Faint Praise: The Plight of Book Reviewing in America

Index

Index \ Abbott, Charlotte,“The Power of Print Media,” 115 academic criticism, 8, 9–11, 27, 54–55 accuracy: in books, 77–78; in reviewing, 4, 67–86, 92, 123 Adventure of Publishing, The (Joseph), 114 advertising: book page, 23, 91, 92, 95–96, 110–11, 112, 114, 117, 126; on Web sites, 98 alternative book coverage (compared with traditional reviewing), 108–24; and authors , 117, 119–20; and books, 123–24; and publishers, 108–19; and readers, 120–23 amateur reviewers, 8, 36–37; compared with professional reviewers, 42–45; compared with reader-reviewers, 37 Amazon.com, 7–8, 37, 41–42, 97, 117, 120, 121; impact on reviewer fees, 127; reader-reviewer system, 99–101; reader reviewing compared with traditional reviewing, 122–23; reviewers hired by, 99, 117 American Book Review, 7 American Tragedy, An (Dreiser), 94 Amis, Martin, The War against Cliché, 8 Anil’s Ghost (Ondaatje), 5 Ansen, David,“Second Thoughts,” 80 Antioch Review, 2 Arana-Ward, Marie, 112, 115 Are Men Necessary? (Dowd), 50 Armies of the Night, The, (Mailer), 61–62 “Art of Reviewing, The” (Austin), 98 arts criticism: attitudes toward, 44–45; “back of the book,” 95–96; decrease in newspapers, 12–14; need for precision in, 75–76 Association of American Publishers, 112 Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 36 Atlantic Monthly, 46, 53, 75, 97, 131 Atwood, Margaret, 59 Auden, W. H., 9, 84–85 Austen, Jane, 75 Austin, Charlotte,“The Art of Reviewing,” 98 author comparisons, in reviews, 5, 74–75, 82–83, 89–90 authors: and book promotion, 105, 116, 117, 119–20; responding to reviews, 61–62, 85, 119; as reviewers, 39–42, 47–48; and reviews, 119–20 Autograph Man, The (Smith), 5 Baker, Nicholson, Checkpoint, 69 “Banks for the Memories” (Dowd), 50 Barnes and Noble.com, 97, 99, 117; reviewers hired by, 99, 117 Barth, John, 59 Barzun, Jacques, 76 Baumann, Paul,“Confessions of a Book Review Editor,” 52, 54 Bayley, John, Elegy for Iris, 114 Berendt, John, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, 115 Berger, Kevin,“The Incredible Vanishing Book Review,” 108–9 Best-Sellers: Are They Born or Made? (Stevens and Unwin), 110–11 163 Binchy, Maeve, 74–75 Black Book Review, 96 Black Issues Book Review, 96 Black Veil, The (Moody), 5, 72–73 blurbs, 19–20, 35, 104 book clubs, 22, 107, 109, 115, 116, 117, 121, 122 BookExpo America, 113 Booklist, 23, 24–25, 38; reviews reprinted on bookselling sites, 99 Bookman, 2 Book of Revelation, The (Thomson), 5 “Book Page Editor Blues” (Wyatt), 29 book publishers: attitudes toward advertising , 110–12; attitudes toward reviews , 110–19; catalogs, 19–22; identity recognition and influence, 20–21, 104; New York–centered, 29–30; overproduction of books, 15–16, 125–27; promotion for reviews, 19–23, 103–4; review copies, failure to send, 28–30, 112; sales reps, 22–23 Bookreporter.com, 97 BookReview.com, 126–27 “Book Reviewer: The Last Amateur? The” (Glendinning), 8, 9–10, 64 book sales: impact of advertising, 110–11; impact of reviews, 111–19; impact of word-of-mouth, 114–16 books as news, 92–93 book selection, for reviews, 6–7, 15–32, 58, 84; in alternative book coverage, 121–22; and assigning space, 18, 27; and overproduction of books, 125– 27; with reviewer assistance, 133– 35 booksellers, 19, 93; and bookstore readings , 109, 116–17, 120; as reviewers, 99, 109, 116, 122; and trade press, 23–25. See also Amazon.com; Barnes and Noble.com; Book Sense Book Sense, 109, 116 Boston Book Review, 5 Boston Globe, Boston Sunday Globe, 5, 6, 13, 30, 46, 88–89, 112; use of columnists , 132 “Bottom-Line Pressures in Publishing,” National Arts Journalism Program, 115 Bowles, Paul, The Sheltering Sky, 73 Brandt, Anthony, 11–12 Brett, George, 111–12 Brontë, Emily, Wuthering Heights, 11–12 Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 81 Burgess, Anthony, 60 Byron: Life and Legend (MacCarthy), 89– 90 Carey, Peter, True History of the Kelly Gang, 5 Carroll, James, Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews, a History, 54 Checkpoint (Baker), 69 Child of My Heart (McDermott), 75 Christian Science Monitor, 40 “Circle of Clichés” (Payne), 76 Clark, Mary Higgins, 110 Cleveland Plain Dealer, 35, 89, 94; book selection, 17 Clinton, Bill, 60 Clurman, Harold, 80, 90–91 Coleridge, Samuel T., 35 colophons, 20 Columbia Journalism Review, “Darts and Laurels,” 60 Columbia University, National Arts Journalism Program, 12–13, 115 columnists, use of, 56, 132–33 Commonweal, 52, 54 Communications Industry Forecast (Veronis Suhler Stevenson), 118 Compact...