内容简介：
'I rejoice', said Doctor Johnson, 'to concur with the Common Reader.' For the last century, the tastes and preferences of the common reader have been reflected in the American and British bestseller lists, and this Very Short Introduction takes an engaging look through the lists to reveal what we have been reading - and why. John Sutherland shows that bestseller lists monitor one of the strongest pulses in modern literature and are therefore worthy of serious study. Along the way, he lifts the lid on the bestseller industry, examines what makes a book into a bestseller, and asks what separates bestsellers from canonical fiction. Exploring the relationship between bestsellers and the fashions, ideologies, and cultural concerns of the day, the book includes short case-studies and lively summaries of bestsellers through the years: from In His Steps - now almost totally forgotten, but the biggest all-time bestseller between 1895 and 1945, to Gone with the Wind and The Andromeda Strain, and The Da Vinci Code.
作者简介：
约翰·萨瑟兰，伦敦大学学院现代英语文学荣誉退休教授、加利福尼亚理工学院客座教授，已出版多部专著，内容涉及诸多领域，尤其是维多利亚时期及现代出版史、现代文学和通俗小说。曾任2005年布克小说奖评审委员会主席。
苏耕欣，北京大学英语系副教授，主要研究方向是哥特小说和文化研究
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