The Charles H. Kerr Company: Books To Change the World

ISSN： 0160-4953

Source： Collection Building, Vol.11, Iss.2, 1993-12, pp. : 34-38

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Abstract

One of the most colorful and free-spirited publishers in U.S. history, the Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company of Chicago has also made an impressive mark on that history. As this country's oldest alternative publishing house—founded in 1886—it has been closely associated with such movements as populism, freethought, socialism, and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), as well as various currents of labor and social radicalism of more recent years. The Kerr Company has also established itself as a leading publisher of original works and reprints in the field of labor and radical history. Several generations of America's progressives and dissidents have relied heavily on Kerr publications for their education and inspiration. For libraries with a focus on labor, politics, women, reform movements, anarchism, socialism, pacifism, radical fiction, popular culture, and the broad counter-culture, Kerr books are indispensable.