Prometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by the philosopher Paul Kurtz (who was also the founder of the Council for Secular Humanism, Center for Inquiry, and co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry).
The publisher's name was derived from Prometheus, the Titan from Greek mythology who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to man. This act is often used as a metaphor for bringing knowledge or enlightenment.
Parent company | Rowman & Littlefield |
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Status | Active |
Founded | 1969 |
Founder | Paul Kurtz |
Country of origin | United States |
Headquarters location | Amherst, New York |
Key people | Jonathan Kurtz, President |
Nonfiction topics | Skeptical literature, atheism |
Imprints | Humanity Books (for academic works in the humanities) |
Official website | prometheusbooks |
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.
Their headquarters is located in Amherst, New York, and they publish worldwide. Jonathan Kurtz was an executive editor of Prometheus. Rowman & Littlefield acquired Prometheus Books in 2019.
The publisher has roughly 1,700 books currently in print, and publishes approximately 95–100 books per year. Since its founding, Prometheus Books has published more than 2,500 books.
Prometheus Books obtained the bulk of the books and manuscripts of Humanities Press International in 1998. 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.
In March 2005, Prometheus Books launched the science fiction and fantasy imprint Pyr. In October 2012 it launched the crime fiction imprint Seventh Street Books. In 2018, it sold both imprints.
Prometheus has been involved in two "major libel lawsuits." In 1992 Uri Geller sued Victor J. Stenger and Prometheus Books for libel over his book Physics and Psychics. The suit was dismissed and Geller was required to pay more than $20,000 in costs to the defendant. Geller also sued Prometheus for publishing The Truth About Uri Geller by James Randi, a book that he said was defamatory.
Some notable authors and books published by Prometheus include:
Steve Allen
Molefi Asante
Isaac Asimov
Jeremy Bentham
Rob Boston
Ludwig Feuerbach
Antony Flew
R. Barri Flowers
Martin Gardner
Guy P. Harrison
William R. Harwood
Sidney Hook
Julian Huxley
S. T. Joshi
Dr. Jack Kevorkian
John Maynard Keynes
Philip J. Klass
Leon Lederman
John W. Loftus
Joe Nickell
Friedrich Nietzsche
Mario Perniola
Robert M. Price
James Randi
David Ricardo
Michael Ruse
Nathan Salmon
George H. Smith
John Steinbeck IV
Victor Stenger
Tom Toles
Ibn Warraq
Robert Zubrin
In 2013 Prometheus Books partnered with Random House in an effort to increase sales and distribution.
In 2019, it was acquired by Rowman & Littlefield, and Random House ceased sales and distribution of its titles as of June 30, 2019. Its building was sold in early 2019 for over $1 Million.
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