Unpacking the Bookstore

     This course explores the history and cultural functions of bookstores in the U.S. in order to understand better how they shaped, and continue to shape, public conceptions and meanings of “literature.” Using Laurence Roth’s investigation into and memoir of his father’s Jewish bookstore as a model, students in the course have so far analyzed these bookstores, which exemplify various issues the course raises: Shakespeare & Co., City Lights, Giovanni’s Room, Gotham Book Mart, Border’s Books, Powell’s Books, Eso Won Books, Strand Book Store, J. Levine Books & Judaica, Mile High Comics, Women and Children First, Square Books, John K. King Used and Rare Books, Politics & Prose, Books-A-Million, Bible Depot, Comics Metropolis, Mondragon Books, and D.J. Ernst Books.

The initiative for this course grew out of a collaboration between Professor Roth, the digital storytelling nonprofit Citizen Film, and the New Media in Jewish Studies Collaborative at Columbia University, an incubation tank for innovation following the new, visual turn in contemporary Judaic Studies scholarship.