Feud over 'Living History'

The refusal by Chinese publisher Yilin Press to recall copies of Living History that exclude passages that refer to China is drawing increasing heat from Simon & Schuster. Liu Feng, editor-in-chief of Yilin, told Reuters that he has no intention of recalling the book despite demands from S&S.

S&S spokesperson Adam Rothberg said Yilin "is in breach of contract, and if they don't remedy that we are prepared to exercise our full rights up to and including termination." S&S has ordered Yilin to replace the current version with a new edition that is a "faithful and accurate translation." In addition to demanding the recall, S&S posted a translation of the deleted passages on its Web site.

Feng contends that the changes are merely "technical" and are necessary to ensure the book's success in China. "The changes were conducive to all three sides—the U.S. publishing house, Hillary herself and the Yilin publishing house," Feng told Reuters, adding that Yilin erred only in not consulting with S&S because of its haste to release the book before pirated copies were widely available.