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The most successful books of this generation include J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. The series, which follows the exciting life of orphan Harry Potter as he attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has broken all commercial-success records: More than 450 million copies of the books in sixty-seven languages had been sold by 2011. The final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was released in July 2007 and sold 13.1 million copies that year, becoming the fastest-selling book in history. Rowling’s books have received several honors, including a commendation from the Carnegie Awards and the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year award in 1999.¹ The series has also expanded across media platforms, most famously in blockbuster movies.

The series’ successes are measured not only in book sales and a new interest in reading among children and adults, but also in profitable movie franchises. And while the books inspired people to see the movies, the movies also inspired people to read books from other fantasy authors. Rowling’s successes revived interest in the older Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien (also made into movies) and C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series (spawning yet more movies). Other, more recent book series to make the leap into multimedia franchises include the Twilight saga and the Hunger Games trilogy.

The latest evidence that books still matter in a world where digital media dominate our mediascape is the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Opened in 2010, this theme park establishes the world of Rowling’s stories as a vacation destination and serves as a reminder that books—the oldest mass medium—survive because they originate some of the biggest ideas and stories that resonate even outside the mediated experience.

FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS—before newspapers, radio, and film, before television and the Internet—books were the only mass medium. Books have fueled major developments throughout human history, from revolutions and the rise of democracies to new forms of art (including poetry and fiction) and the spread of religions. When cheaper printing technologies laid the groundwork for books to become more widely available and quickly disseminated, people gained access to knowledge and ideas that previously were reserved only for the privileged few.

With the emergence of new types of mass media, some critics claimed that books would cease to exist. But so far at least, that’s not happening. In 1950, U.S. publishers introduced more than 11,000 new book titles; in 2010, that number reached more than 315,000 (see Table 2.1 on page 36). Though books have adapted to technology and cultural change (witness the advent of e-books), our oldest mass medium still plays a large role in our lives. Books remain the primary repository of history and everyday experience, passing along stories, knowledge, and wisdom from generation to generation.

In this chapter, we trace the history of this enduring medium and examine its impact on our lives today by: