“The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War” may not appear on everyone’s Christmas list, but an effort by the Council for American-Islamic Relations to ban the book has met with resistance from the publisher and author.
Regnery Publishing President Marji Ross accused CAIR of an “insidious and dishonest smear campaign” after the liberal advocacy group called on Amazon, Google, and Barnes & Noble to stop carrying certain “pro-Confederate and white supremacist” titles.
“Regnery strenuously objects to the insidious and dishonest smear campaign being waged by CAIR against our author, our book, and millions of Americans,” she said in a statement. “Conflating ’white supremacy’ with ’confederate’ is a loathsome and despicable tactic, used to discredit and slander anyone who dares to voice support for the South or the ideals of liberty and self-determination embraced by so many patriots during the Civil War and ever since.”
In its campaign launched Monday, CAIR also singled out the 2011 non-fiction book “The South Was Right!” as well as “The Turner Diaries,” the notoriously racist and anti-Semitic 1978 novel about the violent overthrow of the U.S. government credited with inspiring the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
Robert McCaw, CAIR director of government affairs, called it “inexcusable for internet retailers like Amazon, Google, Audio Books, and Barnes and Noble to profit from the mainstreaming of white supremacist historical revisionism that celebrates the treason of the Confederacy and excuses the abomination of slavery.”
The retailers “should immediately remove all white supremacist and pro-Confederacy digital audio books and related social media ads,” he said in a press release.
Amazon, which sells or offers through its vendors any number of controversial titles, including “Mein Kampf” and “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” referred to its policy on “Content Guidelines for Books.”
“As a bookseller, we provide our customers with access to a variety of viewpoints, including books that some customers may find objectionable,” the policy said. “That said, we reserve the right not to sell certain content, such as pornography or other inappropriate content.”
@CAIRNational Calls on @amazon, @Google, @audiobooks_com, and @BNBuzz to Remove #WhiteSupremacist, Pro-Confederate Materials | Photo: Amazing Turnout at @cairhouston Banquethttps://t.co/brXEyppuBv pic.twitter.com/ggI53gDeYo
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) December 9, 2019
Certainly there is no love lost between Regnery and CAIR. In her statement, Ms. Ross called it “ironic” that CAIR would mount such an effort.
“It is particularly ironic that CAIR is behind this campaign, given the absurd hypocrisy of an organization which is dedicated to promoting misogyny, anti-Semitism, and Islamo-supremacy feigning concern for human rights, inclusiveness, justice or civil liberties,” she said. “We encourage anyone who seeks to know the truth to check Sharia law on questions of rights for women, Jews, gays, or any other non-Muslim minority and get back to us on who really believes in liberty and justice for all.”
Mr. McCaw responded with a blast at Regnery: “The publisher’s bigoted and hysterical response to our criticism of white supremacy and the Confederacy shows exactly why no mainstream corporation should sell its hateful and ahistorical books. Just as Amazon, Google and Barnes & Noble do not sell propaganda that celebrates Nazism, they should not sell books that celebrate and whitewash the racist traitors of the Confederacy.”
Among the books in the popular Regnery series is “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)” by Robert Spencer, founder of the Jihad Watch blog.
“It is a troubling sign of the times to witness the cognitive dissonance of a publisher like Regnery who defends the Confederacy’s traitorous effort to destroy our nation and to enshrine slavery as a national institution,” Mr. McCaw said. “But that should not be surprising since Regnery publishes Islamophobic authors like Robert Spencer and smears the Islamic faith of millions of Americans.”
H.W. Crocker III, author of “The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War,” offered to send CAIR officials some reading material.
“Sounds like CAIR needs a care package of history books to remind them that ’Gone with the Wind’ is not a precursor to ’Mein Kampf’ and that America’s founding ideals include freedom of speech and thought,” he said.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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