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January 13, 2008

Not a One on the Island

Justin Katz

I managed to restrain myself and hold on to a Christmas gift card to Barnes & Noble until Wednesday in order to put it toward the purchase of Jonah Goldberg's new book. (As readers know, I was otherwise occupied on Tuesday evening, which is when the book was officially released.) Liberal Fascism was nowhere to be found in the Middletown store; I even walked around and looked in possible places of giggly liberal concealment — historical fiction, fantasy, comedy. Having no success, I inquired at the customer service desk, and the woman behind the counter informed me that the store had not received a single copy.

Did I order one? Well, no. If I have to do that, why would I care to do so at a corporate storefront rather than choose either a small shop or an online source to which I'd prefer that my money went?

Comments

Oh great. Something new to inflame conservative paranoia and fantasies of victimhood. "[M]odern liberalism’s spooky origins in early 20th-century fascist politics." How funny.

Oh well, I hope you enjoy the book, Justin. And I hope Goldberg enjoys your $27.50. I am sure it's a worthwhile investment for both.

Posted by: chalkdust at January 13, 2008 7:13 PM

Bought the very same book today at the Borders in Mansfield. Last copy (or to further inflame paranoia and 'chalkdust') perhaps the only copy. :)

Posted by: mikeinRI at January 13, 2008 7:45 PM

Try Stop and Shop - next to the Sean Hannity section

Posted by: David at January 13, 2008 8:25 PM

found one at the Borders in Cranston

Posted by: andrew Burton at January 13, 2008 9:27 PM

Oh, those fascistic corporate chain stores!

Posted by: rhody at January 13, 2008 10:46 PM

Keep laughing Rhody. The budget is due out in 72 hours.
You won't be laughing then.
"Progressives, like other vermin, are best controlled by restricting their food supply-money"

Posted by: Mike at January 14, 2008 10:22 AM

Mike, master of the non-sequitur - he'll be here all week, folks.

Posted by: rhody at January 14, 2008 11:56 AM

The publishing industry is pretty much run by big business. First time authors and anything provocative without a "big name" author have an extremely difficult time getting published, and if they manage to jump that hurdle, distribution is scarce, at best. There is a lot of quality work being published, it's just harder to find. The chains, (Borders and Barnes and Nobel) have tremendous power over who becomes and stays sucessful.

Posted by: michael at January 14, 2008 12:56 PM

As does Oprah.

... hey, APB for anyone who knows Oprah. We need to get Michael on her show.

Posted by: Monique at January 14, 2008 10:01 PM