The popular books that brought Americans together in a common culture
The United States’ messy experiment in democracy is best understood not through the country’s highbrow literature or its founding documents, but through popular books that its inhabitants have read and consulted repeatedly. This is the argument put forward by historian Jess McHugh in her delightful debut, “Americanon: An Unexpected U.S. History in Thirteen Bestselling Books.”
The 13 books include: Noah Webster’s dictionary; “The Old Farmer’s Almanac”; “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin”; Emily Post’s “Etiquette:
