Verso Books is a publishing house based in London and New York City, founded in 1970 by the staff of New Left Review. The company claims "global sales approaching $3 million per year and over 350 titles in print," possibly making it "the largest radical publisher in the English-language world."
Verso was originally known as New Left Books. The publisher gained early recognition for translations of books by European thinkers, especially those from the Frankfurt School. Verso's best-selling title is the autobiography of Rigoberta Menchú, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992.
The name "Verso" refers to the technical term for the left-hand page in a book, and is a play on words regarding its political outlook.
Verso titles are distributed in the United States by W. W. Norton & Company.
Famous quotes containing the word books:
“Americans will listen, but they do not care to read. War and Peace must wait for the leisure of retirement, which never really comes: meanwhile it helps to furnish the living room. Blockbusting fiction is bought as furniture. Unread, it maintains its value. Read, it looks like money wasted. Cunningly, Americans know that books contain a person, and they want the person, not the book.”
—Anthony Burgess (b. 1917)