Michael Moore announced last week that Regan Books will release his newest book in February, quelling murmurs of censorship and ending one of the strangest stories of a publisher's sensitivity after September 11.
The book, Stupid White Men and Other Excuses for the State of the Nation, was originally scheduled for the fall, but had been postponed indefinitely as HarperCollins haggled with Moore and agent Morton Janklow over the appropriateness of certain passages. For many weeks, Moore told PW, he believed the book wouldn't come out at all. Harper had been requiring a rewrite of "up to 50%" of the book, and Moore had refused. At one point, Moore offered to buy the 50,000 copies that had already been printed and sell them in other English-language markets, but the publisher declined. Instead, the house suggested he either rewrite the book or have it pulped, which would result in the rights reverting to Moore after one year. But on December 12, the publisher agreed to release the title as it currently stands, and scheduled a tour in support of the book for early next year.
Moore did not talk to the press throughout the ordeal out of a sense of expediency; a clamor, he said, could have jeopardized working out a deal. As for what finally won over Harper, Moore cited robust pre-orders and angry e-mails from librarians. "That's one group you don't want to mess with," he said. He also credited Harper CEO Jane Friedman: "Jane Friedman was probably a bit of a hero in all this, saying, 'Why are we distancing ourselves from something we approved of and worked on?' "
In explaining the sticking points, Moore cited some of the questionable passages in the book. They include a chapter on race and an open letter to President Bush (Moore asks him about alcoholism, illiteracy and about a possible felonious past) as well as a rant about underpaid commuter airline pilots. "I don't want to be up in the air while the pilot is wondering what 7-11 he'll have to stick up on the way home," Moore recalled.
