I went into my local bookstore, the only real one left in Harvard Square
and aptly called the Harvard Book Store, drawn by a sign in one of its
windows announcing that Jimmy Carter's book, Palestine: Peace Not
Apartheid was on sale. Well, yes, there it was amidst dozens of other
titles by mostly unknown authors. A heaping pile on top, and more
underneath. List price for PPNA was $27.00. It's now selling
at this book shop for $8.50.
There's only a certain number of literate people who would spend almost
thirty bucks for Jimmy's simplistic morality play. In any case, I
suspect that most of his initial round buyers for nervous Jews and
gentile friends of Israel wanting to assure themselves that what was in
the book was not out of this world. Alas, they were
disappointed.
PS: I did buy one book on my visit. It is Young Stalin, by Simon Sebag Montefiore, who has written a book about the mature Stalin. The present one apparently has much evidence that contradicts the old and hoary tale that Stalin was stupid and unsophisticated. The other tale -- that he was brutal and demonic -- is true. I'll tell you more about this book as I get into it. Stalin would have made mincemeat out of Carter. But, of course, so did George Bush the first.