Also aligns with all the author quitting/frustrated posts I have been seeing lately, along with literacy rates. I just saw a great post by @theharlemhistorian on the clock app about the death of long form literacy riffing from a recent Harvard prof comments on a podcast. Worth a look.

I have heard the move toward large sizes like women's lit land increasing costs (from 8 bucks to fifteen) also be implicated, so I think this is a good take. I bought many a historical at the grocery store over the years.

Thank you! I agree historical romance is an incredible way to engage with history and learn about what has been before.

Coupled with a flood of books available that are not as rigorously edited or maybe be AI slop, and that can easily turn off newer readers.

I have been thinking a lot about the idea of reading losing ground. Do you think it's social media's influence? I heard a take the other day about the tropification of publishing that has maybe reduced the quality of writing along with the pressure to meet reader demands for instant gratification.

I think growing pains...but I am always going to read histrom.

I too am tired by so many Dukes. I much prefer the mere Misters of Regencies. I love the Boston test, never heard that before!

Male dress during this century also transformed. The flamboyance of the Regency period faded into the somber attire of men who "wanted to appear as grave and serious as the banks and factories they owned." This was the birth of the lounge suit, a progenitor of the business suit.