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Originally Posted by whitearrow
This just highlights that there is no statement by or about the author at issue; the statement was about the book, and you can't defame a book.
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You can defame an author, or any person, by insulting their work. Proving the connection (hypothetically), "this book is a primer for terrorist activity," which results in the author being fired from their gov't job, or "this building is a deathtrap waiting to happen; it's going to collapse any day now," resulting in the contractor being sued for negligence, are cases of insult directed at the work being a matter of defaming the creator of that work.
If a teacher says, "this thesis paper is full of lies and flawed conclusions and doesn't have adequate references," and that evaluation is (1) maliciously false and (2) used to deny a grant, that's defamation, even though the author wasn't directly insulted.