One of the judges of the Best Translated Book Award — which recently announced that although its judging panel included independent booksellers it would be funded by Amazon.com — has launched a new blog called Against Amazon, which is billed as “An online archive to educate consumers about the problems and politics of doing business with the beast.” Bookseller Jeff Waxman of Chicago’s 57th Street Books tells MobyLives that the blog is a “collaborative project” that has issued an open call for submissions to the archive at againstamazonATgmail.com.

It’s not the first time Waxman has issued an in-depth consideration of the impact of Amazon on the culture. After Melville House announced last month that it was withdrawing from the BTB Award as a result of the Amazon funding, Waxman posted a thoughtful commentary on the Constant Conversation blog that considered both sides of the issue, but in the interest of full disclosure it should also be noted that he declared Melville House’s “objection was, almost thought for thought, my objection. Amazon’s money, like Amazon’s business practices, simply isn’t clean money; it’s money that has been wrung, quite violently, from the rest of the supply chain.”

Waxman’s conclusion in that essay: “When we’re forced by good sense and the growth of our enterprises to accept money or help from a company that has unscrupulously raped our culture, we are failing – failing by every measure of value and pride.”

Meanwhile yesterday wasn’t a good day for Amazon in other quarters either. The cover story of the newest Boston Review — released online yesterday — is a detailed look by reporter Onnesha Roychoudhuri at the development of “predatory pricing schemes” in the book business that she says started with the chain bookstores and has culminated with Amazon. Roychoudhuri quotes Jeffrey Lependorf, executive director of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses and of Small Press Distribution, saying, “I think even people at Amazon would say that it’s essentially a widget seller that happens to have begun by focusing on books. Many people, like me, will say you can’t sell a book the same way you sell a can of soup.” But, concludes Roychoudhuri, “Unless publishers push back, Amazon will take the logic of the chains to its conclusion. Then publishers and readers will finally know what happens when you sell a book like it’s a can of soup.”