Prometheus Books publishes a range of books, focusing on topics such as
science,
freethought,
secularism,
humanism, and
skepticism. It has published in the "atheism" category since its founding in 1969, and is considered the "grandfather" of atheist publishing in America.[5]
Their headquarters is located in
Amherst, New York, and they publish worldwide. Jonathan Kurtz was an executive editor of Prometheus.[6]Rowman & Littlefield acquired Prometheus Books in 2019.[7]
The publisher has roughly 1,700 books currently in print,[8] and publishes approximately 95–100 books per year.[9] Since its founding, Prometheus Books has published more than 2,500 books.[10]
Imprints
Prometheus Books obtained the bulk of the books and manuscripts of Humanities Press International in 1998.[11][12] It has been building and expanding this into a scholarly
imprint named Humanity Books. This imprint publishes academic works across a wide spectrum of the humanities and is now distributed by the academic division of Rowman & Littlefield.[13]
In March 2005, Prometheus Books launched the science fiction and fantasy imprint
Pyr.[14] In October 2012 it launched the crime fiction imprint Seventh Street Books.[15] In 2018, it sold both imprints.[16]
Lawsuits
Prometheus has been involved in two "major libel lawsuits."[17] In 1992
Uri Geller sued
Victor J. Stenger and Prometheus Books for libel over his book Physics and Psychics.[18] The suit was dismissed and Geller was required to pay more than $20,000 in costs to the defendant.[19] Geller also sued Prometheus for publishing The Truth About Uri Geller[20] by
James Randi, a book that he said was defamatory.[21][22]
Notable authors published
Some notable authors and books published by Prometheus include:
In 2013 Prometheus Books partnered with
Random House in an effort to increase sales and distribution.[51]
In 2019, it was acquired by
Rowman & Littlefield,[52][7] and Random House ceased sales and distribution of its titles as of June 30, 2019.[8] Its building was sold in early 2019 for over $1 Million.[53]
^Stenger, Victor J., 1935-2014. (1990). Physics and psychics : the search for a world beyond the senses. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books.
ISBN087975575X.
OCLC22207643.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)
^Geller, Uri.
"Uri Geller Libel Suit Dismissed". Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Archived from
the original on December 5, 2006. Retrieved December 8, 2006. Self proclaimed "psychic" Uri Geller had to dismiss a multi-million dollar libel suit and has to pay over $20,000 in sanctions in an action he brought against skeptical book publisher Prometheus Books of Amherst, New York.
^Randi, James. (1982). The truth about Uri Geller (Rev. ed.). Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books.
ISBN0879751991.
OCLC9164994.
^Boston, Rob (2003). Why the religious right is wrong about separation of church & state (2nd ed.). Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books.
ISBN1591021146.
OCLC51460712.
^Boston, Rob (2014). Taking liberties : why religious freedom doesn't give you the right to tell other people what to do. Amherst, New York.
ISBN9781616149116.
OCLC854613911.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
^Loftus, John W. (2013). The outsider test for faith : how to know which religion is true. Amherst, New York.
ISBN9781616147372.
OCLC818827984.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)