High Demand for Anti-Kerry Book

NEW YORK — Barnes & Noble Inc. said Monday that it had been pinched by strong demand for a new book that questions the Vietnam-era actions of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry.

The nation’s largest book store chain also said Republican and Democratic critics had lodged thousands of complaints accusing it of favoring and suppressing “Unfit for Command,” which accuses the Massachusetts senator of distorting his military record.

The book, which went on sale Aug. 11, has sold out and is not currently available, Barnes & Noble said.

The book’s publisher, Regnery Publishing Inc., won’t have more books available until later this week, and that order also will not be able to meet demand, Steve Riggio, Barnes & Noble chief executive, said in a release.

Riggio said Barnes & Noble had no political agenda.

“The fact is Regnery has not been able to keep up with customer demand for this title,” he said. “Further, the publisher cut our original order for the book in half. We’ve been put in the difficult position of having to defend ourselves over a title we can’t seem to get enough copies of from the publisher.”

Washington-based Regnery, which also publishes conservative commentators including Steve Forbes, Patrick J. Buchanan and G. Gordon Liddy, did not return a call for comment late Monday.

“Unfit for Command,” by John O’Neill and Jerome Corsi, accuses Kerry of lying about his decorated wartime record and betraying comrades by returning from Vietnam and alleging atrocities by U.S. troops.