Did You Read That Thing?

Rise Up Singing Sing-along!

Thanks to everyone who made it out to the Rise Up Singing Sing-along Fundraiser yesterday night.

We sang alot of songs, raised a bunch of money and had a wonderful time. We hope you did too. It was just another reminder of what a caring and supportive community we have at Food For Thought Books. We know that we're going to make it through this rough economic patch with all of you on our side!

Ten OTHER Things Martin Luther King Said

Google eBooks at Food For Thought Books

Food For Thought Books is now selling Google eBooks.

Yes, its' true: via a partnership between the American Booksellers Association and Google, Food For Thought Books now offers you one of the largest ebook collections available with Google eBooks. From New York Times bestsellers to old favorites, shop for your next ebook and begin reading on just about any device.

With Google eBooks, you can now:

Read seamlessly on any device
Google eBooks stores your library safely in the digital cloud, so you can read anywhere you go, using just about any device with an Internet connection. Google eBooks is compatible with most web browsers, Android phones, iPhone, iPad, and many eReaders.

As you read, your page positions are saved across all the devices so you can pick up reading where you last left off. That means you can start reading on your PC, continue on your laptop, and carry on reading on your smartphone.

Explore thousands of titles instantly
Discover your next ebook among thousands of titles in every imaginable category. From bestsellers to classics, top fiction to up-and-coming authors, all ebooks now offer instant availability and free preview before you buy. Google eBooks allows you to enjoy unlimited storage of books in the digital cloud.

Access your library anytime, anywhere
Support your local bookstore and shop with us, or at any of the Google eBooks retail locations. All your ebooks are stored wirelessly in one place, so you can access your library from one account anytime, anywhere.

Search for Google eBook editions on our main website >>>

Radicalism at the Crossroads: African American Women Activists in the Cold War

Come check out local scholar Dayo Gore's new book Radicalism at the Crossroads: African American Women Activists in the Cold War.

"With the exception of a few iconic moments such as Rosa Parks’s 1955 refusal to move to the back of a Montgomery bus, we hear little about what black women activists did prior to 1960. Perhaps this gap is due to the severe repression that radicals of any color in America faced as early as the 1930s, and into the Red Scare of the 1950s. To be radical, and black and a woman was to be forced to the margins and consequently, these women’s stories have been deeply buried and all but forgotten by the general public and historians alike.

In this exciting work of historical recovery, Dayo F. Gore unearths and examines a dynamic, extended community of black radical women during the early Cold War, including established Communist Party activists such as Claudia Jones, artists and writers such as Beulah Richardson, and lesser-known organizers such as Vicki Garvin and Thelma Dale. These women were part of a black left that laid much of the groundwork for both the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and later strains of black radicalism. Radicalism at the Crossroads offers a sustained and in-depth analysis of the political thought and activism of black women radicals during the Cold War period and adds a new dimension to our understanding of this tumultuous and violent time in United States history."

Food For Thought Books in the news

Check out this article on Food For Thought Books in the Valley Advocate!

It's particularly nice to know that, in a Valley known for its leftward leanings, there are businesses that employ progressive ideas not as mere ideals but as working methods. The Valley's worker-owned, democratically run co-ops include Collective Copies, Pelham Auto, Ronin Tech Collective, Northampton's often-seen bicycle stalwarts Pedal People, and more.

One of the best-known is Amherst's not-for-profit Food for Thought Books, which specializes in "radical and progressive media." The bookstore also hosts plenty of author appearances. It's remarkable, in a bad economic climate and in a time when the fate of books and bookstores is less than clear, for any small bookstore to stay on the scene. Food for Thought, which has sustained itself since 1976, seemed to have achieved institution status, but even indie bookstores that have succeeded over the long haul are in danger these days. ...read more

Sweaty Buttons at Food For Thought Books!

Stop by this Sunday for a free afternoon concert of rootsy goodness courtesy of our good friends: the fabulous Sweaty Buttons!

Update: Here's a nice little video from the concert.

New Book Bags!

As part of our Support and Sustain Campaign we are releasing this limited edition book bag, designed by fellow radical artist Ricardo Levins Morales. Only $25.00 - all proceeds go to support Food for Thought Books Collective.


This printing is limited, so don't miss out on an opportunity to get this beautiful, unique bag AND support FFT at the same time. Get one for yourself and get some to give to your friends and family - click here to order.

Haruki Murakami on reality

A thought-provoking piece in the NY Times from one of my favorite authors (and Javiera's too!), Haruki Murakami - you really should go read it right now:

We often wonder what it would have been like if 9/11had never happened — or at least if that plan had not succeeded so perfectly. Then the world would have been very different from what it is now. America might have had a different president (a major possibility), and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars might never have happened (an even greater possibility).

Let’s call the world we actually have now Reality A and the world that we might have had if 9/11 had never happened Reality B. Then we can’t help but notice that the world of Reality B appears to be realer and more rational than the world of Reality A. To put it in different terms, we are living a world that has an even lower level of reality than the unreal world.   ...read more

Right? And once you're done with that, you should really go & track down one of his novels & read it. Here's some suggestions:

comfy couches at food for thought

Did you know we have verrry comfy couches at Food For Thought Books? You don't have to be buying a book to hang out here. Feel free to drop by & use our free wifi, look at some awesome art books, talk with your friends, do some studying, or just take a quick snooze.

The Suppressed Speech of Wamsutta James

It is with mixed emotion that I stand here to share my thoughts. This is a time of celebration for you - celebrating an anniversary of a beginning for the white man in America. A time of looking back, of reflection. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my People.

from United American Indians of New England

Food For Thought Books in the news

Article from the Springfield Republican, featuring our very own Javiera Benavente:

Internet textbook sales slam Pioneer Valley independent bookstores' bottom lines
Monday, November 22, 2010, 5:37 AM
By AUBIN TYLER

AMHERST - Since successfully weathering the incursion of big-box booksellers more than a decade ago, independent bookstores have been contending for some time with another threat: the Internet.

Internet textbook sales this fall likely diverted as much as 30 to 40 percent of the business for Food for Thought Books, said Javiera Benavente, one of five worker-owners of the nonprofit progressive bookstore in downtown Amherst. Seventy percent of the store’s business depends on textbook sales to students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst College and Hampshire College.

Ironically, a new federal guidance in effect since July 1 - designed to achieve transparency by requiring colleges and universities to post textbook sales information and pricing - may have had an unintended effect: sending students to the Internet to order their textbooks. The new guidance is part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008....

John H. Bracey Jr., a UMass Amherst professor of Afro-American studies, has been a supporter since Food for Thought started in 1976.

“This is a college town. We have to have art galleries, theaters and bookstores,” he said. “I go just to browse titles, to see what the latest stuff is. Every time I go in there, I buy something. I was brought up thinking books were the most important things you can have. The idea of shutting down Food for Thought and putting in another coffee place, what would that add to the quality of life in the town? We need these kinds of anchors in the community just to keep the thought level up.”

People still need to “read widely and think broadly,” he said. “Food for Thought has been a center for that kind of activity, whether it’s Ecuadorian poetry or sustainable energy.”

... read more