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Your support makes all the difference.The left-wing author's House of Bush, House of Saud became a best-seller in both the UK and USA, and informed much of Michael Moore's hit film Fahrenheit 9/11.
Trouble was never far away, though. First, the Saudi Ambassador, Prince Turki al Faisal, appeared on the Today programme to rubbish its contents. Then Amazon controversially refused to stock the hardback, apparently fearing a lawsuit.
Now comes the third dispute in the book's short history. Last week, its publishers, Gibson Square, were told that Amazon had also withdrawn the forthcoming paperback version, without giving an explanation.
It's a strange decision, since no legal action has been taken against Unger's book in the year since its original publication, and every other leading book chain has always been happy to stock it.
Some suspect a conspiracy to prevent it reaching a wider public. "It is unclear what the grounds are for banning this new edition," says the publisher.
"As there is no real competitor to Amazon in the UK the book is in effect Balkanised on the net."
Unger is also miffed. "I'm disappointed, though not altogether surprised, given the past history of my book," he tells me.
Amazon, meanwhile, said it had withdrawn the paperback on the advice of its lawyers.
* Lady Isabella Hervey, the socialite, actress and reality TV star, is claiming a publishing industry "first". The gentleman's magazine, Playboy, has allowed her to pose as its centrefold without exposing her bosom.
"I've just done a centrefold, but kept my g-string on and my arms covered over my breasts", she tells me.
"Apparently I'm the first girl they've allowed to do it without revealing her breasts. I wouldn't expose myself like that for all the money in the world - although I did let them see a bit of bum-cheek."
According to Hervey, left, speaking at the premiere of Herbie Fully Loaded - this heralds a move up-market for the iconic magazine.
"They wanted somebody who has an innocent, classy image."
Sadly for Playboy's wholesom and honourable aspirations to move upmarket, Hervey has just posed in her underwear on the cover of FHM magazine.
* One of our greatest living tragedians, Sir Michael Gambon, has developed a curious fascination with the glamour model Abi Titmuss.
I owe this minor "scoop" to Piers Morgan, who interviewed Gambon, right, a happily-married 64 year-old, for a new documentary on the nature of celebrity.
In the show, due to air on Channel Four next month, the former Mirror editor speaks to prominent figures from every end of the show-business spectrum.
By way of an "ice-breaker" at the start of his chat with Titmuss, Morgan reveals: "We interviewed Sir Michael Gambon yesterday, and he couldn't speak highly enough of you. He seems to have been very taken with you."
Miss Titmuss - who achieved fame "bonking" John Leslie, is said to be highly flattered. Gambon, meanwhile, may live to regret it becoming public. In the short term, at least, the Harry Potter star faces accusations of moving from Dumbledore to dumb blonde.
* For the first time since new editor John Kampfner took office, the axe has been wielded at the New Statesman. The casualty is a true political heavyweight. Charlie Whelan - broadcaster, journalist, and former spindoctor to Gordon Brown - has been told that his weekly "Don't believe it" column is getting the chop.
"It was his (Kampfner's) decision really, but I think in the truth that I've also had enough of it," says a philosophical-sounding Whelan, when I call. "After all, there's only so many times you can be rude about Tony Blair."
As Whelan leaves, Rory Bremner is beginning a new job at the left-leaning weekly. It could (at a stretch) be seen as an act of betrayal: "We used to help Rory to get a seat in Commons so he could watch MPs at work," adds Whelan.
* What with all the pickled sharks and sliced-up cows, Damien Hirst's deep freeze has never been a place for the squeamish.
Especially now: for I gather that the chest-freezer at Hirst's country home - a rambling farmhouse in Devon - is chock-full of various dead cats, dogs and hampsters. According to his girlfriend, Maia Norman, they're recently-deceased family pets, awaiting a formal burial.
"At the moment, Damien's got this campaign at home, because I've had a spate of pet deaths and I want to bury them. But I've been too busy," Norman tells next month's Easy Living magazine. "So I've got them in the freezer. Damien's put post-it notes all over the house saying 'pets need proper burials.' You wouldn't think it would upset him, but it does."
Hirst has a curious relationship with the animal kingdom. Explaining his earlier work, he once said: "it's easier to relate to dead animals than to dead people."
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