How about that the New York Times says Marx is back in vogue.
Thanks to globalism’s discontents and the financial crisis that has spread across the planet, Karl Marx and his analysis of capitalism’s dark, wormy side are back in vogue. But what of Friedrich Engels, Marx’s best friend and closest ally, the co-author of “The Communist Manifesto” and the man who selflessly supported Marx while he wrote “Das Kapital”?
Oh really? Lets steal some stats from this post taken from Amazon.com. After all I’m a top 1000 reviewer* there so that’s a good reference point:
Lets start with a non conservative book UPDATE: (in fairness Mr. Scarborough would disagree with my characterization so lets call it “conservative lite”) by Joe Scarborough.
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #28,738 in Books
How about Mark Levin’s Liberty and Tyranny?
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31 in Books
That’s after 5 months, how about Dick Morris’ Catastrophe?
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #47 in Books
How about Michelle’s Culture of Corruption?
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14 in Books
Her book is a month old, and finally how about Glenn Beck’ Common Sense?
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9 in Books
Those figures are all from yesterday, so lets see how they compare with Marx and some fellow travelers. Lets start with Das Kapital:
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #301,437 in Books
Well that’s an expensive edition, lets try something else, how about The Communist Manifesto and Other Revolutionary Writings: Marx, Marat, Paine, Mao Tse-Tung, Gandhi and Others (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback) Hey that’s got a bunch of people and it’s in paperback too and a Thrift edition that must be selling right?
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #76,448 in Books
Hey Marxism isn’t just Marx, lets try Essential Works of Lenin: “What Is to Be Done?” and Other Writings (Paperback).
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #180,943 in Books
Well how about Trosky? Let’s try his book Marxism and Terrorism (Paperback)
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #590,286 in Books
Well lets take a look at the actual book the New York Times was talking about; Marx’s General by Tristram Hunt, brand new book , favorablly reviewed by the times and Marxism is hot surely it can compete with all these guys who can’t stand Marx and Marxism? Can’t it?:
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,317 in Books
Guess not.
Hey lets give Marx fans one more shot. How about a classic, like Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United states. After all it’s back to school and a ton of colleges are assigning it as required reading I’m sure it can crack the top 100 or maybe the top 150?
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #171 in Books
Nope.
Michelle Malkin who is #1 on the Times bestseller list again links to human events which says:
Book readers seem to care less and less about what the newspaper thinks of a particular book, he says.
“You can do very well without the imprimatur of the New York Times,” he says. “The dirty little secret is that the Times doesn’t matter anymore, or it matters less and less. Many other outlets beat the Times to the stories and provide much fuller coverage.”
A chapter in Harry Stein’s new book, I Can’t Believe I’m Sitting Next to a Republican, is dedicated to the culture wars flaring within the publishing industry. Republican recalls how mainstream publishing houses turned down future smashes like Bernard Goldberg’s Bias simply because they couldn’t relate to its themes — or preferred not to even try.
I guess NYT must stand for Not (worth) Your Time.
*Ok and I admit it I’m 746 under the old system and only 1010 under the new system but I’m working on it, can I help it if Doctor Who Audios are a niche market?
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