When advertising copywriter Harry Scherman founded the Book-of-the-Month Club in 1926, he could hardly have predicted the lasting impact his company would have on the literary and cultural tastes of future generations. The Book-of-the-Month Club (BOMC) developed over time into a cultural artifact of the twentieth century, considered by many to be a formative element of "middlebrow" culture. With the monthly arrival of a book endorsed by a panel of experts, aspirants to middle-class learnedness could be kept abreast of literary trends through the convenience of mail order. The success of this unique approach to book marketing is evidenced by the fact that membership had grown to over one million by the end of the twentieth century.

Born in Montreal, Canada, in 1887, Harry Scherman was a highly resourceful marketer and a devout reader. He believed that the love of reading and of owning books could be effectively...