St. Martin's has since withdrawn the book, in the face of stiff public criticism. The industry's worst books continue to be its most heavily-hyped. The book's film rights had been bought by Robert Redford, and there was a buzz around the shaggy-haired writer. Rereading Weisberg, though, you're also left wondering if publishing houses are entirely to blame for their own descent into the realm of Deepak Chopra, aerobic exercise and New Age massage. As Publisher's Weekly noted in its March roundup of 1995 book sales, American's appetite for serious books has more or less fallen off a cliff.
People read less, they're less comfortable with the written word.
They're less comfortable with novels. They don't have a backward frame of reference that would enable them to appreciate things like irony and allusions. Given the state of American readers, maybe the editors at Random House and other publishers are simply shriveled and demoralized. Whether it's the industry's fault or the readers', the book biz has not exactly engaged in profound soul-searching. Five years after his polemic, Weisberg admits that the vociferousness of the response still manages to shock him.