3 November 2014
This week's screed against book publishers comes from Matt Yglesias at Vox.com, who proclaims, "Amazon is doing the world a favor by crushing book publishers"--a headline that shouts clickbait but fairly reflects his piece. Yglesias, whose work I have often admired, notes that he's the child of two authors and has published a book himself, so his hatred seems to be honestly earned. Writing of the "fundamental uselessness" of publishers, he says they are going to be "wiped off the face of the earth soon" by Amazon "and readers will be better for it."