Milo Yiannopoulos, a right-wing provocateur, secured a book deal with Simon & Schuster worth $250,000 despite a history of racist online harassment. The deal was criticized for profiting from and spreading hateful rhetoric. While Simon & Schuster publishes diverse books, right-wing imprint Threshold will release Yiannopoulos' book. Critics argue the deal incentivizes bigotry over important works and questions the publisher's values in promoting an author known for targeting people based on their race and gender.

1. MILO YIANNOPOULOS’S CYNICAL
BOOK DEAL
On Thursday,the Hollywood Reporterbroke the newsthatthe alt-rightimpresarioMiloYiannopoulos
will publishabookwithThresholdEditions,animprintof Simon&Schuster.Yiannopoulos,athirty-
three-year-oldeditoratBreitbartNews,isknownforstuntssuchas announcingthe creationof a
scholarshipfundforwhite men,leadingaracistonline harassmentcampaignagainstthe comedian
Leslie Jones,andevangelizingagainstthe “cancer”of “angry, bitter,profane,lesbianic”modern
feminism.(ThatYiannopoulosisgayonlyaddszestto that adjectival layercake of misogyny.) Thoughhe
isoftendescribedasa troll provocateur,he prefersthe label “free-speechfundamentalist.”
The bookssectionof the Amazonsite,withitsLittle League strategyof inventingniche genrestoinsure
that the authorsit wantsto promote can all come in firstplace,hastakenthe bait.Though
Yiannopoulos’shardcoverisnotoutuntil March, it isalreadyrankedas the No.1 best-sellerin
“Censorship&Politics,”whichputshiminthe strange companyof actual free-speechheroessuch
as BarneyRosset,the visionaryownerof Grove Press,andthe Turkishjournalistandeditor CanDündar,
whowas throwninjail in2015 afterhis newspaperreportedthatthe Turkishgovernmenthadsoldarms
to SyrianIslamistrebels.RossetwasarrestedforpublishingHenryMiller’sbannednovel “Tropicof
Cancer.”Dündar survivedanassassination attempt,wasconvictedof treason,andescapedtoGermany,
where he nowlivesinexile.Yiannopoulos,too,hassufferedanexile—fromTwitter,whichfinally
bannedhiminJuly,afterthe Jones affair.Evidently,the episode boostedYiannopoulos’ssense of
himself asaman not to be trifledwith.The title of hisbook,printedoveraheadshotof Yiannopoulos
apparentlytryingtobothglare and roll hiseyes,is“Dangerous.”
Gettingkickedoff TwitterhardlystoppedYiannopoulosinhistracks,butitdiddenyhima major
platformforhisprovocations.Thathe wouldparlayhisnotorietyintosome sortof bookdeal isan
unsavory,if inevitable,prospect.The rude surprise isthata majorcompanylike Simon&Schusterwould
be the one to give itto him,alongwitha reportedadvance of twohundredandfiftythousanddollars.
By the standardsof bigpublishing,that’shardlyamajorsum of moneyfora celebrity’s,orevena
pseudo-celebrity’s,book—AmySchumersqueezedninemillionoutof Simon&Schusterfor hermemoir,

2. “The Girl Withthe LowerBack Tattoo”—butit’sstill twohundredandfiftythousanddollarstoomanyto
give toa man whohas helpeddefinethe Trumpmoment’sflippantbigotryinthe service of brand-
buildingnarcissism.EvenYiannopoulosmade ashow of seemingsurprisedthathisanticshadpaidoff,
and withsuchlittle effortonhispart.“I metwithtop execsatSimon& Schusterearlierinthe yearand
spenthalf an hourtryingto shock themwithlewdjokesandoutrageousopinions,”he told
the Hollywood Reporter.“I thoughttheywere goingtohave me escortedfromthe building—butinstead
theyofferedme awheelbarrow full of money.”
“Simon& Schuster”became a trendingtopiconTwitteronThursdayafternoon,asusersexcoriatedthe
companyfor the deal.(Yiannopoulos-opposedusers,thatis.Membersof hisfanbase enteredthe fray
to jeerwiththe crying-from-laughteremoji.) Some,includingthe Washington PostwriterWesley
Lowery, declared thattheywouldboycottthe companyentirely.The Chicago Review of
Booksannounced thatitwouldnotcover anytitlespublishedbySimon&Schusterin2017.
As expressionsof protestagainstYiannopoulosandhisopportunistichate-mongering,Ireadily
sympathize withthesereactions.Butthe Yiannopouloscontroversyismade hardertoparse bya
slipperycharacteristicof contemporarybookpublishing:the sheersize of publishingconglomerates,and
the vast, oftenideologicallycontradictory,arrayof books thattheypeddle.ThresholdEditions,the
imprintpublishing“Dangerous,”wasfounded,in2006, witha politicallyconservative mission.(It
celebrateditsdecennial thisyearwiththe catchphrase “TenYears of BeingRight.”) Youmay be familiar
withsome of the influential authorsitpublishes:RushLimbaugh,MarkR. Levin,Karl Rove,Michelle
Malkin,DickCheney.Amongthe imprint’sbest-sellersin2015 were Trump’s“CrippledAmerica:Howto
Make AmericaGreatAgain,”and “It Is AboutIslam:Exposingthe TruthAboutISIS,Al Qaeda,Iran,and
the Caliphate,”byGlennBeck.
Andyet,in2016, Simon& Schusterannouncedthatitwas launchingSalaamReads,animprintfor
Muslim-themedchildren’sbooks.Thatthe Beckbook,withitsdire message aboutthe danger thatIslam
posesto America,andSalaamReads,withitspresumablypositive,inclusiveone,couldbothflourish
underthe same publishingumbrellaseemsimprobable,evenhypocritical.Butthiskindof ideological
mixedmessaginghasbecome standardatSimon& Schusterand otherbigpublishinghouses.At
Threshold,Simon&Schusterputsoutright-wingboilerplate like LouDobbs’s“Upheaval”orLaura
Ingraham’s2010 best-seller“The ObamaDiaries”(sample passage:“Iwasgoingto write abouttonight’s
state dinnerforMexicoand the amnestyplan,butwe’ve gota national crisishere!Ithinksomebody’s
beensnoopinginthisdiary!”).Meanwhile,underitseponymousimprint,Simon&Schusterpublishes
worksof mainstreamhistoryandpolitical science—“ExitRight:The People WhoLeftthe Leftand
Reshapedthe AmericanCentury”byDaniel Oppenheimeror“Dark Territory,”FredKaplan’shistoryof
cyberwarfare,to name a couple of recenttitles—aswell asothersexplicitlyatoddswithThreshold’s
ideological goals. “AmericanAmnesia,”bythe political scientistsJacobS.Hackerand Paul Pierson,
seemslike itcouldbe aMark R. Levinbookuntil yougetto the subtitle:“How the War on Government
LedUs to ForgetWhat Made AmericaProsper.”
One way tolookat thiscontradictionistosee the Simon& Schusterpublishingapparatusasa structural
seesaw,withbooksof competingapproachesandpointsof view balancingeachotherout.It can be
temptingtogo a stepfurtherand imagine thatsome sortof RobinHoodingisat work—thatSimon&
Schusterspreadsaroundprofitsfromitsdifferentimprints,usingthe income fromThresholdbest-sellers
to fundworthybooksthat otherwise mightbe toofinanciallyriskytopublish.Butit’snotclearthat

3. that’snecessarilythe case.Simon&Schusterhasmany otherbest-sellers,afterall,andthe company
isn’texactlytransparentabouthowitallocatesitsprofitsandresources.Evenif suchRobin
Hoodingwereoccurring, itwouldn’tsolve the Yiannopoulosproblem, whichisthe existence of such
trulynoxiousbooksinthe firstplace.
Andthat bringsus to the trouble withablanketboycott:itriskshurtingthe readerswhowantto get to
the good stuff,ratherthanthe companythat publishesall of it,the nectaralongwiththe dreck.A
blanketboycottof Simon& Schusterwouldmeanmissingouton“The Bloodof EmmettTill,”byTimothy
B. Tyson,a newhistoryof Till’slynchingandthe birthof the civil-rightsmovement,andon“Democracy
Now!:TwentyYearsof Coveringthe MovementsChangingAmerica”byAmyGoodman,whichcame out
inApril and will be available inpaperbacksoon.Skippingthose booksandsomanyothersseemslike a
raw deal forreaders.Anditseemslike araw deal forwriters,too,whenyoustopto thinkabouthowthe
numberswill be talliedupatthe endof the day.What will happenif MiloYiannopoulosgetspeople to
buyhis book,andwriterslike TimothyB.Tyson,orElaine Showalter,orRebeccaTraisterdon’t?
Thresholdisn’tthe onlyproblem;mainstreamimprintsatbigpublishersalreadyskew male andvery,
verywhite.Asthe novelistMarlonJamesrecentlyoutlinedinan essayondiversitypanels,the publishing
industryhaspouredenergyintohavingthe euphemistic“conversation”aboutimprovingdiversityeven
as publishingcompaniesthemselvesavoidinvestinginawidervarietyof writers.(Thisisanotherreason
whythe notionof the Yiannopoulosdealissuchan insult.) Forthatto happen,itwill take active financial
pressure frombookbuyerstoincentivize companiestopublishthe titleswe wanttoread.
I’mnot suggestingthatreadersacceptthe Yiannopoulossituation.Publishinghimisacynical move by
Simon& Schuster,one worthprotestingvociferouslyandspecifically,ine-mails,letters,tweets,and
phone calls—youname it.The companyshouldhave toanswerforthe harm itcondonesthroughits
decision.(DanielleHenderson,whosememoiriscomingoutwithSimon&Schuster in
2018, tweeted thatshe hasputcallsintothe companyto expressherconcern;otherSimon&Schuster
writersmightconsiderfollowingherexample.) Publishing“Dangerous”isadeparture of sortsevenfor
Threshold.Asmycolleague HuaHsuhas noted,Yiannopoulos’smotivationisnotsomuch ideological as
it isfundamentallyadolescent;he spreadshisbileforthe sake of seeingjusthow muchbile-spreading
he can getaway with.One wondersjustwhenthe Simon&Schusterexecutivescame courtinghim.Was
it histargetingof Leslie Jonesforbeingblackandfemalethatmade themthinktheyhada star on their
hands?Are theylookingforwardtothe prospectof the creepswhohackedherWebsite,postingnude
photosand imagesof Harambe the ape,liningupat authorsignings?
The Simon& SchusterexecutiveswhofoundYiannopoulossomarketable mightalsowanttoconsider
the instructive example of hispastforayintobookwriting.In2007, he self-publishedavolume of poetry
called“EskimoPapoose”underthe penname MiloAndreasWagner.Lastyear,the
HoustonPressreported thatthe bookamountedtoplagiarizedTori Amoslyrics,withsomeBritney
Spearsand Mariah Careythrown in.(Yiannopoulosclaimsthatthe plagiarismwasanintentionalartistic
statement,towhichone isinclinedtorespond,Cool story,bro.) Fullprintrunshave beenpulpedfor
less.Simon&Schusterisgoingto have a lotto answerfor.
By AlexandraSchwartz December30, 2016
Alexandra Schwartzisa staff writer at The New Yorker.
If you wantto read this bookcheck it out yourself: http://amzn.to/2kY2RLK