As a group bestsellers conjure an image of lowbrow literature, of escapist fiction—bodice rippers, multi-generation epics, courtroom melodramas, and beach novels. Although books of all sorts, including nonfiction, cartoon anthologies, and genuine literature routinely make the bestseller lists in America, bestsellers have always been dismissed as popular reading. In 80 Years of Best Sellers authors Alice Payne Hackett and James Henry Burke assert that, "Best-selling books are not always the best in a critical sense, but they do offer what the reading public wants," and the truth is that bestseller status is more often associated with Danielle Steele than Sinclair Lewis, even though both have published best-selling novels.

Tracking and reporting the best-selling books in America officially began in 1895. Publishing of all sorts experienced a boom in the 1890s for a variety of reasons, including cheaper paper, substantial improvements in the printing press, a high literacy rate, better...