But, Herzfeld stressed that he is not calling for a boycott of the manuscripts that have been published. To do so, he said, would be to commit the same mistake of restricting academic freedom.

Herzfeld said CUP's concerns about its employees, while justified, are grounded in shaky evidence.

He said that the press only consulted the British embassy in Athens about potential reprisals by nationalists, and did not contact the Greek government or any other Greek authorities who would have been more qualified to assess the risks from publishing the manuscript.

"The decision was based on the stereotype of Greeks as being violent and uncontrollable," Herzfeld said.

Herzfeld asked for police protection for Karakasidou when she served at Harvard as a visiting scholar in 1994-95. But the fact that she was not threatened at Harvard is evidence "of the absence, not presence...of any substantial risk," he said.

Moreover, Karakasidou said, the issue has become less controversial.

"I think at this point, the Macedonian questions over the region are really in the back burner; it's not as hot and sensitive as it was two years ago," she said.

Many professors interviewed yesterday agreed that CUP had an obligation to publish the book.

Seferis Professor of Modern Greek Studies Margaret B. Alexiou, for one, said she has written a letter of protest to CUP.

"They owe it to the academic world to give a public explanation," she said.

Alexiou said she believes CUP's decision to rescind publication was motivated by other financial interests--such as English-language examinations and schools operated by CUP in Greece--and not any threat to safety.

"I think [publication] would have caused no serious danger to any of [CUP's] staff," she said.

Meanwhile, Karakasidou has signed her first book with the University of Chicago Press, which will market Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood next year.

T. David Brent, the senior editor at the University of Chicago Press (UCP), said Herzfeld brought attention to Karakasidou's script after CUP turned it down.

He added that the grounds for turning down the manuscript were not sufficient, even with the potential threat to employees