Review: Twenty-first Century Intelligence

November 17, 2006

I normally buy and read every serious book on the profession of intelligence qua spies, secrecy, espionage, and so on, but I am quite shocked that the publisher would dare to offer this book, at 256 pages, for $125.

This is despicable. It is reprehensible. It is unprofessional.

It is also unjustified. As a publisher myself, I can assure readers that in lots of 2,500 and up, books like this with a hard jacket and color jacket and flaps cost one penny a page. That's $2.56. Recognizing that Amazon only pays the publisher 40% of the list price, what I see here is one of the most outrageous acts of publishing depravity and poor judgement it has ever been my misfortune to experience.

I note as well that the publisher has been quite unprofessional in failing to use the Amazon system to upload the table of contents, the flaps, the author's biography, or the sample first chapter. If Routledge thinks so very little of our professional community, they do not merit our custom.

I urge the author, whom I know personally, to post his draft of the book online for free. I will gladly publish his book myself, and offer it for no more than $29.95.

Routledge is a good company, producing good books, but somebody should be fired for this totally despicable decision to block the majority of professionals from even considering this purchase.

Shame!