Atheist Books Edge Out Pro-Religion Books
By Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 5/23/2007 9:13:00 AM
The success of Christopher Hitchens’s God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything certainly influenced the deal he just signed with Da Capo for The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Non-Believer. But Da Capo isn't simply buying into the Hitchens trend; in recent months, a number of anti-religion books have elbowed pro-religion manifestos by Tim LaHaye and others out of the way and taken over the lists themselves.
Since its May 1 publication, God Is Not Great has sold 41,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan, and Twelve publicity director Cary Goldstein said that within four days of the book’s publication, 95,000 copies were in print. Hitchens has been reading to sell-out crowds; an event at the Barnes & Noble at Manhattan’s Union Square drew more than 500 people. Also in the brainy anti-religion camp are The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (Houghton, Sept. 2006), which has sold 282,000 copies; and Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris (Knopf, Sept. 2006), which has sold 123,000 copies.
In contrast, LaHaye's latest, Kingdom Come: The Final Victory (Left Behind #13), which Tyndale House published on Apr. 3, has sold 46,000 copies to date, according to BookScan. And Epicenter: Why Current Rumblings in the Middle East Will Change Your Future by Joel C. Rosenberg (Tyndale, Sept. 2006) has barely crossed the 50K mark, with 51,000 copies sold.
"These [atheist] books are a direct rebuke to the status quo," said Twelve publisher and editor-in-chief Jonathan Karp, who edited Hitchens’s book. "It's a manifestation of the anger that people are feeling toward piety in the culture, fears about Islamic extremism and frustration with the way religion is continuously injected into our political life." Vintage editor-in-chief Marty Asher, editor of Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris, said "It's obvious there is a significant portion of Americans who are eager and relieved to be hearing these messages. It's a reaction to the dozens and dozens of these [Jerry] Falwell-type things."
Since publishing Harris’s book, Asher has received "a few dozen" proposals for both pro- and anti-religion books. "I've become the de facto religion person here," he said with amusement, though he added, "It's hard to imagine there’s a lot left to say." Karp thinks there will be more atheist book proposals shopped to publishers, but, he said, "I'm not doing any more. I'm done. I think Christopher Hitchens has made the point. We're very happy to continue selling his book. But I don't intend to become the atheist press here."
