In case your calendar didn't come with this event printed in it already, note that today is America Unchained Day. Shoppers across the country are encouraged to try to spend a Saturday shopping only at locally-owned stores and restaurants. AU Day isn't about hurting the big-box retailers; it's about helping yourself. After all, a dollar … Continue reading The Chains that Bind

From Michael Lieberman's excellent blog Book Patrol comes word of the University of Pennsylvania's online exhibition "Agents Wanted: Subscription Publishing in America. In nineteenth-century America, most folks lived far from a bookstore, so roving gangs of door-to-door salesmen flogged books to customers right in their own homes. It has been estimated that by the turn … Continue reading Bad Old Days