Why Books Are Still Central to Our Political Culture

The re-emergence of Sarah Palin as a successful author should come as no surprise to anyone who recognizes the salience of books in public life. Her decision to write a book and her pre-pub sales demonstrate once more how books confer status in American political culture.

Palin's supporters (and those who may be purchasing her book, Going Rogue, in bulk) may or may not realize that by vaulting her to the top of the bestseller lists, they will validate her both personally and ideologically. Like many other books across the political spectrum, her book represents the latest episode in publishing as political and ideological warfare.

These pop bestsellers can serve to legitimize individuals as well as ideas, with consequences stretching beyond the immediate moment. The return of conservatives to the top of the lists this year is being touted as a sure sign of their movement's renewed vitality, despite the battered condition of the Republican minority.

Despite ongoing changes in technology, communications, and culture, books are consistently at the leading edge of new ideas, new social and political movements, new policy directions -- and the introduction of new leaders and new thinkers. When cable hosts and radio yakkers want to be taken seriously, they sit down to write more than a script. So do politicians, academics, and activists.

Ever since the founding of the republic, when Thomas Paine's Common Sense inspired mass support for the American Revolution, the printed word has played a critical role in American life. Indeed, the course of progress can be traced through the titles that guided and spurred nearly every important movement for change. Nearly a century after Paine's masterwork, Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass galvanized the abolitionist movement.

At the dawn of the 20th century, the portrait of rapacious industry in The Jungle by Upton Sinclair gave rise to the reforms of the Progressive Era. Decades later, Michael Harrington's The Other America -- a searing expose of human deprivation amid plenty first published in 1962 and read by President John F. Kennedy -- sparked the War on Poverty and led directly to the establishment of Medicaid, Medicare, the food stamp program and the expansion of Social Security benefits.

The second wave of feminism arose directly from Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, while the works of Malcolm X, James Baldwin, and Claude Brown, among others, encouraged African-American pride and determination. The modern environmental and consumer movements -- as well as the landmark legislation that they spawned -- grew directly from the publication of Rachel Carson's The Silent Spring and Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed. In our own time, Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth has drastically heightened perception of the dangers of climate change. Obama's books helped to build his historic candidacy for president -- just as Unfit for Command, the "swift-boating" screed of 2004, helped to wreck the candidacy of John Kerry.

Conservatives have long understood the power of books, not only as smear bombs but as weapons of ideological domination. Mounting their counter-offensive over the past three decades, they placed books at the center of their plans for promoting right-wing ideology. So a quarter-century after The Other America came Charles Murray's Losing Ground, a broadside attack on government action against poverty and discrimination. The Murray tome represented a deliberate plan by executives at the Olin, Bradley and Smith Richardson foundations, who knew that money invested in creating, publicizing and distributing books would have an explosive impact in the war of ideas.

Publication between hard covers lends validity to ideas and thinkers like no other medium, even for the most outlandish proposals and ideologues. The late Michael Joyce, who headed both the Bradley and Olin Foundations and was known as the "godfather" of modern right-wing philanthropy, once explained: "Books are the way that authors put forth more substantial, more coherent arguments. It follows that if you want to have an influence on the world of ideas, books are where you want to put your money." The same principle applies at the grassroots, where consumers vote with their book-buying dollars to promote politicians and pundits as well as their ideological preference.

That is why progressive consumers and organizations must become just as avid as conservatives in buying and supporting their favorites. Books represent a critical front in the war of ideas and a means to ensure that we keep progressive ideas and values at the center of the national debate.

 

Comments

[Patrick Dacre]

Hmm..Howard. For someone that applied technology through Meetup.com to a national campaign(thanks to Z. Teachout, et.al.) and in light of the attrition of young folks from recent polling and elections, seems that an Ebook or Kindle(tm) approach would be more sufficient here. The chances of a physical book conveying information(and this from an old time book afficiando, moi) reaching this vital age group with salient and pertinent information, is formidable.

I admire the considerations, yet each generation gets a chance to shift their understanding through new technology(happened with newspapers, radio, TV, and now download devices). Time to modernize the 50 states effort, and go local, no?

Patrick Dacre
Chief Encouragement Officer
In Business4Good Enterprises
http://www.computerhelpers4good.net

[exfedemp]

As an independent bookseller, I can assure readers that the right has no monopoly on garbage publication. Weeding through the morass of of self-serving bombast from both sides is tedious and unrewarding. But there are also gems from all parts of the political spectrum which, whether you agree with the position argued or not, do inform and illuminate the debate of public issues. I try to read as much from all sides in order to help my clients broaden and challenge their ideas and positons. At the very least, I still believe that an understanding of, if not a respect for, differing positions is essential in a participatory democracy.
Given some of the sophomoric, not to say moronic, commentary that masquerades as political analysis, a greater number of intellegent and thoughtful readers might be a positive contribution to the development and implementation of public policy. There was a time when intellectuals of all stripes played in the public arena and spoke to the broader populace. Over time the ranks of the so-called public intellectuals has dwindled as they retreated to Academia to speak among themselves in the arcane tongues of their respective fields.
Despite being a life-long progressive/liberal, I have to acknowledge the last of these public intellectuals, William F. Buckley. His intellect, his wit, his charm...these are what are missing in America's public and political life. The poverty of our legal, policy, and political thinking reflect this vacuum,,,and we are the worse for it.

[1010TRAVIS]

I know let's burn books like the Nazis

[topguide]

conservatives buy books in bulk and put them on the book shelf.

Notice conservative books have pretty multi colored book jackets, that's what sells. The content is irrelevant.

[BLBass]

Avid, yes. Manipulative, no. Much of the conservative movement's support for its star authors involves agenda-driven groups buying bulk orders to distribute at a loss, or for fundraising purposes, simultaneously inflating sales figures and driving the books up bestseller lists -- often months before anyone reads the copies "sold" on/before the release date. I'm all for organizing liberal readers to pump up the numbers for books catering to our own ideas, but not for sinking to the level of such tricks which I consider tantamount to fraud.

A better model might be to bundle pre-orders -- still providing the encouragement of those bulk sales, but only by encouraging individuals who will actually read the books to "subscribe" to buy it early. And then of course there's one of the big differences between a physical book and a digital one: after reading, one can pass it on to an acquaintance and spread the ideas beyond the liberal community.

[neoprimordial]

I think it's questionable to say that Sarah Palin's book topping the bestseller lists will validate her. She already has that validation from the Republican Party. In my opinion the people who will buy her book will be those who already consider her a serious political figure, others who admire her for going so far with so little, some who will buy it and shelve it, and still others who are curious and may return the book later for a refund.

I do agree that books can help to legitimize authors and ideas, but as the publishing industry goes through this transition state of distillation down to who-knows-what, I think that whatever influence Sarah Palin gains from bestseller status will most likely be minimal. In America and the world in general, I think it's safe to say that the majority of people don't take her seriously. It seems doubtful her book will change that opinion.

We're in a different, more plebeian era now. Books are not what influence anymore, unless they're tell-alls or smear-alls. The masses are reached through TV, movies, the Internet, video games, and possibly music. You don't gain traction with people through books anymore, except as talking points derived from their titles and synopses (Cliffs Notes)--not enough people really read anymore. Too many people simply do not read anymore.

[Economike]

In order to be a successfull author what you write has to be viewed favorably from a critical standpoint not just now but years from now. Now, I haven't read Sarah Palin's tome but I just can't see it man,..

[classicalmusicman]

Someone had better tell public and academic libraries about this. Many of the former are throwing away books at an alarming rate, calling it weeding. I fully understand the point of weeding--some items have to go for lots of reasons. But there is such a thing as intelligent weeding, preserving the culture, and tending to the reading interests of the few. Too many libraries, worried about costs and impressing city polititians and just plain lazy and stupid in some cases, have been treating libraries as retail operations, where circulation only, and items "moving" have become gods. This serves popular culture but little else. Looking for lesser known but novels from the 1930? Many public libraries could care less. And then there are those academic libraries who are actually shutting down their print libraries.

[Lowell Thompson - Huffpost Blogger]

(I'm re-posting this because I screwed up the link last time)

Dean and Wagley are right, of course. But most books "written" by the right wing are not worth the paper they're printed on, especially if they're ebooks. (Don't think about it too deeply).

So, instead of actually reviewing Sarah Palin's new book (which she probably had little to do with actually writing) I review the cover at my new blog, Buy The Cover.com at http://www.buythecover.com.

As far as I know my blog is the world's first to rate book covers. In fact, I think we'd all be better off if fewer books like Palin's are written - because they're basically just big, thick expensive ads for ignorant ideas masquerading as serious thought. Save a tree, check out the cover at Buy The Cover.com, but don't buy the book.

[Taurus]

Why do people in the media contribute to the fraudulent portrait of Palin as an author?

Given how incoherent she is, there is no way she '"wrote" a book. It's the rare celebrity who does, anyway. To keep calling her an author and talking about the book she wrote elevates her to a literacy status she does not deserve.

As with the typical celebrity book, she likely recorded her "thoughts" in interviews with the ghost writer, and Xtreme editing turned those vapidities into a book.

[princeza]

Books in general are really important to developing individual thought. The problem with the left trying to equal the right on books sales is that there are plenty of right-wing organizations that buy these books in bulk to offer to people at either a reduced cost or for free. There would need to be more left-wing organizations to do the same (maybe there are, I just haven't heard of any).

As long as a publisher is willing to publish this stuff, Palin, et al will continue to write and release this stuff. And there will always be people to buy it. Then again, the say the same about us.

By the way Dr. Dean, I'm returning in a couple days (so excited!) to Vermont after 9 months in China. Your book on health care will be waiting for me when I get back, if Amazon cooperates. I look forward to reading it.

[Lowell Thompson - Huffpost Blogger]

Dean and Wagley are right, of course. But most books "written" by the right wing are not worth the paper they're printed on, especially if they're ebooks. (Don't think about it too deeply).

So, instead of actually reviewing Sarah Palin's new book (which she probably had little to do with actually writing) I review the cover at my new blog, Buy The Cover.com at www.buythecover.comhecover.com.

As far as I know my blog is the world's first to rate book covers. In fact, I think we'd all be better off if fewer books like Palin's are written - because they're basically just big, thick expensive ads for ignorant ideas masquerading as serious thought. Save a tree, check out the cover at Buy The Cover.com, but don't buy the book.

[hawkinspaul00]

Just like Richard Dawkins is doing a great job of getting people away from religion......

[deerpeer]

As an old English teacher, I'm all for people reading, especially books. And I love Lowell Thompson's idea of rating book covers. BUT it appears that fewer and fewer people actually read books. They do LOOK at books and may actually buy books. What people do read are lists, reviews and synopses. AND they watch television.

So here is a suggestion that would let people understand the ideas in given books and might counterbalance the Right's buying of wheelbarrows full of Winger books to achieve "best seller status" -- when they otherwise would achieve "best cellar" rank.

Have a "Cliff's Notes" channel on TV that gives a straight forward summary of books, especially the books on lists -- best sellers, etc. It would also tell who actually wrote the books and if there are any tie-ins to corporations, etc.