In 1998, Friedlander started Context Books, an independent press. He was twenty-seven. In 1999, Friedlander and Context Books came to public attention when he acquired a manuscript from Theodore J. Kaczynski, the Unabomber. The book, in which Kaczynski argued that he was not insane, as his family had claimed during his trial, was ready to be published by Context Books when Kaczynski refused to paraphrase some letters which he did not own the copyright to. The book was never published because of these copyright issues. Context Books published several award-winning works of literary fiction by authors including David Means, David Marshall Chan, and Daniel Quinn. Nonfiction authors included Derrick Jensen and John Bonifaz. The publishing house won several national awards, including The Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Assorted Fire Events. The New York Times singled out two of the anti-war books published by Context, stating they, “emerged from and then codified opposition to the war in Iraq.” The first of these books was by William Rivers Pitt. It was published in at least 10 languages in editions worldwide, and became an international bestseller—including an appearance on the New York Times extended bestseller list. Target Iraq by Norman Solomon and Reese Erlich was a national bestseller. It was cited by whistleblower Katharine Gun as a catalyst in her decision to leak a 2003 NSA memo revealing illegal activity on the part of the United States to create diplomatic pressure to generate support for the war. In 2008, Friedlander became the editor-in-chief at Air America, the progressive radio network with hosts Rachel Maddow, Al Franken, Randi Rhodes and Marc Maron among others. Beau Friedlander’s writing has appeared in Harper's Magazine, The New York Times, Time, the Los Angeles Times, Lapham's Quarterly, The Paris Review, The Huffington Post, the Air America website, The Dominion, as well as several anthologies and journals.
Friedlander was at the center of controversy on the internet in 2010 when he publicly offered to broker a deal for $100,000 on the Huffington Post for anyone who could produce a sex tape of Glenn Beck. Despite his initial stated intention for the article to be a satire in the context of Andrew Breitbart's offer of $100,000 for an archive of progressive listserv messages, the article created a firestorm which led to the Huffington Post's pulling the article and requiring Friedlander's posts to be reviewed by an editor before being publicly viewable. Friedlander later posted an apology, stating: "I was actually trying to mimic what I saw as the way right wingers go about these matters, and by misapprehending the way they do things, I went too far. First, I owe Glenn Beck an apology. I crossed the line. On the off chance something comes in over the transom...scratch that; I'll delete the email account. Problem solved. I meant to tilt at a windmill in the post, and I planted my lance in the dirt."
Books
Friedlander has co-written several books including Uncle Charlie with Marc Asnin, Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves with Adam Levin, and The Butler's Child, an autobiography by Lewis M. Steel.
