Amazon.Com To Restore Book Critical Of Scientology

SEATTLE - Responding to e-mail complaints, Amazon.com says it will restore a book critical of the Scientology movement to its online catalog.

The book, "A Piece of Blue Sky," by British writer Jon Atack, was banned by a British court following a successful 1995 defamation lawsuit against Atack.

Amazon.com pulled the book in February, but said this week that it would reinstate it.

"While the decision in February seemed the right thing to do at the time, we thought we could do better by blocking (sale of) it in (Britain) rather than everywhere," Amazon.com spokesman Bill Curry said yesterday.

He said Amazon.com's policy is to offer every book from every publisher, and still remain in compliance with the laws where it does business. Curry said the book would be able to be shipped in a matter of days, after coding is put in place to make sure copies aren't shipped to British addresses.