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The 20th Century saw a rebirth of a consumer product that had nearly vanished by the dawn of the new century. Paperback books -- the penny dreadfuls and dime romances of the 1800s -- had evaporated from bookshops, due largely to their inferior content and a wave of big-city immigration that had little time for foreign-language reading.In the 1930s, however, Penguin books of England began reissuing classic works in an inexpensive paperback format. To a world still in the grip of depression, the idea of cheap literature was irresistible, and World War II spread the idea over the planet.
Today, two-thirds of all books sold are paperback. The concept -- making literature and ideas universally available and inexpensive -- is pervasive in world culture. Television is the only real competition for the paperback, but then TV is basically the paperback edition of movies, anyway.
"Everyday Life" is a photo feature that examines the 20th Century. Send suggestions and reactions to EVERYDAY LIFE, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu HI 96813, or features@starbulletin.com.
