Radical Bookstore

Counterspace for Social Movements

English language

Published Oct. 27, 2021 by University of Minnesota Press.

ISBN:
978-1-5179-0918-5
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Examines how radical bookstores and similar spaces serve as launching pads for social movements

How does social change happen? It requires an identified problem, an impassioned and committed group, a catalyst, and a plan. In this deeply researched consideration of seventy-seven stores and establishments, Kimberley Kinder argues that activists also need autonomous space for organizing, and that these spaces are made, not found. She explores the remarkably enduring presence of radical bookstores in America and how they provide infrastructure for organizing—gathering places, retail offerings that draw new people into what she calls “counterspaces.”

Kinder focuses on brick-and-mortar venues where owners approach their businesses primarily as social movement tools. These may be bookstores, infoshops, libraries, knowledge cafes, community centers, publishing collectives, thrift stores, or art installations. They are run by activist-entrepreneurs who create centers for organizing and selling books to pay the rent. These spaces allow radical and contentious ideas to …

4 editions

Subjects

  • Sociology
  • Bookstore
  • Bookshop
  • Organizing
  • Counterculture
  • Activism

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