“Revolutionary movements do not spread by contamination but by resonance,” write the anonymous authors of “The Coming Insurrection,” a call to overthrow capitalism that first appeared in France in 2005 and was recently published in translation in the United States.

Writers, however, do not get to pick how and where their work resonates: Among the first in America to be stirred by the manifesto’s explosive words was a Fox News host, Glenn Beck.

In July, Mr. Beck introduced the book to his three million or so viewers, accompanied by video of burning cars and swarming protesters. “Here is the one thing everyone seems to be missing. The extreme left is actively calling for violence,” he told his audience. “It calls for violent revolution. An anonymous group from France, of all places, called the Invisible Committee, penned it. They want to bring down capitalism and the Western way of life.”

This month, Mr. Beck proclaimed it “the most evil book I’ve read in a long, long time.”

The next day, “The Coming Insurrection,” whose authors call themselves the Invisible Committee, rose to No. 54 on Amazon’s best-seller list. In July, the book briefly reached No. 1. And even this weekend the book remained around No. 240.