South End Press

StatusDefunct (July 2014)
Founded1977
Defunct2014 Edit this on Wikidata
Country of originUnited States
Headquarters locationBoston (1977–2009)
Brooklyn (2009–2014)
Publication typesBooks
Owner(s)Worker-owned and -operated collective
Official websitewww.southendpress.org [dead link]

South End Press was a non-profit book publisher run on a model of participatory economics.[citation needed] It was founded in 1977 in Boston's South End. It published books written by political activists, notably Arundhati Roy, Noam Chomsky, bell hooks, Winona LaDuke, Manning Marable, Ward Churchill, Cherríe Moraga, Andrea Smith, Howard Zinn, Jeremy Brecher and Scott Tucker. South End Press closed in 2014.

History

South End Press was founded in 1977 by Michael Albert,[1] Lydia Sargent, John Schall, Pat Walker, Juliet Schor,[2] Mary Lea, Joe Bowring, and Dave Millikin, among others. It was based in Boston's South End and run as an egalitarian collective with decision-making equally shared.

The publisher experienced financial difficulties in the financial crisis of 2007–08, with sales dropping by 12.8% in 2008. In 2009, South End Press moved to a new office in Brooklyn, New York, partnering with Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York.[3] A fundraising campaign was run in 2012 to help ease its financial situation.[4]

South End Press closed in July 2014. Howard Zinn and an anonymous author had reportedly not received royalties for several years.[4]

Legacy

Some of South End Press's catalog has been republished including work by Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Dana Frank and Vanessa Tait (by Haymarket Books), Jeremy Brecher (by PM Press),[4] and Eli Clare, Andrea Smith, Frank B. Wilderson III and Dean Spade (by Duke University Press),[5] and Vandana Shiva (by North Atlantic Books).[6]

In 2014, commenting on the demise of the publisher, Monthly Review said it was "an important and vital part of the overall left movement".[7]

The founders of South End Press have also been involved with two ongoing political media projects, 'Speak Out' and 'Z Magazine'. They have worked with a number of media and research institutions including Alternative Radio, Political Research Associates,[8] the Committee on Women, Population and the Environment,[9] and INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence.[10]

Publications

Main article: List of South End Press books

References

  1. ^ "From SDS to Life After Capitalism: Z Mag Founder Michael Albert on Activism, "Parecon" and a Model for a Participatory Society". Democracy Now. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  2. ^ "Julie Schor". Institute for Advanced Study. Archived from the original on 15 December 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  3. ^ Rosen, Judith (10 December 2009), "South End Press moves to Brooklyn", Publishers Weekly, archived from the original on February 1, 2010, retrieved 9 January 2010{{citation}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ a b c Rosen, Judith (24 July 2014). "South End throws in the towel". Publishers Weekly. N.Y.C. South End, which hasn't published a new book in the past five years, … is about to dissolve.
  5. ^ "DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS BRINGS SOUTH END PRESS BOOKS BACK INTO PRINT". Duke University Press. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  6. ^ "Letter from the Publisher: Vandana Shiva - North Atlantic Books". 2015-08-21. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  7. ^ "October 2014 (Volume 66, Number 5) - The Editors - Monthly Review". monthlyreview.org. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  8. ^ Berlet, Chip (1995-01-01). Eyes Right!: Challenging the Right Wing Backlash. South End Press. ISBN 9780896085237.
  9. ^ Committee on Women, Population and the Environment (2002). Policing the National Body: Sex, Race, and Criminalization. South End Press. ISBN 9780896086609. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  10. ^ "Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology | incite-national.org". www.incite-national.org. Retrieved 2017-03-18.