May 4, 2002 THINK TANK Surprise Best Seller Blames U.S. By MICHAEL MASSING
In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Noam Chomsky, the M.I.T. linguist and political provocateur, was constantly on the telephone, giving interviews to news organizations. In late September, he received an e-mail message from Greg Ruggiero, a senior editor of Seven Stories Press, a New York publisher. The editor of a series of political pamphlets for Seven Stories, Mr. Ruggiero had published several Chomsky pamphlets and said he wanted to publish something quickly about Sept. 11.
During the next few weeks, Mr. Ruggiero edited several of the interviews Professor Chomsky had given, and supplemented them with his own questions. On Oct. 15, just as the war in Afghanistan was beginning, the resulting 125-page pocket-size paperback went to the printer.
"9-11," as the volume is titled, analyzes the attacks from the distinctive perspective that Professor Chomsky has honed in more than a dozen books. While the attacks were "horrifying atrocities," he writes, "we can think of the United States as an innocent victim only if we adopt the convenient path of ignoring the record of its actions and those of its allies."
The United States, he asserts, is "a leading terrorist state," basing his opinion on actions like its interventions in Central America, its imposition of sanctions on Iraq, its support for General Suharto in Indonesia and its backing of what he calls "Israeli atrocities" in the occupied territories.
As for Afghanistan, Professor Chomsky argued against military action, maintaining that an attack by the United States would probably kill "enormous numbers" of "innocent civilians." At a time when American flags were popping up on T-shirts and car antennas, publishing such an analysis hardly seemed propitious. "People said it would have no success whatsoever," said Daniel Simon, the publisher of Seven Stories, "because most Americans were lock-step behind the war."
As soon as the volume hit bookstores, however, it began selling briskly, and it hasn't stopped. More than 115,000 copies have been shipped to stores, said Kim Wylie, senior vice president of Publishers Group West, which distributes the book and has had a hard time keeping up with the demand. The paperback has also been published in 22 countries and has been a best seller in 5 of them. In the United States, it has made the best-seller lists of The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Village Voice and Amazon.com.
The book is a swift seller at independent bookstores. Labyrinth Books, near Columbia University, has sold more than 380 copies of "9-11," making it the best-selling nonfiction book (aside from those required for courses) in the store's five-year history. The St. Mark's Bookshop in the East Village has sold 870 copies. At Kramerbooks in Washington, "9-11" has far outsold all other books about Sept. 11.
"It just sits there on the register and sells," said Mitch Brown, the store's general manager. And at Prairie Lights in Iowa City, the book is "going like gangbusters," said Terry Cain, a store manager. "It's doing really well for a book that's not hot fiction or endorsed by Oprah."
Bookstore chains have also reported strong sales. Barnes & Noble has sold about 14,000 copies. And though New York, Los Angeles and other large cities account for the bulk of those sales, "9-11" is also doing well at Barnes & Noble in cities like Minneapolis-St. Paul (250 copies), Houston (200) and Columbus, Ohio (130). Such a performance — considered extraordinary in the publishing world for a quick political book — has come despite limited promotion and few reviews. Aside from a plaudit in The San Francisco Chronicle and a pan in The Philadelphia Inquirer, "9-11" has received little attention in the mainstream press. (This is true of most of Professor Chomsky's books, which editors commonly regard as too extreme to merit comment.)
Many who have bought the book are probably longtime Chomsky fans. Professor Chomsky has long had a loyal following on campuses, and his latest book has done especially well in college bookstores. But the sales volume suggests that his book is appealing to "a much broader audience," Ms. Wylie said.
Seeking to explain the book's success, booksellers cite its succinct title, striking cover (a stark black-and-white picture of the twin towers before the attacks), low price ($8.95) and accessible question-and-answer format. "People are coming in every day, asking, 'What can I read that can give me some understanding of what's happening?' " said Virginia Harabin, the floor manager at the Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington. "This is the one I recommend."
Mr. Chomsky sees the success of "9-11" as part of a more general phenomenon. "Sept. 11 was a wake-up call," he said. "It raised questions in people's minds they had never really thought about before. They're concerned, confused and angry."
These sentiments come from far beyond the usual core of Chomsky readers. "I've gotten hundreds, maybe thousands, of letters from people saying they had never before heard anything like what I'm saying," Professor Chomsky said.
Many, though, find his analysis off the wall. " '9-11' is not a normal book," said Susie Linfield, who teaches cultural reporting and criticism in the New York University department of journalism. "It's a series of questions and answers. It reminds me of the old Kim Il Sung tracts — sayings of the great man," she added, referring to the founding leader of North Korea. What's more, she said, "Chomsky's view of the world is that all evil emanates from one source: U.S. power. So in the case of Sept. 11, Osama bin Laden is entirely a creature of the United States."
"It's a compelling world view," Professor Linfield noted, "but a wrong one."
A survey of more than 80 reader comments posted on Amazon's Web site showed sharply divided views. "Chomsky's a truth-seeker in a world full of lies," one reader stated. "His arguments cut through all the rubbish and nonsense we're all exposed to here in the United States every day and present an alternative, informed perspective."
Nearly as many reviews were dismissive. "I imagine that he would blame a woman for getting raped, too," wrote a reader from Boston. "Can't he find the dustbin of history and take up residence there?" Others accused Mr. Chomsky of trying to cash in on the attack.
Hate the book or love it, readers keep buying it. As Mr. Ruggiero of Seven Stories observed: "People want alternatives. In times of war, that's when people trust the media the least." [end]