Penguin Random House suspended Ross Barkan’s upcoming biography on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani amid allegations of extensive plagiarism in his New York Magazine columns.
Promotion and public sales for the forthcoming book have been stalled, and webpages for the book “The Revolutionary: Zohran Mamdani and the Remaking of American Politics” are no longer available on major retailers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target and Walmart.
The book, which would have been published in October, was set to give a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Mamdani’s campaign and his early days as mayor of New York City. Barkan’s relationship with the mayor dates back to 2018, when Mamdani served as campaign manager for the columnist’s unsuccessful run for the New York State Senate.
Penguin Random House and Barkan have not responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.
The Washington Post first reported the news.
New York Magazine terminated Barkan’s column last week after an independent editorial review found that 67 of his columns failed to meet the publication’s standards for proper attribution.
“We regret that this work did not live up to our editorial standards, and apologize to the writers whose work was not properly attributed,” a statement from the magazine read.
Barkan was accused of using language and reporting from other journalists without properly attributing or citing it. NPR correspondent Bobby Allyn and Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell each identified that the columnist used language resembling their reporting without credit.
“In the course of nearly 250 pieces, there were times I should have been more careful with citation,” the author said in a statement to Semafor. “I’m sorry about these errors and will work to do better, more careful work in the future. I am, at a more considered pace, writing a new column for The Nation.”
Barkan has written two political nonfiction books: “The Prince” (2021), about former New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, and “Fascism or Genocide” (2025), about disorder in American politics. He has also published four novels.
The columnist has since taken his column to The Nation, where he is a contributing writer. He has written two columns for the publication, the most recent of which focused on Mayor Mamdani’s relationship with the police commissioner.
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