Middlemen

Name: Middlemen
Price: 54.99 AUD
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ISBN: 9780691256160

Literary Agents and the Making of American Fiction

Laura B. McGrath

$54.99

Hardback

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English

Princeton University Press
28 April 2026

Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers; Cultural studies; Media studies; Business studies: general; Publishing industry

A revealing account of how agents have shaped book publishing and the literary canon from the 1950s to today.

Middlemen rewrites literary history from the perspective of one of its most important but least visible figures: the literary agent. Chronicling the story of agents in the United States from the 1950s to today, Laura McGrath uncovers their critical role in the making of American literature. From the famed three-martini lunch to the Frankfurt Book Fair, Middlemen takes readers behind the scenes to show how agents influence what we read. Along the way, it explains why many debut novelists never publish another book, why agents champion short story collections even though they sell poorly, how agents advocate for writers of colour in a system that values whiteness, and why there are so many New York novels.

Weaving together original archival research, data analysis, and interviews with scores of agents and other publishing professionals, Middlemen demonstrates that agents

eighty percent of whom are in fact women

are much more than 'middlemen'. As intermediaries between author and publisher, agents act as advocates, matchmakers, negotiators, and tastemakers, and they must balance artistic values with the commercial imperatives of publishing conglomerates. The book describes the decisive role agents have played in celebrated novels

from Jack Kerouac's On the Road to Colson Whitehead's The Intuitionist

but also in the creation of entire literary categories like the debut novel, the story collection, postmodernism, multiethnic fiction, and world literature.

Featuring profiles of agents past and present such as Sterling Lord, Lynn Nesbit, Candida Donadio, Marie Brown, and Andrew Wylie, along with perspectives from agents at all stages of their careers, Middlemen is an entertaining and eye-opening account of how literary fiction

and the literary canon

is made.

By: Laura B. McGrath
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780691256160
ISBN 10: 0691256160
Pages: 296
Publication Date: 28 April 2026
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Laura B. McGrath is assistant professor of English at Temple University. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Nation, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Reviews for Middlemen: Literary Agents and the Making of American Fiction

""Drawing on archival sources, input from more than 75 agents (including several of the most influential in the field), trade and industry publications, biographies, and memoirs, McGrath offers insights into the strategies, values, and relationships that shape an agent’s work. . . . A fresh, well-researched debut."" * Kirkus Reviews *