Newsletter volume 3, number 5
April 3, 2000

APRIL IS (US) NATIONAL POETRY MONTH
Here are a few recently published poetry selections:

The Art of Blessing the Day: Poems With a Jewish Theme by Marge Piercy.

A Spiritual Life: A Jewish Feminist Journey by Merle Feld
The memoir of the poet.

Defiant Muse: Hebrew Feminist Poems from Antiquity to the Present by Shirley Kaufman (Editor), Galit Hasam-Rokem (Editor), Tamar Hess (Editor), Galit Hasan-Rokem (Editor).

HOT TOPIC
Although this is making the rounds of the Jewish mailing lists, since I do use Amazon as my distributor, I feel that I need to address it here, as well.

Amazon (and Barnes and Noble) stock The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. As many of you know, The Protocols is a blatantly anti-semitic book. I received email from someone, who had copied a letter that she had received. That letter, the response of the ADL, and my own response, follows.

ORIGINAL LETTER
"As you may know, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was an antiseptic book written by the Czarist secret service early in this century, that has been supremely and fatally successful in spreading the theory of an international Jewish conspiracy to take over the world and harm non-Jews. It is today a best seller among new-Nazis, and in such countries as Jordan, Syria, Egypt and among the Palestinians. Experts on anti-semitism see it as one of the most dangerous books ever written, responsible for the loss of untold Jewish life. Amazon.com has chosen to sell this book. That is their right, although legitimate booksellers in America do not sell it. What is absolutely immoral and irresponsible, is that they review the book positively, saying that it has not been proven to be a "hoax" - that is, that it can be read as a valid expose of the Jewish plot to destroy everyone else.

The President of Amazon.com was informed about this problem, and nothing has been done to remove the review."

RESPONSE OF THE ADL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Myrna Shinbaum 212-885-7747

AMAZON.COM AND BARNES & NOBLE.COM RESPOND TO ADL'S CONCERNS ON PROTOCOLS BOOK

New York, NY, March 28, 2000...The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said today that Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com have agreed to prominently place on their Web sites ADL's statement that The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is an anti-Semitic Czarist forgery. ADL said the online booksellers would state that they do not endorse the views expressed in the book or the publisher's description should one appear, which Amazon.com has had instituted for some time.

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:

We are pleased that Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com have responded positively to our concerns and those of the public, and have instituted ways to alert their customers to the fact that the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is a forgery. Since we are not in the business of banning books, no matter how reprehensible they may be, we sought and achieved the best solution to inform book buyers. Both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com have demonstrated corporate responsibility and we commend them for it.

Following is ADL's statement on the Protocols which will appear on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com: "From the Anti-Defamation League: The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, circulated by the Czarist secret police at the turn of the 20th century, is plainly and simply a plagiarized forgery. The Protocols has been a major weapon in the arsenals of anti-Semites around the world, republished and circulated by individuals, hate groups and governments to convince the gullible as well as the bigoted that Jews have schemed and plotted to take over the world."

In addition, Barnes and Noble bookstores will no longer shelve The Protocols under "Judaica," but under "World History."

MY RESPONSE
I will confess that my parents own a copy of the Protocols. They do research on the American Jewish reaction to the holocaust. I suppose that they have a reason for owning the book. However, I don't believe in hiding any book -- forewarned is forearmed, I suppose.

The issue here was that Amazon posts publisher reviews unedited. The publisher claims ignorance of the truth (falsehood) of the Protocols. Amazon has solved this by placing a disclaimer before the review, as outlined above.

For some people this has brought up the issue of support of independent booksellers over buying from the chains. My position is that I *am* an independent bookseller, who uses Amazon as a distributor and only sells on the 'Net. Please do continue to support me and to support the site through content contributions.

There is a message board dedicated to discussing the support of independent booksellers.

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