I dropped it and went back to the YA section, disgusted. I had no interest in reading about someone making excuses for his violent crimes. But that's my choice and I think it should be up to the reader. If someone wants to write/represent/publish a book about a controversial or horrific subject, they ought to be free to (and equally free not to).

I think the principle of book-banning annoys me so much because it's all about that idea of someone else telling you what you should read or think. Declining to represent or read something doesn't make us complicit (unless we claim outright that the book should be burned). I think it just makes us willing to exercise our right to choose what we read and endorse.

I don't think declining to represent a book (such as one denying the Holocaust happened) makes you complicit in book-banning. It means you chose not to take on a project because you weren't passionate about it. You didn't tell other people NOT to read it, or stage a protest trying to have the book removed from schools/libraries/etc. I wouldn't take on a book like that (or one like that O.J. Simpson one) for a million dollars, but I absolutely support the right for those books to be in the world–and I support my right not to read them.

To answer the question, no I don't think I could work with someone whose work went against what I believed in simply to make money (even a great deal of money). Unfortunately, I have too strong a sense of what fairness to allow myself to do that. Fortunately, I'm quite open-minded so it would take something really offensive to turn me off to a project completely.

Thanks for reminding me to blog about Banned Books Week, btw. I've let my blog slip recently but this is a good opportunity to get back on top of it.

As for whether I'd work with an author whose work I found reprehensible (if I were an agent or editor, I presume): I probably wouldn't. It's a free market and if the book has any merit, I'd count on someone else to pick it up. The money wouldn't be worth compromising my own ideals if I were really bothered by the subject matter or opinions expressed.