More Flames in Flew Controversy
by Lynn Garrett, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 11/28/2007
As we reported in the last issue of Religion BookLine (Nov. 14), Mark Oppenheimer's Nov. 4 piece in the New York Times Sunday Magazine on Antony Flew and his new book, There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind has kicked up a storm that has yet to die down. Bloggers—among them Ross Douthat on TheAtlantic.com and Dinesh D'Souza on AOL—have been burning up their keyboards on both sides of the controversy.
Responding to HarperOne publisher Mark Tauber's comments in the Nov. 14 article, Oppenheimer told RBL, "Tauber is free to be 'frustrated' by my article on his author. But it's misleading to say that I 'implied that Flew didn't write the book.' It was Harper's own author, ghostwriter, second ghostwriter, and editor who all stated explicitly, on the record, that Flew did not write the book. As to whether the book fairly represents Flew's opinions, that's the difficult matter to decide, and I tried to be fair in presenting all sides of that story. I leave it to readers to decide for themselves."
Tauber responded, "The book wasn't ghostwritten as Oppenheimer says in his piece, but co-written—that's why the cover reads 'with Roy Varghese.' Much of the book is taken from articles Flew did actually write plus collaborations with Varghese via interviews. Since most people do not understand the way co-written—and even ghost-written—books are done," said Tauber, he believes it's disingenuous to ask readers to make up their own minds. He said that what he objects to most is Oppenheimer's implication that the authors and HarperOne have done something unethical in publishing the book.
But, said Oppenheimer, "in addition to the 'with,' there was another, uncredited author, a true ghostwriter." He also wonders why Flew needed the help, since "he is the author of a couple dozen books, and it's not that he doesn't write anymore." Finally, he added, "Anyone curious about what Flew understands of his book can ask him. His number and address are listed. He enjoys talking and writing letters."
In a letter to the editor of the Times magazine published Nov. 18, Varghese himself weighed in with this: "Is my co-author Tony Flew 'all there' mentally? The only reason that people ask questions about his mental faculties is that he dared to change his mind. He believes in God and therefore he has dementia, or he has dementia and therefore he believes in God. But let's not forget that his new view of the world is one embraced by many of today's leading philosophers in the Anglo-American world as well as by pioneers of modern science."
It's conventional wisdom that in publishing, controversy can sell a book. As Christianity Today editor David Neff wrote in his Nov. 5 blog post, if the sparks continue to fly, "I'm sure HarperOne will see it as publicity they couldn't have purchased at any price."
