Opportunism? On November 7, 2024, two days after the re-election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, Hachette Book Group, the American branch of the Hachette group, announced the launch of two new publishing houses within its Basic Books subsidiary, Basic Venture and Basic Liberty. The first will be dedicated to the economy, while the second will aim to “publish serious works of cultural, social and political analysis, by conservative authors” [1].
The personality chosen to lead Basic Liberty attracts attention. Thomas Spence was previously an editor at Regnery, an ultra-conservative publishing house whose catalog is filled with titles promoting climate skepticism, the war of civilizations and masculinism. The book Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization (“Reason, Faith and the Struggle for Western Civilization”) was one of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s reading recommendations this summer. This work by Samuel Gregg describes a Western civilization subject to the double threat of radical Islamism and “aggressive secularism”. Many titles in the catalog clearly show the color: “Irreversible damage: the transgender madness that seduces our girls”, “Christianity and wokism”, “Domestic extremist: a practical guide to winning the culture war”, “Manliness: the masculine virtues of which what America needs”, “Politically incorrect guide to climate change”, “Green scam”…
War machine
Since March 2024, Thomas Spence has also been an advisor to the Heritage Foundation, the historic partner of the Atlas network which developed Project 2025 (read “Project 2025”, or how the American right imagines a second Trump presidency). He will be responsible, among other things, for offering books and participating in training programs.
The launch of Basic Liberty provoked a wave of protest within the Hachette group in the United States and Great Britain, as well as the resignation of at least one employee [2].
Hachette is not the only major American publishing house to exploit the vein of ultraconservative literature through collections or dedicated subsidiaries. However, the affair takes on particular significance since the group is now in the hands of Vivendi, that is to say Vincent Bolloré. He bought it from Lagardère in 2023, offloading the publishing houses it owned via its subsidiary Editis.
As he did in the field of media, the billionaire quickly put part of his new acquisitions at the service of his political project, by installing managers in his pay. Fayard, one of Hachette's flagship houses in France, published Jordan Bardella's book (and those of other figures from the Bolloré galaxy such as Sonia Mabrouk) with great publicity and promotion in Relay bookstores, which also belong to Hachette. This is perhaps only the first step in a longer-term culture war strategy if, on this point like others, the French far-right continues to draw inspiration from recipes that have smiled until here on the American far right.
Anne-Sophie Simpere and Olivier Petitjean
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Photo: News
