Founded in 1984, Lynne Rienner Publishers remains a rare, independent presence in scholarly and textbook publishing.

"Independent" means a lot of different things to us: Taking chances on new ideas. Being free of the restrictions of corporate headquarters or lenders. Publishing each book with care, from the external review process ... to professional copyediting, typesetting, and proofreading, all done locally ... to quality manufacturing ... to thorough promotion and worldwide distribution. We are also determined to keep our prices as low as possible.

Where we are not independent is in our relationship with the community of people whom we publish, and publish for. One of the aspects of publishing that all of us here love most is being part of that international, interdependent community.

We publish in the fields of international studies and comparative politics (all world regions), US politics, military history, and sociology and criminology (with a US focus). We also have a small list of literature in translation, including books by such notable authors as Naguib Mahfouz, Ghassan Kanafani, Derek Walcott, and Tawfiq al-Hakim. Our distribution clients include Holmes & Meier Publishers and Kyungnam University Press.

In addition to the Lynne Rienner Publishers imprint, our publishing program includes FirstForumPress and Kumarian Press. FirstForumPress was established in 2008 to provide a forum for important work that may otherwise be overlooked because of today's market constraints. FFP publishes specialized scholarly research of the highest quality (all projects are peer reviewed) in a timely and cost-effective fashion.

Since its founding in 1977, Kumarian Press (a 2013 acquisition) has earned a reputation for publishing books that tackle such challenging global issues as poverty and underdevelopment, war, and human rights abuses. Kumarian is also at the forefront in the field of nonprofit-sector management.