The Paperback Revolution: Mass-circulation Books and the Cultural Origins of 1968 in Western Europe

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.