Editing Basic Books

{{short description|American book publisher}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox publisher
|image        = Basic Books logo.svg
|parent       = [[Hachette Book Group]]
|status       = 
|founded      = 1950
|founder      = Arthur Rosenthal<ref>{{Cite news|issn = 0362-4331|last = Vitello|first = Paul|title = Arthur Rosenthal, Academic Book Publisher, Dies at 93|work = The New York Times|access-date = January 15, 2018|date = July 8, 2013|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/business/media/arthur-rosenthal-93-dies-published-academic-books.html}}</ref>
|successor    = 
|country      = United States
|headquarters = New York City
|url          = {{URL|www.basicbooks.com}}
}}

'''Basic Books''' is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York City, now an [[Imprint (trade name)|imprint]] of [[Hachette Book Group]]. It publishes books in the fields of [[psychology]], philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and history.

==History==
Basic Books originated as a small [[Greenwich Village]]-based book club marketed to psychoanalysts. Arthur Rosenthal took over the book club in 1950, and under his ownership it soon began producing original books, mostly in the behavioral sciences. Early successes included Ernest Jones's ''The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud'', as well as works by [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]], [[Jean Piaget]] and [[Erik Erikson]]. [[Irving Kristol]] joined Basic Books in 1960, and helped Basic to expand into the social sciences. [[Harper & Row]] purchased the company in 1969.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Basic-Books-70th_web.pdf |title=Basic Books: 70 Years of Publishing Excellence, 1950–2020 |website=[[Hachette Book Group]] |access-date=March 23, 2024}}</ref>

In 1997, [[HarperCollins]] announced that it would merge Basic Books into its trade publishing program, effectively closing the imprint and ending its publishing of serious academic books.  That same year, Basic was purchased by the newly created [[Perseus Books Group]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E6D9153EF931A1575BC0A961958260|title=HarperCollins Selling Basic Books Unit to Venture Capital Firm|date=August 22, 1997|author=Doreen Carvajal|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Perseus's publishing business was acquired by [[Hachette Book Group]] in 2016.<ref>Natasha Onwuemezi, "Perseus sale to Hachette Book Group completed", ''The Bookseller'', [http://www.thebookseller.com/news/perseus-sale-hachette-book-group-confirmed-325625 1 April 2016]</ref> In 2018, '''Seal Press''' became an imprint of Basic.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Hachette Book Group Reorganizes Lines, Announces About 25 Layoffs As DiPreta Departs|work = Publishers Lunch|access-date = December 30, 2018|date = November 13, 2018|url = https://lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2018/11/hachette-book-group-reorganizes-lines-announces-layoffs-as-dipreta-departs/}}</ref>

==Authors==

Basic's list of authors includes:
{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}

* [[Stephon Alexander]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alexander |first1=Stephon |title=The Jazz of Physics |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/stephon-alexander/the-jazz-of-physics/9780465093571/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465093571 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Robert Alter]]<ref>{{cite book|title=[[The Art of Biblical Narrative]]|last=Alter|first=Robert|year=1981|publisher=Basic Books|location=New York|isbn=0-465-00427-X}}</ref>
* [[Edward E. Baptist]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baptist |first1=Edward |title=The Half Has Never Been Told |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/edward-e-baptist/the-half-has-never-been-told/9780465049660/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465049660 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[H.W. Brands]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brands |first1=H.W. |title=Dreams of El Dorado |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/h-w-brands/dreams-of-el-dorado/9781541672536/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=February 5, 2019 |isbn=9781541672536 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Zbigniew Brzezinski]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brzezinski |first1=Zbigniew |title=Books by Zbigniew Brzezinski |date=June 28, 2017 |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/contributor/zbigniew-brzezinski/ |publisher=Basic Books |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Iris Chang]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chang |first1=Iris |title=The Rape of Nanking |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/iris-chang/the-rape-of-nanking/9780465068364/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465068364 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Stephanie Coontz]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Coontz |first1=Stephanie |title=Books by Stephanie Coontz |date=June 28, 2017 |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/contributor/stephanie-coontz/ |publisher=Basic Books |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Richard Dawkins]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dawkins |first1=Richard |title=River Out of Eden |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/richard-dawkins/river-out-of-eden/9780465069903/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465069903 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Andrea Dworkin]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Andrea |first1=Dworkin |title=Intercourse |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/andrea-dworkin/intercourse/9780465017522/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465017522 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Michael Eric Dyson]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dyson |first1=Michael Eric |title=April 4, 1968 |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/michael-eric-dyson/april-4-1968/9780465012862/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465012862 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Niall Ferguson]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ferguson |first1=Niall |title=Empire |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/niall-ferguson/empire/9780465023295/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465023295 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Richard Feynman]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Feynman |first1=Richard | title=The Featured Feynman |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/imprint/perseus/basic-books/page/categories/the-featured-feynman/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=September 2017 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Richard Florida]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Florida |first1=Richard |title=Books by Richard Florida |date=June 28, 2017 |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/contributor/richard-florida/ |publisher=Basic Books |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Martin Ford (author)|Martin Ford]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ford |first1=Richard |title=Rise of the Robots |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/martin-ford/rise-of-the-robots/9780465097531/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465097531 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Howard Gardner]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gardner |first1=Howard |title=Frames of Mind |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/howard-gardner/frames-of-mind/9780465024339/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465024339 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Jonathan Haidt]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Haidt |first1=Jonathan |title=The Happiness Hypothesis |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/jonathan-haidt/the-happiness-hypothesis/9780465028023/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465028023 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Victor Davis Hanson]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hanson |first1=Victor Davis |title=The Second World Wars |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/victor-davis-hanson/the-second-world-wars/9781541674103/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=September 4, 2018 |isbn=9781541674103 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Judith L. Herman]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Herman |first1=Judith |title=Trauma and Recovery |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/judith-l-herman/trauma-and-recovery/9780465061716/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465061716 |access-date=November 6, 2019 |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112021755/https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/judith-l-herman/trauma-and-recovery/9780465061716/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Christopher Hitchens]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hitchens |first1=Christopher |title=Letters to a Young Contrarian |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/christopher-hitchens/letters-to-a-young-contrarian/9780465030330/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465030330 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Douglas Hofstadter]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hofstadter |first1=Douglas |title=Godel, Escher, Bach |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/douglas-r-hofstadter/godel-escher-bach/9780465026562/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465026562 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Leszek Kolakowski]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kolakowski |first1=Leszek |title=Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/leszek-kolakowski/why-is-there-something-rather-than-nothing/9780465004997/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465004997 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Kevin M. Kruse]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kruse |first1=Kevin |title=One Nation Under God |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/kevin-m-kruse/one-nation-under-god/9780465097418/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465097418 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Lawrence Lessig]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lessig |first1=Lawrence |title=Code |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/lawrence-lessig/code/9780465039142/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465039142 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Robert Nozick]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nozick |first1=Robert |title=Anarchy, State, and Utopia |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/robert-nozick/anarchy-state-and-utopia/9780465051007/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465051007 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Steven Pinker]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pinker |first1=Steven |title=Words and Rules |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/steven-pinker/words-and-rules/9780465072705/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465072705 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Samantha Power]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Power |first1=Samantha |title="A Problem from Hell" |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/samantha-power/a-problem-from-hell/9780465061518/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465061518 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Eugene Rogan]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rogan |first1=Eugene |title=Books by Eugene Rogan |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/contributor/eugene-rogan/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 28, 2017 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Lee Smolin]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smolin |first1=Lee |title=Three Roads to Quantum Gravity |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/lee-smolin/three-roads-to-quantum-gravity/9780465094547/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465094547 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Jacob Soll]]
* [[Jason Sokol]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.jasonsokol.com/index.html | title=Jason Sokol }}</ref>
* [[Timothy Snyder]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Snyder |first1=Timothy |title=Bloodlands |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/timothy-snyder/bloodlands/9780465031474/ |publisher=Basic Books |access-date=November 6, 2019 |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126033509/https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/timothy-snyder/bloodlands/9780465031474/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Tamler Sommers]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sommers |first1=Tamler |title=Why Honor Matters |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/tamler-sommers/why-honor-matters/9780465098873/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=September 5, 2017 |isbn=9780465098873 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Thomas Sowell]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sowell |first1=Thomas |title=Books by Thomas Sowell |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/contributor/thomas-sowell/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 28, 2017 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Ian Stewart (mathematician)|Ian Stewart]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stewart |first1=Ian | title=Books by Ian Stewart | url=https://www.basicbooks.com/contributor/ian-stewart/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 28, 2017 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Beverly Daniel Tatum]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tatum |first1=Beverly Daniel |title=Why Are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/beverly-daniel-tatum/why-are-all-the-black-kids-sitting-together-in-the-cafeteria/9780465060689/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465060689 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[James Traub]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Traub |first1=James |title=What Was Liberalism? The Past, Present, And Promise of A Noble Idea |url=https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/james-traub/what-was-liberalism/9781541616844/ |date=September 24, 2019 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=9781541616851 |access-date=July 29, 2023}}</ref>
* [[Sherry Turkle]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Turkle |first1=Sherry |title=Alone Together |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/sherry-turkle/alone-together/9780465093656/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465093656 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Eric Topol]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Topol |first1=Eric | title=Books by Eric Topol |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/contributor/eric-topol/ |website=Basic Books |access-date=November 6, 2019 |date=June 27, 2017}}</ref>
* [[Michael Walzer]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Walzer |first1=Michael |title=Just and Unjust Wars |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/michael-walzer/just-and-unjust-wars/9780465052714/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465052714 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Elizabeth Warren]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Warren |first1=Elizabeth |title=The Two Income Trap |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/elizabeth-warren/the-two-income-trap/9780465097708/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465097708 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[George Weigel]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Weigel |first1=George | title=Books by George Weigel |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/contributor/george-weigel/ |website=Basic Books |date=June 28, 2017 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Steven Weinberg]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Weinberg |first1=Steven |title=The First Three Minutes |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/steven-weinberg/the-first-three-minutes/9780465024377/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465024377 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Frank Wilczek]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilczek |first1=Frank |title=The Lightness of Being |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/frank-wilczek/the-lightness-of-being/9780465018956/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465018956 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Bee Wilson]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wilson |first1=Bee | title=Books by Bee Wilson |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/contributor/bee-wilson/ |website=Basic Books |date=June 28, 2017 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Richard Wrangham]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wrangham |first1=Richard |title=Catching Fire |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/richard-wrangham/catching-fire/9780465020416/ |publisher=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |isbn=9780465020416 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Irvin D. Yalom]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Yalom |first1=Irvin D. | title=Books by Irvin D. Yalom |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/contributor/irvin-d-yalom/ |website=Basic Books |date=June 27, 2017 |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.basicbooks.com/ Basic Books website]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20170225061129/http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com/ Perseus Group website] (archived February 25, 2017)
*[http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/features/2305/ Samuel G. Freedman on the formation of Perseus Books]

{{Louis Hachette Group}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Book publishing companies based in New York City]]
[[Category:Publishing companies established in 1950]]
[[Category:American companies established in 1950]]
[[Category:1950 establishments in New York City]]