South End Press


South End Press was a non-profit book publisher run on a model of participatory economics. It was founded in 1977 by Michael Albert, Lydia Sargent, Juliet Schor, among others, 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, Lydia Sargent, John Schall, Pat Walker, Juliet Schor, 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. A fundraising campaign was run in 2012 to help ease its financial situation.
South End Press closed in July 2014. Howard Zinn and an anonymous author had reportedly not received royalties for several years.

Legacy

Some of South End Press's catalogue has been republished including work by Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Dana Frank and Vanessa Tait, Jeremy Brecher, and Eli Clare, Andrea Smith, Frank B. Wilderson III and Dean Spade, and Vandana Shiva.
In 2014, commenting on the demise of the publisher, Monthly Review said it was "... an important and vital part of the overall left movement... ".

Related projects

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, the Committee on Women, Population and the Environment, and INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence.

Publications