Cambridge University Press—in sharp contrast to Yale University Press—has agreed to recall and destroy copies of Alms for Jihad, a critically-acclaimed examination of terror finance which a Saudi businessman found inconvenient (I'd link to the Amazon.com page which listed the accolades, but Amazon has now erased the book's listing as if it has never existed). When those involved in terror finance-soiled charities sued Yale University Press over Matt Levitt's examination of Hamas, Yale University Press stood up to them, defended academic rigor and free speech, and won. How disappointing it is, then, to see that the American Political Science Association has chosen Cambridge University Press as a major sponsor for its annual meeting. Guess which books won't be available at APSA's book fair? My reviews of both books, here.
Or as Peter Scott says:Cambridge contacts U.S. libraries over "Alms for Jihad" "Cambridge University Press has requested some American libraries that own the 2006 book Alms for Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World by J. Millard Burr and Robert O. Collins to remove it from their shelves. The August 10 Chronicle of Higher Education reported that the publisher agreed to pulp its remaining copies in response to a libel claim filed in Britain by Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi banker whom the book claims financed terrorism in Sudan and elsewhere during the 1990s"
Amazon has completely pulled it. Not even "used" copies are available. In fact, I can't find this book for sale anywhere. In America.
Looks like it's about to become really sought after. Lotsa folks don't like being told what they can and cannot read.
No comments:
Post a Comment