Prominent American writers such as Richard Ford, Michael Chabon, and Billy Collins contributed to a State Department anthology on what it means to be an American writer. The collection is banned in the United States under the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, which prohibits the domestic dissemination of American propaganda meant for foreign audiences.
Harper's Weekly Review DECEMBER 10, 2002
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For some reason the New York Times is the only newspaper that�s chosen to report that the Bush administration has recruited prominent American writers to contribute to a State Department anthology and give readings around the globe in a campaign started after 9/11 to use culture to further American diplomatic interests."(link)Luckily, the Times article (written by Michael Wise at the National Arts Journalism Program) did a fine job. It explains how the 60-page literary anthology ("booklet") will soon be distributed to U.S. embassies, but that it will not appear in this country, thanks to "the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948," which "bars the domestic dissemination of official American information aimed at foreign audiences."
All the more reason that newspapers nationwide should be writing about it, of course. As a government spokesman admits, Smith-Mundt is a bit dated, given how the internet has completely changed the dissemination of information. "The essays can�be read on a government Web site intended for foreigners (usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/writers)," Wise notes, then quotes George Clack, who edited the anthology. Clack explains that, "We do not provide that [Web] address to U.S. citizens." Unless, apparently, they write for the New York Times.
It actually sounds like a pretty good read. Writers involved in the project include novelists like Michael Chabon; the American poet laureate, Billy Collins; and two Arab-American writers, Naomi Shihab Nye and Elmaz Abinader. All explain in the booklet "what it�s like to be an American writer." Many will now go on a sort of State Department-sponsored book tour, visiting various foreign nations to speak on the theme.
Those quoted in the article reveals motivations for involvement that are patriotic, if not jingoistic: Richard Ford says, "he was eager to go to Islamic nations to help �humanize America� and present a more diverse picture of public opinion than is conveyed by the Bush administration."
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The participants include four Pulitzer Prize winners, Michael Chabon, Robert Olen Butler, David Herbert Donald and Richard Ford; the American poet laureate, Billy Collins; two Arab-Americans, Naomi Shihab Nye and Elmaz Abinader; and Robert Pinsky, Charles Johnson, Bharati Mukherjee and Sven Birkerts. They were all asked to write about what it means to be an American writer.
Although the State Department plans to distribute the 60-page booklet of 15 essays free at American embassies worldwide in the next few weeks, one country has already banned the anthology: the United States. The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, renewed when the United States Information Agency became part of the State Department three years ago, bars the domestic dissemination of official American information aimed at foreign audiences.
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