Archive for the ‘Politics and Current Events’ Category

GAME CHANGE Makes Headlines

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

The ’08 presidential campaign may seem like old news, but a new book that examines it in depth is dominating headlines and is currently #1 on both Amazon and B&N.com sales rankings.

Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, releasing today, has been featured on Sixty Minutes, The View, as well as in countless news stories. A section about the Edwards’ campaign is excerpted in NY mag under the headline, “Saint Elizabeth and the Ego Monster.”

Fox News delineates the “juicy bits” that have “rocked Washington despite arriving on the shelves months after a number of other campaign 2008 retellings.” Among the allegations are that Bill Clinton was having an affair during his wife’s campaign; Elizabeth Edwards was an “abusive, paranoid, condescending crazy woman;” and further evidence that Sara Palin lacked basic knowledge about world events.

Of course, the book caused Harry Reid to apologize about comments he made about Obama. Last night, Stephen Colbert commented on that issue (John Heilemann, coauthor of Game Change will appear on his show tomorrow).

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Harry Reid’s Racist Comment
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Economy

In the New York Times, Michiko Kakutani reviews the book, saying that the authors use the technique pioneered by Bob Woodward, “relying heavily on ‘deep background’ interviews, along with e-mail messages, memorandums and other forms of documentation to create a novelistic narrative that often reflects the views of the authors’ most cooperative or voluble sources.” However, she notes, “Unlike Mr. Woodward’s last two books this volume has no source notes at the end.”

On Good Morning America yesterday, George Stephanopoulos questioned the authors about their sources and why many of these stories have not come out before (the video is not embeddable; view it here).

HarperCollins has already increased the print run twice, from 75,000 to 135,000,and then to 155,000, according to the AP. Libraries are showing heavy holds on moderate ordering; an average of 10:1 in the libraries we checked.

Below, the women of The View discuss the book with coauthor Mark Halperin:

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Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime
John Heilemann, Mark Halperin
Retail Price: $27.99
Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: Harper – (2010-01-01)
ISBN / EAN: 0061733636 / 9780061733635

HarperLuxe; 9780061945991; $27.99

eBook downloadable from OverDrive

Even MORE on Sarah Palin

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Going Rogue does not have an index, a fact widely reported in the press. Satirist Christopher Buckley provides one (who knew an index could be funny?) in the Daily Beast.

With all the attention the book has received in the press (try Googling “Tired of Palin”), holds per copy have doubled at the libraries we checked since the book was released.

Going Rogue: An American Life
Sarah Palin
Retail Price: $28.99
Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins – (2009-11-17)
ISBN / EAN: 0061939897 / 9780061939891

HarperAudio; Abridged; 9780061990731; $29.99; 11/24
HarperLuxe; pbk; $28.99; 11/24

Palin’s Memoir Reviewed by NYT

Monday, November 16th, 2009

As prep for  Oprah’s sit-down with Sarah Palin today, you may want to read Michiko Kakutani’s review of her book (supposedly embargoed until tomorrow, but widely leaked), under the headline, “Memoir is Palin’s Payback to McCain Campaign.”

UPDATE: This may be the least-respected embargo in history; it’s also reviewed in the Wall Street Journal. On Friday, the AP fact-checked the book. Palin calls it “opposition research” on her Facebook page.

GOING ROGUE; Sneak Peek

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

Time magazine’s “The Page” blog reports on what others report is in the book.

The big news? NO INDEX! The theory is that inside-the-Beltway types will have to actually read the book to find their names.

Going Rogue: An American Life
Sarah Palin
Retail Price: $28.99
Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins – (2009-11-17)
ISBN / EAN: 0061939897 / 9780061939891

HarperAudio; Abridged; 9780061990731; $29.99; 11/24
HarperLuxe; pbk; $28.99; 11/24

Global Warming Fights

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

The U.N.’s top climate official declared today that “time is running out” for a global warming treaty and urged that it be finalized at the Copenhagen conference in December. One of the stumbling blocks is the U.S. Senate which is seen as “unlikely” to agree to the treaty’s provisions by the time of the conference.

Meanwhile, rising on Amazon, is The Real Global Warming Disaster by Christopher Booker, available in the UK now, but not coming out in this country until January, after the conference winds up. It is currently at #64 on Amazon’s U.S. sales rankings.

Booker, a long-time columnist for the UK’s Sunday Telegraph has drawn attacks for years for claiming that asbestos and second-hand smoke are not harmful, and that mad cow disease does not affect humans. Unsurprisingly, he also claims that global warming is a hoax, foisted on us by a small group of “global warming zealots” armed with faulty research.

As we mentioned earlier, a new book examines the issues behind the debates, Why We Disagree About Climate Change.

The Real Global Warming Disaster: Is the Obsession with “Climate Change” Turning Out to Be the Most Costly Scientific Blunder in History?
Christopher Booker
Retail Price: $29.95
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Continuum – (2010-01-15)
ISBN / EAN: 1441110526 / 9781441110527

Why We Disagree About Climate Change

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

As evidenced by the uproar over the climate change chapter in SuperFreakonomics, the topic can raise passions.

Today, the NYT blog, Green Inc., interviews the author of Why We Disagree About Climate Change. As the NYT points out, a global summit on climate change will take place two months from now.

It appears that only Choice reviewed the book (11/1/09), calling it, “…exceptionally well written and informative…Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals; general readers.”

According to WorldCat, the book is owned in 200 university libraries and just one public library.

Why We Disagree About Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity
Mike Hulme
Retail Price: $28.99
Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press – (2009-05-25)
ISBN / EAN: 0521727324 / 9780521727327