—just think of the most recent one, The Need to Be Whole. One must block off time to sit a while with these sorts of books, think about them, read passages aloud to friends and argue about what this all means.
So how does all of the above relate to Current’s book coverage? I think that we do cover all four tiers of books, offering our readers a taste of both easier and more difficult reads, with the understanding that whenever we review a Tier 4 type of book (a very heavy academic monograph), most readers might not choose to go read it for themselves, but they would appreciate knowing about it. Perhaps the tier we cover the least is Tier 1, but we have published several reviews of thoughtful memoirs, for instance.
With books, as with other good things in life, sometimes you are just in the mood for something different. It pains me to say this, but even Britney has her place, I suppose. Few people read only one sort of book, all the time, without breaks for other genres and levels of difficulty. “Bring On the Bazaar,” seasoned book reviewer James Romm exhorted in his essay for our forum on book reviewing a year and a half ago.
That philosophy continues to ring true.
On this note, I will recommend just a few different books from every tier that have come my way in the recent months.
Tier 1: Beach-Appropriate Fiction
If you’re on the hunt for a really good novel this summer, Eugene Vodolazkin’s exquisite A History of the Island is now a year old, so if you haven’t read it yet, you need to get to it. I know everyone loves Laurus, but I think this one is even better. Check out Jeff Bilbro’s review, if you need more convincing. Besides, it’s set on an island, which makes it beach reading par excellence.
Next, I highly recommend Andrey Kurkov’s The Silver Bone, the first installment in a truly wonderful new mystery series (and translated by the wonderful Boris Dralyuk). Amanda McCrina, who is our official reviewer for every new Kurkov book, reviewed this one (and hey, Amanda’s own latest novel is beach appropriate and is now out in paperback–check out Julie Durbin’s review!).
Or, if you’d rather read something shorter–like short stories–check out Katy Carl’s Fragile Objects (and here’s LuElla D’Amico’s review to give you an idea).
Tier 2: Popular
When I asked Dan about books that have stood out to him this year, he recommended Andrew Wilson’s Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West (and here’s Miles Smith’s excellent review).
Bret Lott’s recent memoir Gather the Olives: On Food and Hope and the Holy Land is so lovely and heart-breaking all at once, written before last October, but published after. It’s a memoir of traveling through Israel, and especially spending time in Jerusalem–but he approaches everything he talks about through food. And it somehow leaves the reader filled with longing for beauty and (most of all) for peace.
Tiers 3-4: Highbrow/ Academic
I think there is some overlap here, as thoughtful academic books published by traditional academic presses CAN be read by educated readers who aren’t necessarily academics themselves. So, here are some options to consider picking up this summer:
Allen Guelzo’s most recent book on Lincoln and democracy is apt and needed: Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment (see reviews from Jon D. Schaff and Jim Cullen, and check out Guelzo’s own essay on one aspect of this book).
Miles Smith’s new book, Religion and Republic: Christian America from the Founding to the Civil War is likewise timely. Dan Williams interviewed Miles about it.
Robert Colby’s new book, An Unholy Traffic: Slave Trading in the Civil War South focuses on an aspect of the Civil War that perhaps some of us have not thought about. The stories he tells reminded me at times of Tiya Miles’s heartbreaking All That She Carried. Stay tuned for an essay from Robert, coming next month. But in the meanwhile, his book is a good summer read for any history buff.
Speaking of great books for history buffs, I enjoyed Daisy Dunn’s The Missing Thread: A Women’s History of the Ancient World (see my review).
Francesca Wade’s Square Haunting: Five Writers in London Between the Wars is just delightful, in part because so many of us are probably familiar with at least some of her assembly of characters (e.g., Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Sayers), but the book casts them in a new light.
Finally, with all the arguments afoot this week about Appalachia etc., it’s time for everyone to go forth and read Colin Woodard’s American Nations. It will blow your mind. Dan (who first told me about it) endorses this message.