Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore

Former NBC News journalist Adams debuts with an illuminating history of America’s Black-owned bookstores. She begins with Black abolitionist David Ruggles, whose Tribeca shop, opened in 1834, established a template that many Black booksellers would follow: prioritizing community and politics. From there Adams tracks how different store owners’ political convictions shaped their approach to art and activism over time; along the way, she makes professional associations and book distribution into the stuff of riveting drama. In discussing radical bookshops that emerged in the 1960s, for example, she outlines how they were spied on by COINTELPRO operatives (in at least one case, booksellers will be paranoid to hear, by a store “regular”). Later, in addressing existential challenges facing the Los Angeles bookstore Eso Won in the 1990s, she hints at disagreements within the city’s Black community over which of its Black-owned bookstores was more legitimate, as some stores turned away from politics and embraced a more commercial mindset. She also touches on blockbuster Black authors, from W.E.B. DuBois to Angela Davis, and the history of the Black publishing industry. A final focus on a new generation of Black bookstore owners—along with a long list of shops all over the U.S.—makes for an invigorating conclusion. This will hold immense appeal for bibliophiles. (Nov.)