Beacon Press
Beacon Press is an American non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as James Baldwin and Viktor Frankl, as well as The Pentagon Papers.
History
The history of Beacon Press actually begins in 1825, the year the American Unitarian Association was formed. This liberal religious movement had the enlightened notion to publish and distribute books and tracts that would spread the word of their beliefs not only about theology but also about society and justice.The Early Years: 1854–1900
In the Press of the American Unitarian Association purchased and published works that were largely religious in nature and "conservative Unitarian" in viewpoint. The authors were often Unitarian ministers—dead or alive, American or British, mostly Caucasian, and far more male than female. Many of the books were collections of sermons, lectures, and letters, balanced by volumes of devotion, hymns, and morally uplifting tales.
New Century, New Mission: 1900–1945
In the early 1900s Samuel Eliot broadened the mission of the press by publishing books dealing with ethical, sociological, philanthropic, and similar subjects, as well as those of a more strictly religious character.... Although books of marked theology and religious note continued to have a predominant place in Association publication, the wide interest in all subjects relating to social and moral betterment were included and the evergrowing topics of war and peace and arbitration, or national amity and racial brotherhood were represented
The Modern Era: 1945–
Under director Gobin Stair, new authors included James Baldwin, Kenneth Clark, André Gorz, Herbert Marcuse, Jürgen Habermas, Howard Zinn, Ben Bagdikian, Mary Daly, and Jean Baker Miller. Wendy Strothman became Beacon's director in 1983; she set up the organization's first advisory board, a group of scholars and publishing professionals who advised on book choices and direction. She turned a budget deficit into a surplus. In 1995, her last year at Beacon, Strothman summarized the Press's mission: "We at Beacon publish the books we choose because they share a moral vision and a sense that greater understanding can influence the course of events. They are books we believe in." Strothman was replaced by Helene Atwan in 1995.
In 1971, it published the "Senator Gravel edition" of The Pentagon Papers for the first time in book form, when no other publisher was willing to risk publishing such controversial material. Robert West, then-president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, approved the decision to publish The Pentagon Papers, which West claims resulted in two-and-a-half years of harassment and intimidation by the Nixon administration. In Gravel v. United States, the Supreme Court decided that the Constitution's "Speech or Debate Clause" protected Gravel and some acts of his aide, but not Beacon Press.
Beacon Press seeks to publish works that "affirm and promote" several principles:
Beacon Press is a member of the Association of American University Presses.
Books and authors
Beacon Press publishes non-fiction, fiction, and poetry titles. Some of Beacon's best-known titles are listed below.| Title | Author | Year |
| American Freedom and Catholic Power | Paul Blanshard | 1948, 1958 |
| Howard Zinn | 1964 | |
| A Critique of Pure Tolerance | Robert Paul Wolff, Barrington Moore Jr, Herbert Marcuse | 1965 |
| Martin Luther King | 1967, 2010 | |
| The Transsexual Empire | Janice Raymond | 1979 |
| Notes of a Native Son | James Baldwin | 1984 |
| Toward a New Psychology of Women | Jean Baker Miller | 1987 |
| Gyn/Ecology | Mary Daly | 1990 |
| One-Dimensional Man | Herbert Marcuse | 1991 |
| Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun | Geoffrey Canada | 1995 |
| The Power of Their Ideas | Deborah Meier | 1995 |
| Race Matters | Cornel West | 2001 |
| New and Selected Poems: Volume One, Thirst | Mary Oliver | 2005, 2007 |
| Resurrecting Empire | Rashid Khalidi | 2005 |
| Man's Search for Meaning | Viktor Frankl | 2006 |
| Without a Map | Meredith Hall | 2007 |
| All Souls: A Family Story from Southie | Michael Patrick MacDonald | 2007 |
| The Court and the Cross | Frederick Lane | 2008 |
| White Fragility | Robin DiAngelo | 2018 |
| Superior: The Return of Race Science | Angela Saini | 2019 |