Thinking ahead a bit

Link of the day: European Cyber-gangs Target Small U.S. Firms (Washington Post): a financial services industry task force has warned that "Eastern European organized crime groups are believed to be predominantly responsible for the activities that are employing witting and unwitting accomplices in the U.S. to receive cash and forward payments -- from thousands to millions of dollars to overseas locations -- via popular money and wire transfer services."

I came across this yesterday afternoon, and thought immediately of our forthcoming book Fatal System Error by Joseph Menn (PulicAffairs, 9781586487485; Feb. 2010). It's a surprising, thrilling read, that follows cyber attacks back to their sources in Italy and Russia, and finds a much darker, scarier world that you tend to imagine when you move those "lottery winnings" e-mails into your SPAM folder. A page-turner about an issue of increasing importance - it's definitely got potential.

Reads for radicals...and most everyone else, too

It has been a real joy to have Nation Books as part of the Perseus Books Group. We started off with quite a bang (forgive the choice of words): it was shortly after Nation came aboard that Blackwater USA guards were involved in a massacre of civilians on Baghdad streets -- this gave Jeremy Scahill's excellent book it's second surge of national interest. Blackwater's recent return to the news (and our book's attendant sales boost) has got me thinking about how Nation books succeed, and about the particularly strong lineup we've had this summer and fall.

Since I discussed Blackwater last week, I'll here add only a reminder that that book was selling extraordinarily well even before the national media caught on -- it had been out for 6 months when the September 2007 shootings occurred. What we had going for us then are the same things we count on now: bookseller attention and enthusiasm, and a great online publicity program. A few Nation Books have broken into the mainstream conversation already this summer, but even those that haven't offer lots to be excited about.

The book that I think generated the most bookseller interest last season was Eduardo Galeano's Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone (9781568584232). This has been a great success, hitting the indie bestseller lists up and down our coast; and now it is finally getting the major media attention it deserves. Hopefully you saw the review in yesterday's New York Times:

Galeano's prose is nearly lulling in its lyricism, a quality that gives it an over­ridingly shamanic tone. His powerful voice reminds us, over and over again, of the responsibility of writers to be constantly in search of new forms of expression that may draw us out of our complacency, as he does so eloquently here. As in his previous books, he succeeds in capturing the bottomless horror of the state’s capacity to inflict pain on the individual, offering as effective an act of political dissent as exists anywhere in contemporary literature.

And in a very nice one-two punch, that was followed by NPR's "Morning Edition" earlier today. It's been a great pleasure to have Mr. Galeano on our list - and it looks like we will be reissuing some of his earlier works in the Spring, which is again a cause for celebration.

"Bottomless horror" sometimes seems the specialty of Nation Books. An odd specialty, it's true, but it does provide wonders: recently among them is Chris Hedges' Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (9781568584379), a true jeremiad against America's retreat from reality, and our diminishing ability to engage in, or even imagine, the serious discussion necessary for a functional democracy. Apparently, Mr. Hedges' revulsion at our national obsessions with fantastic spectacle has struck a chord -- even without major national review attention we've seen it hit the New York Times extended list. That's a credit to your efforts - thanks.

More in that vein - if with a somewhat lighter touch - is landing now, in Max Blumenthal's Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party (9781568583983). Perhaps because there is more genuine fascination and less out and out revulsion in its pages, Mr. Blumenthal's book is already getting the kind of attention we strangely had to wait for for Messrs. Galeano and Hedges: on top of a plethora of on-line activity (Daily Beast, TPM, crooksandliars, etc.), we 've locked up a September 10th appearance on "Fresh Air."

It's hard to imagine us topping that publicity lineup right out of the gate, but we do still have a couple real treasures on the way this fall. In late November, we'll publish a career capping opus from the wily old rabble rouser John Ross: El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City (9781568584249). You're in for a rollicking good time with this one, in the company of Beatniks and drug lords and other assorted reprobates. It's a love song to the city that has arisen at what the Aztecs called "the umbilicus of the universe," touched by sorrow at the loss of its demimonde, and awe at how this intense metopolis continually picks itself up, buries its dead, and forges insolently ahead. In his attention to the people whose stories are nearly always ignored, Mr. Ross is a kind of marvelous and peculiarly American cousin to Mr. Galeano.

And finally, this October, we'll publish what was to me the most surprising and affecting of them all: Wandering Souls: Journeys with the Dead and the Living in Viet Nam (9781568584058), by Wayne Karlin. The odds are good you've heard me sing in praise of this already, so i'll keep this short. This belongs in the company of Tim O'Brien's books, not only because it is a unique, wise, and moving look at the Viet Nam war and its aftermath, but because of the quality of the writing. It takes a kind of magic (the consolation of art?) to bring uplift out of such a grim story, but this manages to do it -- almost literally putting the ghosts to rest. It is simply magnificent, my favorite book of the fall, and absolutely worth reading right now.

Assassination, Inc.

The last couple weeks have started a great pattern for our purposes: shocking revelations about a company that never wants for shocking revelations. Last week, Jeremy Scahill reported that sealed testimony in a civil liability complaint against the-private-security-firm-formerly-known-as-Blackwater USA (now going by the moniker "Xe") accused the company and its owner, Erik Prince, of conspiring to smuggle weapons into Afghanistan and Iraq and to murder whistle blowers. Shocker!

This caused a little bit of a stir...but nothing like this morning's news, as seen in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and theNation.com, that in 2004, the CIA contracted with Blackwater to hunt and kill suspected Al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan, and gave Blackwater operational control of the program. That's right: they outsourced assassination attempts.

This was part of the CIA program recently disclosed - and disbanded - by current CIA Director Leon Panetta; according to today's reports, in fact, it was a key factor in Mr. Panetta's decision to alert Congress. (You might recall that the program was allegedly kept from Congress at the direction of Vice President Cheney. Which might surprise you, considering how communicative Mr. Cheney usually is.)

It's true that in this case the Times and the Post got this into print before our Mr. Scahill, who's usually far ahead of the curve on issues relating to Blackwater. (Remember: Nation Books published his book a full six months before the mainstream media was forced to pay attention to them after their employees murdered 17 Iraqi civilians.) But given how focused Mr. Scahill is on this issue, I'd not be surprised at all if he had more of the story to tell. And we'll have plenty of chances to find out -- as the recognized authority, he's the one the talking heads and blogging heads are turning to: this morning, he was Amy Goodman's guest on "Democracy Now" to discuss the issue. You can see their conversation here.

This evening, he will be Keith Olbermann's guest on "Countdown;" and tomorrow he will be a special in-studio guest of Bill Maher's on "Real Time." (He'll also stick around to join the panel - his co-panelists will include Chuck Todd of NBC News and Jay Leno of NBC entertainment.)

When Mr. Scahill gets his teeth into something, he keeps at it. He told Amy Goodman today that what was reported in the Times and the Post is just a small fraction of the story. I'm very interested to see what more he finds. In the meantime, we've got plenty of stock....

Blackwater: the Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
by Jeremy Scahill
9781568583945
Nation Books
paper, $16.95

Turning the page past Big Tobacco

Apologies that I have not been posting too regularly of late. As it happens, the problem is mostly that there has been too much going on in the news for me to stay on top of pointing out relevant information. I'm going to try to dig myself out, bit by little bit, starting now:

The world is a busy place these days, and so it is perhaps easy to lose sight of how radical a change it is that Congress has passed, and the President signed, a law giving the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products. You may recall that about 10 years ago, Dr. David Kessler (now a bestselling author, but at the time the FDA Commisioner) proposed that the FDA already had the necessary authority to do so -- and his claim was regarded as a profound threat to the tobacco industry. His account of how and why he made the argument is to be found in a backlist item from PublicAffairs, A Question of Intent: A Great American Battle with a Deadly Industry (9781586481216, 2002). The New York Times titled its review "U.S. vs. Joe Camel" (3/25/01), identifying the paramount symbol both of the cigarette industry's marketing practices, and of Dr. Kessler's rather cleverly pitched battle. "Suspecting he would be stymied by higher-ups at the Department of Health and Human Services," David Kusnet wrote in his review, "Kessler established his own channels to the White House, and as Clinton prepared for his 1996 re-election campaign, Kessler shrewdly framed an approach that focused on the companies' efforts to market cigarettes to teenagers. At a news conference with Clinton, Kessler announced new regulations designed to discourage teenage smoking, including bans on the tobacco companies' running advertisements with cartoon figures like Joe Camel, sponsoring sports events like the Nascar races or selling cigarettes in vending machines."

I always thought that some of this strategy was unfair. Leaving aside for the moment (but only for the moment) the question of whether or not tobacco companies purposely manipulated nicotine levels in order to ensure that customers developed addictions, it always seemed to me that in campaigns like those involving the now infamous Joe Camel, the tobacco industry was simply following long established American business practices in trying to develop and maintain new markets. The storm of outrage that eventually developed seemed to me to be making a scapegoat of the tobacco industry for the standard methods of American capitalism. But then, as any reader of Rene Girard will tell you, the scapegoat is a necessary element of any social order.

In any case, Dr. Kessler failed -- ultimately, the Supreme Court decided, in a 5-4 decision, that the FDA did not in fact have the regulatory authority Dr. Kessler had claimed. But Congress and President Obama have given Dr. Kessler the final word, passing legislation only weeks ago that assigns such power to the agency the doctor once headed. So it is worth acknowledging his work, I think -- as that original Times review said:

If anything approaching this proposal ever comes to pass, historians will give a great deal of the credit to the indefatigable David Kessler, who took on an influential but irresponsible industry. One of his offhand observations should be memorized by careerists both inside and outside the Beltway: 'The challenge in Washington, I began to realize, was not getting a job, but figuring out what to do with it.'

Still, though, the best way to appreciate his fight, and our long, twisted, multifaceted relationship with the tobacco industry, is to be found in Allan M. Brandt's Bancroft Prize-winning history, The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America (Basic, 9780465070480). In its pages we return, in detail, to the nicotine question. It is true that the story has progressed since publication in 2007; still, this is the best way to understand how deeply woven tobacco has been in American culture, history, and politics -- and to appreciate how significant a change it is that our government has now claimed strict regulatory power. It's a big book to be sure, but a wise and fantastically written one. It is most definitely worth another look.

Lance Armstrong, defying the odds...again

As the Tour de France returns to the mountains, with Lance Armstrong still well-positioned at third, only 8 seconds behind the leader, John Wilcockson's biography is doing some climbing of its own:

#9 on the MPBA bestseller list

#15 on the SCIBA bestseller list

#35 on the New York Times bestseller list

Keep in mind: Mr. Armstong is returning to racing at the advanced age of 37 years, and after 3 years away from the sport (and from a broken clavicle!). Winning the Tour for seven consecutive years (after recovering from cancer) already qualified him as "the world's greatest champion," but, my oh my, wouldn't a title this year be a phenomenal capstone?

Lance: The Making of the World's Greatest Champion

by John Wilcockson

Da Capo, 9780306815874

cloth, $26.00

I couldn't have said it better myself

It's been a little tougher than I'd hoped getting this book noticed, so I was pleased to see this morning's Shelf Awareness:

Book Review: That Mad Ache

That Mad Ache by Françoise Sagan, translated by Douglas Hofstadter (Basic Books, $14.94 trade paper, 9780465010981/0465010989, May 2009)

Why is that man reading his book upside down?

Because one side of That Mad Ache, the handsome, newly-released paperback original from Basic Books, is a fresh translation of Françoise Sagan's 1965 French novel, La Chamade, but flip the book over and you'll find another book altogether. Upside down on the other side is a brilliantly-written 100-page essay on the art of translation by the translator himself, Douglas Hofstadter, the Pulitzer Prize-winning genius who created Godel, Escher, Bach. Sagan leaped to fame in 1954 at the age of 18 when her novel Bonjour, Tristesse became an international sensation. That Mad Ache, written 11 years later, contains the same witty, ironic dissection of upper-class French lovers and disenfranchised young people, gracefully baring the souls of her characters and watching them misunderstand each other. Lucille is the aimless, 30-year-old lover of Charles, 20 years her senior. She sits next to a gloomy young man she doesn't much like at a high society dinner, someone else's lover, and together the two cause a scandal by a tactless burst of laughter. From there it's a labyrinthine journey into the human heart, as lively and invigorating in Hofstadter's fresh, airy translation as any novel written today.

Hofstadter lays bare the zillion-and-one decisions that confront any translator. He compares his choices with those of the earlier translator, Robert Westhoff, who was Françoise Sagan's husband and the father of her only child. Translation is a subtle, suggestive art, and Hofstadter reveals, among other things, his clever solution to the vous/tu dilemma and when to have English idioms come out of French mouths. His boldest assertion is blatantly favoring the meaning and idea over the literal translation, and he shows you his daring insertions, alterations and omissions to prove it. Hofstadter is a delightfully endearing smartie who adores the text he's translating, knows how to doubt himself and unabashedly admits his pleasures in this frequently laugh-out-loud funny personal essay.

Not only that, but it's a beautifully made book, a physical pleasure in weight and flexibility, super-readable type face, lovely cover--a book-lover's joy to hold and read in which every aspect of publishing (including the contents, both fiction and non-fiction!) are superbly executed for maximum reading enjoyment. Kindle, eat your heart out.--Nick DiMartino

Shelf Talker: A new translation of Françoise Sagan's La Chamade--subtle and daring--combined with an essay on translation by the translator himself, Douglas Hofstadter.

The Hot Seven from Perseus -- new math edition!

In this incarnation there are really only six titles on the “hot” portion – but the first one pleases me so much that I count it twice:

Eduardo Galeano’s Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone (Nation Books, 9781568584232) is getting the attention it deserves, and creating evangelists. For example, Lucia Silva of Portrait of a Bookstore in Studio City pitched it most articulately on NPR’s “Morning Edition” yesterday – you can check out her segment at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105172756. She is one of many who helped Mirrors make the SCIBA bestseller list in its very first week of publication. I’m extremely glad to see, though, that their neighbors to the north have followed: this week it is on both the NCIBA and PNBA bestseller lists as well. Thanks to you all! We’re doing what we can to keep it in people’s minds: Mr. Galeano is touring, and we have reviews and features upcoming in Harper’s, The Nation, Lapham’s Quarterly, The New York Times Book Review, the LA Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Portland Oregonian. This is a real gem, and we feel lucky to have it on our list. We are currently out of stock, however, so please don’t be shy in ordering what you need from wholesalers.

Richard Wrangham’s Catching Fire: How Cooking Made s Human (Basic, 9780465013623) has certainly captured the imagination of radio producers. Having already been featured on 7 public radio programs, including “Weekend All Things Considered,” “Chef’s Table,” and “To the Best of Our Knowledge” (taped, but still to air), Dr. Wrangham has added a high profile eighth: yesterday he taped an interview with PRI’s “The World.” And looking down the summer, we have him confirmed for an appearance on “Talk of the Nation’s Science Friday” on August 28. Famed minimalist Mark Bittman also featured the book in his “Bitten” blog on the New York Times website, and will feature a Q&A with Dr. Wrangham in an upcoming blog post. All of which follows on glowing reviews in the Times (“Catching Fire is a plain-spoken and thoroughly gripping scientific essay that presents nothing less than a new theory of human evolution...one that Darwin (among others) simply missed.”), the San Francisco Chronicle (“Wrangham has a curious mind, in all the best senses…. This is colorful stuff, and Wrangham obviously has an eye on a general readership, but he never talks down, and he's a trustworthy guide through some daunting intellectual terrain.”), and just about everywhere in the science press you could think to look.

Going into last season I thought that Peter Carlson’s K Blows Top: A Cold War Comic Interlude Starring Nikita Khrushchev, America’s Most Unlikely Tourist (PublicAffairs, 9781586484972) had the potential to be a sleeper. Reviews and features are certainly helping – whether you’re a Vanity Fair or Parade person, you’ll have seen it pushed as a great summer read. Earlier this week, the Washington Post had a rave review: “Carlson seems to have sought and discovered every piece of arcana associated with the Soviet leader's American sojourn. A deft and amusing writer, Carlson does a marvelous job of recounting it.” Earlier in the Daily Beast, Christopher Buckley called it “simply hilarious, while being about the guy whose finger was on the nuclear triggers during the hottest time in the Cold War” – and yesterday the Beast elevated it to their “recommends” page. A feature is upcoming in Newsweek, and Mr. Carlson will be on “Weekend Edition Saturday” on June 20, by which time I’m hoping word of mouth will have spread even further.

The Skinny Bitch empire continues to expand, with the recent publication of Skinny Bastard (Running Press, 9780762435401). Authors Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin will have their first major national media interview on the Lifetime Network’s new morning show, “Balancing Act with Dr. David Friedman,” the first week in July (exact air date to come). You’ll know from past experience that this is just the beginning of a prolonged onslaught.

Now that the film Food, Inc. is getting broad release, its advocates – and the contributors to our companion book from PublicAffairs (9781586486945) – are burning up the airwaves. Last week Eric Schlosser was on Colbert, Michael Pollan was on Bill Maher, and director Robert Kenner appeared on PBS’s “Now.” This very morning, Mr. Kenner appeared on “Morning Edition,” and ABC’s “Nightline” will run a segment on the film next Monday. There should be no paucity of attention, and we think it’s a great opportunity for the book. I’d like to remind you, and hope you’ll remind your customers, that the book is much, much more than a simple recap of the documentary – it’s almost entirely original material, and should appeal widely. And it’s a paper original! Magic words these days….

And finally (or almost finally), Sunday’s New York Times Book Review will feature a magnificent review of Geoffrey Wheatcroft’s Enemy at the Gate: Habsburgs, Ottomans, and the Battle for Europe (Basic, 9780465013746). As they remark, this deep history should help nudge us out of this “clash of civilizations” mindset that has so widely taken hold over the past several years: “As Andrew Wheatcroft brilliantly shows in The Enemy at the Gate, the skirmishes and the pitched battles that raged for centuries between Habsburgs and Ottomans, and their numerous vassals on both sides, represented not so much a ‘clash of civilizations’ as a collision of empires…. [H]is narrative is thrilling as well as thoughtful, a rare combination.” (It’s a combination, I can’t help mentioning, that is not without precedent among our publishers: consider Da Capo’s The Great Arab Conquests, PublicAffairs’s Destiny Disrupted, and Basic’s forthcoming The Arabs, all of which are both engaging and enlightening. It’s a real pleasure to present these books.)

I can’t help but mention, too, that Mr. Wheatcroft’s review is but a step in Basic’s continuing string of New York Times Book Review coverage – I’ve attached a lovely little sheet showing the reviews they’d received through April; upcoming issues will review The Secret Lives of Boys and Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love. PublicAffairs is also shoehorning in, with several reviews scheduled in the next couple weeks: World War One, The Sages, and (best title ever) The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday. And while we’re in the Book Review’s pages, I must also mention that the eternal bestseller Skinny Bitch has had recent company on the bestseller lists – Thomas Sowell’s The Housing Boom and Bust (thank you, Mr. Glenn Beck) and Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School, by John Medina. This one is particularly pleasing – a small, indie press (Pear Press, 9780979777745), succeeding largely through the evangelical efforts of booksellers like you. Many thanks from all of us at team Perseus.