Features more than 300 vintage book advertisements-- startling and strange, beautiful and funny-- that together reveal a kind of secret history of American literature over the last century.

Franklin Publications, or Franklin Book Programs, was started in 1953 as a form of cultural diplomacy. Until it folded in the 1970s, Franklin translated, printed, and distributed American books around the world, with offices in Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Although it was a private firm, Franklin received funding from the United States Information Agency. This was an ambitious and idealistic postwar effort that ultimately...