In which we consider some nonfiction book trends for the coming year, and how they all make me want to stop reading, and then poke my eyes out for good measure.*
In addition to political books, it seems like there are a ton of History and Historical Biography titles coming out. (And a lot of Historical Biographies are related to politics; consider titles like John F. Kennedy, by Alan Brinkley; Two Americans: Truman, Eisenhower, and a Dangerous World, by William Lee Miller; Eisenhower in War and Peace, by Jean Edward Smith; Reagan and Thatcher, by Richard Aldous, etc.) And not only are there a lot of History books, there are a lot of History books on subjects and with angles that leave me cold (for various reasons):
Ike's Spies, by Stephen Ambrose (Ambrose is a big fat plagiarizer)
Freedom's Forge: How American Business Built the Arsenal of Democracy that Won World War II, by Arthur Herman (see? America was great once! All we need is another "great" war for which we can manufacture a ton of weapons--that will keep people employed and make America great again!)
Enterprise: America's Fightingest Ship and the Men Who Helped Win World War II, by Barrett Tilman (WWII! WWII! Keep writing about WWII and Americans will never notice anything is wrong currently!)
Now, this is unfair of me. There are actually a lot of forthcoming History books that have nothing to do with World War II and look decent. But I can't say that any of the titles in the spreadsheet or on this list light me on fire. What do you think?
*Sorry to be such a melodramatic grouch about it. But really. All of these new nonfiction titles bore me to death, and that's just the titles! Imagine getting stuck reading these entire books. Ugh.
Not only is Stephen Ambrose a big fat plagiarizer but he's been dead for almost 10 years. Is that a reprint or his PhD thesis or something? Sheesh ...
Posted by: Nan | 13 February 2012 at 04:15 PM
Nan!
I had no idea Ambrose was dead! Thanks for cluing me in to that.
Turns out the "Ike's Spies" is a reprint of a book first published in 1999 (that record turns up with a co-author, Robert Baloh, but this reprint is showing up with only Ambrose's name).
Weirder and weirder. They couldn't find any new history titles for the fall? Do Ambrose's kids need money or something?
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 13 February 2012 at 08:46 PM
Yeah, some of those titles look downright deadly. But there's some decent stuff in there -- for me, anything presidential will do. Plus there's a biography of Juliette Gordon Low! (Girl Scout flashback: She went deaf when rice thrown at her wedding got lodged in her ear! At least that's the lore they were feeding us back then...) Might have to check that out just to see if she had any scandalous secrets.
Posted by: Unruly Reader | 26 February 2012 at 06:14 PM