[citation needed] Moore completed Stupid White Men shortly before the September 11, 2001 attacks.

His publisher, HarperCollins, initially refused to release the book, fearing bad publicity in the wake of the attacks (despite an advance printing of over 50,000 copies).

In the book, Moore suggests that Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corporation and HarperCollins, "passed down" this decision.

Sparanese sent word to various email lists including the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) and Library Juice, explaining Moore's predicament.

[citation needed] Despite HarperCollins' predictions—and, according to Moore, their deliberately limited promotion of the book—it became enormously popular, becoming the highest-selling nonfiction book in 2002 at such major outlets as Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.