Looking back now, it’s clear that the “American Dirt” debacle of January 2020 was a harbinger, the moment when the publishing world lost its confidence and ceded moral authority to the worst impulses of its detractors. “We are saddened that a work of fiction that was well intentioned has led to such vitriolic rancor,” Flatiron’s president said in a statement. Cummins’s motives and reputation were smeared the novel, eviscerated.

Following a blistering online campaign against the author and others involved in the book over who gets to write what, and in response to threats of violence against both author and booksellers, Cummins’s publisher, Flatiron Books, canceled her book tour. “I was opened, I was shook up, it woke me up,” Winfrey said. Finally, the golden ticket: Oprah selected “American Dirt” for her book club. Cummins “proves that fiction can be a vehicle for expanding our empathy,” said Time magazine. “A thrilling adrenaline rush - and insights into the Latin American migrant experience,” raved The Washington Post. Riding on starred prepublication reviews from the trades, the book, a fast-paced road novel about a Mexican bookseller and her son trying to cross the border to escape a murderous drug cartel, was named an Indie Next List Pick by independent bookstores. “This is the international story of our times. “This book is not simply the great American novel it’s the great novel of las Americas,” Sandra Cisneros proclaimed. “Riveting, timely, a dazzling accomplishment,” raved Julia Alvarez. “Extraordinary,” Stephen King wrote in a prepublication blurb. Three years ago this month, the novel “American Dirt” by Jeanine Cummins landed in bookstores on a tsunami of enthusiasm.

Book american dirt