
The Least We Can Do
White Supremacy, Free Speech, and Independent Bookstores
Josh Cook(Author)
Biblioasis (Publisher)
Published on 28. October 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
48 pages
978-1-77196-465-4 (ISBN)
Description
"A bookseller is the being who is most aware of the futility of a book, and of its importance."-Hector Yanover
Like most of our cultural institutions and workers, bookshops and booksellers have worked hard in the last few years to respond to political and social issues in our society. They've formed committees and hosted panels, held training sessions and had difficult conversations in both their private and professional lives. Yet books by White supremacists, fascists, misogynists, and other dangerous ideologues are bought and sold in independent bookshops across North America every day. What are the economic, social, and moral consequences of stocking and selling these titles? In The Least We Can Do, Josh Cook, bookseller at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, takes up these questions and more, embarking on an urgent and insightful reckoning with critical issues around freedom of expression, public discourse, industry ethics, and moral culpability.
The first in a new series of pamphlets to be published by booksellers, for booksellers and those invested in bookstores and book culture, The Least We Can Do is a call to action and the beginning of an essential conversation.
Like most of our cultural institutions and workers, bookshops and booksellers have worked hard in the last few years to respond to political and social issues in our society. They've formed committees and hosted panels, held training sessions and had difficult conversations in both their private and professional lives. Yet books by White supremacists, fascists, misogynists, and other dangerous ideologues are bought and sold in independent bookshops across North America every day. What are the economic, social, and moral consequences of stocking and selling these titles? In The Least We Can Do, Josh Cook, bookseller at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, takes up these questions and more, embarking on an urgent and insightful reckoning with critical issues around freedom of expression, public discourse, industry ethics, and moral culpability.
The first in a new series of pamphlets to be published by booksellers, for booksellers and those invested in bookstores and book culture, The Least We Can Do is a call to action and the beginning of an essential conversation.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Emeryville
Canada
Product notice
Saddle-stitched
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 208 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Weight
68 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-77196-465-4 (9781771964654)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Josh Cook is a bookseller at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he has worked since 2004. He is also author of the critically acclaimed postmodern detective novel An Exaggerated Murder and his fiction, criticism, and poetry have appeared in numerous leading literary publications. He grew up in Lewiston, Maine and lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.