Who was Salman Rushdie?
What does this book say? Why does it “offend” Moslems? Deeper, more profound questions about civil liberties were ignored. B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, the nation’s two largest chain bookstores, quickly announced that they were withdrawing The Satanic Verses from their shelves. The atmosphere at Viking Press, though, was one of open defiance to Khomeini — extra security was hired and Viking’s British division announced that it was going through with plans for the British edition. Yes, the book would be printed; it soon fell upon independent booksellers, many of them members of the American Booksellers’ Association, to distribute The Satanic Verses. Timid in Tucson My own experience with The Satanic Verses may be somewhat typical of what independent booksellers throughout the country encountered. As the controversy over the book grew, I decided to carry the novel (most of my inventory is used and rare books; the new books are in specialized areas of interest such as art, photography and A
