The political right is the butt of two new bestsellers this week, both branding right-wing politics and politicians as lies and liars.
The first, LIES and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them... A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken, enjoyed controversy caused by a suit Fox News brought against the title of the book (see News, p. 12). All the hullabaloo didn't hurt sales: after five printings, the book's 270,000 first-print figure is up to 600,000. Dutton is anticipating huge turnouts for Franken on his forthcoming 15-city tour; his jam-packed media calendar includes appearances on Charlie Rose and News Hour with Jim Lehrer. Back in 1996 Franken's Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot was on PW's hardcover charts for 24 weeks.
St. Martin's/Thomas Dunne Books also has a new bestseller on the topic—Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth by Joe Conason (a columnist for the New York Observer and author of The Clinton Scandals). Big Lies finishes off the top-15 hardcover list with 100,000 copies in print after five printings. Conason's media tour includes radio in some 30 cities and bookstore appearances in six cities.
With reporting by Dick Donahue
