The Making of Middlebrow Culture

I’ve always been convinced that—regardless of educational level—people want to learn, to understand a wide range of subjects, and to join the conversation about literature and the arts. Joan Shelley Rubin looks at the people and institutions created to guide those aspiring to expand their minds in the mid-twentieth century: the Book-of-the-Month Club, “Great Books” series, radio book programs, and literary magazines. In the process, she takes on the issue of high-brow versus low-brow and her own subject: what comes in between.