history of genre trends

[rookie37]

I'm trying to research genre popularity

I'm particularly interested in personal development and how it gets a stronger demand after a hard time

Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friend and Influence People (15 million sold) was released during The Great Depression. Napoleon Hill's book of Think and Grow Rich (30 million sold) was also from that era

Normal Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking (40 million sold) came out at the height of the cold war.

I'm looking for other things like that.
I think many self help books were release after Viet Nam but I'm not sure.

Anybody know where I can find out? Is there a genre history of popularity somewhere?

[mammamaia]

have you asked google?

[zaphod]

I dunno but I can give you the opposite side of the coin-the 1990s

When I was a kid I can sort of recall how big time trashy talk show TV like Donohue, Jerry Springer, Geraldo, even Oprah was. That and stuff that pushed the boundaries like Beavis and Butthead and South Park.