Bild cited sources at the publisher as saying that the new book could “seize on and amplify anti-Islam sentiments.”
Would Random House hesitate for a nanosecond to publish a book that might seize on and amplify anti-Christian sentiments? Anti-Jewish sentiments? Of course not. But in its cowardice — masked as respect — regarding Islam, Random House is not alone. I know from personal experience that most American publishers (with some notable exceptions, including Bombardier Books, Regnery Publishing, and a few others) will not publish Islamocritical books, no matter how carefully argued and accurate they may be. Cowardice is the fundamental character trait of this age.
“Random House axes Islam book by disputed German author: report,” AFP, July 6, 2018 (thanks to Lookmann):
BERLIN (AFP) – Publishing giant Random House has declined to release a new book by controversial German author Thilo Sarrazin over fears it could whip up anti-Muslim hatred, Bild daily reported Friday.
The dispute, which will be heard before a court in Munich on Monday, revolves around Sarrazin’s new book “Hostile Takeover — How Islam Hampers Progress and Threatens Society”.
In 2010 Sarrazin, a former central banker, published the incendiary book “Germany Does Away With Itself”, arguing that undereducated Muslim migrants were making Germany “more stupid”.
The volume became a runaway bestseller and is now seen as having helped pave the way for the anti-Islam Alternative for Germany party which entered parliament last year with nearly 100 deputies.
The new book was to have hit shelves in late August and is billed as a critical close reading of the Koran.
Sarrazin, 73, told Bild that he had signed a contract with Random House in November 2016 on the basis of a 10-page expose and delivered the manuscript in February this year….
“After a lot of back and forth about the publishing date, the publisher said at the end of May that it would not put the book out at all,” he was quoted as saying….
However Bild cited sources at the publisher as saying that the new book could “seize on and amplify anti-Islam sentiments”….