Boston Independent Activist Publishing: A History

 Part of my interest in starting this old-school blog was getting myself to type out things I was considering and research I found, as if to keep me on track toward... something. I'm still not sure what the result will be, if anything. One idea I'm considering is some kind of heady mix of neighborhood history (South End in Boston), publishing history (the South End Press), and personal narrative, thinking through urban studies ideas around gentrification, transportation changes, the history of the political left in this country, and more. Would anyone care? I could see mixing chapters on the neighborhood, but perhaps in first person rather than a more dry history, along with chapters focusing on important publications from the South End Press, with context around each book's publication with also a sense of its impact and legacy.  Part of me wonders if a book like this could be useful as we think about place and grounding ourselves, and how to face overwhelming politics. Ar...

 Earlier this year, Ceci Browning wrote a piece for the Times of London headlined,  There’s a crisis in non-fiction book sales. What’s to blame? Facts were facts, including this: " according to Nielsen, sales of non-fiction books in 2025 were down 6 per cent compared with 2024. It was the lowest yearly total since 2017, the sorry end point of years of painfully consistent decline. "  The article gets into some reasons for this, explaining that commercial presses are unwilling to take risks on authors without big platforms. Fine, and this is something indie presses may be more willing to work around, and actually help establish a platform. But a conversation I'm having and hearing more is that no one wants to read depressing political books when our everyday politics is infuriating. It's not even infuriating for those of us on the left now; it's depressing, in that everything awful is a fait accompli. We have a fascist president who continues to enjoy widespread ap...