Editing Steal This Book (section)

==Publication and reception==
''Steal This Book'' was rejected by at least 30 publishers before it was able to get into print, and Hoffman was eventually forced to make a publishing company of his own, Pirate Editions, to publish the book at his own expense,<ref name=WilsonQuarterly/> with [[Grove Press]] as the distributor. Some of the publishers rejected the book out of moral opposition to its content, while others were afraid of the government. Some editors feared a negative reaction from booksellers, to the title as well as the content. This fear proved to be well-founded; in the United States, many regional distributors and bookstores were unwilling to carry the book. In Canada, it was banned by the government.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1971-07-18 |title=Steal This Book (Published 1971) |language=en |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/18/archives/steal-this-book-by-abbie-hoffman-coconspirator-izack-haber.html |access-date=2023-08-20}}</ref>

Once it got into print, ''Steal This Book'' had many readers and became a bestseller mainly through word of mouth. [[Dotson Rader]] in ''The New York Times'' described it as a "necessary" work "of warning and practical knowledge" that had been written with "gentleness and affection." He wrote that the book had received no reviews and that only one paper had permitted an advertisement, though the book had sold 100,000 copies. Rader felt that the "remarkable" suppression of the book constituted a form of "fearsome censorship."<ref>{{cite news|title=Book Review: Steal This Book|date=July 18, 1971|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/18/archives/steal-this-book-by-abbie-hoffman-coconspirator-izack-haber.html |first=Dotson|last=Rader|page=BR19}}</ref> Hoffman was quoted saying, "It's embarrassing when you try to overthrow the government and you wind up on the Best Seller's List."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Solheim |first1=Bruce Olav |title=The Vietnam War Era: A Personal Journey |year=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|via=[[Google Books]]|isbn=978-0-275-98308-6 |page=111 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJHDhOQ6RMEC&pg=PA111 |language=en}}</ref>

Subsequent to publication, two contributors to the book, [[Tom Forcade]] and Izak Haber, had a dispute with Hoffman. Forcade accused him of failing to pay sufficient royalties, contravening the contract Hoffman had made. Hoffman responded that Forcade had done an "inadequate job" of editing the book. Haber threatened to sue Hoffman for breaking his contract; he claimed that he was due 22 percent of the royalties for having compiled and written the book, but received only $1,000.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Graham |first1=Fred P. |title=Abbie Hoffman Accused Before 'Court' of Peers |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/09/02/archives/abbie-hoffman-accused-before-court-of-peers.html |access-date=26 April 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=September 9, 1971}}</ref>