Rare Book Monthly
Articles - February - 2008 Issue
<i>In The News</i>: An Unusual Book Theft, Presidential Book Market Heating Up
Obama's dreams may have collectors dreaming of big profits.
Democrats talk of dreams, while Republicans talk of faith, so rather than dreams of his father, John McCain's book is Faith of My Fathers. McCain wrote two other books, about courage and fighting. He knows his topics well. Hillary Clinton has a couple books to her credit too, the "village" one about working together, and the more recent biographical Living History, which tells of her trials in the White House. Perhaps Four Trials would have been a good name for her book, except John Edwards got that one first.
If you like simple, straightforward titles, Rudy Guliani's book is Leadership. Without having read it, I'm going to guess it involves 9/11. I wish Rudy would write a book about his loves, wives, and personal affairs. That would be exciting, certainly more so than any memoirs straight-laced Mitt Romney could write. Instead, Romney gives us Turnaround, which has something to do with the Olympics. Romney seems to have antagonized his Republican opponents. Even preacher Mike Huckebee is ticked off. If Dick Cheney were young and good-looking, he'd be Mitt Romney.
Speaking of Huckabee, he is the most prolific, with five titles to his credit. He has covered both political and nonpolitical topics. My favorite title is his weight-loss book: Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork. Huckabee writes from experience. He lost 100 pounds. If he can shrink deficits like he did his waistline, he'll make a fine president.
If you want to bet on the really long shots, there is Ron Paul's A Foreign Policy of Freedom. Paul has been vociferously arguing that America's profligate deficit spending has led to the collapsing U.S. dollar, which in turn forces the prices of imported goods, notably oil, sharply higher, and is making the country weaker. It's scary when the lunatic fringe candidate is the one who is right on the most important issues of the day, and is the only one speaking about them. The fringe candidate from the other side, Dennis Kucinich, is the ultimate butt of jokes, less than five feet tall and with an out-there speaking style. Then, when you look back at what he said a few years ago, it turns out he was just ahead of his time. Kucinich grew up in extreme poverty and deprivation, and his "only in America" success story is The Courage to Survive. Bill Richardson is a nice man and Between Worlds tells of his Mexican-American heritage and globetrotting negotiations. Mike Gravel is as scary as Mitt Romney, but at least there is no chance he will win. Still, you might like to read his My America. Fred Thompson is too lazy to write a book, Duncan Hunter too angry.
