"Josh Cook, a veteran bookseller and co-owner at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, writes from the front lines of the sales floor and the stockroom, dissecting how booksellers evaluate what to sell and how to sell it. From making recommendations to organizing display tables to stocking books by politicians, these seemingly granular decisions are matters of moral urgency; as Cook reminds us, 'People use books to develop their morals, support and test their belief structures, come to conclusions about the state of the world, and make voting decisions.'
"The massive systemic pressures facing bookstores are enough to make anyone feel powerless, but Cook insists that booksellers have a powerful role to play in advancing social justice and shoring up community bonds. 'Person to person, display to display, reader to reader, event to event,' he tells Esquire, 'book sales have a real opportunity to shape publishing and the world of books in a way that creates a more sustainable books ecosystem and also a more sustainable world.'” - Adrienne Westenfeld
Article: Booksellers Are Suddenly At the Vanguard of the Culture Wars
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