The Globe and Mail reports on Raincoast Books‘ decision with regards to Paul William Roberts‘ once-well-regarded book THE WAR AGAINST TRUTH, which turned out to have plagiarized an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article from 2002. The publisher’s action is to “dispose” of all warehoused copies (about 2,000) of the book, though they did not specify whether the disposal would involve pulping, recycling or incinerating the books in question.
In February, it appeared the major redress would be the insertion of a typed correction into the warehouse stock, since The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had previously indicated it was “not looking for monetary compensation.” But earlier this month Raincoast decided that freezing the stock, then disposing of it “would be the most straightforward way” of handling the issue, Raincoast’s vice-president of marketing, Jamie Broadhurst, said yesterday.
Thomas Clyde, lead lawyer for the Journal-Constitution on the case, said Raincoast’s disposal decision “is certainly okay by us. It’s not something we requested or required.” Indeed, destroying a book “is not something we would demand as a newspaper,” given its commitment to freedom of expression, but it is “a perfectly adequate resolution in our view.”