Americanon: An Unexpected U.S. History in Thirteen Bestselling Books

by Jess McHugh

“An elegant, meticulously researched, and eminently readable history of the books that define us as Americans. For history buffs and book-lovers alike, McHugh offers us a precious gift.” —Jake Halpern, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author     

“With her usual eye for detail and knack for smart storytelling, Jess McHugh takes a savvy and sensitive look at the 'secret origins' of the books that made and defined us. . . . You won't want to miss a one moment of it.”— Brian Jay Jones, author of Becoming Dr. Seuss and the New York Times bestselling Jim Henson

The true, fascinating, and remarkable history of thirteen books that defined a nation

Surprising and delightfully engrossing, Americanon explores the true history of thirteen of the nation’s most popular books. Overlooked for centuries, our simple dictionaries, spellers, almanacs, and how-to manuals are the unexamined touchstones for American cultures and customs. These books sold tens of millions of copies and set out specific archetypes for the ideal American, from the self-made entrepreneur to the humble farmer.
 
Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Webster's Dictionary, Emily Post’s Etiquette : Americanon looks at how these ubiquitous books have updated and reemphasized potent American ideals—about meritocracy, patriotism, or individualism—at crucial moments in history. Old favorites like the Old Farmer’s Almanac and Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book are seen in this new way—not just as popular books but as foundational texts that shaped our understanding of the American story.

Taken together, these books help us understand how their authors, most of them part of a powerful minority, attempted to construct meaning for the majority. Their beliefs and quirks—as well as personal interests, prejudices, and often strange personalities—informed the values and habits of millions of Americans, woven into our cultural DNA over generations of reading and dog-earing. Yet their influence remains uninvestigated--until now.

What better way to understand a people than to look at the books they consumed most, the ones they returned to repeatedly, with questions about everything from spelling to social mobility to sex. This fresh and engaging book is American history as you’ve never encountered it before.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Books About Books, Audiobook, Book Club, American History, Adult

419 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2021

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather than recommending this book by saying it was good or interesting or whatever, I hope you will find it more compelling if I tell you that I neglected all other unfinished books – some (like this one) a free advance review copy, others actually purchased – in other to read this somewhat eccentric piece of non-fiction.

I say “eccentric” because there were several small odd …. um…. well …. aspects? mannerisms?… in this book. They flow from the book's title and maybe made this book a little more difficult to read that it might be, although I plowed happily on to the end nevertheless. The first, I think, was the title neologism “Americanon”, which I think the author is hoping might catch on as a “real” word, meaning, eventually honored with the dignity of a dictionary entry and so forth. He uses the word (in italics) throughout the book in sentences like: “Trauma shaped all the authors in Americanon, but …”

To begin with, how do you say it? “American on”? Nah. “America non” America non what? After a little reading, I arrived at the conclusion it would be “Ameri-canon”, which I think is correct even after finishing. I initially thought, on the basis of this pronunciation, that this was going to be another dreary exploration about whether we should be (for example) relegating the prose of William Faulkner to the dustbin of history in favor of writers who did not labor as mightily to glorify the right of one group of people to hold another group of people in slavery.

But no, this book is not about the “canon” in sense of “a group of books that certain experts have agreed are essential.” It could more accurately, in my sight, be titled something like “A History of Selected American Self-Help Books.” I think this would be much less confusing, but I understand that accuracy is not the only consideration, and that a book with the title I suggested might not be the type that sells in truly publisher-delighting quantities.

The second odd thing is the “thirteen bestselling books.” At no time are the thirteen books listed by name. The book only has ten chapters, and the self-help book which is the subject of the chapter only appears in six of the ten. In some cases, even when the book is not specifically mentioned in the chapter title, the identity of the book is clear, e.g., Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. But in other cases, more than one book is mentioned in a chapter, and it's unclear if some of the books mentioned is part of the titular thirteen or not.

I don't think this small shortcoming actually detracts from the value of the ideas in the book which, to repeat, are very interesting. It was just distracting. Just put a list of the thirteen books before the introduction already! When you put the actual words “thirteen books” in the title, people will want to know which ones they are!

OK, so, after a lot of carping, so I'd like to move onto some praise.

With the world apparently spinning out of control in an alarming way, it's reasonable to wonder how we got into this massive mess. This book might give us Americans some clue. The rest of you are on your own.

The author fairly convincingly connects the dots of common ideas about worthwhile living and self-improvement from the writings of Ben Franklin and Noah Webster through those of Dale Carnegie and the committee known as Betty Crocker, and beyond. For example, we were from the beginning fairly atomized and individualistic in our efforts to live a worthwhile and meaningful life, and we also felt that whatever problems we had could be solved by convincing ourselves to believe certain things and act certain ways. Disciplined individual action was always the answer. Organized collective action, whether it was joining a labor union or obeying the instructions of public health experts, was never the answer.

A “cultural historian” quoted in this book (Kindle location 3641) puts it like this:

There's nothing in American culture to have created the expectation that there is something larger than the self. On the one hand, that's what makes America great: we are a nation of free individuals. And it is also what makes the U.S. a frightening, cold, often mean-spirited place, because we have no help for help or assistance from anyone outside our own person or perhaps our immediate circle of friends. One result of our singularity is that we are always thinking: “There has to be a personal solution, and if I can't find it, then that's my own fault.”

Another point from this book: We never required those who codified our behavior to be examples of the behavior they were championing. Therefore, we see nothing odd in the sanctity of marriage and child-bearing championed by the spectacularly divorced and the childless, as this book chronicles. This seemed relevant to our present situation in the light of the otherwise-inexplicable admiration than the clearly non-observant former President Trump received from those who purported to be devoutly religious.

In short, the author succeeded in extracting some interesting and perhaps even profound ideas out of a pile of books that might be dismissed, collectively, as a dusty museum of irrelevant relics and absurd rules from a backward era. I respect anyone who is trying to figure out what the past can tell us about the present and maybe the future, no matter what their stylistic and titular eccentricities.

I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Penguin Random House via Netgalley.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book came at the perfect time for me as I set out for a year of teaching all juniors (and American lit) for the first time. I've been rethinking how I approach this course, and this has provided a wealth of information and potential questions for me and my students.

I've never been a proponent of the "canon" since, let's face it, a lot of the books in it are boring and irrelevant to the students in front of us. Sure, some of them are paragons of excellent writing, but aren't other books just as worthy? McHugh's book looks outside what we would consider the traditional literary canon to bestselling nonfiction pieces, a canon of public consensus. Some of these books are ones that seem unbiased and without agenda, but McHugh describes the historical context surrounding these texts, as well as the morals and qualities of Americanness that these books project into society, advertently or inadvertently. Books like Noah Webster's Dictionary to Betty Crocker's Cook Book all carry with them a message of what it means to be American.

If you're a history or literature buff, this one is for you! You'll be even more convinced that everything published in America will teach you something about being an American, for better or worse.

[Nancy]

One of the books in our library is my mother-in-law's copy of Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book. The volume show the stains and wear of fifty-nine years of hard use.

Laura prided herself on her abilities in the kitchen, especially as a baker of cookies and pies. Any family gathering she would have two pies to choose from, served a few hours after a big dinner.

After reading the chapter on the Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book in Americanon, I took the cook book from the shelf and discovered Laura had a first edition!

The Picture Cook Book would have saved me loads of trouble as I learned to cook. Everything a new cook needed to know could be found in these pages, starting with the basics of measuring.

Jess McHugh writes that Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book was only outsold by the Bible, earning it a place in her list of books that form the American Canon, books that formed American's identity while enforcing the status quo of the white, European, upper class.

Betty Crocker was a fictional creation used to sell products and educate homemakers, but she became a friend in need to millions of her fans who wrote her revelatory letters. Her advice aided women through depressions and war rationing. And she promoted General Mills products, such as Bisquick, which was always in my mom's kitchen.

Other books in the 'canon' were as ubiquitous in American homes, inspiring and informing readers. The people who wrote these books did not always live in alignment with what they preached. The values Americans discovered in the books were traditional, not progressive. Women were domestic goddesses, immigrants were to be Americanized, LGBTQ were sick criminals, and people of color were ignored, marginalized, or downright thrust into racist stereotypes.

The most modern popular books are the self-help books that sell a kind of religion of the self, proposing that it is in our power to be healthy, wealthy, and happy. (Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography had a heavy dose of such advice, as well.) The authors of these books had personal hobby-horses to promote. Many were unqualified to give medical, sexual, financial, or mental health advice.

The language we speak and the spelling we use, our agreed upon social interactions, even our sexual life, have been based upon these books. For better, and often definitely for worse, they formed our national identity and character.

I received a free galley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

[Mal Warwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

You’re certain to have come across at least one of the thirteen books highlighted in Americanon. In fact, you may well have read several of them, and few if any will be unfamiliar. From The Old Farmer’s Almanac (1792) and Webster’s Dictionary (1828) to How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936) and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989), McHugh has selected “nonfiction how-to books that have consistently sold the most and influenced the greatest number of people throughout history.” In short, these bestsellers helped define American values.

An academic scholar of cultural history might approach this subject from a different perspective. Noting the context. Summarizing the substance. And assessing the impact of these books. Author Jess McHugh covers all that territory but goes further than academics are wont to go. She reveals the subtext as well. “These how-to books taught people certain skills,” she writes, “all while delivering messages about American beliefs, encoding everything from individualism and self-reliance to meritocracy and personal freedom.” She credits the authors with seminal roles in defining American values and shaping the American character. “Noah Webster and Dale Carnegie wrote our national story just as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson did.”
children,” so the number of the books’ readers was far greater than 130 million. Image: Britannica

White, Protestant, and middle-class

For many of the authors McHugh profiles, “writing our national story” was a conscious effort. That was certainly the case for Noah Webster (1758-1843). “Webster longed to codify national identity, to create a single, galvanizing definition of ‘American.’ . . . In writing a dictionary that many Americans now refer to as simply the dictionary, he hoped to give them a blueprint for a shared culture.” These thirteen books, McHugh writes, “were dictionaries, school primers, cookbooks, how-to-guides, and self-help manuals—spanning the full range of our 245-year history—many of which sold tens of millions of copies, setting out specific archetypes for the ideal American, from the self-made entrepreneur to the devoted homemaker or the humble farmer.” Taken together, these archetypes define American values.

Intentionally or not, this was no less true of latter-day authors such as Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), Louise Hay (1926-2017), Stephen Covey (1932-2012), and David Reuben (1933-), as it was of Noah Webster. “Their stories—which have become ‘our’ stories—are a reflection of the idiosyncratic, sometimes visionary, and always flawed people who wrote them.” And McHugh portrays the often fascinating lives of the people behind those stories in telling detail.

Mythical retellings of the American story

Most of the books profiled in McHugh’s account are grounded in a conception of the ideal American as white, Protestant, middle-class, US-born, and male. She is critical of this archetype. She concludes, “The darkest chapters of our history show up only as subtext in the books featured in these chapters precisely because their violence is incompatible with the story that the United States is telling about itself . . . [T]hese books are not straightforward accounts of the United States but rather constant, mythical retellings, told and retold to the point of feeling like truth.” Again and again, she brings a contemporary sensibility about our country’s history into her account. Hers is a tale that recognizes the central role of slavery, the genocide of Native Americans, and institutionalized poverty that run throughout America’s national story.

About the author

Jess McHugh describes herself on her website as “a writer, editor, and researcher who has reported from North and South America, Europe, the Caribbean, and West Africa covering culture, politics, history, and identity.” A former staff reporter at Time Inc. and International Business Times, McHugh has been widely published in magazines and literary journals. She is bilingual in French and divides her time between New York City and Paris. Americanon is her first book.

[Bookworm · Rating 2 out of 5]

As book bannings, censorship, etc. are once again in the news, this timely read came through my library holds and I was curious as to what books shaped the United States as it is today. A mix of guide books, self-help and the like, the author McHugh takes the reader though their histories, the backstories of their authors, the impacts of these books on the readers and more. Some might not be a surprise, others might not be so obvious.

I guess I wasn't sure what to expect. I wouldn't have thought something like Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book would have made the cut, but in a way it's a little less about the books themselves and more about who wrote them, what were the influences that went into them and how they would come to influence readers.

I'm not sure how well the author makes the case. I do agree that the books are not particularly diverse, and perhaps reflect the United States in ways that maybe aren't expected or even welcome, but all the same I also wasn't sure what the author was trying to say. It felt like a very wordy book that would have been better if it had been cut shorter and been published as a magazine longread like a series in the Sunday paper.

I think it'd be interesting if the author did a sequel of sorts looking at other books that reflect the nation's history differently in classics or familiar titles like 'To Kill a Mockingbird' or 'The Autobiography of Malcolm X' or at least something showing a wider range in the types of books.

Probably of interest to people who like books about books and want to know how literature is shaped by the writers that produce certain works but ultimately I somewhat have to shrug at the concept. Library borrow was definitely best for me but if you're looking for a specific work or are examining US literature/writing, etc. it might make for a good buy as a reference.

Otherwise it's probably available at your local library.

[Matthew Budman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A marvelous premise for a book: looking to 250 years of massive nonfiction bestsellers to see how millions of Americans learned to be, well, American. McHugh shows us the backstory behind books by Benjamin Franklin, Catherine Beecher, Dale Carnegie, "Betty Crocker," and more, exploring their legacies and staying power. Her research is thorough and her writing clean; Americanon is extremely readable, with useful insights popping up regularly.

Granted, considering that most of the books appeared among other, similar titles (Beecher's A Treatise on Domestic Economy was one of many such guides published in the mid-19th century), there's less context than there could be—both societal and publishing. This absence becomes clearer late in the book, when McHugh puts such modern titles as The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex in context by discussing them alongside other bestsellers on the same topics. Etiquette made Emily Post a household name, but surely other 1920s etiquette books had some impact on Americans' attitudes as well. But in a way, it's OK that plenty of questions remain—one can view Americanon as a jumping-off point for further reading.

UPDATE: I read Louis Menand's New Yorker review of the book . . . and it convinced me that Americanon has serious structural flaws that I hadn't really considered. So I'm dropping my star rating from four to three.

[M. Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting idea--an intellectual history through best-selling books, but it's not well done. It begins with the title, which is clever, but which she keeps using in the book as if she thinks it's a term we're going to continue to use. The subtitle references thirteen books, but there are only ten chapters; I guess she's counting Noah Webster's speller and dictionary separately, and there are a couple of self-help books highlighted in a hodge-podge chapter at the end. Honestly, some of the selections seems fairly random. The history is sketchy and superficial, while the overall tone is condescending trendy anachronism.

[Betsie Bush · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a close look at the history of something very specific and its effects on culture/society.

There was only one book here that I did not recognize. I haven't read most of them either, but I am well aware of their content or a bit of their impact. I appreciated the chronological order of the books and their relationship to society at that moment in history.

[Casey O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Immediately knew I would like this. So thoughtfully written. Such a fun way to explore American history and how books shape culture and beliefs (in both good and bad ways).
Fav chapters: farmer’s almanac, Webster dictionary, Betty Crocker (I’m shocked), surviving the 80s.

[Sougeitu · Rating 3 out of 5]

真的忍不住想吐槽翻譯版標題，好好把標題翻譯成《意料之外的13本改變美國的書》之類的行嗎……本書的方方面面乃至每五行內容都會強調一下這是有關於美國精神與文化以及民眾自我認知之形成的相關探討，跟所謂的「世界文化」完全沒有關係。倒不如說如果標題是這樣的話真的很容易讓人產生誤解啊orz

拋開翻譯版標題不說（大概率是出版社編輯的問題），本書的內容提供了一個非常有趣的目錄學以及自我哲學視角，看過這本書之後可以一定程度上改變對於工具書這一類別書籍的看法，十分有趣，值得一讀。

[Erin Bomboy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Americanon unpacks the various tracts that have helped Americans become American. Obvious choices abound, such as Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, which not only promoted capitalistic adages such as thrift and hard work but also inspired other authors on the list. Dale Carnegie falls into that category with his How to Win Friends and Influence People, which made likability into a national pastime.

The book gets a bit jumbled at the end as author Jess McHugh tries to cram a decade of self-help and business books into a chapter. Two things stand out, regardless. First, most of the people writing the books didn’t follow their own advice (Catharine Beecher Stowe and Emily Post come to mind). Second, these canons contained overt and covert calls to protect white, straight values, thus reinforcing racism, sexism, and anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes.

While this was an interesting read for the way it layered American values of bootstrapping and self-improvement on top of each other, I do wish McHugh wrote with more color and wit. It often sounded like a paper that had been awarded a book deal.

[Sheri Gulde · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong 4.5 rating.

[Susanne Gulde · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the concept of this book, and thought it was well done and very interesting.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting Perspective

Appreciated the perspective offered on American culture and sense of self through the narrative framework of the books the defined us

[Barb Middleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A unique look at best selling books and their influence on history. I thought parts were long winded but I liked the author’s analysis.

[Charlotte Tressler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Americanon is a fascinating and entertaining read. I usually divide my reading into non-fiction over morning tea and fiction at bedtime, but this book fully occupied both time slots and filled them well. The writing is engaging, the topics are multi-faceted and surprisingly interconnected, and I was left wanting to further explore some of the titles examined in the book, Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in particular. (I tried listening to an audio version of The 7 Habits many years ago and returned it to the library unfinished, but might check out a print version to take a more academic, rather than personal, look at it.)
I would recommend this book for anyone who's interested in American history, sociology, or society in general.

[Emily Clasper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating. Explains so much...

[Thomas Beard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The focus of this book is on the nonfiction, mostly self-help books and life guides, that have directed the formation of the American mindset. From books I read in formative years, like Ben Franklin's Autobiography, to ones I'd never heard of until I read this, McHugh does a great job examining the lives of these authors, the tension between those lives and the messages they tried to send in their books, and the role of self-help in society. She knocks it out of the park.

[James (JD) Dittes · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a high school American literature teacher, I have spent many hours over the course of my career thinking about the word, "canon." At its most simple, canon is a shelf of books that are agreed-upon embodiments of culture and heritage. And unlike biblical canon, which has maintained the same 66 books for the last 1700 years, the American canon is dynamic from the high school through the graduate level: which titles stay? which should be added? are there too many dead white men? what about Native authors? The debate goes on and on.

And for some reason, the canon that I have discussed ad nauseum though the years has always been focused on works of fiction.

Jess McHugh adds a clever end-around to this constant debate with her book, Americanon, interweaving the histories of resource/nonfiction titles into the story of American culture. The fact that these titles sold many times the number of copies of, say, The Great Gatsby or The Last of the Mohicans is one of many facts McHugh uses to construct her alternative history of American culture.

The titles she highlights include
The Old Farmer's Almanac
Noah Webster's speller and dictionary
the McGuffey Reader
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
two 19th-century books on home economics by Claire Beecher
Emily Post's Etiquette
How to Win Friends and Influence People
the post-WW2 Betty Crocker picture cookbook
Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex*, and
The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People

Working her way chronologically through American history, McHugh uses the texts to show emerging forms of identity: the evolution of the role of women in the home, the recurring theme of aspiration and self-improvement, and the protestant-moralistic underpinnings of American culture, which she traces from the 1790s through the 1990s.

In her examination of the books, McHugh illustrates their role in history and includes interviews with scholars and editors and reinforce each book's legacy. Her reporting is comprehensive, and her analysis is consistent and leads to an illuminating conclusion in the epilogue.

While I have read from four or five of the titles, one element that I felt was missing from the galley I read (so generously provided by NetGalley and Dutton Books in an exchange for an honest review) was examples of actual text (and textual analysis) from the books themselves. This might enhance readers' appreciation of the "thirteen bestselling books" and save them a trip to the dustier shelves of their local library.

Ultimately the idea of a "canon" is illusory, but Jess McHugh has done American readers a great service by returning hugely influential resource texts to the canonical discussion.

[Brenden Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best ways to ensure that you are writing a fresh and thoughtful history is to find a unique way into well-trod territory. Jess McHugh demonstrates this brilliantly with her excellent book "Americanon: An Unexpected U.S. History in Thirteen Bestselling Books."

McHugh takes the reader through American History via the vehicle of the best-selling self-help books in American History. She argues persuasively that not only do these books provide instruction in particular areas of life like business, sex, cooking, or agriculture, but they also establish what is "normal" in American culture and perpetuate the often insidious foundational myths of American society.

It is fairly easy to see how books like "How to Win Friends and Influence People" or "A Handbook to American Womanhood" served to perpetuate the values of capitalist patriarchy, but the most fascinating chapters take on cookbooks, etiquette guides, or children's textbooks and force them under the same lens.

The argument at the heart of "Americanon," that the self-help or how-to book has been one of the most central texts in establishing and grounding the American empire and all the racial, gender, and social bigotry that comes with it, is a compelling one. The even more provocative assertion that these books are created and popularized by in-groups to either alienate or subsume out-groups is equally well-argued and even more interesting. The self-help book, it turns out is a tool capitalist and imperial indoctination.

In addition to providing a fun and compelling journey through history, McHugh also asks the reader to look at our current moment and to notice how books like "The Four Hour Work Week" or "Girl, Wash Your Face" speak to many of the same narratives established centuries ago. She invites us to think about how articles about the morning routines of successful celebrities or the sale of high-end juices perpetuate that myth that success under capitalism is attainable if you try a little harder and that you are always one life hack away from your wildest dreams.

With "Americanon," Jess McHugh has authored a provocative and thoughtful history that does what any great historical text ought to do: prompt us to contemplate how we got here by offering a thoroughly engaging account of where we've been.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, I actually read books … about books. And this is one of my favorites on the subject. Jess McHugh explores the backstory of 13 nonfiction best-sellers — from dictionary and school primer to cookbook and self-help manual — that arguably are among the most influential in American history.
What these books have in common, McHugh shows, is the celebration of a mythical America that esteems such qualities as individualism, self-improvement, work ethic and positive thinking. Most of the authors seek to reinforce a “traditional” country that isn’t keen to embrace feminism or civil rights or gay rights.
Among the nuggets for me: I did not know that Webster of dictionary fame was a born-again Christian nationalist who saw dialects and foreign languages as corrupting influences. Or that the author of the Sixties’ most popular sex manual was a homophobe.
Perhaps the most remarkable chapter is the one on “Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book,” first published in 1950. Women across the country sent hundreds of letters each day to “Betty Crocker,” a woman who in fact did not exist.
Inexplicably, nowhere in this book does the author actually list the 13 books that make up her “Americanon.” The list below is my own distillation. Aside from an occasional passage in an almanac or dictionary, I have not actually read any of the books listed here. Have you?

AMERICANON
“The Old Farmer’s Almanac” (1792-present)
Webster’s Speller (1783)
“The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin” (1793)
Webster’s Dictionary (1828)
The McGuffey Readers (1836-37)
“A Treatise on Domestic Economy” by Catherine Beecher (1841)
“The American Women’s Home” by Catherine Beecher (1869)
“Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home” by Emily Post (1922)
“How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie (1936)
“Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book” (1950)
“Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)” by David Reuben (1969)
“You Can Heal Your Life” by Louise Hay (1984)
“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey (1989)

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-4 stars. Placing these books in their larger cultural and historical context and examining the motivations behind their writing, the audience reception, and their influence was often fascinating: solid and interesting (for example, I had no idea Webster’s goal was to establish an American language, distinct from British English and taught without reference to British monarchism at a time when new Americans were still more loyal to their states than to the federal union) with an intriguing and balanced analysis

My only real qualm is the title, honestly. McHugh is clear from the outset and throughout all the chapters that these books reflect a very narrow voice of privilege attempting to define the ideal American — providing blueprints for American values — as white, US-born, Protestant, and either male or supporting such males in a non-paid position. “Americanon is as much about what is left out and repressed in these books as what is in them.” “We have a white, mostly male canon of bestsellers because privilege serves as an echo chamber in which only certain voices emerge.” McHugh quotes Adichie’s “danger is a single story,” that when we have only one definition of what it means to be American, everyone suffers, not just minorities. So this is the canon of one slice — albeit a dominant one — of America, whereas American is something far more diverse and multifaceted. To title the collection "Americanon" without an additional qualifier seems to reify the primacy of this narrower voice and undermine a lot of McHugh’s actual arguments. So the title (and repetition of it throughout the book) irks.

Apart from that peeve as I read it, though, this was really interesting.

[Cheryle · Rating 4 out of 5]

What does it take to be a good American? And who gets to decide? Journalist Jess McHugh examines thirteen seemingly innocuous, mega-bestselling reference books, guidebooks, and self-help books that have become blueprints for core American values and shaped our national story.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, The Old Farmer’s Almanac, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language, Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book: These are a few examples of American “bibles.” They are reference books for daily life that ostensibly taught readers one subject, all while instructing them about their role in society and their responsibilities to family and to country. These are dictionaries, school primers, cookbooks, and how-to guides, spanning the full range of our 245-year history, which sold tens of millions of copies and set out specific archetypes for the ideal American, from the self-made entrepreneur to the devoted homemaker to the humble farmer.

Taken together, these books help us understand how a powerful minority successfully constructed meaning for the majority in times of change or upheaval. Americanon looks at how these ubiquitous texts have molded common language, culture, and customs—attempting to impose a single definition of American on a diverse nation.

Deeply researched and gorgeously told, Americanon is a brilliant and curious history of American mythmaking. Jess McHugh brings alive a cast of core American figures—Benjamin Franklin, Dale Carnegie, Emily Post, and more—to demystify the origins of the great American fable.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a book lover, what could be better than a book about other books? So is the story of the book "American: An Unexpected US History in Thirteen Bestselling Books" by Jess McHugh. In it, McHugh tells the story of bestselling books that have shaped and had an outsize influence on American culture. Interestingly, despite many of the books having huge impact in their day, many younger readers will have not heard of any of them, as most have passed out of our collective memory.

McHugh starts with books that were extremely popular in the 1700's, like the Old Farmer's Almanac. This book, in particular, is so fascinating because it is hard for a modern reader to put it in context. Daily life was so radically different back then, with the example that your weather forecast was literally what you could see by looking our your window. It's hard for today's reader to fathom. The book moves on to books published in the 1800's, like the McGuffey Readers (from the 1830's) that taught generations of Americans how to spell and read words. All the way up to the self-help books of the 1980's, such as Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People".

McHugh does more than just discuss the books, but she ties each book into the narrative of what it means to be an American, and our national collective mythology. It's a truly interesting and fascinating look into how these books shaped the very idea of the country, into what it is today. Great job to McHugh in writing a book that all bibliophiles will want to read!

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad I took the reccomedation and read this book. This book is your golden ticket if you love cliff notes.

What my 👂 heard ⤵️

awkward need
useful with a degree of humor
intolerance of difference
intense irrational reality of a dream
increasing tension on an often fraught relationship
your version of that tale
Facebook other people needing to know what you're up to in order for it to count
the messier truth
it's a complex web of paradoxes
we're at a time where there is less agreement than ever
I'd rather be a burnt moth than a crawling worm
I've never been quite old money enough
this is more business deal than romantic happy ending
this book is your golden ticket
it's an everything you need to know approach
make money happen
do you ever conceal your raw thoughts?
Emily post what would Emily post think whenever proper etiquette isn't on full
Lines grew blurrier
that big talk is worth doodly squat
the smell of manure and damp hey
you're borrowing on your borrowings
psychological despair
being well liked is more important then knowing what you're doing
it is a magical mixture of striving and thrift
need to find the rule while living the exception
at his hearty core his dog like affability
a long overdue call
I'm still ill at ease
I saw my whole adult life condensed into a year or two
anyone can transcend the circumstances to which they were born
it's a game of marginal gain
pray with a listening Spirit pray always

[Kaleigh Gibbons · Rating 1 out of 5]

Man, am I disappointed I spent money on a hard-back copy. This excerpt from the New Yorker (of all places!) pretty much sums it up:

"She complains that “The Old Farmer’s Almanac” embodies “a rural nostalgia [that] is often male-centric and almost exclusively white.” Of “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” she says that “the power of outside influences—generational poverty, institutional racism, or even just bad luck—is suppressed by the Carnegie vision of America.” She calls Reuben’s “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex*” homophobic, and describes it as “a violent standardizing tool, much like some of the other books in this collection, penned by an author obsessed with ridding the country of difference.” McHugh ends her discussion of every book in her canon with this criticism, and the reader comes to approach those pages with dread, knowing that the mighty hammer of diversity will soon come crashing down. This is a very predictable book."

The author frequently talks about how these books are SUPER PROBLEMATIC because the people of the past didn't somehow view their world through a 21st century lens. I feel like any reasonable and intellectually honest person should be able to read a book from the past or study a historical figure and hold two disparate ideas in their mind: we have our values of today, these people of the past didn't, but let's look at their writing and see what value we can glean.

[Sandrine Pal · Rating 3 out of 5]

What was most unexpected for me was the fact that all 13 books referenced in Americanon were non-fiction. I suppose it speaks to what a fiction junkie I am that when I read the phrase "Thirteen Bestselling Books", my brain defaults to "novels". Nevertheless, I persisted, and I must say McHugh's description of her search criteria seemed very sound once I read the introduction.

Another unexpected development is the fact that some of the authors come out smelling rosier than others. There were a few tidbits about Benjamin Franklin that really tickled my fancy, especially about his journey to France to hit up Louis the 16th for... well... louis and support. The fact that he was welcomed like a total rock star (Ben Franklin wallpaper, you guys!) is not something that we French people are taught in school. No love lost, however, for the viciously homophobic author of Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know about Sex. Yes, yes, of course, "those were different times", etc. but the man still paved the way for untold misery for so many people.

Lastly, I appreciated McHugh's perspective on American self-reliance as an expat in France. As a French person who was an expat in the US for over 20 years, her comments about the do-or-die need to be self-sufficient because help is not baked into the system really resonated with me.

3.5 stars

[Rebecca Brenner Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

narrative of American history through the lens of best-selling, nonfiction, how-to books. McHugh divides ten chapters using the following books: The Old Farmer’s Almanac; Webster’s Dictionary; Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography; McGuffey Readers; Handbook to American Womanhood; Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home; How to Win Friends and Influence People; Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook; Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex. describes them as “American ‘bibles’: those dog-eared books for daily life that ostensibly taught readers one subject, all while subtly instructing them about their role in society and their responsibilities to family and to country.” McHugh contends that “the gap between reality and the mythology that these books represent can offer a glimpse into our shifting understanding of what being American means.” readers can learn a lot about society by what nonfiction, how-to books convey, who writes them, how well they sell, and how they appear in national media, which McHugh also explores

[Ryan Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting examination of U.S. culture based on analyzing the texts that have become national phenomena. From Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography to The Merrimack-Webster dictionary to Emily Post to Betty Crocker to Stephen Covey, author Jess McHugh not only offers histories of the texts themselves and their creators, but gives historical and cultural context for the ideals that they represented, preached and reflected. She also writes with an antiracist and anti-sexist perspective, noting how these texts systematically reinforced the dominant white-male culture in myriad ways and propped up an idealized American narrative of persistent positivity, self-advancement, meritocracy and high culture that continues today. Recognizing how our personal and natural culture has been formed by the myths that these books (and others like them) instill in us can help us pull back the curtains and catch glimpses of the machinations underpinning our collective understanding of American identity.

[Chris Jaffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an interesting idea: take a bunch of best selling books and see what that says about American culture and how it's changed over time. McHugh looks at the Old Farmer's Almanac, Ben Franklin's autobio, Webster's dictionary, McGuffey's readers, Post's etiquiette guide, Dale Carneige's "How to Win Friends and Influence People," Betty Crocker's cook book, "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex," a new age book, and Stephen Covey's best seller. Some themes emerge: optimism, looking for practical results, a belief in one's self, and an overall individual ethos. Things change a little bit over time, as Carneiege specifically downplays hardwork and especially notes getting along with others - which notes a vital shift to America's more white-collar, corporate workforce. There is a sense of it's all being a little too similar, and I wondered if McHugh should've broadened his horizons on what sorts of books to examine. It was fairly well done, though.