Amazon pulls infamous immigration novel from website sparking censorship firestorm

CALGARY — Amazon has removed paperback copies of the controversial 1973 novel The Camp of the Saints from its US website, prompting accusations of censorship from the book’s publisher and renewed debate over a book that has divided opinion for over half a century.The novel, written by French author and explorer Jean Raspail, portrays the collapse of Western civilization through mass immigration into France and other Western European countries.For decades, the fictional work has sparked very polarizing opinions as critics have condemned the book as racist and xenophobic, while supporters have said it was a prescient warning about cultural decline and the dangers of mass immigration..In an April 20 statement from Ethan Rundell, the editor-in-chief of the book’s publisher, Vauban Books, he revealed the paperback listings for Vauban’s edition had been removed by Amazon US on April 17, but Kindle and audiobook formats were still available at the time of writing, as well as on the Canadian version of the website.“We have since been informed by Amazon that the book is in violation of the company's ‘offensive content’ policy. Amazon has supplied no information as to which portions of the book are offensive, nor to whom,” Rundell said.“Our edition of the book was first listed for sale on Amazon in July 2025. In the eight months since, Amazon has sold roughly 20,000 paperback copies of it.”Rundell added that Amazon’s decision may have been influenced by a recently published article in New York Magazine which was critical of US Vice-President JD Vance and mentioned the book, saying that this echoed a 2019 campaign against Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy, which “led the novel’s previous publisher to drop the title from its catalogue.”The novel has long been praised by right-wing and nationalist figures, with former US conservative political commentator William F. Buckley Jr. once referring to it as a “great book,” and other noted fans of Raspail’s work have included former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Marine Le Pen, parliamentary party leader of France’s National Rally party..Nathan Pinkoski, a senior fellow at the Centre for Renewing America, has defended the book, saying it was “not about a race war” as some critics have stated.“It's not at the service of an insidious political agenda,” Pinkoski said.“The novel was written at a time when mass immigration was not a political topic that people were discussing because it wasn't something that, that you had to reckon with. It has [the] political teaching[s] when it was written in the 1970s, it [tries] to get us to recognize our own defects, and ultimately to look at how we've hollowed out our spiritual existence.”Upon hearing of Amazon’s decision, US conservative political commentator Jack Posobiec said it was a blatant example of book banning..“The left loves to talk about book bans, but the books that the left talks about in terms of their book bans are never actually banned books,” Posobiec said.“If you can go into Barnes & Noble and buy a book off the shelf, then it is not a banned book. If you can go and get a book in your local library, it is not a banned book. This is a banned book.”He added that French newspapers have recently been attacking Raspail’s work because it was “the book of the new right.”“If that's true, by the way, then shouldn't it be available for everyone to read to understand what's going on, whether you agree or disagree?” Posobiec asked.“What is this idea that just because you read a book, it changes you, and it changes everything that you believe?”While Amazon has not publicly commented on the removal at the time of writing, Vauban Books has said it would continue to make the book available to readers through other channels.“Should Amazon be unwilling to restore the paperback listing or indeed remove additional listings, we will ensure that our readers, in the United States and around the world, are still able to purchase The Camp of the Saints,” Rundell said.“Vauban Books remains committed to keeping the novel in print and accessible worldwide.”

Amazon pulls infamous immigration novel from website sparking censorship firestorm

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