[Newspoetry] book not burned

[gillespie william k]

In Moore's Book, Jane Friedman's a Hero

Michael Moore tells us that despite the happy ending to his three-month
saga with Harper, the fate of his Stupid White Men was hardly a given.
"Up until last Thursday, when they made the decision, I honestly thought
it wouldn't be coming out," he says.

Moore, like Mort Janklow, denied that Regan-esque publicity stunts had
anything to do with the delay. Instead, he took us through the
chronology =96 a period of deliberation after September 11, followed by a
request to change the title and cover(to which he agreed), Harper asking
him to write an updated chapter that would have been added to the
printed book (to which he also agreed) and, finally, Harper requiring a
rewrite of "upwards of 50% of the title" (to which he balked). The other
choice was to have the book pulped - which would have handed Moore back
the rights, but only after a year, hardly useful for something as
headline-conscious as this. Moore offered to buy out the 50,000 or so
copies and sell them in other English-language markets, but the
publisher declined.

For all his frustration, Moore kept silent with the press all this time,
he says, out of expediency. Breast-beating, he felt, only would
jeopardize his chance of working out a deal.  As for what finally won
over Harper, Moore cites robust pre-orders and angry e-mails from
librarians. ("That's one group you don't want to mess with.") He also
credits a certain Harper executive.

"Jane Friedman was probably a bit of a hero in all this, saying 'Why are
we distancing ourselves from something we approved of and worked on?'"
Which had pretty much been our question, except we phrased it as,  'Why
the hell would you sign up Michael Moore if you didn't want to start a
controversy?'

In the conversation, Moore finally clarified the questionable parts of
book -  a chapter on race, an open letter to Bush in which Moore asks
him about his alcoholism, illiteracy and a possible felonious past, and
a rant about underpaid commuter airline pilots. "I don't want to be up
in the air while the pilot is wondering what 7-11 he'll have to stick up
on the way home," Moore recalls the joke. The author begins his book
tour in early 2002.=97Steven Zeitchik