Over the past half-century, bookselling, like many retail industries, has evolved from an arena dominated by independent bookstores to one in which chain stores have significant market share. And as in other areas of retail, this transformation has often been a less-than-smooth process. This has been especially pronounced in bookselling, argues Laura J. Miller, because more than most other consumer goods, books are the focus of passionate debate. What drives that debate? And why do so many people believe that bookselling should be immune to questions of profit? In Reluctant Capitalists, Miller looks at a century of book retailing, demonstrating that the independent/chain dynamic is not entirely new. It began one hundred years ago when department stores began selling books, continued through the 1960s with the emergence of national chain stores, and exploded with the formation of “superstores” in the 1990s. The advent of the Internet has further spurred tremendous changes in how booksellers approach their business. All of these changes have met resistance from book professionals and readers who believe that the book business should somehow be “above” market forces and instead embrace more noble priorities. Miller uses interviews with bookstore customers and members of the book industry to explain why books evoke such distinct and heated reactions. She reveals why customers have such fierce loyalty to certain bookstores and why they identify so strongly with different types of books. In the process, she also teases out the meanings of retailing and consumption in American culture at large, underscoring her point that any type of consumer behavior is inevitably political, with consequences for communities as well as commercial institutions.

Vel Miletich, Parnelli Jones, and their Vel’s Parnelli Jones (VPJ) Racing team of drivers, engineers, designers, fabricators and mechanics dominated the American automobile racing scene of the 1970s from Jones’s humble early career, to the pinnacle of motorsports: back to-back Indianapolis 500 race wins and three consecutive United States Auto Club National Championships. The name “Parnelli Jones” is synonymous with the sport of auto racing. Best known as the winning entrant at Indianapolis with Al Unser and the Johnny Lightning Specials in 1970 and 1971, the Vel Miletich/Parnelli Jones team eventually encompassed several different disciplines of motorsport. In addition to running what was then the USAC National Championship circuit, they were also fielding cars in USAC Silver Crown dirt track events, Formula 5000 events on road courses, NHRA drag racing, off-road racing and even Formula One. When the opportunity arose in 2012 for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Foundation to acquire many of the cars from the beautifully preserved Vel/Parnelli collection, the Foundation board members had no hesitation with making that acquisition. Although these cars are ideally viewed in person at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum, the pages of this book will certainly whet one’s appetite for this most amazing collection.

In October 1892 the notorious Dalton gang concluded their days of outlawry at Coffeyville, Kansas, with a bold attempt to rob two banks at once in broad daylight. The raiders--Bob, Grat, and Emmett Dalton, Bill Powers, and Dick Broadwell--were nothing more than common hoodlums, says author Robert Barr Smith. The real heroes of the day were the townspeople, who spontaneously turned out in haste and in force to dispatch the outlaws in a bloody downtown shoot-out. Smith sorts out the truth from the legends and suggests answers to some of the perplexing questions about the Coffeyville fight--including whether or not there was a sixth man who got away. In addition, Smith recounts the violent aftermath of the fight: the trial and later life of Emmett Dalton, the only outlaw to survive the raid; and the bloody ends of the Dalton gang’s successors, Bill Doolin and Bill Dalton.