The fourth volume in Bob Woodward’s series on the Bush presidency is embargoed until Monday.

According to Editor and Publisher, the trade journal on the newspaper business, the Washington Post had a deal to run a four-part excerpt beginning on Sunday. Fox News posted a story on the book late yesterday, saying  “an advance copy was obtained exclusively by FOX News.” 

As a result of Fox breaking the embargo, the Washington Post, put up a detailed story about the book less than two hours later on their Web site, which also appears on the front page of the Post today. Both the Fox and the Post stories have now been picked up by news agencies all over the world.

The book is considered one of the major titles of the Fall, but library holds are surprisingly light at this point. At the four large libraries I checked, there are a total of 231 holds on 177 copies; a ratio of 1.31 holds per copy. 

Woodward will appear on 60 Minutes on Sunday.

The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008

Bob Woodward

• Hardcover: 512 pages; $32.00
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (September 8, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1416558977
• ISBN-13: 978-1416558972

We should have guessed; the Vanity Fair excerpt of Michael Wolff’s book on Rupert Murdoch, The Man Who Owns the News, has generated dozens of articles, proving once again that the media is obsessed with itself.

Reuters headline is Murdoch yearns to buy New York Times; New York Magazine likes the part about Rupert’s dye job, The Aubergine-Haired Mogul and the Girl From Shandong Province (the Financial Times, which has a “People” Column, who knew?, gets all NY Posty with Do or dye for Rupert Murdoch). Most, however, ran with the revelation that Obama, Murdoch and Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes had a sit-down (e.g., Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post, Obama Met With Fox News Executives). That story dovetails nicely with news that Obama will appear on the O’Reilly Factor on Fox tomorrow night.

If so much news can be generated from a short excerpt, you’ve got to wonder what will happen when the book comes out in February.

As we mentioned in our story yesterday, the book has not yet been reviewed by prepub sources and is not on order in any of the libraries we checked.

The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch

Michael Wolff

• Hardcover: $27.95; 320 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (February 17, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0385526121
• ISBN-13: 978-0385526128

After a string of reviews, Anglo Files: a Field Guide to the British by Sarah Lyle is piling up holds in some areas (over 70 on 4 copies in one library).

Library purchasing was light, which is odd given the innate appeal of poking fun at the Brits. The PW review probably put buyers off, saying the author’s observations of the British are “neither overly perceptive nor interesting and much of her material is creakingly familiar.”

The consumer reviews have essentially agreed with that assessment, but less harshly. The most recent, in Sunday’s NYT BR says,

Throughout her frequently amusing account of living in England as a reporter for The New York Times, Ms. Lyall takes refuge in roomy generalizations that are hard to refute while at the same time being, at best, half true.

“Frequently amusing” applied to a book on life among the Brits may be all readers need to hear.

Tantor has just released an audio verison which is not yet on order in the libraries I checked.

The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British

 Sarah Lyall

• Hardcover: $24.95; 256 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton (August 18, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0393058468
• ISBN-13: 978-0393058468

The October Vanity Fair features an excerpt from VF columnist Michael Wolff’s forthcoming book on Rupert Murdoch, The Man Who Owns the News.

It has not yet been reviewed by prepub sources and is not on order by any of the libraries I checked.

The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch

Michael Wolff

• Hardcover: $27.95; 320 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (February 17, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0385526121
• ISBN-13: 978-0385526128

Currently, the third most emailed article from the New York Times is Economic View: Is History Siding With Obama’s Economic Plan?, from Saturday’s Business Section.

Examining the differences in economic policies between Democrats and Republicans, the article is based on the book Unequal Democracy by Larry M. Bartels. According to the article, understanding these differences, “brilliantly delineated” in Bartels’s book, “might help voters see what could be at stake, economically speaking, in November.”

As a result of the article, Unequal Democracy rose to #196 (from #4,936) in Amazon’s sales rankings. It is owned by 3 of the 7 libraries I checked.

Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age

Larry M. Bartels

• Hardcover: $29.95; 328 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (April 27, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0691136637
• ISBN-13: 978-0691136639

Curiously, with all the political bios and memoirs dotting betseller lists, books by and about McCain are low in sales rankings (the highest on Amazon is Faith of Our Fathers, by McCain and Mark Salter, at #842). 

As we get closer to the election, there will likely be more interest, so Christopher Beam put together “Grand Old Book Party; What to Read about John McCain and the Future of the GOP,” which appers in both the Washington Post Sunday “Outlook” section, and, in a slightly different form in Slate. 

Beam mentions the autobiograhies McCain and Mark Salter have written over the years and then goes on to describe some other titles:

The Nightingale’s Song

Robert Timberg 

“juicy anecdotes about young McCain”

• Paperback: $16.00; 544 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; (September 11, 1996)
• ISBN-10: 0684826739
• ISBN-13: 978-0684826738 
• Amazon Sales Rank: #2,452 

——————————–

Free Ride: John McCain and the Media

David Brock and Paul Waldman

Meant to “indict the MSM for its too-friendly coverage of McCain…[instead, it] often reads like an unintentional ode to the senator’s media savvy.”

• Paperback: $13.95, 240 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (March 25, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0307279405
• ISBN-13: 978-0307279408
• Amazon Sales Rank: #130,922

——————————

Citizen McCain

Elizabeth Drew

“squarely in Camp McCain… a well-intentioned snorer”

• Paperback: $12.00; 208 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (May 6, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1416593179
• ISBN-13: 978-1416593171
• Amazon Sales Rank: #166,964

——————————

Man of the People: The Maverick Life and Career of John McCain, Revised and Updated for the 2008 Presidential Election

Paul Alexander

Like Citizen McCain, “should… be sold with pom-poms.”

Originally pubbed in 2004, this title was recently updated.

 
• Paperback: $14.95; 240 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; Rev Upd edition (June 23, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0470390700
• ISBN-13: 978-0470390702 
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #90,307

——————————

The following, says Beam, are by skeptics:

McCain: The Myth of a Maverick

Matt Welch

• Hardcover: $27.95; 256 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; (October 16, 2007)
• ISBN-10: 0230603963
• ISBN-13: 978-0230603967
• Amazon Sales Rank: #59,846

—————————–

McCain’s Promise: Aboard the Straight Talk Express With John McCain and a Whole Bunch of Actual Reporters, Thinking About Hope

David Foster Wallace

• Paperback: $9.99; 144 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books; (June 1, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0316040533
• ISBN-13: 978-0316040532
• Amazon Sales Rank: #135,728

———————————-

Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream

Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam

According to Beam, “with the GOP struggling nationwide” the suggestions in this book “might actually help” McCain.

• Hardcover: $23.95, 256 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1 edition (June 24, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0385519435
• ISBN-13: 978-0385519434
• Amazon Sales Rank: #13,388 

Your first question after hearing that McCain had chosen Sarah Palin as his running mate was undoubtedly, “Is there a book about her?”

The answer is “yes, and it’s now #12 on Amazon.”

Published with uncanny foresight in April by Alaska’s Epicenter Press, the book is partisan towards its subject (as is clear from its subtitle). 

According to Publishers Weekly.com the publisher is out of stock and is working with Lightning Source to meet demand until it can do another reprint. 

Joe Biden’s book, Promises to Keep went to #8 on Amazon after his nomination last week. It is now at #246.

The libraries I checked do not own it.

Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment on Its Ear 
by Kaylene Johnson

• Hardcover: $19.95; 159 pages
• Publisher: Epicenter Press (April 1, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0979047080
• ISBN-13: 978-0979047084

The next Starbuck’s Pick, The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper, is the lead book review in People this week (9/8; Jessica Simpson on the cover. She’s in love — again).

The book, a memoir of the author’s privileged childhood in Liberia, which her family had to escape in 1980, gets 3 1/2 out of a possible 4 stars.

The author set sweet, funny stories…against the darker canvas of [her parent's] divorce…Nearly three decades after fleeing Liberia, Cooper offers an indelible view of her homeland and makes palpable the pain that she felt when she lost it.

The book was also reviewed in the Spring ‘08 issue of Ms. Magazine (review not posted online).

Ordering in the libraries I checked is light (the prepub reviews were good, but not overly enthusiastic). Reserves are building, but still at comfortable levels (four holds to one copy). None have ordered the audio or large type editions.

The House at Sugar Beach

Helene Cooper

• Hardcover: $26.00
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (September 2, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0743266242
• ISBN-13: 978-0743266246

• Simon & Schuster Audio, September 2008
• 9 Compact Disks (Unabridged)
• Read by: The Author
• ISBN-10: 0-7435-7951-8
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7435-7951-3

• Large Type, Hardcover: $31.95
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; (September 2, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1410410382
• ISBN-13: 978-1410410382

The affect of Jerome Corsi’s book Obama Nation is examined in the New Yorker this week by the magazine’s main political commentator, Hendrik Hertzberg.

Although enumerating the book’s “fabrications and distortions” as the Obama campaign has done, is necessary, he says, it “can leave the impression of quibbling over details. The problem for Obama isn’t little lies. It’s the Big one.” The real harm of the book he says, is how it feeds “the sprawling conservative slander industry.”

We just got word from Random House that they are releasing Joe Biden’s Promises to Keep in trade paperback. The book became a bestseller on Amazon over weekend, and is still at #25. Evidently, RH expects interest in the vp candidate to continue throughout the campaign; they are printing 150,000 copies. 

The edition will be available 8/29. Random is also reprinting the hardcover; that printing will be available this week.

PROMISES TO KEEP

JOSEPH BIDEN 

RANDOM HOUSE TRADE PAPERBACK, $15

ISBN: 978-0-8129-7621-2