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

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 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 

A thousand-page book analyzing the 1988 presidental campaigns and the candidates, published in 1992, went to #8 on the Amazon bestseller list over the weekend.

Why?

Because Joe Biden was one of those candidates and news sources are turning to the book to find out more about him. Politico.com looks at the literature on Biden in a piece called “Biden for Dummies” and advises,

Go to Amazon right now and place a rush order for Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes for a vivid depiction of Biden’s 1988 campaign, which is when Biden first sprang to national attention.

Another Politico writer suggests a faster method; just use Amazon’s “Search Inside” feature to read the book’s sections on Biden.

The book is not owned by any of the libraries I checked.

Biden’s own book, Promises to Keep, published last year, rose to #27 over the weekend. It is owned by all the libraries I checked; most have comfortable holds to copy ratios.

What It Takes: The Way to the White House
by Richard Ben Cramer

• Paperback: $24.00
• Publisher: Vintage (June 1, 1993)
• ISBN-10: 0679746498
• ISBN-13: 978-0679746492

“Untitled on Bush” by Bob Woodward is now The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008, according to the AP. S&S has announced a 900,000 copy first printing, with a “strict embargo,” until it’s Sept 8th release date. Woodward will appear on 60 Minutes the night before. The Washington Post will run excerpts on the 7th.

In a statement, Woodward’s editor, Alice Mayhew claims big things for the book,

There has not been such an authoritative and intimate account of presidential decision making since the Nixon tapes and the Pentagon Papers. This is the declassification of what went on in secret, behind the scenes.

The blog Politico says the are  the first to reveal the cover. On Amazon and B&N, the book is still listed as of 9:30 this morning as “Untitled” with “Cover to be Unveiled.”

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

After Andrew Bacevich appeared on the Bill Moyers Journal on PBS this Friday, his newest book, The Limits of Power, leaped up the Amazon bestseller list to #1, where it remains this morning. In addition, all his previous titles increased in sales; most significantly The New American Miliatarism rose to #53.

Bacevich is a retired Army Colonel, Boston University professor, critic of American militarism and author of several books. Limits of Power is owned by less than half the libraries I checked. Most own at least one of his previous titles.

The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism
Andrew Bacevich

• Hardcover: $24.00
• Publisher: Metropolitan Books (August 5, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0805088156
• ISBN-13: 978-0805088151

The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War 

Andrew J. Bacevich

• Paperback: $15.95
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 7, 2006)
• ISBN-10: 0195311981
• ISBN-13: 978-0195311983

The press coverage of Obama Nation makes repeated references to the book debuting at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, but other lists show a different story.

On the Wall Street Journal nonfiction list, it is a distant second to The Last Lecture (which doesn’t appear on the Times nonfiction list because it’s categorized as “Hardcover Advice.” It’s at number one on that list).

The WSJ’s sales index shows Obama Nation is selling at less than 1/3 the rate of The Last Lecture. Comparing it to the number one fiction title, Obama Nation is selling at a bit more than 10% the rate of Breaking Dawn.

The USA Today list shows all titles in one ranking, regardless of age level or category. On that list, Obama Nation is at #12 (it was at #25 last week), after the paperback of Debbie Macomber’s The Manning Brides.

The Amazon list is updated hourly and therefore responds quickly to media attention. On that list, Obama Nation rose from #10 two days ago to #1 today, above Breaking Dawn.