Dateline: above the garage in Portsmouth RI, 10 January 2005
So now we add Washington Post "best seller" to those of the New York Times and Foreign Affairs.
What's so amazing about getting this (besides the Post promising to review PNM last spring and then blowing it off completely, and besides David Ignatius commenting on that lack of attention in his 14 Dec op-ed . . . in the Post!), is that it occurred a full eight months after its original publication date!
More amazing, it happened the week between Christmas and New Year's (published in yesterday's Post).
Clearly, it was the combination of C-SPAN broadcasts, and clearly, the local bookstores prepared for the event. So some credit also to Putnam's PR department for taking advantage.
But in the end, it all goes back to the fateful little conversation I had with Brian Lamb just after taping "Book Notes." This was 27 April. He said he really wanted to get the brief on C-SPAN in prime time, followed by a call-in. It took a long time to pull it off, but we finally did, on 20 December. Thanks to that (and all those repeat showings), Mr. Lamb has come through for me again!
Here's the list from the 9 January issue of the Post:
Hardcover/Nonfiction/General
1) AMERICA (THE BOOK): A CITIZEN'S GUIDE TO DEMOCRACY INACTION (Warner) By Jon Stewart & the Daily Show [13 weeks on list]
2) HIS EXCELLENCY: GEORGE WASHINGTON (Knopf) By Joseph J. Ellis. [8]
3) COLLAPSE: HOW SOCIETIES CHOOSE TO FAIL OR SUCCEED (Viking) By Jared Diamond [1]
4) CHRONICLES: VOLUME ONE (Simon & Schuster) By Bob Dylan [11]
5) WHEN WILL JESUS BRING THE PORK CHOPS? (Hyperion) By George Carlin [10]
6) FAITHFUL: TWO DIEHARD REDSOX FANS CHRONICLE THE HISTORIC 2004 SEASON (Scribner) By Stewart O'Nan & Stephen King [4]
7) WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS?: HOW CONSERVATIVES WON THE HEART OF AMERICA (Metropolitan) By Thomas Frank [6]
8) HOW TO TALK TO A LIBERAL (IF YOU MUST) (Crown Forum) By Ann Coulter [11]
9) WILL IN THE WORLD: HOW SHAKESPEARE BECAME SHAKESPEARE (Norton) By Stephen Greenblatt [8]
10) THE PENTAGON'S NEW MAP: WAR AND PEACE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY (Putnam) By Thomas P.M. Barnett [1]
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