Yes, it is certainly our own frantic pace that makes us such a poor audience for much of what was once popular. However, big books still sell, even old big books -- Dickens, for example. And as Tim points out, we can still find time for Shakespeare and a few others. Still, I think Howe is right that our limited attention span cuts us off from much of the literature of the past.
Now another angle on this: A critic is at least as hurried as any other reader, and usually more hurried, but a conscientious critic isn't likely to slam a book merely because it moves slowly. The general audience, on the other hand, won't hesitate to put it aside if it can't be read on a single plane flight. I recently reviewed a book-length poem on the Shackleton expedition of 1914, and I recommended it heartily even though I know that even the few people who buy any poetry at all are unlikely to want to read that much on events that obscure. Maybe this is one way that critics are more or less inherently out of step with their readers.
Richard
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