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Indie Book Stores Launch Campaign To Compete Against Amazon

An ABA survey from this summer found that some 20 per cent of members could go out of business, meaning hundreds of stores face closure, especially as government aid runs out. While the overall market for books has been surprisingly solid in 2020, Amazon.com has apparently fared best as the public increasingly makes purchases online. According to a report issued last week by the antitrust subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, “Amazon accounts for over half of all print book sales and over 80% of e-book sales” in the U.S. market. – Toronto Star

How We Think About “Misinformation”

Our disinformation metaphors help us see new possibilities (how might we “clean up” disinformation, or treat “information disorder”?), but obscure others (if disinformation is a pollutant, why is it such a useful political tool? If disinformation is an attack, why does it seem so sociological?). Metaphors shape our discourses, ideologies and histories. – Hyperallergic

Are Countries With Written Constitutions Better Off?

“Without a written constitution in place, statutes are the U.K.’s highest form of law, and its unwritten constitution is a combination of legislation, conventions, parliamentary procedure, and common law. To some this setup may be odd or confusing, but my book’s conclusion is that unwritten constitutions can perform just as well as written ones, and that Britain’s unwritten constitution may be just as good as America’s esteemed document.” – The Atlantic

What Museums Are Allowed To Do Politically

“Did you know museums are allowed to support or oppose a ballot measure? An institution may understandably want to get behind a budget increase for the cultural sector, for example. But they can’t let their staff volunteer for a candidate or party during work hours. Museums can serve as polling or voter registration sites and host nonpartisan candidate forums, but they can’t allow only certain candidates or parties to rent their space, or offer them discounted rates to do so.” – Hyperallergic

The 200-Year History Of The Accordion

Inspired by the sheng, a bowl-shaped mouth organ that a French Jesuit missionary brought back from China in 1777, various hand-powered free-reed instruments that became the accordion and concertina were being developed in Europe by the 1820s. They made it to the New World in fairly short order and, by the 1880s, had reached Japan. For about half a century, there were even “player accordions” that used rolls of punched paper the way pianolas did. Laura Stanfield Prichard offers a brief history of the much-loved and -hated instrument. – Early Music America

Jerry Saltz: When Public Art Goes Wrong

Medusa is typical of the kind of misguided bureaucracies and good managerial intentions that often result in such mediocrities. Don’t even try to figure out why it now stands across the street from the County Criminal Courthouse. This ooh-la-la monstrosity is sure to be a lightning rod for zealots protesting nudity and a co-star in endless selfies. – Curbed

This Indigenous Australian Actor Puts A New Spin On The Archetypal TV Cop

“It’s something that hits close to home for [Aaron] Pedersen, who is of Arrernte-Arabana descent and grew up poor in the Northern Territory town of Alice Springs. His childhood with an alcoholic mother was chaotic and even violent, and Pedersen and his seven siblings bumped around in foster homes as wards of the state.” – The New York Times

Peter Schjeldahl On The Guston Controversy

“In a small way, the controversy exemplifies divisions that are splintering the United States: votes of no confidence in the good will of contending interests. (Signatories to the letter include Black artists and intellectuals, as the conflict is widely cultural, not narrowly demographic.) Any difference may breed enmity. In our Partisan States of America, we watch our words—or, perversely, don’t—for fear of, or with ardent intent of, offending. Offense doesn’t spur debate; it replaces it.” – The New Yorker

All These Hit Documentary Series — Are They Just Reality TV Gone Highbrow?

Basically, yes, argues Kathryn VanArendonk, and the docuseries boom we’re seeing now couldn’t have happened without “a television landscape primed by decades of reality TV.” What’s more, the qualities the two genres share “are key to why [a docuseries can be] so delicious.” (Besides, “Anglo-American culture has yet to meet something lowbrow that it didn’t find a way to repackage as classy and valuable.”) – New York Magazine