Francesco Ciaponi, Fenomenologia dell’editoria indipendente, 2020

There are many histories of publishing but there is no overall analysis of the phenomenon we call independent publishing, the unmediated and completely free representation on paper of the history and cultural movements that have come down to us since the early twentieth century. From the journals of the artistic avant-garde, to the clandestine adventures that courageously fought against authoritarian regimes, from the birth of the fanzine phenomenon, to the first independent comics, passing through the psychedelic counter-culture newspapers and the meagre punk publications of the 1970s, up to the modern independent magazines. For the first time, this book attempts to give the necessary dignity and depth of analysis to an international social phenomenon, always seen as marginal and fragmented, through an articulated path that underlines its extraordinary basic coherence, the multitude of experiences, and the ability to show us what the development of cultural ferments opposing the mainstream really is.