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The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan (Penguin Press, September 17)
BETWEEN THE COVERS: Former Fed chairman’s memoir (much of which was written in the tub). Aptly, the last chapter will be called “The Delphic Future.”
PRE-PUB SCUTTLEBUTT: The great and cryptic god of capitalists famously got a Hillary-trumping $8.5 million for presumably telling all at long last.
ENEMIES LIST: Nosy congressmen; lefty European leaders; Nixon and his “split personality.”
LIKELY MEDIA PENETRATION: Topic number one on financial channels and some political ones, too—depending on how much he really tells.
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The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt (FSG, September 4)
BETWEEN THE COVERS: Two academics argue that advocates of Israel have too strong an influence on our foreign policy, to the detriment of the U.S. and the Middle East.
PRE-PUB SCUTTLEBUTT: Their essay in the London Review of Books led to accusations ranging from anti-Semitism to bad writing. Speaking dates have been canceled.
ENEMIES LIST: The Anti-Defamation League; pro-Israel lobbyists and the Evangelical Christians who love them.
LIKELY MEDIA PENETRATION: If all press is good press, they’re halfway there. If good press is convincing your detractors, not so good.
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Fair Game by Valerie Plame Wilson (Simon & Schuster, October 22)
BETWEEN THE COVERS: The story (or the part of it the CIA will let you see) of how the former secret agent was outed by the Bush administration.
PRE-PUB SCUTTLEBUTT: Plame Wilson recently lost a suit over the CIA’s demand that she redact the dates she worked for them, despite the fact it’s on Wikipedia.
ENEMIES LIST: People she’s sued: Karl Rove; Scooter Libby; Dick Cheney; Michael Hayden; intelligence director J. Michael McConnell.
LIKELY MEDIA PENETRATION: Oldish news, but a story the media won’t mind rehashing—especially as she will likely blame the government, not the press.
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Independents Day: Awakening the American Spirit by Lou Dobbs (Viking, November 6)
BETWEEN THE COVERS: A populist manifesto for isolationist protectionists, expanding on his nightly CNN rabble-rousing.
PRE-PUB SCUTTLEBUTT: Dobbs’s rants have marked CNN’s increasing reliance on opinion to compete with O’Reilly, et al. Anti-immigration rancor has raised his profile.
ENEMIES LIST: George W. Bush; Republicans; Democrats; the U.N.; the W.T.O.; multinationals; “other nations.”
LIKELY MEDIA PENETRATION: He’s already got a media platform, where the shilling is easy. But rival programs are less likely to give him yet more airtime.
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The End of America by Naomi Wolf (Chelsea Green, September 5)
BETWEEN THE COVERS: A polemic detailing the “ten steps” by which America is becoming a Fascist state. Incendiary? Sure, but hardly off the beaten liberal path.
PRE-PUB SCUTTLEBUTT: Wolf’s first book since her revelations (in this magazine) of kinda being sexually harassed by Harold Bloom.
ENEMIES LIST: George W. Bush; the administration of George W. Bush; Adolf Hitler; Benito Mussolini.
LIKELY MEDIA PENETRATION: The Bush-Fascist parallel might get her on Ann Coulter’s radar, but will scare away others.
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Surrender Is Not an Option by John R. Bolton (Threshold Editions, November 6)
BETWEEN THE COVERS: Bush’s pugnacious, ousted U.N. ambassador tells of trying to turn the world body on to his ideas about negotiating less and bombing more.
PRE-PUB SCUTTLEBUTT: Bolton’s been beating the drum for bombing Iran, condemning agreements with North Korea, and plugging his book in every speech and op-ed.
ENEMIES LIST: The Axis of Evil; Congress; the U.N.
LIKELY MEDIA PENETRATION: Bolton will get some Iran-related coverage, but the buzz on this book will likely come and go in a news cycle.
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The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman (WW Norton, October 1)
BETWEEN THE COVERS: The Times’ lefty economics columnist proposes a new New Deal, an antidote to our new Gilded Age.
PRE-PUB SCUTTLEBUTT: Krugman’s developed a loyal civilian fan base while co-writing lucrative econ textbooks, cashing in on both trade and academic markets.
ENEMIES LIST: George W. Bush; Herbert Hoover; Ronald Reagan; Richard Mellon Scaife and his anti-tax cronies.
LIKELY MEDIA PENETRATION: A lock for Charlie Rose and C-span, and his liberal popularity will make it a best-seller. But he’s no Michael Moore.
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Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World by Bill Clinton (Knopf, September 4)
BETWEEN THE COVERS: Bill’s much shorter follow-up to My Life—inspiring stories about activists, drawing on his work in Africa. Profiles in Courage it ain’t.
PRE-PUB SCUTTLEBUTT: He reportedly got $5 million for it. Being rushed to press, perhaps so as not to overshadow Hillary later on.
ENEMIES LIST: The Janjaweed; poverty; global warming; AIDS; Hurricane Katrina.
LIKELY MEDIA PENETRATION: It’s Bill Clinton! He’s planning a media blitz (sorry, “book tour”).
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Heroic Conservatism by Michael J. Gerson (HarperOne, November 1)
BETWEEN THE COVERS: Former Bush speechwriter takes credit for, calls for revival of “compassionate conservatism.”
PRE-PUB SCUTTLEBUTT: Former writing partner Matthew Scully wrote a damning rebuttal in The Atlantic, saying Gerson was hogging credit.
ENEMIES LIST: Democrats; Brent Scowcroft; Henry Kissinger; philosopher Richard Rorty; atheists.
LIKELY MEDIA PENETRATION: Lots of advance publicity, and Fox News, of course. But “compassionate conservatism” is so 2000.
