College and Research Libraries


326 I College & Research Libraries • july 1978 

Benjamin, Curtis G. A Candid Critique of 
Book Publishings. New York: Bowker, 
1977. 187p. $15.00. LC 77-21286. ISBN 
0-8352-1033-2. 
A longtime spokesman for the publishing 

industry, Curtis G. Benjamin is former 
president of McGraw-Hill, member of many 
trade and government committees, and 
twice chairman of the Book Industry Joint 
Committee on Copyright. Still active in re-
tirement, he serves as consultant to the As-
sociation of American Publishers on Educa-
tion for Publishing and he is still speaking 
for and to the industry to which he has de-
voted a lifetime of energy. 

A Candid Critique of Book Publishing 
contains the ideas and opinions that he has 
voiced over the years, now brought to- · 
gether, updated, and shaped into a cohesive 
statement of concern for the many aspects 
of publishing that seem to need either clar-
ification or improvement. In clear, colorful, 
and vigorous prose, Benjamin points out the 
weaknesses of the industry while affirming 
his devotion to it and his conviction that 
those who publish books will continue to 
perform an important intellectual and com-
mercial function in our society. 

Composed of twenty short chapters, A 
Candid Critique begins, logically, with a 
definition of book publishing and goes on to 
a discussion of its "sirenic attractions" with 
Benjamin's sharp condemnation for the in-
dustry's willingness to use a perennial over-
supply of job seekers as an excuse for a low 
pay scale and a tolerance of the inefficiency 
created by high personnel turnover. Each 
chapter concerns a specific topic, and, while 
one subject may not necessarily lead di-
rectly into the next, there is an overall pat-
tern that generally satisfies the reader. 

The chapters on author-publisher rela-
tionships follow naturally the discussion of 
publishing as a profession. Those chapters 
that deal with the economics of publishing, 
such as marketing, product promotion, un-
derpricing, overprinting, and mergers, are 
grouped together as are those concerned 
with foreign markets, multinational publish-
ing, and publishing in needy countries. The 
problem of copyright as the "key to survi-
val" is included, of course, as an important 
issue still unresolved in many ways. 

Each topic is handled succinctly and di-

rectly, for Benjamin has the ability to im-
part a lot of background information in a 
few words as he selects what is essential to 
highlight the points he wants to make. The 
language is clear. The author's approach is 
direct, sometimes conversational. His quota-
tions are appropriate. 

Librarians will see themselves here 
through a publisher's eyes. On the one 
hand, they are praised as in their activities 
to promote reading and books by National 
Library Week, while publishers' neglect of 
such product promotion is "something that 
should long ago have the attention of an in-
dustrial psychiatrist." On the other hand, on 
the issue of copyright, librarians are chas-
tised for "their overriding concern for their 
own convenience and for the facility of ser-
vice to their patrons." More important, 
though, than any emotional reaction to 
praise or rebuke after reading this book will 
be librarians' enlarged perspective of the 
book publishing industry. 

To be sure, some issues are oversim-
plified, but an annotated bibliography is 
provided for those who would read more 
deeply about particular topics. Also, this re-
viewer would have enjoyed a few more 
pages on some subjects omitted, such as the 
decline in the quality of books produced, 
publishers' relationships with jobbers, the 
future of mixed-media formats, etc., for 
Benjamin's opinions are always interesting 
and his experience in publishing is a rich 
source to explore. Ostensibly written for 
book publishers, A Candid Critique of Book 
Publishing should have a much wider 
readership.-Mary E. Thatcher, University 
of Connecticut, Storrs. 

Foskett, A. C. The Subject Approach to In-
formation. 3d ed. London: Clive Bingley; 
Hamden, Conn.: Linnet Books, 1977. 
476p. $12. ISBN 0-85157-238-3 Bingley; 

. 0-208-01546-9 Linnet. 
"Perhaps librarians could solve some of 

the problems of recall and relevance by en-
couraging some kind of literary contracep-
tion" (p.19). If the reader believes Foskett's 
figure of speech extreme, compare the out-
raging "All langauge is fascist" of Roland 
Barthes or George Steiner's "Often a lan-
guage will filter out from the field of recog-