As the millennium draws to a close (only 382 shopping days left), two books about this century are making their mark on bestseller lists. In a collaborative venture with ABC News, Doubleday published The Century, by noted newsman Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster, on November 12 with a 225,000-copy first printing. The hefty tome (more than 613 pages and almost as many photos), which claims the top spot on our nonfiction list in its third appearance, has been back to press three times, for a total of 375,000.

Hovering just below our top 15 is The American Century, which Knopf published on October 8. Author Harold Evans has been tireless in his promotional efforts and his blitz is paying off. Following a 55,000-copy first printing, Knopf just went back for a sixth time, bringing the total to 120,000. Evans's tour has included appearances on Dateline NBC, Today, NBC Nightly News, Fox News, Charlie Rose, Politically Incorrect and NPR. American Heritage ran a cover story, U.S. News &World Report ran a multipart serial and Newsweek reviewed the book on a two-page spread. Though some authors might find such a rigorous schedule daunting, Evans, according to Knopf publicity director Nicholas Latimer, seems to thrive on it: "He woke up at 5:30 every morning for more than 10 years to work on this project." With appearances scheduled well into the new year, it looks as though he can't retire his alarm clock quite yet.

BROKAW'S GENERATIONAL KUDOS HIT THE MARK
It looks like one of the big gift items for this Christmas will be Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation, published December 7 by Random House. The popular broadcast journalist lauds the generation that came of age during the Great Depression and WWII and went on to build modern America. First printing was 200,000 copies, which were fully distributed by December 4. By publication date, RH had gone back to press six times for a total of 480,000 additional copies, bringing the total in-print figure to 680,000. There is also an NBC documentary scheduled to air Friday, January 15, and NBC is planning a blitz campaign. Brokaw has done lots of national TV, radio and print; still to come are appearances on Larry King Live (Dec. 17), Late Show with Conan O'Brien (Dec. 22) and Late Late Show with Tom Snyder (Jan. 7), plus features in USA Weekend, the New York Times Magazine and People in early January.

MAKING HAY AT THE INDEPENDENTS
Two books doing very well at independent bookstores across the country are Ian McEwan's Amsterdam, from Doubleday/Talese and Alice Munro's The Love of a Good Woman, from Knopf. McEwan's book originally was scheduled for February (his 10-city tour runs January 25 to February 6), but when he won England's prestigious Booker Prize the house went into high gear and published the book December 1. Doubleday bombarded the media and was able to get early reviews for the book (all first-rate). Copies in print after two trips to press total 60,000; Anchor will publish newly packaged editions of McEwan's Black Dogs and The Innocent in late December, along with the first trade-paper edition of his Enduring Love. Front page and features reviews for Munro's latest book, a new collection of stories, helped get the book off to a strong start (PW gave it a star). To date, Knopf has 39,000 copies in print.

MORE ON CHARMING BILLY
Last week's item on Alice McDermott's sales of Charming Billy post- National Book Award needs a bit of tweaking. The paperback edition to be released January 12 will be a Delta trade paperback (not a Dell mass market) and the author will embark on a six-city tour: Washington D.C./Baltimore, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis and St. Louis. The tour begins the week of January 19 and the author will also do national and local print, radio and TV interviews. Also, Delta will publish, for the first time, McDermott's complete backlist -- At Weddings and Wakes, A Bigamist's Daughter and That Night.

With reporting by Dick Donahue