Status Active Distribution Worldwide Fiction genres Science fiction Founded 1969 | Country of origin United States Nonfiction topics Skeptical literature Founder Paul Kurtz Fiction genre Science Fiction | |
 | ||
Imprints Pyr (for science fiction),
Humanity Books (for academic works in the humanities),
Seventh Street Books (for thrillers and mysteries) Headquarters location Amherst, New York, United States Headquarters Amherst, New York, United States | ||
Prometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by the philosopher Paul Kurtz, also the founder of the Council for Secular Humanism, Center for Inquiry, and co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Prometheus Books publishes a range of books, focusing on topics such as science, freethought, secularism, humanism, and skepticism. Their headquarters is located in Amherst, New York, and they publish worldwide.
Authors published by Prometheus include Leon Lederman, John W. Loftus, Guy P. Harrison, Victor Stenger, Martin Gardner, Antony Flew, R. Barri Flowers, Nathan Salmon, Ibn Warraq, George H. Smith, Rob Boston, James Randi, Isaac Asimov, Steve Allen, Joe Nickell, Molefi Asante, S. T. Joshi, Philip J. Klass, Julian Huxley, Sidney Hook, Frederich Nietzsche, Ludwig Feuerbach, Robert M. Price, David Ricardo, utilitarian Jeremy Bentham, John Maynard Keynes, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, Rod Pyle and Pulitzer Prize-winner Tom Toles.
Prometheus Books obtained the bulk of the books and manuscripts of Humanities Press International. It has been building and expanding this into a scholarly imprint named Humanity Books. This imprint publishes academic works across a wide spectrum of the humanities.
In 1992 Uri Geller sued Victor J. Stenger and Prometheus Books for libel. The suit was dismissed and Geller was required to pay more than $20,000 in costs to the defendant.
In March 2005, Prometheus Books launched the science fiction and fantasy imprint Pyr. In October 2012 it launched the crime fiction imprint Seventh Street Books.
As of 2006, the company and its various imprints have approximately 1,600 books in print and publish approximately 95–100 books per year. Since its founding, Prometheus Books has published more than 2,500 books.
In 2013 Prometheus Books partnered with Random House in an effort to increase sales and distribution.
Prometheus Books name was derived from Prometheus, the Titan from Greek mythology who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to man. This act is often used as a metaphor for bringing knowledge or enlightenment.