PowerHouse Books (stylized as powerHouse Books) is an independent publisher of art and photography books founded in 1995 by Daniel Power, in Brooklyn, with its headquarters in Industry City. PowerHouse Books is closely affiliated with Powerhouse Bookstores, a chain of independent bookstores also owned by Daniel Power, with its flagship location on the waterfront of DUMBO in The PowerHouse Arena at 28 Adams Street. Powerhouse Books also operates a children's' publishing division, "POW!" [2][3][4][5]
Publishing and other activities
Founded in 1995 by Daniel Power from his apartment on the Lower East Side, PowerHouse Books is known for its "Image Driven" publishing, particularly in street culture, popular culture, fashion, politics and fine arts. Its first best-seller was Women Before 10AM, by Veronique Vial, with a forward by Sean Penn, published in 1998. In 2011, PowerHouse published Vivian Maier: Street Photographer, which brought posthumous attention to the previously unknown photographer, including the Academy Award-nominated film Finding Vivian Maier.
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In 2006, powerHouse Books launched The PowerHouse Arena, a gallery, bookstore, and event space often used to promote artists working with the publisher. Initially located at 37 Main Street, Powerhouse Arena moved to 28 Adams Street in 2015. In 2020, PowerHouse Books opened a new location in Industry City, and moved its corporate publishing headquarters there.[10][11][12]
In 2014, PowerHouse Arena hosted a booklaunch event for "Thug Kitchen," which was criticized for racism when its anonymous authors were revealed to be a white couple living in Hollywood. Owner Daniel Power defended the event in an email to Gawker, writing, "Asserting a clever book of parody of being a ringing endorsement of racism and police brutality is not going to convince the people you need to your side. Come to the event tonight and voice your opinion, and try to convince others. You’ll be able to do that because it won’t be banned."[19][20]
War is Beautiful
In 2017, PowerHouse Books published "War Is Beautiful: The New York Times Pictoral Guide to the Glamour of Armed Conflict* (in which the author explains why he no longer reads The New York Times)," by David Shields. Shields had licensed photography from the Times to support his book's thesis that the Times over-glamorized conflict, especially the Iraq War, promoting popular support for the war and elongating the conflict. Although the photos had been properly licensed, The Times invoiced PowerHouse Books $19,000 for the book's inside back cover, which featured 64 thumbnails depicting the photos on the front page of the Times. When PowerHouse refused to pay, the Times sued to collect.
PowerHouse sued Shields for claiming that the thumbnails were covered under fair use, but defended the book, claiming that the Times was attempting to chill free speech. The Daily Beast reported that the Times had initially wanted change the book's subtitle and insert a disclaimer making clear the book wasn't affiliated with the Times, but that PowerHouse refused to do so.[21][22][23]
Incident over cancellation of event
On August 20, 2024, store manager Hannah Hayes cancelled an event at PowerHouse Arena featuring ProgressiveJewish American author Joshua Leifer in conversation with ReformRabbi Andy Bachman. Leifer recorded Hayes saying "The moderator that your publishing team sourced is a Zionist and we don't want a Zionist on our stage," and "He is a Zionist… Please leave my store."
The incident received widespread media coverage. Daniel Power, owner of both PowerHouse Books and PowerHouse Arena, told the New York Jewish Week, "It's hideous, it's uncalled for, and it was completely unauthorized," that he had terminated Hayes, and that Leifer and Bachman were invited back "anytime." Power initially told journalists at The Forward that Hayes told him she had asked the book's publicist to replace the moderator because she believed that Bachman would be inflammatory, and that the book's publicist had chosen to cancel the event in response. On August 22, PowerHouse issued a statement on their X account apologizing for the incident. The statement said that the manager had "unilaterally derail[ed]" the event and called it a "case study in the shocking re-emergence of anti-Semitic hostility." In a blog published in the Times of Israel, Bachman recounted his surprise at the event being cancelled; confirmed that Hayes was the one who had cancelled the event, rather than the publicist; and announced the event would be rescheduled for the next week.[24][25][26][27][28][29]
The Destruction of Lower Manhattan by American photographer Danny Lyon, reissue of 1969 book in 2008[31]
Yes We Can: Barack Obama's History-Making Presidential Campaign featuring work of Armenian-American photojournalist Scout Tufankjian; the first printing of 55,000 copies sold out a month before its scheduled release, prompting a second printing of 25,000.[32]
