Progressive publishers

Inspired by Librarylapin - I think we`ve already mentioned a few progressive publishers - Five Leaves (UK), Charles H Kerr (USA) and Seven Stories (US I presume). Most of the others I like are fairly well-established - International (US), Pathfinder (UK and US) and Beacon - an American Unitarian Universalist publisher who publish (among other things) Paul Robeson`s Here I Stand.

I`m always out of date with these things - what others do people know of ?

Though not strictly progressive, there is a site in the UK that`s interesting - The Branching-Out Guide to Independent Presses. The site address is www.branching-out.net/independent As the name implies, it`s a guide to independent presses in the UK. Is there a US version ?

It is kind of ironic that us progresives are generally opposed to competition (i.e. competition in the market place), but then we`re all for small companies when to comes to areas like small publishers, small breweries etc. If there is a contradiction, it`s not one I feel uncomfortable with, but that`s just me.

I also recommend the excellent South End Press.

You can see the SEP books in my catalog here.

First let me recommend my new company CWG Press (www.cwgpress.com). It's not strictly a progressive publisher because I am so much a believer in free press that I will publish anything that meets my quality standards. If it's right wing, but well-written, I'll print it. But I am by nature extremely progressive, and the first couple of titles from my company happen to be in line with my political viewpoint:
The American Dream by Mike Palecek
Reflections of a Wyoming Survivor by Corbin Fowler
The next three after that are not political. I'm negotiating for a humorous piece that would be my sixth title; it's quite progressive.

I also recommend Mainstay Press (www.mainstaypress.org), and specifically the following titles:
Point of No Return by Andre Vltchek
Terror Nation by Mike Palecek

In addition I'd like to recommend Vernon Coleman's company Publishing House, specifically the political section. I'm going on faith here; I haven't had a chance to read the books yet. But from his web site I'm pretty sure I'll like them. He's active in animal rights and many other timely issues. He has made himself unpopular with the Establishment even though he's a (non-practicing) doctor.

I have a list of publishers and bookstores that support progressive politics. I'll find it and post it at some point. For now, that's all.

Anything written by Monthly Review Press is virtually guaranteed to be a good and informative book. They have a very nice font and layout too.

Pluto Press and Zed Books are smaller but also usually good radical publishers.

The biggest left-wing publisher is clearly Verso though, who specialize mostly in philosophy and theory. They publish big names like Althusser, Zizek, etc.

One I had asssumed was probably now defunct but is apparently ongoing, is Ocean Press aka Ocean Books, they publish, inter alia, the Rebel Lives series, which looks at the politics of Albert Einstein, Helen Keller and others - there are reviews of those on daschaich`s blog.

The web site is at www.oceanbooks.com.au.

Since you ask--and I say up front that I've written for this house--the Permanent Press often publishes titles of progressive interest.

More information here: http://thepermanentpress.com/about.ihtml

I would suggest the book arm of McSweeney's. They publish McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, The Believer (a monthly), and Wholphin (a DVDzine). All of their stuff has progressive and liberal slants. Most of it isn't directly political or philosophical, but most, if not all, of their contributors are progressive.

The work they published that was decidedly political in nature was The Future Dictionary of America.

One I came accross some time ago ;

www.redandblackpublishers.com

They seem to publish quite an unusual selection of lefty stuff, plus a more general stock of history books.

I must have planned to buy something from them
at some time, as I`ve added them to my favourites. Sadly, my memory must not be so good as I have no idea what it was !

A friend of mine recently recommended PM Press.

AK Press. - a worker run book publisher and distributor organized around anarchist principles.