The Paperback Revolution

Mass-circulation Books and the Cultural Origins of 1968 in Western Europe

Bibliographic Data

ID7864686
AuthorsBill Mercer (0000-0002-3622-9558, corresponding author), Ben Mercer
Year2011
Volume72
Issue4
Pages613-636
Publication date2011-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the History of Ideas (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-5037 • E-ISSN: 1086-3222
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/jhi.2011.0032
OpenAlexW1978520596
LanguageEN
Citations received11

This article explores the relation between the “paperback revolution” of the early 1960s and the revolutions of 1968. The arrival of a mass market in books threatened to overturn the cultural order and transform reading and knowledge. Paperbacks were seen as the symbol and motor of the democratization and consumerization of knowledge. The movements of 1968 adopted a critical and democratic attitude towards “high culture” promoted by the paperback market, but also at times adopted its potential for anti-intellectualism. Paperbacks played an important role in facilitating the revolution of 1968 but the legacy of the book revolution was deeply ambiguous

Circulation (fluid dynamics) · Cultural revolution · Democracy · Democratic revolution · Democratization · Economics · Intellectualism · Order (exchange) · Political science · Politics · Reading (process) · Relation (database) · Sociology · Symbol (formal) · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · History · Law · Philosophy

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