Culture Industries Archives - Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/section/culture-industries/ a magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship Sat, 17 Jan 2026 02:16:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.publicbooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cropped-favicon-2-300x300.png Culture Industries Archives - Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/section/culture-industries/ 32 32 Toward the Next Literary Mafia https://www.publicbooks.org/toward-the-next-literary-mafia/ Tue, 21 Nov 2023 16:00:51 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=53895 Those excluded from the publishing industry can ultimately overwhelm its bigotry—if they all work together.

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]]> Genre Juggernaut: Measuring “Romance” https://www.publicbooks.org/genre-juggernaut-measuring-romance/ Fri, 10 Nov 2023 16:00:11 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=54271 For its scale and internal complexity alone, the literary genre of “romance” warrants more study than it has received.

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]]> Twitter Ethics Swarm “Euphoria” https://www.publicbooks.org/twitter-ethics-swarm-euphoria/ Thu, 09 Nov 2023 16:00:08 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=54108 The most tweeted about show of the decade, “Euphoria” provoked viewers to gossip about its teenage characters. What did they say?

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]]> What’s on Top of TikTok? https://www.publicbooks.org/whats-on-top-of-tiktok/ Wed, 08 Nov 2023 16:00:43 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=54074 The videos of TikToks can easily reach billions. But because the app won’t share what’s popular, we don’t know just what the world is watching.

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]]> We Want Our Catastrophe TV https://www.publicbooks.org/we-want-our-catastrophe-tv/ Tue, 07 Nov 2023 16:00:52 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=53960 “We can ask why Squid Game was so popular. But really we should be asking how any show becomes a global success at all.”

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]]> What 35 Years of Data Can Tell Us about Who Will Win the National Book Award https://www.publicbooks.org/what-35-years-of-data-can-tell-us-about-who-will-win-the-national-book-award/ Mon, 06 Nov 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=54161 We may never know what goes on in the rooms where literary prizes are decided, but thanks to data, we know exactly who was there.

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]]> Queer Lives Are Not Side Quests https://www.publicbooks.org/queer-representation-videogames/ Fri, 14 Oct 2022 15:00:27 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=50235 If you play a videogame and you avoided or never met a particular queer character, did they exist in the game for you?

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]]> The View from the Fiction of the “New Yorker” https://www.publicbooks.org/geography-fiction-the-new-yorker/ Thu, 13 Oct 2022 15:00:02 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=50015 America’s premier literary magazine promises to offer a cosmopolitan view of the world beyond New York City. Does it deliver?

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]]> How the “New York Times” Covers Black Writers https://www.publicbooks.org/how-the-new-york-times-covers-black-writers/ Wed, 12 Oct 2022 15:00:52 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=50050 There has long been a fear that media only makes room for one Black writer at a time. But that’s always been difficult to prove—until now.

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]]> What Counts as a Bestseller? https://www.publicbooks.org/what-counts-as-a-bestseller/ Tue, 11 Oct 2022 15:00:41 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=49593 A fundamental truth about bestseller lists? They are not a neutral window into what the public is really reading.

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