The Making of Jane Austen by Devoney Looser

The Making of Jane Austen
Devoney Looser
5/5 stars

In this nonfiction book, Looser shows what influenced Austen's popularity down through the years. Her main point is that Austen's reputation has "shifted with the times and with the needs and desires" of the various audiences, from Suffragettes to modern cosplayers, from gentlemen's club members to National Lampoon readers.

This is not a quick read; it is an intellectual study that requires thought to both consume and digest the material.  (I would compare it to a college textbook.)  Janeites expecting a brief pop culture look at Austen fans will not find it here.  What the reader will find, though, is an exhaustively researched, well noted and documented, look at the history of Austen's popularity.  I recommend this work highly, but only to the serious, scholarly reader.