BY MARY NELL BOCKMAN
BOSTON - Pathfinder supporters in Boston got a great response during a special week-long effort in mid-August to get the publisher's revolutionary books and pamphlets placed in area bookstores and libraries, making them more accessible to a larger number of working people and youth. The 22 visits with book buyers and acquisitions directors netted eight immediate orders for 174 books. Several other buyers said they planned to place orders after checking their inventories.

Sara Lobman, Pathfinder's business manager, worked with local supporters to do the appointments. Her trip was geared to taking advantage of the recent publication by Pathfinder of Pombo: A Man of Che's `Guerrilla' by Cuban brigadier general Harry Villegas, At the Side of Che Guevara: Interviews with Harry Villegas, and El Rostro Cambiante de la política en Estados Unidos, the Spanish-language edition of The Changing Face of U.S. Politics. There is also an increased interest in titles by or about Ernesto Che Guevara and the Cuban revolution as the 30th anniversary of the revolutionary's death approaches. Pathfinder plans similar trips to three or four other cities before the end of the year.

The sales people visited a range of bookstores, including college stores, local chains, independent bookstores, shops oriented to the Black community, and university and public libraries. They found interest in Pathfinder's titles almost across the board. "I'm so glad you came today," the buyer at a large university store in Rhode Island commented. "I get so many catalogs in the mail, it's almost impossible for me to keep track of what's out there. We clearly should carry many of your books." He placed an order for 28 different titles, including four copies of Pombo: A Man of Che's `Guerrilla.'

The buyer at a store in Amherst, Massachusetts, had said he wouldn't have time for a visit. But when the Pathfinder team stopped by to drop off a catalog, the young women behind the cash register saw the new book by Harry Villegas. She immediately got on the phone with the buyer. "You've got to see the hard copy," she insisted. He agreed to a visit later in the day and ended up placing an order for 10 books, including titles by Guevara, Fidel Castro, Leon Trotsky, and Jack Barnes.

The acquisitions director at the main library in one city spent 40 minutes reviewing the catalog and highlighting a score of titles. She said she'd place an order as soon as she checked her list against their current inventory. She also recommended that Pathfinder set up visits with the branch libraries, each of which have their own budget.

Titles sold during the week include four copies each of The Changing Face of U.S. Politics by Socialist Workers Party national secretary Jack Barnes; To Speak the Truth: Why Washington's `Cold War' Against Cuba Doesn't End by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara; and Cosmetics, Fashion, and the Exploitation of Women by Joseph Hansen, Evelyn Reed, and Mary-Alice Waters; three copies each of Labor's Giant Step by Art Preis; In Defense of Socialism by Fidel Castro; and The History of the Russian Revolution by Leon Trotsky.

Altogether, nine copies of Pombo: A Man of Che's `Guerrilla' were ordered. In addition, advance orders were placed for five copies each of John Coltrane and the Jazz Revolution of the 1960s, and White Business, Black Music by Frank Kofsky; and one copy each of Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics in the Twenty-First Century by Jack Barnes, and Europe and America by Leon Trotsky. These four titles will be published by Pathfinder later this year.

Pathfinder supporters in Boston are now gearing up for the New England Booksellers Association meeting and book fair, scheduled for early October. A dinner held the weekend before the sales visit raised more than $200 towards the cost of a booth at that fair.  
 
 
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