It took the commander-in-chief of the United States Central Command, Tommy Franks, to unseat former commander-in-chief of the United States Armd Forces Bill Clinton from the top position on PW's nonfiction list this week.
American Soldier takes the lead after just a week in the stores. Regan Books launched the missile (oops, missive) with a first printing of 750,000 copies and had to go back for replenishment four times, bringing the total to 835,000. Franks is on tour the entire month of August, doing 25 events in 21 cities. Attendance so far at the events has been excellent—more than 1,000 books were sold at Book Revue in Huntington, Long Island, and 1,500 on August 11 at the Wal-Mart in Raleigh, N.C. Requests for the general continue, and the publisher is adding two more weeks of appearances in September. National media has also been extensive—Franks has appeared on many national shows, including Nightline, GMA, TheView and Letterman.
