Threshold Editions is an
imprint of book publisher
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...
, a division of
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...
, specializing in
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
non-fiction
Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...
.
The imprint was co-founded by
Mary Matalin
Mary Joe Matalin (born August 19, 1953) is an American political consultant well known for her work with the Republican Party. She served under President Ronald Reagan, was campaign director for George H. W. Bush, an assistant to President Geo ...
, serving as its first editor-in-chief,
and Louise Burke, who served as publisher until 2017.
History
Threshold Editions was founded to "provide a forum for the creative people, bedrock principles, and innovative ideas of contemporary conservatism". The imprint was launched after
Penguin Books
Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...
launched
Sentinel
Sentinel may refer to:
Places Mountains
* Mount Sentinel, a mountain next to the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana
* Sentinel Buttress, a volcanic crag on James Ross Island, Antarctica
* Sentinel Dome, a naturally occurring granit ...
and
Random House
Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
launched
Crown Forum
The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of Penguin Random House that publishes across several fiction and non-fiction categories. Originally founded in 1933 as a remaindered books wholesaler called Outlet Book Company, the firm expanded into ...
.
Within four years of launching and due to Matalin's network, the imprint had already counted
Glenn Beck
Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
, Vice President
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American former politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He has been called vice presidency o ...
, and
Karl Rove
Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August ...
among its authors and was producing bestselling books.
The publisher of Threshold Editions, Louise Burke, stated in an interview that Threshold "best understands the conservative book-buying audience--a key factor needed to keep the hits coming."
Matalin and Burke were introduced in 2005 and Burke said, "We were kindred spirits and we took it from there." Of the launch Burke said, "This is an area where it really helps to be a believer. I don't feel you can be successful in this particular genre if you are opposed to the message."
Glenn Beck's book, ''
An Inconvenient Book'', reached No.1 on the New York Times Bestseller in 2007.
Karl Rove sold his memoirs, ''Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight'', to Threshold in 2007 after an auction with nine bidders, including another one of Simon & Schuster's imprints,
Free Press. Rove, who received a seven-figure deal, stated that he chose the imprint as he was a longtime friend of Mary Matalin.
While sales of hardcovers were down for Simon & Schuster in 2009 and early 2010, Threshold Editions had the biggest hits for the company.
By 2014, Threshold was not only publishing memoirs and political commentary, but also young adult and fiction novels such as
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...
's ''Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims''.
In 2015, Threshold signed a book deal with
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
, for a book originally titled ''
Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again''. The title was later changed to ''Great Again: How to Fix Crippled America''. The book debuted at #5 on ''Publishers Weekly'' Frontlist Hardcover Nonfiction list.
In late 2016, Threshold signed a deal with
Milo Yiannopoulos with a purported advance of for his book ''
Dangerous''. ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' broke the news and social media quickly responded.
Within 24 hours of the book being announced it had reached number one on the
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
best-seller list.
Publication of the book by Simon & Schuster was eventually canceled in February 2017 after a video clip of Yiannopoulos appearing to defend pedophilia resurfaced. He defended himself asserting that he had used regrettably "imprecise language" and was not an advocate for pedophilia. Yiannopoulos attempted to sue the publishers for breach of contract, but later dropped his lawsuit.
Authors
The imprint's authors include:
; Broadcasters
*
Glenn Beck
Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
*
Lou Dobbs
*
Mike Gallagher
*
Laura Ingraham
*
Mark R. Levin
*
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...
*
John Stossel
John Frank Stossel (born March 6, 1947) is an American libertarian television presenter, author, consumer journalist, political activist, and pundit. He is known for his career as a host on ABC News, Fox Business Network, and Reason TV.
Stos ...
; Political leaders
*
Jeb Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. A member of the Bush family, Bush political family, he was an unsuccessful candidate for pre ...
*
John Bolton
John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican Party (United States), Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to ...
*
Herman Cain
Herman Cain (December 13, 1945July 30, 2020) was an American businessman and Tea Party movement activist in the Republican Party. Cain graduated from Morehouse College with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. He then earned a master's degree ...
*
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American former politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He has been called vice presidency o ...
*
Bobby Jindal
Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 55th governor of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Republican Party, Jindal previously served as a U.S. representative from Louisiana from 2005 t ...
*
Karl Rove
Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August ...
*
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
; Political commentators
*
Dinesh D'Souza
Dinesh Joseph D'Souza (; born April 25, 1961) is an American Right-wing politics, right-wing political commentator, conspiracy theorist, author, and filmmaker. He has made several films and written over a dozen books, several of them The New Y ...
*
Tom Fitton
*
Pete Hegseth
Peter Brian Hegseth (born June 6, 1980) is an American author, former television presenter, and former Army National Guard officer who has served as the 29th United States secretary of defense since 2025.
Hegseth studied politics at Princeton ...
*
David Limbaugh
*
Michelle Malkin
*
Jason Mattera
*
Oliver North
Oliver Laurence North (born October 7, 1943) is an American political commentator, television host, military historian, author, and retired United States Marine Corps lieutenant colonel.
A veteran of the Vietnam War, North was a National Sec ...
*
James O'Keefe
*
Katie Pavlich
*
Ben Shapiro
Benjamin Aaron Shapiro (born January 15, 1984) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator, media host, and attorney. He writes columns for Creators Syndicate, ''Newsweek'', and ''Ami Magazine'', an ...
*
Michael Knowles
See also
*
Regnery, the publisher that influenced the creation of conservative non-fiction imprints at the Big Five
* Broadside Books, the competing imprint of
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
* Center Street, the competing imprint of
Hachette Book Group
Hachette Book Group, Inc. (HBG) is a publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagard� ...
* Crown Forum, the competing imprint of
Crown Publishing Group
The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of Penguin Random House that publishes across several fiction and non-fiction categories. Originally founded in 1933 as a remaindered books wholesaler called Outlet Book Company, the firm expanded int ...
, a subsidiary of
Random House
Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
*
Sentinel
Sentinel may refer to:
Places Mountains
* Mount Sentinel, a mountain next to the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana
* Sentinel Buttress, a volcanic crag on James Ross Island, Antarctica
* Sentinel Dome, a naturally occurring granit ...
, the competing imprint of
Penguin Group
Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media company, media Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a Mergers and acquisitions, mer ...
References
External links
*
{{BIG6_PUBLISHERS_USA
Book publishing company imprints
Book publishing companies of the United States
Simon & Schuster
Publishing companies established in 2005
Conservative media in the United States