S&S Stands Behind Carter

by Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly, 1/2/2007

Jimmy Carter’s new book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, has put the former president on the defensive on the hot-button topic of Israeli-Palestinian relations. One group was so incensed by the book that it decided to advertise its dismay. Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, or CAMERA, ran a full-page ad in the New York Times on December 28 listing the "falsehoods" in Carter’s book and asking its publisher, Simon & Schuster, to do a “public correction.” The ad, which ran as an open letter to S&S CEO Jack Romanos, included the company’s main phone number and called on readers to contact the house to demand a correction.

Andrea Levin, executive director of CAMERA, which describes itself as a nonpartisan media watchdog organization, said she and her association don’t take issue with Carter’s stance but, rather, with his handling of history. “We have nothing to argue with about his opinions,” she said. “What we’re talking about are issues of fact.” According to Levin, the main misstep in Carter’s book is the author’s description of UN Resolution 242. “He changes it,” Levin said. “It’s a bedrock fact and from [his erroneous description of it] other of his assertions flow that are distorted.”

Adam Rothberg, head of S&S corporate communications, said the house was more surprised by CAMERA’s tactics than anything else. Explaining that the publisher knew the book--which, according to numbers provided by S&S, has 415,000 copies in print--would stir emotions from the onset, Rothberg said the ad and any calls it has elicited have been taken in stride. Ironically, some of the calls that the house received, according to Rothberg, were in support of the book. (CAMERA is not tracking the calls, but Levin said a number of people have contacted the organization supporting their position.) When asked whether S&S will change the book, Rothberg said: “We’re going to stick with the president’s version.”