"All you need to know about the industry at a time of momentous change." -Drake McFeely, chairman and president, W.W. Norton & Company For nearly five centuries, the world of book publishing remained largely static. But at the dawn of the twenty-first century, the industry faces a combination of economic pressures and technological change that is forcing publishers to alter their practices and think hard about the future of the book. John Thompson's riveting account dissects the roles of publishers, agents, and booksellers in the United States and Britain, charting their transformation since the 1960s. Offering an in-depth analysis of how the digital revolution is changing the game today, Merchants of Culture is the one book that anyone with a stake in the industry needs to read. "A fine-grained snapshot... of the terminal struggle of traditional publishers. [Thompson's] mordant picture of an industry in crisis gives publishers, writers and readers much to think about."— Jason Epstein,  The New York Review of Books "[Thompson] draws on valuable interviews and the mass of statistics that the field itself devours in search of success. He offers a calm, relatively sanguine account of contemporary publishing, a world dominated by the $6 million advance, the blockbuster and the buzz."— Times Literary Supplement "Thompson bring forensic keeneness, acuity, breadth, depth and wit to this page-turning study of the book trade, its denizens, demons and deities. [ Merchants of Culture ] ought to be prescribed reading for publishers, booksellers, writers, authors, reporters, reviewers and critics."— Mail & Guardian , South Africa "John B. Thompson's research has produced an excellent history and analysis; it's a wonderful book, highly recommended."— Australian Book Review "The single most impressive fact to drive home about this remarkable book is that Thompson displays a rare gift, that of presenting a world of the most heart-stopping complexity in short, simple, inter-related steps ... This is a book to buy and use and keep on your shelf."— Tribune "A superb history and analysis of publishing and bookselling, from the 1960s to the present, against the background of the rapidly expanding digital media. A salutary, scary read."— John Conwell, The New Statesman "A thorough and thoughtful analysis of publishing as a relatively self-contained world - a 'field' obeying rules that are ultimately economic, but in ways refracted through maneuvers and conflicts that defy simple cost-benefit analysis. Anyone interested in publishing will want to read it."— Inside Higher Ed "For some time to come, this is bound to be the definitive thing to read for anyone trying to understand the infrastructure of book culture - especially as it has taken shape over the past two or three decades."— The National "This impressively comprehensive and revealing analysis of the structures and processes of modern publishing is timely as the industry faces its digital future."— Katharine Reeve,  Times Higher Education  Book of the Week "Thompson's study is one of the most valuable studies on publishing in recent decades, and promises to be the new reference point for sociological research on the publishing industry."— Cultural Sociology "A very valuable book that is likely to become the standard reference on the Anglo-American publishing industry for many years to come."— MedieKultur "For the uninitiated,  Merchants of Culture  provides a very perceptive, thorough and in-depth view of how trade publishing really works in the English-speaking world today. For those of us in the business or for writers who are mystified by their publisher's behavior, it offers a penetrating account of our business by a very shrewd, analytical observer. This book is the only thing I've ever read about our industry that has really got it."— William Shinker, President and Publisher of Gotham Books and Avery Books, Penguin Group USA "Thompson's analysis of UK and US trade publishing is extraordinarily acute and insightful. It should be required reading for new entrants to the industry—but it will also illuminate many things for old publishing hands."— Helen Fraser, Former Managing Director, Penguin Group UK "This uncommonly perceptive and thorough study tells you all you need to know about the publishing industry at a time of momentous change."— Drake McFeely, Chairman and President, W.W. Norton & Company "One of the most intelligent and accessible accounts of the curious business of trade book publishing I have read. Anyone interested in knowing more about how our industry works—and where it might be headed—will find this book invaluable."— Morgan Entrekin, CEO and Publisher, Grove Atlantic "An eye-opening tour of both American and British trade publishing. Even veterans in the publishing world will learn a lot, and novices will feel welcome, in this behind-the-scenes examination of how book publishing works in an age of mass market