Did you know there’s a very specific reason we have a fall book season? It’s not the only reason, but it’s the reason that set this cultural cycle in motion. Long story short: As New York and Philadelphia became hubs for publishing in the United States, there was a need to sell more books to a burgeoning Midwest – Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland.
The problem was the Susquehanna River and Erie Canal, the industry’s primary shipping routes. They were frozen roughly from Christmas to Easter. So starting in the mid-19th century or so, publishers would wait until the big thaw, particularly autumn, to release their big titles, ensuring new department stores like Chicago’s Marshall Fields and Detroit’s Hudson’s had plenty of books for holiday gifts.
“Geography is destiny,” Napoleon supposedly once said. If the new fall book season looks overwhelming – Al Pacino’s memoirs, and a new Haruki Murakami epic? – if you’re about to triple your To-Be-Read pile, I guess blame the Erie Canal. Also blame a great time for biographies.
An explosion of diverse voices. A horror renaissance. And no shortage of legendary authors waiting to break the ice.
Bio-picks Before he died last year, Bill Zehme, Chicago-based celebrity whisperer, was deep into a definitive biography of Johnny Carson, who gave Zehme his first interview after retiring from “The Tonight Show.” What Zehme finished (with Chicago Sun-Times writer Mike Thomas) makes up the core of “Carson the Magnificen.
