One woman beats Wall St

2001 USA: Progressive American author Michael Moore (b. 1954) couldn’t get his book, Stupid White Men, onto the shelves of booksellers, until New Jersey librarian Ann Sparanese decided to do something about the fact.

Sparanese heard Moore speaking at Englewood Public Library, after he'd attended a New Jersey Citizen Action private event in which he’d told how his publisher (owned by HarperCollins which in turn is owned by right-wing Australian squillionaire Rupert Murdoch's News Corp) was refusing to release the book to the public because "At ReganBooks, we’re now known as the '9-11 publishers' – we’ve got a couple of quickie books on the Twin Towers in the works".

Sparanese was appalled that HarperCollins wouldn't release Moore's book for what amounted to reasons of censorship, so she sprang into action with emails, urging her network of friends and colleagues to protest the publisher's actions, and was responsible for the book rapidly hitting the stands – thus becoming an international best seller that exposed many aspects of the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W Bush ...

Categories: bush, corporations, book