This afternoon, if you see Ben Franklin partying at the Perseus booth (4415), don't be alarmed—you're not dreaming. After all, who better than a founding father to help celebrate the launch of Regnery History, the new Regnery Publishing imprint.
Actually, "Ben" is author Mark Skousen, a direct descendant of Benjamin Franklin, and he compiled and edited the two-volume The Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin, which Regnery published in 2007. At 3 p.m. today at the Uptown Insight Author Stage, Skousen—in the persona and costume of Ben Franklin—will interview Chris De Rose, author of Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe and the Election That Created the Bill of Rights and Changed a Nation, one of the forthcoming Regnery History titles.
Regnery History plans to publish new history, biography, and military history titles, mostly as hardcovers and e-books. As Alex Novak, the imprint's newly named associate publisher, points out, "Our readers overlap with Regnery's readers of nonfiction current events. We did the current events titles on a rush schedule, typical of our nonfiction list. But we decided that in order to get the right sell-in and the right publicity, we should take more time because history titles are less current-events driven."
Novak described some of the imprint's other fall titles: "Omar Bradley: General at War by Jim DeFelice—it's the first objective full-length biography. Bully! The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt by Rick Marschall includes over 200 vintage political cartoons, since the author is a collector; they're in full color, and many are reproduced for the first time."
Another fall title is the paperback edition of Warren Kozak's LeMay: The Life and Wars of General Curtis LeMay, originally published by Regnery. "Books like those," Novak explains, "fit into the mold of the controversial. We are looking for misunderstood historical figures, mysteries, and controversies. People come to us with less-than-conventional history topics, and we say there's a market for it." Novak didn't travel far to get his current job; for 10 years, he was marketing director at Regnery. "So I'll still wear some of my old hats," he says.
Regnery History, Novak notes, "will not be historical books for conservatives; it's more for nonpartisan readers, whoever loves history, and loves a good story."
