NEW YORK — Under fire for publishing a George W. Bush biography that contains damaging but unproved allegations of drug use, St. Martin's Press on Friday finally pulled the plug on the book, recalling all copies.
The publisher said it took that highly unusual step after learning of the author's "questionable past." According to the Dallas Morning News, James Hatfield--who wrote "Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President"--allegedly is a convicted felon who tried to hire a hit man 11 years ago to murder his boss.
Hatfield could not be reached for comment Friday.
In his recently published book, the author alleged that the GOP presidential candidate was convicted of cocaine possession in 1972 but got a judge friendly with his father to expunge the record in exchange for community service at a Houston mentoring program. Bush and his family have denied the accusations, which were made in an "afterword" to the book by three anonymous sources whom Hatfield has refused to identify.
"We have enough information from our own investigation to make the decision that the book must be pulled," Sally Richardson, president and publisher of the trade division of St. Martin's Press, said Friday. "We strongly believe it would be irresponsible to continue to keep the book in the marketplace."
Flap Over Bush Book 'in a Separate Class'
The company had shipped 70,000 copies to stores and has 20,000 in storage.
Few industry observers could recall an instance in which a book that generated such political heat was recalled. At the most, said Nora Rawlinson, editor in chief of Publishers Weekly, "we've had cases where a cookbook was pulled off the shelves because the publisher discovered you'd have an explosion in the kitchen if you carefully followed one of the recipes. . . . But the flap over this [Bush book] is in a separate class."
Many in the book world expressed anger and dismay Friday over the necessity of St. Martin's action, viewing it as an embarrassing reminder that few publishers bother to check facts anymore in nonfiction books. Others say the fiasco underscores the decline of literary standards--and a respect for accuracy--in the increasingly commercialized book world.
These days, most publishers subject forthcoming books to a legal analysis--to protect themselves against possible libel lawsuits--but do not engage in heavy-duty fact-checking with authors. Editors, who once prided themselves on inspecting every word in a manuscript, are more often busy with acquiring and helping to promote new titles, according to many literary observers.
