Alternative Bookstores

Serving communities that are not always represented by the larger book industry, alternative bookstores have been key to disseminating information not found in more traditional media outlets. Though specialty bookstores have always existed to cater to specific communities of readers, and political publishers of every stripe have long had their own bookselling outlets, it was the postwar burgeoning of political activity combined with the mores of the modern book industry that provided an opening for the massive proliferation of “alternative” bookshops around the world.

Before World War II, publishers printed mostly hardcover editions; only a small number of paperbacks were printed, and these were commonly thought of as disposable, subpar books. The shortages of World War II and the high cost of paper made it both expedient and patriotic for publishers to print and consumers to purchase more paperback titles. This confluence meant that cheaper editions of scholarly and literary titles became available to a larger number of people, revolutionizing an industry that had previously preferred to publish in hardcover only, and reducing the stigma of the paperback book, though most stores were still somewhat reluctant to carry [Page 72]them. In addition, a new breed of literature began to take shape, rebelling against the mores of conventional society in the 1950s. New bookstores began to spring up, aided in part by the rise in new means of distribution and production and a public hungry for these and other authors not regularly carried in most bookstores. Lawrence Ferlinghetti's City Lights in San Francisco began, in part, to cater to this new audience. In 1953, it became the first paperback-only bookstore and would continue on as a nexus of cultural and political activity for decades afterward.

In the 1960s and 1970s, as social justice movements and these fledgling literary movements began to intrigue a larger reading audience, there were still few outlets available to carry their most basic tracts. Many bookstores evolved to fill this gap. Most were fly-by-night shops that lasted only a few years, offering literature and a space for progressive and radical communities to share ideas and organize. Conceived more as contributions to culture or a cause rather than strictly commercial enterprises, many of these shops functioned as salons where customers were encouraged to linger and read. The Hungry Mind Bookstore in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Missouri, both steeped in the anti-war movement, were among the longest lasting. Coming out of the civil rights struggle of the 1960s, Oakland, California's Marcus Books was among the first African American bookstores in the United States and became a meeting place for the Black Power struggles of the late 1960s and 1970s. A Different Light Bookstore in San Francisco and Amazon Bookstore Cooperative in Minneapolis were crucial in informing the growing gay liberation movement. A Room of One's Own in Madison, Wisconsin, and Women and Children First Bookstore in Chicago helped galvanize the feminist movement of the 1970s and inspired kindred booksellers across the world. The creation of these and many other stores, in turn, stimulated publishers to release more books on progressive issues and provided new authors with sympathetic readers.

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