By Sophie
Recently we featured in a satirical news show as the butt of a joke about how we had space for our new Romantasy section in Amsterdam because we had chucked out all our books on human rights. Funny joke, and thank you for highlighting us and books, Romantasy in particular, on a nationally televised show!
But for us it also touches on something we, as staff, have been struggling with for a while now: what to do about that “American” in our name, the American Book Center, now that the administration there is increasingly unhinged, none of us agree with any of what the folks in power are doing there, and public perception of that country is so negative here it’ll take many decades to repair, if ever?
Well, let’s go back a little bit to our founding. In 1972, two U.S. Americans named Sam and Mitch opened up the American Discount Book Center in Amsterdam. It was filled with remaindered books that were literally shipped in, as well as magazines (mostly porn). Stock came in irregularly and what you got is what you sold, or tried to sell.
But Dutch people, it turned out, really wanted to read in English, and soon enough requests to order specific titles came in. We went with the demand and started ordering in books (still literally shipped, so folks had to be patient). Over the past 54 years we’ve kept adapting to what our customers wished for: we now order in books from the U.K. as well as the U.S. (the split is pretty even), we order locally (not just from self-publishing authors, but also from local publishers that stock anything from art to business to, yes, Romantasy), and our stock has changed from ‘whatever’s in those shipping crates’ to bespoke and huge Fantasy and Science Fiction collections, many bookcases full of Manga, and large and varied History, Politics, and Social Science sections (including quite a lot of books on human rights, actually), to name just a few of the many genres we stock, all because you showed interest in them.
(Our porn collection has dwindled to almost nothing, thanks to the advent of the internet. So if any space was freed up for Romantasy, it was there. Still plenty of spicy books to be found on our shelves, though!)
Our staff has changed, too. From mostly U.S. Americans at the start, we are now a motley crew of Dutch, Brazilian, Eritrean, Curaçaoan, Aruban, Luxembourgish, Greek, British, and Slovakian folks. The only U.S. American left in our ranks is our owner.
So, what to do about that “American”, now that none of the staff is from there, and only about half the books are? For, after all, “American” right at this moment stands for fascism, guns, ICE, pseudo-Christians, and general ignorance. The administration there is full of clowns only concerned with lining their own pockets and suppressing the Epstein files, their health care system is for-profit, the most trustworthy news stream comes from Comedy Central and late night hosts.
And yet. “American” also means Zohran Mamdani and Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, widespread and underreported citizen protests against ICE and the administration itself, Bruce Springsteen and Kendrick Lamar, the magic of Hollywood, Angela Davis and Octavia Butler, the unabated pride and immense cultural and spiritual heritage of the Native American tribes, Artemis II taking a diverse crew the farthest into space humans have ever been, the Stonewall Riots and their legacy, incredible and diverse natural beauty. America, despite all the depressing news coming out of it every day, is still a land of opportunity.
For now, we don’t know what to do about that “American” in our name. Like the U.S., we are split. On the one hand, we’re disillusioned by it and want to bury it. To be the vessel of a nationally televised joke purely based on our name is bittersweet. On the other hand, we treasure the dreams still being dreamt there, and see how that defiant flame of spirit and resistance still energizes.
There is no easy answer. Where do you stand on this issue?
