John Sargent on beating Amazon & Google, and saving Books
John Sargent was too young to fight in WW ll but he spent years battling Amazon and Google in the trenches on behalf of publishers and authors, protecting copyright and defending book prices.
John grew up on a cattle ranch in Wyoming. Over forty years he worked at six publishing companies, including Simon & Schuster where he was the publisher of the Children\u2019s Division, and Dorling Kindersley where he was CEO. For the last half of his career he was the CEO of Macmillan. He\u2019s the author of three children\u2019s books and is currently chairman of The Ocean Conservancy.
We met via Zoom to talk about some of the fights he\u2019s had over the years and other stories presented in his new memoir entitled\xa0Turning Pages, The Adventures and Misadventures of a Publisher.\xa0We also talk about crying and bravery, McDonald\u2019s, Monika Lewinsky, George Bush Sr., suicide, Donald Trump, fucking sea urchins, and more.