Fellow Broads, please gather ‘round, as we are about to embark on a new journey together. As you may recall, I recently made a project of exploring the top summer bestsellers of nearly every decade that the New York Times bestsellers list has existed, stopping only when I got too close to the present day to have appropriate perspective/for it to be particularly diverting. (For ease of use, please find: the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, ‘80s, ‘90s, and the first decade of the current century.)
But we’re done with fiction now. Toss those novels in the trash! (Or, you know, donate them gently.) Please join me as we move into a place far wilder and woolier: the nonfiction bestsellers. This is likely gonna get weird. For no real reason other than my personal whims, we’re starting with the 1980s — a decade for which I was both alive and sentient, but also in elementary school so hopefully I haven’t actually read too many of these. As a reminder, methodologically speaking, I consider “s…