Context Books was an American independent publishing house founded by

Beau Friedlander Beau Friedlander is an American writer, publisher, and media consultant. He was the founder of Context Books, an award-winning small press, an editor-in-chief at Air America (radio network), Air America and garnered notoriety as a provocateur for pr ...

that featured often controversial and critically acclaimed titles from authors such as

Derrick Jensen Derrick Jensen (born December 19, 1960) is an American ecophilosopher, writer, author, teacher and environmentalist in the anarcho-primitivist tradition, though he rejects the label "anarchist". ''Utne Reader'' named Jensen among "50 Visionari ...

Daniel Quinn Daniel Clarence Quinn (October 11, 1935 – February 17, 2018) was an American author (primarily, novelist and fabulist), cultural critic, and publisher of educational texts, best known for his novel ''Ishmael'', which won the Turner Tomorrow ...

David Means David Means (born October 17, 1961) is an American short story writer and novelist based in Nyack, New York. His stories have appeared in many publications, including '' Esquire'', ''The New Yorker'', and '' Harper's''. They are frequently set i ...

, and

William Rivers Pitt William Rivers Pitt (November 9, 1971 – September 26, 2022) was an American author, editor, and liberal political activist. Background William Rivers Pitt was born in Washington, D.C.; his father, Charles Redding Pitt, became chair of the A ...

which operated from 1998 to 2004.

Founding

Context Books originated as Context Media, through which Friedlander provided publishing and packaging services for a variety of clients with the idea in mind of raising enough capital to begin publishing titles that would have had difficulty finding interest from mainstream publishers. "I hated big publishing's complete and utter disregard for authors," Friedlander said of the impetus. "...I want to publish the revolution."

Truth Vs. Lies and the United States Vs. Theodore John Kaczynski

Context Books first gained national notice with the decision to attempt to publish the memoirs of

Theodore Kaczynski Theodore John Kaczynski ( ; born May 22, 1942), also known as the Unabomber (), is an American domestic terrorist and former mathematics professor. Between 1978 and 1995, Kaczynski killed three people and injured 23 others in a nationwide ...

, who had written them from imprisonment in a Colorado Penitentiary. The memoir, entitled 'Truth Vs. Lies' did not acknowledge the anti-technological bombing campaign for which he was convicted, but rather to address the testimony from family and acquaintances that he was mentally ill. While developing this manuscript and preparing it for publication, Context released a companion book written by Vermont Law Professor Michael Mello called "The United States of America Versus Theodore John Kaczynski: Ethics, Power, and the Invention of the Unabomber." Rather than an analysis of the Kaczynski's crimes, Mello criticized the legal processes surrounding his prosecution, where he was denied the ability to represent himself and was instead representing as being severely mentally ill. Mello, who had also acted as an adviser to Kaczynski's pretrial defense team drew parallels to the non-trial with John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry. Despite the heavy media attention brought both to the case as well as to the fledgling Context Books, Truth Vs. Lies was scrapped pre-publication due to copyright issues and ongoing disagreements between Friedlander and Kaczynski. "Kaczynski was uncooperative and expressed himself in ways that made it impossible for the book to be published by Context, or by anyone else," said Friedlander in a statement to the press.

The 2000s

The national attention and controversy surrounding ''Truth Vs. Lies'' gave Context Books enough of a spotlight to acquire new authors, starting with environmentalist

's long-form essay

A Language Older Than Words Derrick Jensen (born December 19, 1960) is an American ecophilosopher, writer, author, teacher and environmentalist in the anarcho-primitivist tradition, though he rejects the label " anarchist". ''Utne Reader'' named Jensen among "50 Visiona ...

, which went on to be one of the company's most popular titles. The themes of questioning industrial civilization, environmentalism, and humankind's role and responsibilities continued with the publication of author

's books The Man Who Grew Young and After Dachau in 2001, and The Holy in 2002. Context Books also began to seek out literary works for publication, including

's Assorted Fire Events, a set of short stories which won the

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ( ...

, and was a finalist for the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know in 2002 by

and former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, arguing that the claims of Iraq's stockpiles of "weapons of mass destruction" were highly suspect. The title was regarded as a stand-out during the widespread debate, argument, and protest surrounding the pending U.S. invasion of Iraq, and was referred to as "the most comprehensive independent analysis of the state of knowledge about Iraq's weapons programmes until the new team of inspectors went back." The title shipped over 100,000 copies, and made many best-seller lists. Following the success of ''War on Iraq'', Context Books followed up with two further books: ''Target Iraq'' written by

Norman Solomon Norman Solomon (born July 7, 1951) is an American journalist, media critic, activist, and former U.S. congressional candidate. Solomon is a longtime associate of the media watch group Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR). In 1997 he founde ...

Reese Erlich Reese Erlich (July 5, 1947 – April 6, 2021) was an American author and freelance journalist who wrote for CBS Radio, Australian Broadcasting Corp., and National Public Radio. He also contributed to Foreign Policy and VICE News. He wrote the na ...

, and a foreword by

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televisi ...

, and ''Frontier Justice'' by

Scott Ritter William Scott Ritter Jr. (born July 15, 1961) is an American author and pundit and a former United States Marine Corps intelligence officer and United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) weapons inspector. He served as a junior military analyst d ...

. ''Target Iraq'' was later cited by

Katharine Gun Katharine Teresa Gun (''née'' Harwood) (born 1974) is a British linguist who worked as a translator for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). In 2003, she leaked top-secret information to ''The Observer'', concerning a request by ...

, a British translator working for the Government Communications Headquarters (

GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Unit ...

), as one of the primary motivations to leak a 2003 NSA memo detailing illegal activities by the United States in its diplomatic push for the invasion of Iraq.

Bankruptcy and eventual closure

The 9/11 attacks and Context Books' office location in lower Manhattan created a massive financial setback for the company, which lost phone access for three months and found two of its titles released in September 2001 to languish. The company never fully recovered from the setback and declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2002, and then shifted to involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy in December 2003.

References

{{Reflist Political book publishing companies Small press publishing companies Book publishing companies of the United States