Brattlecast #53 - Objectionable Material

08/20/19 • 15 min

Brattlecast: A Firsthand Look at Secondhand Books

The past is a nightmare, but we can’t erase it. It’s important to preserve historical documents, to make them available, and to let them teach us the terrible lessons of history. But, as a bookseller, what do you do when the contents of these documents are truly vile? Is it ethical to make a profit by selling a photograph of the victims of Nazi concentration camps, or to keep a book on bomb making in circulation? And should you eschew the controversial novels of today, when they tend to become the classics of tomorrow? Join us for an exploration of these thorny issues on this week’s #brattlecast.

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Brattlecast #52 - Celluloid Heroes

On this week's Brattlecast we're talking photoplays: souvenir books that were created to promote classic films during the golden age of Hollywood. They made them for King Kong, The Sheik, and even Moby Dick. Plus, which is better, the book or the movie? Ken weighs in on a particularly contentious case.

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Brattlecast #54 - How to Start a Book Shop

So you want to start a book shop? Good! Ken’s not afraid of the competition; he’ll encourage you. He wishes every building on his street could house a different independent book shop; he’s a proponent of idiosyncratic small businesses as an antidote to the bland, big-box sameness that plagues most American cities. So what advice would Kenneth Gloss, with his years of experience, impart to the neophyte bookseller? It’s simple: just be in great physical shape, and know everything.