Best-Selling Books by Sociologists—
A New Study
Herbert J. Gans hjg1@Columbia.edu
The March 1997 Contemporary Sociology reported my study of the 53 best-selling books written by American sociologists since World War II. I now want to update the study in two ways. First, all surviving authors on the original list are asked to email me total sales for each of their books (new book sales only, hardback and paper) as of December 2007. Authors who did not get into the 1997 list but have now sold at least 50,000 copies should do likewise. Second, authors of books published since 1980 that have sold 7,500 or more copies should also email me total sales figures. (I will not report individual sales figures but rank books in numerical categories.) For both studies, I also need names and emails of editors or publishers responsible for each book. All authors with degrees in sociology or related social sciences are eligible for inclusion as are all sociological books other than textbooks. Please participate; otherwise there will be no study. 
