In 2004, the book House of Bush, House of Saud reached the bestseller list in The New York Times. It was on sale in bookshops in France, Germany and Japan. But it was not published in Britain. It thus joined the ranks of books - Nobel Dreams by Gary Taubes was another - that, one can only infer, were in effect censored owing to the reluctance of publishers to risk a libel suit under English law.rnThe reason? At the heart of the issue sits the burden of proof of unjustified defamation. In the United States, aggrieved 'claimants' who believe that a book, magazine or newspaper has significantly damaged their reputations without justification generally have to prove to the courts that the allegations are false. In Britain, the author and publisher (assuming both are sued) have to prove that the allegations are true. Also critical to the outcome is an interpretation by the court of the meaning in the mind of a reasonable person of what was originally published.
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