After the Common Bookshelf
What Was Lost, What Was Gained, and Why the Age of Shared Reading May Never Return An Odyssey in 4 parts - PART IV of IV "Every cultural revolution enlarges some freedoms while diminishing others. The disappearance of the common bookshelf is no exception." The Danger of Nostalgia Every generation is tempted to believe that its own cultural world represented a golden age. Historians know better. Every age gains something. Every age loses something. The common bookshelf should therefore be remembered neither sentimentally nor dismissively. It was not an idyllic world. Nor was it merely a relic of colonial hangover. It was a remarkable historical arrangement that solved one problem exceptionally well while creating others. Understanding both sides is essential. What the Common Bookshelf Achieved Its greatest achievement was not literary. It was social. It gave millions of educated Indians—spread across dozens of languages, religions and regions—a su...