Basic Books

Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York, now an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and history.

Basic Books

Parent company	Hachette Books
Founded	1950
Founder	Arthur Rosenthal[1]
Country of origin	United States
Headquarters location	New York, New York
Official website	www.basicbooks.com

History

Basic Books originated as a small Greenwich Village-based book club marketed to psychoanalysts. Arthur Rosenthal took over the book club in 1950, and under his ownership it soon began producing original books, mostly in the behavioral sciences. Early successes included Ernest Jones's The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud, as well as works by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson. Irving Kristol joined Basic Books in 1960, and helped Basic to expand into the social sciences. Harper & Row purchased the company in 1969.[2]

In 1997, HarperCollins announced that it would merge Basic Books into its trade publishing program, effectively closing the imprint and ending its publishing of serious academic books. That same year, Basic was purchased by the newly created Perseus Books Group.[3] Perseus's publishing business was acquired by Hachette Book Group in 2016.[4] In 2018, Seal Press became an imprint of Basic.[5]

Authors

Basic's list of authors includes:

• Stephon Alexander[6]
• Edward E. Baptist[7]
• H.W. Brands[8]
• Zbigniew Brzezinski[9]
• Iris Chang[10]
• Stephanie Coontz[11]
• Richard Dawkins[12]
• Andrea Dworkin[13]
• Michael Eric Dyson[14]
• Niall Ferguson[15]
• Richard Feynman[16]
• Richard Florida[17]
• Martin Ford[18]
• Howard Gardner[19]
• Jonathan Haidt[20]
• Victor Davis Hanson[21]
• Judith L. Herman[22]
• Christopher Hitchens[23]
• Douglas Hofstadter[24]
• Leszek Kolakowski[25]
• Kevin M. Kruse[26]
• Lawrence Lessig[27]
• Robert Nozick[28]
• Steven Pinker[29]
• Samantha Power[30]
• Eugene Rogan[31]
• Lee Smolin[32]
• Timothy Snyder[33]
• Tamler Sommers[34]
• Thomas Sowell[35]
• Ian Stewart[36]
• Beverly Daniel Tatum[37]
• Sherry Turkle[38]
• Eric Topol[39]
• Michael Walzer[40]
• Elizabeth Warren[41]
• George Weigel[42]
• Steven Weinberg[43]
• Frank Wilczek[44]
• Bee Wilson[45]
• Richard Wrangham[46]
• Irvin D. Yalom[47]

References

1. Vitello, Paul (2013-07-08). "Arthur Rosenthal, Academic Book Publisher, Dies at 93". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
2. Basic Books: A History, 1950–2000 (New York: Basic Books, 2000).
3. Doreen Carvajal (August 22, 1997). "HarperCollins Selling Basic Books Unit to Venture Capital Firm". The New York Times.
4. Natasha Onwuemezi, "Perseus sale to Hachette Book Group completed", The Bookseller, 1 April 2016
5. "Hachette Book Group Reorganizes Lines, Announces About 25 Layoffs As DiPreta Departs". Publishers Lunch. 2018-11-13. Retrieved 2018-12-30.
6. Alexander, Stephon. "The Jazz of Physics". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
7. Baptist, Edward. "The Half Has Never Been Told". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
8. Brands, H.W. "Dreams of El Dorado". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
9. Brzezinski, Zbigniew. "Books by Zbigniew Brzezinski". Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
10. Chang, Iris. "The Rape of Nanking". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
11. Coontz, Stephanie. "Books by Stephanie Coontz". Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
12. Dawkins, Richard. "River Out of Eden". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
13. Andrea, Dworkin. "Intercourse". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
14. Dyson, Michael Eric. "April 4, 1968". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
15. Ferguson, Niall. "Empire". Basic Books. Basic Book. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
16. Feynman, Richard. "The Featured Feynman". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
17. Florida, Richard. "Books by Richard Florida". Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
18. Ford, Richard. "Rise of the Robots". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
19. Gardner, Howard. "Frames of Mind". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
20. Haidt, Jonathan. "The Happiness Hypothesis". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
21. Hanson, Victor Davis. "The Second World Wars". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
22. Herman, Judith. "Trauma and Recovery". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
23. Hitchens, Christopher. "Letters to a Young Contrarian". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
24. Hofstadter, Douglas. "Godel, Escher, Bach". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
25. Kolakowski, Leszek. "Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
26. Kruse, Kevin. "One Nation Under God". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
27. Lessig, Lawrence. "Code". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
28. Nozick, Robert. "Anarchy, State, and Utopia". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
29. Pinker, Steven. "Words and Rules". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
30. Power, Samantha. ""A Problem from Hell"". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
31. Rogan, Eugene. "Books by Eugene Rogan". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
32. Smolin, Lee. "Three Roads to Quantum Gravity". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
33. Snyder, Timothy. "Bloodlands". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
34. Sommers, Tamler. "Why Honor Matters". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
35. Sowell, Thomas. "Books by Thomas Sowell". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
36. Stewart, Ian. "Books by Ian Stewart". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
37. Tatum, Beverly Daniel. "Why Are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
38. Turkle, Sherry. "Alone Together". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
39. Topol, Eric (27 June 2017). "Books by Eric Topol". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
40. Walzer, Michael. "Just and Unjust Wars". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
41. Warren, Elizabeth. "The Two Income Trap". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
42. Weigel, George. "Books by George Weigel". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
43. Weinberg, Steven. "The First Three Minutes". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
44. Wilczek, Frank. "The Lightness of Being". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
45. Wilson, Bee. "Books by Bee Wilson". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
46. Wrangham, Richard. "Catching Fire". Basic Books. Basic Books. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
47. Yalom, Irvin D. "Books by Irvin D. Yalom". Basic Books. Basic Book. Retrieved 6 November 2019.

External links

• Basic Books website
• Perseus Group website
• Samuel G. Freedman on the formation of Perseus Books