Political Publishing Renaissance

Political publishing is undergoing a significant renaissance, but needs to be wary of glutting the market, according to Judith Orr, Manager of London-based socialist bookshop Bookmarks.

Speaking at an SYP meeting on political publishing, Orr said that recent events such as 9/11 and the Iraq war had stirred up people's interest in world affairs to the extent that they wanted more information than a newspaper article could provide, and turned to books such as House of Bush , House of Saud (Gibson Square), by Craig Unger, or Michael Moore's polemics, Stupid White Men and Dude, Where's My Country ? (Penguin).

"In Bookmarks, we've seen a lot more young people getting interested in politics, and, in response to that interest, an explosion in publishing."

Martin Rynja, Publisher for Gibson Square, told PN: "I think it [ House of Bush , House of Saud ] might not have been quite as big a book as it is, now, after 9/11. People are reading and buying it who would not otherwise have thought about buying this book. There's a very interested readership, beyond the core of people who want to read anything about politics."