David Schwartz on Bookselling & Milwaukee (circa 1995)

we here at the Downer store would like to take this chance to share something with you that isn't ours. we do this often enough, of course, but this time it's a little something closer to home.

though some of us never had the chance to know David Schwartz, he's always represented to us the pinnacle of bookselling-as-it-should-be. we hear stories from all corners, tales of heroism and gallantry; first, second & third hand accounts that consistently paint the same picture - a man greatly loved, sorely missed, and forever held in the highest regard. 

with that said, we share with you a little blast from the past, a 1995 interview by Jim Peck on I Remember Milwaukee. recently we had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Peck at the Downer store, and fondly remembered the interview we're about to share.

Note: We own no permissions for this video, all credits go to Milwaukee Public Television.

without further ado:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3


and once more (for good measure):

Bookselling was and is for me a cultural and political expression, an expression of progressive change, of a challenge to oppressive authority, of a search for a community of values which can act as an underpinning of a better world. The true profit in bookselling is the social profit; the bottom line, the measure of the impact of the bookshop on the community.

A. David Schwartz

(July 15, 1938 - June 7, 2004)