Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Bookstore Censorship?

Crispin Sartwell plays with a good one concerning a commercial form of censorship.  In Tunisia, the wife of the deposed dictator -- both of whom are rightly despised -- has written a memoir.  Bookstores labored under state-sponsored censorship and while everyone hates this woman, those dealing with written material have special cause.  So now there's a book that would likely sell well since folks would be interested in her side of the story and the supposed juicy bits, but then she gets royalties and attention, just what she wants.  Crispin, in his usual anarchist way, suggests distributing pirated copies to undermine the market.  Let's assume that this is not an option.  Should bookstores carry the book?  Would you if it was your bookstore?