It's Time for the Book Business to Change

A little over half a century ago, following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr and the protests that rose in its wake, Publishers WeeklyInternational news website of book publishing and bookselling including business news, reviews, bestseller lists, commentaries http://www.publishersweekly.com/'s then editor-in-chief, Chandler B. Grannis, felt compelled to speak up. "Modern Americans like to think of their society as one marked by scientific achievement and the advance of humanistic culture," he wrote, "but once again we have seen this pretension brutally shattered. Once again the American heritage of violence-perpetuated by nostalgic tradition, racial fear, a confusing war, misapplied nationalism, and television programming-has struck down one of our noblest and most needed citizens."