Customer Reviews

Storefront Revolution: Food Co-ops and the Counterculture (Perspectives on the Sixties)

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If you've ever lived or visited Minneapolis, you might have never been to a food cooperative (or even know they exist all around the city). Or maybe, you consider them a staple of your household and your neighborhood. Storefront Revolution is an excellent story of how the co-op movement gained momentum during the 1960s, but the story of food co-ops is almost a sidenote.
What I found extremely interesting is its view of Minneapolis and the rich (and tumultuous) countercultures that existed there. If you're a resident in the Twin Cities, you'll probably run into names every few pages that you'll recognize; former city councilmen and civic leaders. Like the rest of the country, the 1970s led to a huge dissolution of idealism in the Twin Cities. When some of the city's oldest co-ops started up, many of them were very unorganized and practically lived on hope alone. As they grew in distribution and reciepts, so did the trouble. 1975 was the year of the "Co-op Wars," a struggle between those who wanted to provide cheap food to impoverished and working class neighbors, and those who wanted to provide healthy organic food.
It may sound like a ridiculous cause to go to battle for, but Cox certainly lays the idealogical and political framework in context for the city, the state and the country at that time. If you're a Minneapolitan or St. Pauler (or whatever they're called) and are interested in a road less traveled in local history, this book is well worth the money. Of course, if you're a true believer in the co-op communal ethic, you can get it at the library.

This book gives a history of the food co-ops in Minneapolis in the 1970's. I found this book very interesting, mainly because I am a resident of Mpls and learned the history of the co-ops I shop at today. I found the tales of the co-op wars, in which the anarchists and communists battled for control of the co-ops, to be most interesting. I learned about what worked and what didn't work in such a large coaliton of people working towards the same goal. For readers who don't live in the Twin Cities, it is still an interesting study of co-ops and the anti-capitalist movement.

This book gives a history of the food co-ops in Minneapolis in the 1970's. I found this book very interesting, mainly because I am a resident of Mpls and learned the history of the co-ops I shop at today. I found the tales of the co-op wars, in which the anarchists and communists battled for control of the co-ops, to be most interesting. I learned what worked and what didn't work in such a large coaliton of people working for the same goal. For readers who don't live in the Twin Cities, it is still an interesting study of co-ops and the anti-capitalist movement.