Beacon Press Information

Beacon Press is an independent, nonprofit book publisher founded in 1854. The mission of Beacon Press is to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person; to promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations; to encourage the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process in society; to further the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all; to foster respect for the interdependent web of all existence; and to bear witness to the importance of literature and the arts in democratic life. Founded in 1854, Beacon has published many groundbreaking classics, including James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son, Herbert Marcuse’s One-Dimensional Man, Jean Baker Miller’s Toward a New Psychology of Women, and Mary Daly’s Gyn/Ecology. In 1971, Beacon published the Senator Gravel edition of The Pentagon Papers in five volumes, prompting a call from then-president Richard Nixon and ultimately resulting in a Supreme Court case. Beacon is also the publisher of Cornel West’s acclaimed Race Matters, Michael Patrick MacDonald’s All Souls, and eleven titles by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Mary Oliver. In May 2009, Beacon Press announced a new partnership with the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr. for a new publishing program, the King Legacy.