To the Editor:
I sympathize with the protesting staff while understanding, as a retired publisher, the position of the management at Simon & Schuster. But there is a middle way.
While there should not be censorship, those who have made a profession of promulgating unpleasant ideas do not need to be made rich by their publishers. So, Simon & Schuster should agree to publish, but not to pay a significant advance.
If the book then goes to another publisher, so be it. Simon & Schuster will have sustained its commitment to the free dissemination of ideas and been saved from the shame of promoting ideas that run counter to the values of a free and democratic society let alone the shame of providing an advance that would be used to further promote those ideas.