A Selected Bibliography of Books About Publishing

What are we missing?

There have been surprisingly few books published about publishing in the 21st century. In the book I’m publishing in a few months, I write about some of the reasons why I think this gap exists. Today, I want to share with you some of the best books that do exist (Count the women authors, and be saddened).

Cultural Histories: 

Well-researched cultural histories of publishing written by people who were not publishers themselves—usually written by journalists or scholars—are scarce, and highly sought after!

The Art of Survival and the Survival of Art at America's Most Celebrated Publishing House, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux by Boris Kashka.  2014.

Rebel Publisher: Grove Press and the Revolution of the Word, also called Counter-Culture Colophon and the Incorporation of the Avant-Garde, by Loren Glass.  2013

Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the Twenty-First Century by John B. Thompson. 2012

Memoirs: 

A number of former editors and publishers (all white men) have written memoirs abo…