These bookstores have rescinded invitations to host an event for Beyond Chutzpah:

1) Harvard Bookstore, 1256 Mass Ave, Cambridge MA 02138

Harvard Bookstore contacted University of California Press and scheduled an event for September 29, 2005.

The bookstore has now rescinded the invitation. You might want to express your opinion of this courageous defense of free speech and the marketplace of ideas. Email: MLamphier[at]harvard.com, CHorne[at]harvard.com, ADarling[at]Harvard.com. Telephone: 1-800-542-READ, 1-617-661-1515.

Update: After receiving many emails and telephone calls complaining about this decision, Harvard Bookstore owner Frank Kramer put forth two proposals. Either Christopher Lydon (of The Connection) would moderate a debate between Finkelstein and Dershowitz or Lydon would interview Dershowitz and Finkelstein alternatively on back-to-back weeks. Dershowitz rejected both proposals, and Kramer will not re-invite Finkelstein on his own.

Please urge your local bookstore to host an event for Beyond Chutzpah!

2) GOOD NEWS! Barnes and Noble has agreed to reschedule the store event for Beyond Chutzpah (Tuesday, 09.20.2005). Finkelstein wishes to thank everyone who expressed support, and B&N for respecting the opinions of its customers.

The Letters 2005 page contains letters on this subject written by people who wanted theirs published: Letters to Finkelstein 2005

Some reader letters to HBS and Barnes & Noble:

From: “Sarah Johnstone” sjohnsto[at]wi.mit.edu
To: CHorne[at]harvard.com, ADarling[at]harvard.com, MLamphier[at]harvard.com
Subject: Finkelstein and Harvard Books
Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2005 18:47:44 -0500

Hello,

I am writing because I am deeply troubled by Harvard Book’s decision
to rescind its invitation to Dr. Norman Finkelstein to speak at
Harvard Books. I find this decision disappointing and very
discouraging. This saddens me especially because I have always gone
out of my way to support Harvard Books. I always choose your
bookstore over online options or big chain book stores. Moreover, I
often I feel glad to do so because I know I am supporting a local
shop that has a committment to intellectual freedom and exploration.

So you can imagine why your decision to not host Dr. Finkelstein
comes as a significant disappointment.
Dr. Finkelstein is a tremendously gifted and influential scholar.
To exclude him from speaking at the shop is a travesty. If such a
decision is simply because he challenges Harvard Professor Alan
Dershowitz then I believe this shows that Harvard Books is not as
seriously committed to knowledge and scholarship as I previously
believed.

Please consider sending those of us troubled by this decision an
explanation for your decision to rescind his invitation. I would
hope that a reasonable explanation can redeem my faith in Harvard
Books and re-inspire me to shop there over all other book retailers.

That said, I do not suspect that there is a reasonable explanation
and it seems that the best way to correct such a decision is to
extend an invitation to Finkelstein to speak in the near future, as
well as apologize to your many customers who were disappointed by
your decision not to host Dr. Finkelstein.

Sincerely,

Sarah Johnstone

MIT Department of Biology
Whitehead Institute
9 Cambridge Center
Cambridge, MA 02142

* * *

From: “Daniel Yarhi” dyarhi[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Harvard Bookstore Cancellation
Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2005 01:07:01 -0800

Dear Sir,

I have read the letter from The Harvard Bookstore, and upon consideration, cannot but agree with the staff for their actions.You are involved in a very personal feud (possibly one-sided) with the good professor.

To wit, after a short perusal of your website, I was struck with what seems to be an odd fixation or perhaps even obsession with disproving Professor Alan Dershowitz’ words, work and a very
obvious attempt at discrediting the man. But it is not a chance encounter but a driving and incessant one.

In the words of Sir Winston – A fanatic is one who can’t change his smind and won’t change the subject.

Danny Yarhi

* * *

To the owners of Harvard Bookstore:

As a long-time customer of Harvard Bookstore, I read with great dismay about your cancellation of the book event with author and professor Norman Finkelstein. The “compromise” solutions offered by Mr. Frank Kramer in fact compromise the integrity of your bookstore, as they by nature allowed Alan Dershowitz the single-handed power of censorship over another’s scholarly work. The actions taken by your bookstore in this matter are an affront to anyone who cares about free speech,for example, people who read and buy books. Until Harvard Bookstore restores its integrity – by nothing less than a successful re-scheduling of an event with Prof. Finkelstein (sans Dershowitz) – I am taking my business elsewhere. I am also encouraging my colleagues at MIT to do the same.

Sincerely,
Suzanne Nguyen

PhD student,
Dept of Biology, MIT

* * *

Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 10:33 AM
Subject: Re: In re: Harvard Bookstore rescinding invitation to Finkelstein

To whom it may concern–

I was appalled to learn that the Harvard Bookstore has rescinded its
invitation to Professor Norman Finkelstein to present on his new book
“Beyond Chutzpah.” It is impossible not to suspect that this is
because the book subjects Professor Alan Dershowitz, a prominent
Harvard faculty member, to rigorous scholarly criticism. Even the
appearance of such a conflict of interest is unacceptable for an
academic bookstore.

I strongly urge you to reissue your invitation to Professor
Finkelstein, and I suggest that an apology is in order.

Regards,
Shaun Joseph

Brown University ’03
University of Rhode Island GS I

* * *

From: Stephen Lendman
To: MLamphier[at]harvard.com
Cc: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Sent: Monday, August 29, 2005 7:52 AM

Subject: Norman Finklestein’s Beyond Chutzpah

As a Harvard alumnus, class of 56, who used to patronize the Harvard
Bookstore, I’m appalled and quite angry at your blackballing Norman
Finklestein and denying him an appearance in your store. I imagine
you won’t sell the book either.

I suspect there’s still a significant enlightened number of students
especially and faculty on campus who will be as outraged as I am. I
guess you ban Noam Chomsky too. Do you also burn books? That would
be fitting, given your attitude.

Scholars like Finklestein and Chomsky do the most scrupulously
diligent and honest work on the fields and areas they have the most
expertise in. To ban their books and deny them an open airing of
their contents is to violate one of our constitutional rights most
sacred to me. If you still value that “old-fashioned” first
amendment that those in power today want to put down “the memory
hole”, maybe you’ll reconsider. Think about it. I think an apology
would be accepted.

Maybe you’ll even respond to me. I won’t ask you to give me a public
airing in your store.

Stephen J. Lendman, class of 56

* * *

To the Harvard Administrators:

I wanted to let you know that I find it quite disturbing that the September

29th bookstore event for Beyond Chutzpah was cancelled. There is no valid

reason whatsoever to deny Professor Norman Finkelstein the opportunity to

speak about his new book at Harvard. This is wrong on so many levels and is

in all likelihood, motivated by the ill will your own Professor Dershowitz

has towards Professor Finkelstein.

Not too long ago, I was a panelist on the Harvard Veritas Forum event here

at the USC campus. It was made more meaningful by the representation of a

broad spectrum of worldviews on the God’s purpose for mankind, and as an

atheist was pleased to be included.

Professor Finkelstein’s positions are well researched and supported and

also deserve to be heard in the arena of ideas. I sincerely hope you choose

to correct this insult to academic integrity and free speech rights. It is

the contentious issues specifically that we should seek most fervently to

discuss and debate in a rational manner.

Regards,

William Buttrey
Atheist, Humanist and Freethought Alliance Advisor
USC / FBIS Department

* * *

[email sent to MLamphier, CHorne, and ADarling, Aug 22]

I am deeply disturbed that the Harvard Bookstore has cancelled the September 29th event with Norman Finkelstein for his much anticipated new book Beyond Chutzpah.

I’d like to know the process by which this eminent scholar was uninvited. At whose behest does the Harvard Bookstore quash free speech, and under what threats, from whom?

How do you square your mission of bringing new books to public attention with a decision like this? Do you routinely operate on the assumption that Harvard Bookstore customers aren’t intelligent enough to choose which books to purchase and which to leave on the shelves?

If you are concerned that violent and noisy rabble will show up at this event, the choice of integrity is to call the police and work with them. It is not at all clear to me that the people who make such threats have the capacity to feel shame, but you could certainly notify the public of the threats levelled against you.

Businesses in Nazi Germany caved in to intimidation, but that should not be the way of any American company or bookstore. The violence that the rabble might carry out is trifling compared to the violence your decision, if it stands, will do to bedrock values of intellectual integrity and freedom.

Seriously, I would like to know what in hell is going on with this cancellation?

Kristine Montamat

Dear Kristine,

Thank you for your note relating to Professor Norman Finkelstein and his book
Beyond Chutzpah. Our intention here is to clarify the situation to which
Professor Finkelstein refers on his website and clear up what we believe are
mistaken assumptions stemming from that posting.

Harvard Book Store was contacted by University of California Press in late April
and asked to host an event with Professor Finkelstein. We corresponded with the
Press regarding the book, and discussed holding an event on September 29th.
However, by late May, the controversy between Professor Finkelstein and
Professor Alan Dershowitz had taken on a distinctly personal cast. After seeing
via the press that both men’s books had become inseparable from the charges each
was making about the other, and reluctant to put Harvard Book Store in the
middle of a personal feud, we informed University of California Press that we
had decided not to sponsor an event. We then worked with them to find another
Boston-area venue, without success.

Harvard Book Store supports Professor FinkelsteinБ─≥s right to free speech. Over
the years, we have carried seven of his books. Our order for Beyond Chutzpah
was placed in January 2005, when the University of California Press announced
its publication. That order stands and we will continue to carry Professor
Finkelstein’s books.

The decision not to host Professor Finkelstein was made solely by the staff at
Harvard Book Store. We have not been contacted by Professor Dershowitz, by
anyone acting on his behalf, or by Harvard University, in any way relating to
Professor Finkelstein. Harvard Book Store is an independent bookseller,
unaffiliated with Harvard University.

Harvard Book Store’s devotion to an exchange of ideas is undiluted. We choose
not to hold an event with either of these two scholars at this time, because we
feel that the personal nature of their feud has overshadowed the real
intellectual and political debate at the heart of their books. This fall, we
will feature a display of books on the breadth of dialogue about the
relationship between Israel and PalestineБ─■both Beyond Chutzpah and The Case for
Peace will be included in this display.

If you are from an organization that is interested in sponsoring an event with
Professor Finkelstein, please contact Alexandra Dahne, Publicity Director of
the University of California Press at alex.dahne@ucpress.edu.

Thank you again for contacting us. We hope weБ─≥ve answered some of your concerns
and questions about this difficult decision. We regret that we are not able to
respond individually to each of you.

Frank Kramer, Owner
Harvard Book Store

Dear Mr. Kramer,

Your rationale that the disagreement between Dershowitz and Finkelstein has become “personal” does not hold up.

Dershowitz has charged Finkelstein with being a “Holocaust denier.”

That is a personal (and demonstrably false) charge levelled by Alan Dershowitz. Why should Norman Finkelstein be penalized for the muck Dershowitz slings?

Is this to say that anytime anyone levels a “personal” charge against an author of disagreeable views, Harvard Bookstore will decide it’s a “personal feud” and decide against giving the public a chance to meet the author?

That means you have indeed caved in to Alan Dershowitz’s intimidation– he has intimidated your staff. This is what the hyper-aggressive pro-Israel lobby does: it attacks people for speaking the truth, in opposition to them, and it makes people afraid to be associated with the person they have labelled “controversial”.

For shame. That is nothing less than stifling free speech, however you choose to rationalize it.

And it means Harvard Bookstore certainly can’t be allowing any pro-Israel or pro-war writers to appear. How dull, and how timid: A bookstore hosting authors of cookbooks, children’s stories and self-help pablum.

You’re darned right you’re not affiliated with Harvard University.

Kristine Montamat

* * *

Subject: Norman G. Finkelstein’s new book
presentations
From: George Salzman
Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 09:57:32 -0400

To: Frank Kramer
CC: mlamphier[at]harvard.com, normangf[at]hotmail.com, lpc-c[at]masses.tao.ca, dersh[at]law.harvard.edu
Cambridge, Sunday, August 21, 2005

Dear Mr. Kramer,

I know you are aware of the efforts of Alan
Dershowitz, first to suppress publication of the
book, “Beyond Chutzpah” by Norman G. Finkelstein,
and subsequently to prevent it from being widely
known. I asked your manager Mark Lamphier why the
Harvard Bookstore cancelled the previously
scheduled reading by Finkelstein. His explanation
was that Dershowitz and Finkelstein were attacking
each other personally (instead of dealing with the
substantive differences in their viewpoints), and
that you did not want to be caught “in the middle”
of the torrent of name calling. It was too
controversial. Mark told me he had agreed to the
cancellation when the decision was made), but he
urged me to write you, saying the issue was not
closed. If by “closed” he meant that you might
reconsider the cancellation, and even if he did
not mean that, I want to add my voice to those
urging you to reschedule Finkelstein’s appearance.
And not simply because I am a partisan in “his camp.”

The profound crisis in the United States,
and consequently in the entire world, is based not
only on the ideology and actions of the U.S.
government but on the frighteningly uninformed
state of a majority of Americans. Books have
traditionally been, and remain a vital source of
information for the literate public. Especially
where vital issues are at stake, a bookstore ought
to be fully engaged in appropriately publicizing
such controversies. By “safeguarding” yourself
from whatever coercive efforts Dershowitz’s
supporters may have made to have you cancel
Finkelstein’s appearance, that you have done so is
a disservice to the need for honest and open
debate about real and important issues.

In the unlikely case that you did not see
the article in “The Nation” about Dershowitz’s
revealing and disgraceful efforts to prevent
publication, I include the text below.

Sincerely yours,
George

==================================================
“Forge simple words that even the children can
understand,
words which will enter every house like the wind and
fall like red hot embers on our people’s souls.”
–Jorge Rebelo, FRELIMO

Professor Emeritus
Physics Department (generally inactive/direcciСn
inactiva generalmente)

Univ of Massachusetts
Boston, MA 02125

* * *

Dear Mr/Ms Lamphier

It is a disgrace that a University such as Harvard, with its international reputation, fails to stand up for intellectual freedom. It is a disgrace that a professor on your tenure (of law, ironically) is allowed to lobby to
suppress intellectual freedom, freedom of speech and freedom of thought, the way Mr. Dershowitz is doing.

We are all human beings with different views and different opinions and it is a
basic human right to be allowed to express those opinions. It is tragic to try
to suppress one person’s voice because we don’t agree with or don’t like what it
is he or she has to say.

And it is SHAMEFUL, utterly shameful, for an institute of learning, to cave into
political and ideologically biased pressures. It is reminiscent of Nazi Germany
and other totalitarian governments.

In the interest of education, intellectual freedom and more importantly, to
preserve the integrity of Harvard University, it is vital that Mr. Finkelstein’s book be hosted at your bookstore.

As a South African who grew up under Apartheid, I see no difference
between your refusal to host ‘Beyond Chutzpah’ and the censorship laws that once
plagued South Africa. As an individual, a scholar and a thinking person, I can
only equate your cowardice and lack of courage to do the right thing, with
the same lack of integrity that plagued the ‘silent’ supporters of Apartheid,
viz. those who didn’t make a stand against it, but quietly accepted the status quo
while great evil and injustice was being perpetrated upon others.

You do yourself a great moral disservice by refusing to host ‘Beyond
Chutzpah’.

Yours faithfully

Ms. G. Talip

Cape Town, South Africa

* * *

From: Mazin Qumsiyeh
To: frank[at]harvard.com
academicsforJustice[at]yahoogroups.com,
normangf[at]hotmail.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 3:48 PM
Subject: Your response about Finkelstein

Dear Mr. Kramer:

I am writing about the need to invite Dr. Finkelstein to speak at
Harvard Bookstore. I read your response (copy below) sent to everyone asking
about this and I am puzzled. Could you explain how you arrived at the
conclusion that there is a “personal feud” between Dershowitz and Finkelstein? Is
a book analyzing the lies of the Bush administration in taking us to
war written by security chief Mr. Richard Clark also a personal thing
between Clark and Bush? Is any book that brings up issues of distortions of
reality by others “personal” and authors would be banned from your store?

Dershowitz simply plagiarized and lied to build a case for Israeli racism and Finkelsstein brilliantly exposed this charade. No more and no less. There is nothing personal about Prof. Finkelstein excellent analysis. I
urge you to revisit this issue and invite Finkelstein to speak. He would attract an audience. Failing to do so is siding with racism and discrimination. We in Academics For Justice (AcademicsForJustice.org)
will start a campaign of education about this censorship aand will publicize widely until the Harvard Bookstore takes this issue seriously and stands up for truth.

* * *

RE: Norman Finkelstein, Beyond Chutzpah
From: Maren Hackmann
To:
Date: 18 Aug 2005, 4:10

Dear Mr. Kramer,

Last month, Associated Press quoted Norman Finkelstein as saying that “There are few individuals on earth who interest me less” than Alan Dershowitz.

Indeed, right at the very first opportunity, Finkelstein had told Dershowitz to his face: “I have no interest in you, Mr. Dershowitz. None at all. I’m interested in the scholarship, I’m interested in the facts, I’m interested in your book” (Democracy Now, 24 September 2003).

Dershowitz knows full well that this is not a personal feud, and so do you. You have no reason not to host an event for Beyond Chutzpah.

Maren Hackmann

* * *

From: Rohit Goel
To: MLamphier[at]harvard.com ; CHorne[at]harvard.com ; ADarling[at]harvard.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 12:28 PM
Subject: Cancelled Finkelstein Event

Dear Harvard Bookstore,

I am writing to express surprise at your decision to
cancel your previously scheduled book event with Norman
Finkelstein. As an undergraduate at Harvard, I valued and
supported HBS, not only for its remarkably intelligent book
collection, but also for its admirable efforts to continue as
an independent bookstore in Harvard Square–a space that has
been compromised by the near exclusive presence of large
commercial banks and the Harvard Coop.

To date, I have read two competing explanations for your
decision to cancel the book event. First, it has been
suggested that Alan Dershowitz threatened to organize a
boycott of Harvard Bookstore if Finkelstein were allowed to
speak there. For this reason, the owners of HBS were forced
to cancel the event. I am sympathetic to this explanation.
An independent bookstore struggling to exist in Harvard
Square ought to be concerned about boycott threats,
particularly those issued by popular Harvard professors. If
this is the case, Harvard Bookstore ought to tell its
customers that it does not have the financial resources to
endure such a boycott, and thus must cancel the event. I do
think most would understand.

The second explanation, provided by the owner of HBS, Frank
Kramer, is that Harvard Bookstore autonomously decided to
cancel the event. Mr. Kramer wrote that he did not want to
appear to be taking “sides” in a “personal” battle between
Professors Finkelstein and Dershowitz. I am taken aback by
this explanation for the event cancellation.

In “Beyond Chutzpah,” Finkelstein rigorously documents
Israel’s human rights record (based solely on the findings of
mainstream, Western human rights organizations). He then
compares these findings with Alan Dershowitz’s understanding
of Israel’s human rights record, which Dershowitz elaborated
two years ago in a book entitled, “The Case for Israel.” In
his book, Finkelstein discovers that Dershowitz
systematically distorts Israel’s human rights record and
covers over many of the state’s crimes. Finkesltein then
shows how and why similar distortions and denials pervade
much of the existing literature and journalism on
Palestine/Israel. He finds that flawed research methods,
specifically with regards to use of sources, help sustain
this mass of shoddy “scholarship” on Palestine/Israel.
Dershowitz’s book, “The Case for Israel,” is exemplary in
this regard.

Over the past year, Dershowitz has written scores of attacks
against Finkelstein and his publishers, none of which engage
the substantive, rigorously researched claims presented
in “Beyond Chutzpah.” Instead, Dershowitz deflects attention
away from Finkelstein’s substantive arguments by
personalizing the debate, through paranoid fits or ad hominem
attacks. At times, he screams that he is the latest victim
of some “leftist” conspiracy (led by Noam Chomsky, Alexander
Cockburn, and Norman Finkelstein). At other times, he
dismisses Finkelstein’s book entirely, as “trash” written by
a “Holocaust denier” (Finkelstein’s parents were both
survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto).

In reducing Finkelstein’s book to a personal squabble with
Dershowitz, Harvard Bookstore has taken Dershowitz’s side.
HBS has helped Dershowitz deflect attention away from the
substance of “Beyond Chutzpah.” I urge HBS to reconsider its
partisan support for Dershowitz. Until then, I plan to join
my colleague Sayres Rudy in boycotting your store.

Sincerely,

Rohit Goel
Harvard College ’02

* * *

From: Adam Jones
To: frank[at]harvard.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 8:34 AM
Subject: Re: “Beyond Chutzpah”

Dear Frank,

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my email, and explain the Harvard Bookstore’s position in this matter. However, with respect, I do not find the Bookstore’s reasons for cancelling the event planned for Norman Finkelstein’s book-release to be very convincing.

It is wholly predictable that a book intended as a systematic riposte to a given author’s work will arouse the ire and angst of the author in question (i.e., Prof. Dershowitz). The fact that a public controversy (or a “personal feud,” if you prefer) ensues between the two authors is likewise predictable, and no reason, in my view, to cancel an event planned with full foreknowledge of the nature of Mr. Finkelstein’s work.

While you state that Prof. Dershowitz did not contact the Bookstore, it seems clear from your comments that the Bookstore was amply aware of his public protests. Did these create a “chill” that led directly to the Bookstore’s decision to cancel the event? There must remain a suspicion that this was indeed the case. If so, it is a real cause for concern about Mr. Finkelstein’s right and ability to air his critical views, in my opinion.

I do again appreciate your email.

Sincerely,

Adam Jones

* * *

From: Corey Robin
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 11:46 PM

To: ‘Frank Kramer’
Subject: RE: Norman Finkelstein Invitation

Dear Frank Kramer:

Thank you for your note of explanation regarding your decision to disinvite Finkelstein to speak. As I understand you, it is the excessively personal nature of the dispute between Finkelstein and Dershowitz that has prompted you to reverse your previous decision to have him speak at your bookstore. One wonders if you’ve thought through the full implications of your decision. Surely you’re aware of the often acidic feuds between intellectuals, where ideas and political differences can assume a personal nastiness so intense it threatens to eclipse the original disagreement. Karl Popper and Ludwig Wittgenstein famously loathed each other, leading to a legendary confrontation at Cambridge in 1946 where the latter allegedly threatened the former with an iron poker. By your logic, the Harvard Bookstore would invite neither Popper nor Wittgenstein to speak for fear of indulging or participating in an overly personal conflict. Or consider Mary McCarthy’s bitter dispute with Lillian Hellman ca. 1980, which resulted in a libel suit. Would you have not invited either of these two literary lions to speak about their disagreement, which began as political and ended up as almost entirely personal? Or, to bring things a bit further up to date, Christopher Hitchens and his brother Peter did not speak to each other — quite publicly — for several years over a political disagreement that instantly became (or was from the beginning) completely personal. Would neither of them be welcome to speak on the topic or other topics of disagreement between them? Incidentally, I noticed that the Haye-on-Wye literary festival in Britain chose earlier this summer to sponsor a public forum between the two brothers, which seems a far more grown-up way to deal with conflict than just to cancel an invitation to speak.

Given the above, I don’t see how your statement below — “Harvard Book Store’s devotion to an exchange of ideas is undiluted” — can be reconciled with the stated principle that underlies your decision. Or perhaps that principle is not really the underlying basis of your decision at all? I’d be curious to hear your response.

Best,

Corey Robin

—–Original Message—–
From: Frank Kramer [mailto:frank[at]harvard.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 10:31 PM
Subject: Re: Norman Finkelstein Invitation

Dear Corey,

Thank you for your note relating to Professor Norman Finkelstein and his book
Beyond Chutzpah. Our intention here is to clarify the situation to which
Professor Finkelstein refers on his website and clear up what we believe are
mistaken assumptions stemming from that posting.

Harvard Book Store was contacted by University of California Press in late April
and asked to host an event with Professor Finkelstein. We corresponded with the
Press regarding the book, and discussed holding an event on September 29th.
However, by late May, the controversy between Professor Finkelstein and
Professor Alan Dershowitz had taken on a distinctly personal cast. After seeing
via the press that both men’s books had become inseparable from the charges each
was making about the other, and reluctant to put Harvard Book Store in the
middle of a personal feud, we informed University of California Press that we
had decided not to sponsor an event. We then worked with them to find another
Boston-area venue, without success.

Harvard Book Store supports Professor Finkelstein’s right to free speech. Over
the years, we have carried seven of his books. Our order for Beyond Chutzpah
was placed in January 2005, when the University of California Press announced
its publication. That order stands and we will continue to carry Professor
Finkelstein’s books.

The decision not to host Professor Finkelstein was made solely by the staff at
Harvard Book Store. We have not been contacted by Professor Dershowitz, by
anyone acting on his behalf, or by Harvard University, in any way relating to
Professor Finkelstein. Harvard Book Store is an independent bookseller,
unaffiliated with Harvard University.

Harvard Book Store’s devotion to an exchange of ideas is undiluted. We choose
not to hold an event with either of these two scholars at this time, because we
feel that the personal nature of their feud has overshadowed the real
intellectual and political debate at the heart of their books. This fall, we
will feature a display of books on the breadth of dialogue about the
relationship between Israel and Palestine-both Beyond Chutzpah and The Case for
Peace will be included in this display.

If you are from an organization that is interested in sponsoring an event with
Professor Finkelstein, please contact Alexandra Dahne, Publicity Director of
the University of California Press at alex.dahne[at]ucpress.edu.

Thank you again for contacting us. We hope we’ve answered some of your concernsand questions about this difficult decision. We regret that we are not able to respond individually to each of you.

Frank Kramer, Owner
Harvard Book Store

—–Original Message—–

From: “Corey Robin”
To:
Cc: ,
Subject: Norman Finkelstein Invitation

Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 13:16:41 -0400

To Whom It May Concern:

As an author who has spoken — at your invitation — at your bookstore
(October 29, 2004), I am writing to register my concern over the
cancellation of your invitation to Norman Finkelstein to speak. I don’t
know the specifics of this cancellation — indeed, I would welcome to hear
your version of the story — but from afar, I can say that it does not look good. I am aware of the controversial nature of Mr. Finkelstein’s book — and of the close proximity of Mr. Dershowitz’s office to your store. All the more reason, it would seem to me, for you to bring Mr. Finkelstein to speak. I’m sure you don’t need to hear a lecture from me on the virtues of free speech or the free circulation of ideas. But, my gosh, if bringing Finkelstein to Cambridge to air seldom-heard ideas is not part of your mission, well, I’m not really sure what you’re there for.

Sincerely,

Corey Robin
Author, *Fear: he History of a Political Idea*
Associate Professor of Political Science
Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center
City University of New York

* * *

—–Original Message—–
From: “Curtis Michael Brown”
To: frank[at]Harvard.com
Date: Wednesday, 17 Aug 2005

Dear Mr. Kramer,

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I must say it does cast the
matter in a different light. One part of your letter, however, puzzles
me. You say that between April (when you accepted to do an author event)
and late May (when you reversed your decision), “both men’s books had
become inseparable from the charges each was making about the other.”
What does “inseparable” mean here? However bitter the personal dispute
gets, how does this change the book itself? The only significant change
Finkelstein has made to his book in recent months is to *tone down* the
plagiarism charge.

I think one has to be careful not to dismiss the significance of their
debate on the grounds that it has gotten personal. Both men are loudly
calling each other liars, yes, and the tone and volume of the
name-calling is an embarassment to both. But it is a different level of
“getting personal” to petition a state governor to suppress publication of
a book that criticizes your scholarship. UC Press has been remarkably
courageous in this matter, and deserves the support of any organization
devoted to the free exchange of ideas.

It should also be noted that Professor Dershowitz has since October of
2003, at the very outset of his debate with Finkelstein – long before May
of this year and long before Finkelstein was calling him names –
described any critique by Finkelstein regarding the accuracy of his work
as “personal” and “ad hominem.” The motivation to say this when one
is losing an argument is obvious: well-intentioned people will wash their
hands of what seems to be a purely personal dispute, forgetting that in
this case it is a debate about historical truth that is driving the
personal animus, not the other way around.

Yours,
Curtis Brown

——————————-

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005, Frank Kramer wrote:

Dear Curtis,

Thank you for your note relating to Professor Norman Finkelstein and his book
Beyond Chutzpah. Our intention here is to clarify the situation to which
Professor Finkelstein refers on his website and clear up what we believe are
mistaken assumptions stemming from that posting.

Harvard Book Store was contacted by University of California Press in late April
and asked to host an event with Professor Finkelstein. We corresponded with the
Press regarding the book, and discussed holding an event on September 29th.
However, by late May, the controversy between Professor Finkelstein and
Professor Alan Dershowitz had taken on a distinctly personal cast. After seeing
via the press that both men’s books had become inseparable from the charges each was making about the other, and reluctant to put Harvard Book Store in the
middle of a personal feud, we informed University of California Press that we
had decided not to sponsor an event. We then worked with them to find another
Boston-area venue, without success.

Harvard Book Store supports Professor Finkelstein’s right to free speech. Over
the years, we have carried seven of his books. Our order for Beyond Chutzpah
was placed in January 2005, when the University of California Press announced
its publication. That order stands and we will continue to carry Professor
Finkelstein’s books.

The decision not to host Professor Finkelstein was made solely by the staff at
Harvard Book Store. We have not been contacted by Professor Dershowitz, by
anyone acting on his behalf, or by Harvard University, in any way relating to
Professor Finkelstein. Harvard Book Store is an independent bookseller,
unaffiliated with Harvard University.

Harvard Book Store’s devotion to an exchange of ideas is undiluted. We choose
not to hold an event with either of these two scholars at this time, because we
feel that the personal nature of their feud has overshadowed the real
intellectual and political debate at the heart of their books. This fall, we
will feature a display of books on the breadth of dialogue about the
relationship between Israel and Palestine-both Beyond Chutzpah and The Case for Peace will be included in this display.

If you are from an organization that is interested in sponsoring an event with
Professor Finkelstein, please contact Alexandra Dahne, Publicity Director of
the University of California Press at alex.dahne[at]ucpress.edu.

Thank you again for contacting us. We hope we’ve answered some of your concerns and questions about this difficult decision. We regret that we are not able to respond individually to each of you.

Frank Kramer, Owner

Harvard Book Store

—–Original Message—–

From: “Curtis Michael Brown”
To: frank[at]Harvard.com
Cc: MLamphier[at]Harvard.com, ADarling[at]Harvard.com, CHorne[at]Harvard.com
Subject: Finkelstein event
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 14:44:54 -0400

Dear Mr. Kramer,

I am writing because I understand that you have rescinded an invitation to
the author of “Beyond Chutzpah” to introduce his book at the Harvard
Bookstore on September 29.

I’m sure you’re receiving a great deal of correspondence right now, but
I’m hoping that you can explain to me what sort of pressure was put on
the bookstore and by whom, and how you arrived at your decision to
respond to it as you did.

If you were anxious to appear not to be “taking sides,” then you have
squandered that appearance by disinviting Mr. Finkelstein. Mr. Dershowitz
has a book of his own coming out this month; you could have invited him to
present it. That course of action would have headed off any serious
charge of bias, while avoiding sending out the very unfortunate message
that your decision has created.

Barnes and Noble, you may have heard, has arrived at a decision similar
to yours. In their case the decision is transparently cynical, as they
still have plans to host an event for Dershowitz’s new book. Business is
business, the bottom line the bottom line. But the Harvard Bookstore has
always seemed more than a business; it is also something of a community
space, like a public forum. In an age where anyone can order any book in
your stock from Amazon and thereby save themselves a few dollars, people
continue to patronize bookstores like yours because they associate them –
albeit vaguely – with a commitment to “community,” meaning a commitment
to books and public discourse that transcends political and corporate
pressures. Your decision is unworthy of the bookstore’s history and its
reputation. It will prompt many people to revisit their assumptions
about differences of mission and ethics between your store and
mega-corporate entities like B & N. I know I have.

Yours truly,
Curtis Brown

* * *

—–Original Message—–
From: “Tanweer Akram”
To: Frank Kramer
Subject: Prof. Finkelstein’s book

Dear Frank,

Thank you for your email in reply to my earlier email. Every time that Ivisit Cambridge, MA, I visit Havard Bookstore. I am deeply disappointed to learn that the bookstore has “decided not to sponsor an event” with
Prof. Norman Finkelstein after intially thinking of holding “an event on September 29th” because you claim that “controversy between Professor Finkelstein and Mr. Alan Dershowitz had taken on a distinctly personal
cast.”

The “pesonsal cast” or personality issues are completely irrelevant to the merits of Professor Finkelstein’s scholarly research and findings, which happens to show that Mr. Dershowitz has engaged in heavy lifting of
material from Joan Peters’ hoax, and is a apologist for Israeli notorious human rights records. Dershowitz’s claims about Israel human rights records is in complete discordance with the pubished findings of human rights
organizations, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, various Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations and internationally respected observers.

Finkelstein’s research is important because it exposes fraudulent scholarship, gross violation of academic and moral standards. Bookstores associated with seats of learning ought to provide space for dissident
scholars to tell the truth and shame the plagarists and liars. By canceling the invitation to Professor Finkelstein, Havard Bookstore has done a real disservice to the cause of open discussion and the diffusion
of critical scholarship. This is particularly important in Cambridge, MA and for a bookstore that is known as Havard Bookstore since Mr. Dershowitz is a pillar of Cambridge high society and occupies a respectable chair at a law school that is also has enjoys a similar brand name as that of your
bookstore.

The claims of estabishment figures, including Havard professors, and spurious tactics of professor who fail to adhere to elementary standard of decency and academic practices should be subject to critical scrutiny.
That’s why your bookstore should invite Prof. Finkelstein even if it upsets Larry Summers, Alan Dershowitz, Ariel Sharon and other Harvard icons. Let me also emphasize, that authors should not be barred from speaking or presenting because of personal clashes. The honorable thing for the bookstore is stick to its invitation and enhance open discussion of ideas so that readers, include those in the Harvard community who have been subject to Mr. Dershowitz’s heavily borrowing from a fraudulent work, can
evaluate the merits of Prof. Finkelstein’s latest book and decide if the book is worth adding to thier library.

Sincerely,

Tanweer Akram

=============
Tanweer Akram, PhD

—-Original Message Follows—-
From: Frank Kramer
To: tanweer akram
Subject: Re: Prof. Finkelstein’s book

Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 22:23:03 -0400

Dear Tanweer,

Thank you for your note relating to Professor Norman Finkelstein and his
book Beyond Chutzpah. Our intention here is to clarify the situation to which
Professor Finkelstein refers on his website and clear up what we believe
are mistaken assumptions stemming from that posting.

Harvard Book Store was contacted by University of California Press in
late April and asked to host an event with Professor Finkelstein. We corresponded with the Press regarding the book, and discussed holding an event on September 29th. However, by late May, the controversy between Professor Finkelstein and Professor Alan Dershowitz had taken on a distinctly personal cast. After seeing via the press that both men’s books had become inseparable from the
charges each was making about the other, and reluctant to put Harvard Book Store in the middle of a personal feud, we informed University of California Press that we had decided not to sponsor an event. We then worked with them to find another Boston-area venue, without success.

Harvard Book Store supports Professor Finkelstein’s right to free speech.
Over the years, we have carried seven of his books. Our order for Beyond
Chutzpah was placed in January 2005, when the University of California Press
announced its publication. That order stands and we will continue to carry
Professor Finkelstein’s books.

The decision not to host Professor Finkelstein was made solely by the
staff at Harvard Book Store. We have not been contacted by Professor Dershowitz, by anyone acting on his behalf, or by Harvard University, in any way
relating to Professor Finkelstein. Harvard Book Store is an independent bookseller, unaffiliated with Harvard University.

Harvard Book Store’s devotion to an exchange of ideas is undiluted. We
choose not to hold an event with either of these two scholars at this time,
because we feel that the personal nature of their feud has overshadowed the real
intellectual and political debate at the heart of their books. This fall,
we will feature a display of books on the breadth of dialogue about the
relationship between Israel and Palestine-both Beyond Chutzpah and The
Case for Peace will be included in this display.

If you are from an organization that is interested in sponsoring an event
with Professor Finkelstein, please contact Alexandra Dahne, Publicity Director
of the University of California Press at alexdahne[at]ucpress.edu.

Thank you again for contacting us. We hope we’ve answered some of your
concerns
and questions about this difficult decision. We regret that we are not
able to respond individually to each of you.

Frank Kramer, Owner
Harvard Book Store

—–Original Message—–
From: “Tanweer Akram”
To: ,, ADarling[at]Harvard.com
Subject: Prof. Finkelstein’s book
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 10:52:10 -0400

Dear sir or madam:

Whenever I go to visit Cambridge, MA, I visit the Harvard Bookstore.
That’s why I am deeply disappointed to learn that you have canceled an
invitation to Prof. Finkelstein to speak about his new book, Beyond Chutzpah. It is important that Prof. Finkelstein should be allowed to tear apart the
shallow claims and lies of Alan Dershowitz and company.

I hope that Harvard Bookstore will soon invite him.

Sincerely,
Tanweer Akram
=============

Tanweer Akram, PhD

* * *

To: frank[at]harvard.com

Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 10:52 PM

Subject: Beyond Chutzpah

Dear Mr. Kramer:

I was dismayed to learn of Harvard Bookstore’s decision to rescind a scheduled event featuring Professor Norman Finkelstein.

I understand that your decision was based on the belief that by holding the event it would appear as if Harvard Bookstore was choosing sides. It seems to me that this rationale would apply to any author who has written a book reflecting strong political convictions that others vehemently disagree with.

Harvard Bookstore should reschedule the event, just as Harvard Bookstore should schedule a similar event when Professor Dershowitz’s upcoming book “The Case for Peace” is released.

A free exchange of ideas and lively debate is something a bookstore should welcome and promote, not shy away from. I urge you to reconsider.

Jamal Aruri
Lowell, MA

* * *

From: Walter Broner
To: DCobb[at]bn.com
Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2005 9:45 PM
Subject: Re: Professor Finkelstein’s book “Beyond Chutzpah”

Dear Ms. Cobb

I have seen news reports that Barnes and Noble has rescinded an
invitation to Professor Finkelstein to promote his new book. (It was
supposed to happen at the new Barnes and Noble superstore at DePaul
University in Chicago in September 2005).

Are these reports true? If so, what was the reason? Can you tell us
if there were any pressure groups that contacted BN and shaped its
decision? BTW, what is the corporate policy on sales of books on
current events/political science and author events? Are there any books
about current controversial subjects written by academics that you
refuse to sell and/or promote?

Hey, don’t you guys want to sell more books? Especially ones that are
receiving much praise for their scholarship? Is this happening in
America? What’s going on?

Say it ain’t so…

Concerned Citizen, who is considering boycott of BN if the allegations
of corporate cowardice are substantiated,

Walter Broner

* * *

From: Hubert Murray
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:13:47 -0700 (PDT)
To:
Subject: Norman Finkelstein’s Book

Dear Mr. Kramer,

I am sorry if you are being deluged with e-mails but feel I have to add my own voice to the torrent.

I understand that the Harvard Bookstore has cancelled a proposed reading and talk by Dr Finkelstein on his new book Beyond Chutzpah. While it is evidently no-one’s ‘right’ to talk on your premises, it does seem to be an interesting book and we know from other events that Dr Finkelstein himself is an erudite and interesting person. Regrettably, in the United States his views are considered controversial. In itself this should not disqualify him from speaking, particularly in view of the extraordinarily close legal scrutiny to which the text has been subjected by its publishers.

The Harvard Bookstore is one of the reasons I so enjoy living and working in Cambridge. One would be hard put to find such a good stock of books served by such an excellent staff. Blackwell’s may compete on stock but your staff are in my experience beyond compare.

It seems to me that there are two very important reasons for resisting Amazon.com and for supporting the Harvard Bookstore. The first is the obvious one that your institution serves as a pillar of our community and your financial well-being is important to all of us. The second is that as a pillar of the intellectual community you serve the broad exchange of ideas, a purpose of inestimable importance, particularly in the constrained debate on the middle east. It is this second principle that in this instance I feel you are not serving as perhaps you might. I do hope you reconsider your position.

Hubert Murray

* * *

Barnes and Noble Booksellers
122 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10011

Re: Cancellation of Norman Finkelstein event

Dear Ms. Cobb and Mr. Penque:

I am writing to strongly protest Barnes & Noble’s decision to cancel the
promotional event that had been scheduled for September at the DePaul
University store in connection with Professor Norman Finkelstein’s
forthcoming book about the Israel-Palestine conflict, Beyond Chutzpah. It
should be the mission of booksellers, no less than writers and publishers,
to pursue and support all avenues of responsible intellectual inquiry and
_expression, regardless of whatever pressures may be brought to suppress
them. Professor Finkelstein’s new book is certain to spark intense debate
and unsettle more than a few prejudices, and it is the job of good
bookstores to provide the public with access to all such endeavors and
points of view, from those of entrenched political interests to those that
dissent from them. This mission takes on particular urgency when the
subject of a book is the fate of a people living literally under the gun, as
is the case with Beyond Chutzpah.

Barnes & Noble abandoned that principle — at the very least in tacit
sympathy with Mr. Dershowitz, whose gambit to quash the book’s publication
backfired spectacularly but whose connections and influence remain
formidable. Coupled with its scheduling of an event to promote Mr.
Dershowitz’s new book about Israel, this not only smacks of rank hypocrisy
but also suggests something far worse: a willingness to sell freedom of
_expression to the highest bidder.

Barnes & Noble should restore the promotional event for Beyond Chutzpah to
its fall schedule without delay. If this does not happen, I will cease to
be a Barnes & Noble customer and will encourage everyone I know to boycott
your stores in the future.

Truly,

Joanna Tinker
Buffalo, New York

* * *

From: Sayres Rudy
Sent: Sat 8/13/2005 7:51 PM
To: MLamphier[at]harvard.com
Cc: CHorne[at]harvard.com; ADarling[at]harvard.com
Subject: Finkelstein event

Dear HBS:

I just received word** that you have dis-invited Norman Finkelstein from presenting his new book, Beyond Chutzpah, a critique of the new discourse on anti-Semitism and on the paradigmatic “defense of Israel” by Alan Dershowitz. I retain some hope that this is a misunderstanding. But if it is true, please know that I will boycott your store until he is re-invited. Over the past decade I have spent thousands of dollars at HBS, and have sent countless students to you for books and inquiries. I will do everything I can to persuade others to boycott HBS until you come to your principled senses. I and many others who are stunned by your decision and prepared to use Amazon know you will change your minds. Finkelstein’s book is an extremely important, accurate, and conscientious work that merits public hearing and debate.

Sayres Rudy
Dept. of Political Science
Amherst College

** From Finkelstein’s website:

“Harvard Bookstore contacted University of California Press and scheduled an
event for September 29, 2005.

The bookstore has now rescinded the invitation. You might want to express your
opinion of this courageous defense of free speech and the marketplace of ideas.”

* * *

—– Original Message —–
From: Adam Jones
To: info[at]harvard.com
Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2005 8:43 AM
Subject: Re: “Beyond Chutzpah”

Dear Harvard Bookstore,

I have recently been made aware of the Bookstore’s decision to rescind an
invitation to an event planned for the release of Norman Finkelstein’s book,
“Beyond Chutzpah.” Apparently, this decision was taken for fear of “economic
retaliation” against the Bookstore.

Please, people, refrain from kowtowing to irate Harvard professors and the
zionist constituency more generally. It is unseemly for an institution that
should be promoting the widest possible freedom of speech and discussion,
come what may.

Sincerely,

Adam Jones. Ph.D.
New Haven, CT

* * *

Dear Frank:

I know you’re not affiliated with Harvard. I mentioned my own Harvard affiliation simply to tell you something about my own background and my – till now – high esteem for your bookstore, located as it is right in front of Harvard Yard, where I used to come and go and enjoy countless trips to buy books.

I’m afraid I disagree about your “taking sides” rationale. Mr. Dershowitz’s book is long out. Dr. Finkelstein’s book was just published. When a book just published is as high-profile as this, the usual bookstore procedure is a visit by the author, a discussion, and a signing. Instead, the nature of the topic has caused you and other book stores to retreat.

The intimidation of US bookstore owners/managers about this book owes to the terrible period of repression North America is experiencing, one that the heavy hands of the Israel lobby and its intellectuals – Alan Dershowitz, Daniel Pipes and others – are potently shaping. If you were Shakespeare & Company in Paris or Feltrinelli in Rome I wonder if you would care about the “appearance of taking sides.” The annihilation of the Palestinians as a society is one of the monstrous injustices of the post-World War II period. Begun in 1948 with the forced expulsion of 750,000 Palestinian Arabs from historic Palestine via Plan Dalet (engineered by the highest officials of the pre-state Jewish leadership, as the books lining your own shelves demonstrate – Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi’s ORIGINAL SINS; Baruch Kimmerling’s Policide; Avi Schlaim’s THE IRON WALL and many more), it is proceeding apace even as I write this e-mail to you. Given this, were you Shakespeare & Co or Feltrinelli, you might be proud to take sides. Standing up against the perpetrators of great injustice on behalf of the victim is a proud human tradition. Not an easy one to fulfill, but don’t threats from one’s opponents, and consequently fear of economic reprisal, go with the territory?

The following are among the injustices perpetrated by Israel, vociferously denied of course by the claque that applauds Israel’s every action as a “response to terrorism:” the grotesque apartheid wall, the strangulation of the Palestinian economy by the Sharon regime, the consignment of 3.5 million people to imprisonment within the ghetto walls of cities like Kalkilya, mile upon mile of barbed-wire “separation barriers,” and the entire region of Gaza; the decimation of the Palestinian health care and education systems, the destruction of hundreds of thousands of dunams of formerly rich farm land with its fruit and olive trees; thousands of deaths, tens of thousands of injuries of which many permanent, a large proportion of the deaths and injuries incurred to children.

I speak as one who has witnessed all of this “on the ground.” But for those who haven’t, it’s all out there on the B’tselem. Physicians for Human Rights, Israel, Electronic Intifada and other websites. And it is all calculated to consolidate Israel’s hold on the rich aquifers and land of the West Bank and East Jerusalem to make permanent “The Greater Israel.” The settlements that sprawl, like gigantic, faceless American suburban enclaves, over the once-gorgeous, terraced Mediterranean landscape I used to know in the West Bank in the 1980s continue being expanded, thanks to the blessings our President has given them, thus green-lighting Sharon’s ceaseless aggression. As for the famed “Gaza withdrawal,” the highest authorities in Israel have confirmed it’s meant to consolidate Israel’s hold over all the settlements on the far richer West Bank. (See the statement last year in HA ARETZ by Mr. Sharon’s close adviser, the lawyer Dov Weisglas, that the Gaza pullout was meant to forever “embalm” the “peace process” in “formaldehyde.”) As in regard to South Africa during high apartheid, all of this demands that we who know and see what is taking place take a stand. In the case of your bookstore, taking the right stand means not retracting your invitation to Dr. Finkelstein. I would respectfully ask you again, Frank, to reconsider, and do the right thing.

Ellen Cantarow, Harvard, 1971

—–Original Message—–
From: frank[at]harvard.com
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2005 3:55 PM
To: Ellen Cantarow

Subject: Re: Finkelstein and your invitation retraction

Dear Ellen,

Thank you for your note.

Please read below my email to Professor Finkelstein regarding the cancellation
of the event for Beyond Chutzpah. Harvard Book Store is a privately owned
bookstore and it is not affiliated with either the Harvard Coop or Harvard University. We have no plans to host an event with Professor Dershowitz.

Sincerely,

Frank Kramer, Owner
Harvard Book Store, Inc.

From: frank[at]harvard.com
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2005 12:28 PM
To: ‘NormanGF[at]hotmail.com’
Subject: Beyond Chutzpah

Dear Norman Finkelstein,

Thank you for your emails received yesterday and this morning.

We understand your dismay upon learning of our difficult decision not to host an
event for Beyond Chutzpah and we regret that we had to be the cause. Our decision to do so was completely our own and not due to any outside pressure. We believe that what started as a disagreement about history and politics has taken on a personal nature and we do not want to appear to be taking sides by hosting an event.

Let me assure you that we have gladly carried and sold your prior books and we have already ordered copies of Beyond Chutzpah for display and sale.

Sincerely,

Frank Kramer, Owner
Harvard Book Store, Inc.

From: Ellen Cantarow
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2005 10:44 AM
To: info[at]harvard.com
Subject: Finkelstein and your invitation retraction

To whom it may concern:

I was a graduate student at Harvard in the late 60s and early 70s, and have a great affection for your bookstore where I still go to purchase books. I was appalled by your decision to retract an invitation to have Dr. Finkelstein speak at your bookstore (I assume this is what was involved?) In any case the e-mail I received about your invitation retraction involves BEYOND CHUTZPAH, and Alan Dershowitz is literally in your front yard. I was a child during the McCarthy period, and the American climate, especially around the issue of Israel and its critics, is seeing McCarthyism reborn. Your intimidation (the bland catchword is “too controversial”) is something people during the McCarthy period caved in to time and time again: it is symptomatic of a climate in which fear is in the driver’s seat. Freedom of speech and the free circulation of ideas are literally being killed, nowhere more clearly than in writing about the facts of Israel’s occupation of and war against the Palestinian people, as well as its policies, which are the bedrock of America’s neo-con drive to exert “full-spectrum dominance” throughout the Middle East and thence, the globe.

As for Dr. Finkelstein, we are not talking about a loony who has written garbage
that “deserves to be heard because it’s his right to speak.” This is a scholar whose meticulously documented book reveals historical facts about Israel, most particularly in its policies against the Palestinian people. These facts are undoubtedly unpleasant for the Alan Dershowitzes of our world, but it is the responsibility of all of us – particularly book stores and publishers – to stand up for freedom of _expression. I cannot express my distress at your
decision, and urge you to rescind it.

ELLEN CANTAROW, PhD, Harvard University, 1971

* * *

From: charles kiddell
Date: Aug 12, 2005 11:47 AM
Subject: Is my book order controversial?
To: JPenque[at]bncollege.com

Cc: Norman Finkelstein

Dear Mr. Penque,

Here is my most recent ordering history from bn.com (my many previous orders were mostly through my work e-mail address).

Date of Order	Order Number	Total Cost	Status	Details
August 12, 2005, 12:12 AM EST	BN71142001	$34.83	Not Yet Shipped	Check status or modify order
August 5, 2005, 4:34 PM EST	BN71012105	$402.99	Not Yet Shipped	Check status or modify order
February 16, 2005, 6:37 PM EST	BN67199385	$723.02	Shipped	Check status or modify order

You will learn from an examination of these and preceding orders that I requested uncontroversial children’s books, books by leading American scientists, undeniably mainstream works of literature including books by Chinua Achebe, Jane Austen, V.S. Naipaul, and Erich Maria Remarque, and many volumes on computer programming and the history of computer science.

Now I find that one of the books that I have ordered, Beyond Chutzpah, by Norman Finkelstein (in order number BN71012105), has been declared too controversial by Barnes & Noble. Yet this book, like all the books I have ordered, is mainstream, in this case published by the University of California Press.

I learned this today from the author’s website:

The new Barnes and Noble superstore at DePaul University in Chicago contacted University of California Press and scheduled an event for September 2005. Then it rescinded the invitation on the orders of the corporate headquarters because the book was “too controversial.”

So what is going on here? The controversy, apparently, is that Alan Dershowitz, holder of a respected position at Harvard Law School, does not like the book’s content. So what is that to B&N’s corporate office? Beyond Chutzpah is an academic book, written by a university professor, peer reviewed by other scholars, and published by one of the most respected presses in the world. Why would your great American brick and mortar bookstore call that controversial?

If it is nothing to you it is something to me, as a loyal customer. I have haunted B&N stores in Manhattan, Chicago, and Santa Barbara, spending a great deal of money over the past decade. I like real bookstores, and so when I don’t have time to visit one I order from one. …

If you think you shouldn’t upset a few loud supporters of Professor Dershowitz who oppose free speech when it suits them, I think you shouldn’t lose the respect of a lot of money paying, avid readers who favour free speech. We can shop elsewhere. I don’t want to, but you see that if I am willing to pay more on principle I am also willing to permanently take my business elsewhere on principle.

Incidentally, Norman Finkelstein is on the political left, and I am on the right of center. Maybe once I read the book I won’t accept his arguments or conclusions, but perhaps others like me would have appreciated discovering the book through the event you have cancelled, if only to criticise it.

Finally, how will you hold your heads up when Beyond Chutzpah is reviewed in the U.K.? when The Guardian, The T.L.S., or The Spectator mention (as one or more across that spectrum surely will) that B&N did not have the courage to host the cancelled event because of pressure from O.J.’s lawyer.

Sincerely,
Charles Kiddell,
Montreal, Canada

* * *

more letters to Harvard Book Store and B&N on the Letters 2005 page