BOOKS

Barnes & Noble CEO to Fund Activist’s Tour

For Leymah Gbowee’s first book, "Mighty Be Our Powers."

Barnes & Noble CEO Leonard Riggio will personally finance a national book tour for Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee’s first book, Mighty Be Our Powers, which tells the powerful story of Gbowee’s struggle to organize women to bring peace to her native Liberia. The partnership is unusual, as publishers usually foot the bill for book-promotion expenses. Riggio said he first heard of Gbowee when she was featured in the documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell. “If you met her and she said, ‘I need some money to help me get my message out,’” he told The New York Times, “I guarantee you would write her a check.” The idea for Gbowee’s book was conceived by Daily Beast/Newsweek editor in chief Tina Brown, and it was published by The Daily Beast’s Beast Books imprint.