How to Resist Amazon and Why!

The Fight for Local Economics, Data Privacy, Fair Labor, Independent Bookstores, and a People-Powered Future

by Danny Caine

Join the economic revolution

When a company’s workers are literally dying on the job, when their business model relies on preying on local businesses and even their own vendors, when their CEO is the richest person in the world while their workers make low wages with impossible quotas… wouldn’t you want to resist? Danny Caine, owner of Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kansas has been an outspoken critic of the seemingly unstoppable Goliath of the bookselling world: Amazon.

In this book, he lays out the case for shifting our personal money and civic investment away from global corporate behemoths and to small, local, independent businesses. Well-researched and lively, his tale covers the history of big box stores, the big political drama of delivery, and the perils of warehouse work. He shows how Amazon’s ruthless discount strategies mean authors, publishers, and even Amazon themselves can lose money on every book sold. And he spells out a clear path to resistance, in a world where consumers are struggling to get by. In-depth research is interspersed with charming personal anecdotes from bookstore life, making this a readable, fascinating, essential book for the 2020s.

Message from the MATTERverse:
See the image above for a preface to the 2nd  Edition for context between the two editions. Danny is a hero among independent booksellers. He is a whistleblower, a town crier, a canary in a coal mine, you get the gist. He is an important voice in our people-powered future.

Danny Caine is owner of Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kansas. He is the author of the poetry collections Continental Breakfast, El Dorado Freddy’s, and Flavortown, as well as the viral zine How to Resist Amazon & Why. He was named the 2019 Midwest Bookseller of the year and is a passionate advocate, online and off, for independent, brick-and-mortar bookstores.

A small, innovative publishing house, Microcosm Publishing specializes in work designed to make the reader feel good about being alive, take an active role in bettering their life, and impact the world around them. Microcosm has developed a reputation for teaching self-empowerment, showing hidden histories, and fostering creativity through challenging conventional publishing wisdom with books and zines about DIY skills, food, politics, and art. Printed in the USA.