A page-turning book containing details about the Metropolitan museum is the latest victim of Britain's reprehensible libel laws. Rogues Gallery, by the bestselling author Michael Gross, was published in May in the United States by Random House and paints the museum, its founders and its funders in a less than flattering light.
One trustee of the museum objected to the unauthorised book's description of her. New York socialite Annette de la Renta, who is also a trustee of the New York Public Library, hired a New York based law firm with offices in London and threatened to sue the publisher for libel. When the threat did not work, a "credible threat of a law suit in England was made publicly … similar threats were issued to at least two tabloids in NY, and other major media outlets mysteriously cancelled reviews of the book and interviews," says Gross.
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