Paul Collins has a very interesting article in the Village Voice that discusses Laura J. Miller’s Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption and speculates on the future of chain bookstores.
Collins says: “Chain superstores, notes Laura J. Miller’s fascinating new study … are the latest manifestation of a centuries-old struggle between bookselling Davids and Goliaths.” Although Collins takes note of the current strength of the chains—”Barnes & Noble’s latest quarterly report shows no debt and a staggering $373 million in cash”—he does not think the future necessarily belongs to the Goliaths. Print-on-demand technology just might be a smooth stone sailing through the air.
We have an excerpt from Miller’s book.