Short answers, pulled from the story.
The American Unitarian Association established a publishing house in 1854 to spread its religious and social views. This new entity, originally called the Press of the American Unitarian Association, focused on conservative theological works during its first half-century.
Director Gobin Stair served from 1962 to 1975 and brought in authors such as James Baldwin and Howard Zinn. He broadened the mission of the press in the early 1900s by including books on ethics and sociology while maintaining a place for strictly religious character.
Robert West approved the decision to publish Senator Gravel's edition of The Pentagon Papers in 1971 which resulted in two-and-a-half years of harassment and intimidation by the Nixon administration according to West. The Supreme Court later ruled in Gravel v. United States that the Constitution protected Gravel but not Beacon Press itself.
Beacon Press released SNCC: The New Abolitionists by Howard Zinn in 1964 and Where Do We Go from Here? Chaos or Community? featuring Dr. King's final writings in 1967. The press also released Janice Raymond's The Transsexual Empire in 1979 and Mary Daly's Gyn/Ecology in 1980.
The organization launched a partnership with the Estate of Martin Luther King Jr. in 2009 for The King Legacy series. This program printed new editions of previously published King titles alongside compiled writings and sermons.