The Feminist Bookstore Movement: Lesbian Antiracism and Feminist Accountability

Abstract

Kristen Hogan's The Feminist Bookstore Movement is a carefully researched and highly engaging account of the social, economic, and political roles of feminist bookstores in North America in the late twentieth century. More than an account of the rise and fall of feminist bookstores, Hogan's study makes a case for understanding the stores as integral to the development of lesbian antiracist and feminist accountability. Hundreds of feminist presses in North America turned out thousands of titles every year from the 1970s to the 1980s. The majority of these publications were distributed via an equally well-established network of feminist bookstores. In the predigital era, feminist bookstores were the primary distribution mechanism for feminist and lesbian materials. Feminist bookstores did more than distribute books, journals, and magazines, however. For many women, these stores were also integral to coming out—the first places to find a lesbian text and meet other lesbians because the locations often doubled as cafés, child care centers, or community meeting sites. Drawing on archival research and interviews, Hogan reproduces this history with great attention to detail and a deep respect for her subjects—the women who founded, worked in, managed, and frequented feminist bookstores from the 1970s to the 1990s.