The Radical Bookstore: Counterspace for Social Movements

Kinder, Kimberley

ISBN 10: 151790918X / ISBN 13: 9781517909185

Published by University of Minnesota Press, 2021

Acceptable/Fair condition. Book is worn, but the pages are complete, and the text is legible. Has wear to binding and pages, may be ex-library. 1.11. Seller Inventory # 353-151790918X-acp

Synopsis:

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 be explored and percolate through to actual social movements, and serve as crucibles for activists to challenge capitalism, imperialism, white privilege, patriarchy, and homophobia. They also exist within a central paradox: participating in the marketplace creates tensions, contradictions, and shortfalls. Activist retail does not end capitalism; collective ownership does not enable a retreat from civic requirements like zoning; and donations, no matter how generous, do not offset the enormous power of corporations and governments. 

In this timely and relevant book, Kinder presents a necessary, novel, and apt analysis of the role these retail spaces play in radical organizing, one that demonstrates how such durable hubs manage to persist, often for decades, between the spikes of public protest. 

About the Author:

Kimberley Kinder is associate professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan. She is author of DIY Detroit: Making Do in a City without Services (Minnesota, 2016) and The Politics of Urban Water: Changing Waterscapes in Amsterdam.

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Radical Bookstore: Counterspace for ...
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Publication Date: 2021
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Fair