In Honor of Election Day 2010

On this midterm election day, 2010, my thoughts are difficult to focus. I've done my civic duty and voted, even though I am sceptical concerning the value of any one individual vote and the rationality of actually bothering to spend time educating myself and going to vote,  the free rider problem and  collective action being what they are.  I voted and now I await the close of the polls, the results, the spin and some fine Chivas Regal.  An election day tradition. 

Problem is that I can't really accomplish much until the polls close.  What better way to retain some level of productivity then to write about two authors who contributed histories of elections past that I believe belong in any private library with a political interest, Theodore H. White and Hunter S. Thompson.  I admit to not owning even reading copies today because the books that follow are perpetually on my want list and I just want, the first edition first printing.  The ideas and the experience of reading White and Thompson are now part of my soul, the objects will someday be part of my collection.

Theodore H. White (1915-1986) born in Boston, graduated from Harvard in 1938 and was hired to be an East Asia correspondent for Time magazine based in China.  He quit that posting after an argument with Henry Luce in 1945 but published a controversial and insightful history of China during World War II era and the associated American China Policy of that period, Thunder Out Of China.

This first book led to a distinguished career and a Pulitzer Prize in 1962 for his landmark, The Making of the President 1960, the first in a series including, The Making of the President, 1964, The Making of the President 1968, and the Making of the President 1972.  These are without a doubt, the books that early in my education, impacted my study of the American electoral "great game."  White's combination of journalistic reporting of events as they happen, along with a keen eye for the history being made with those events, results in a combination of political reporting and historical insight unmatched since.  Each book in the Making of the Presidents series is valuable to read for anyone seriously interested in the American practice of politics, especially Presidential politics.  All title in this series were originally published by Atheneum, New York and are more difficult to find than expected! As I started to think about White and The Making of the President I noticed that Harper Perennial has just completed a re-release of all four titles in paperback.  If you haven't read these get them now and start!

The Making of the President 1960 (Harper Perennial Political Classics)

The Making of the President 1964

The Making of the President 1968

The Making of the President 1972


While I consider White's, The Making of the President, the gold standard for contemporary reporting on Presidential elections, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 72 (Straight Arrow Books, San Francisco, 1973) reminds us that politics, as practiced in the good old USA is most often a pure and simple comedy.  Coverage of the 2010 Midterm elections has provided much entertainment and associated madness and reinforces my sadness that no one has taken the banner from Hunter S. Thompson to further the gonzo journalism he pioneered.  In the age of Twitter and Facebook I simply long for the courage and insanity that Hunter S. brought to American political reporting.  Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, 1972, along with Thompson's other classics, (Hell's Angels, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas......) provide a counterweight to the self-importance of our political class.  Unlike, White's, The Making of the President, acquiring a first edition of Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 72, is a much more serious investment.  Luckily many reasonably priced paperbacks are still in print.

450 Piece Illuminated Manuscript Page Puzzle

While the printed book seems to always be in peril in today's digital world, the printed Holiday Sales Catalog, if judged by the daily mail delivery seems to be expanding exponentially.  While the world is certainly at your fingertips via the Internet, I still secretly enjoy browsing my favorite catalogs as they arrive.  Mostly I enjoy the book and reading related catalogs (and King's Ranch, Gorsuch, Orvis, Woolrich, Cabelas),  I always quickly flip through Levengers Tools for Serious Readers. Today the Levenger's Holiday Sale Catalog arrived and after a 30 second browse, I found a new product that will be on my mind.  A holiday gift for a niece or nephew, a friend, myself, our house? 

Who wouldn't enjoy a 450 piece jig saw puzzle based on a Medieval Illuminated Manuscript in the collection of the Bodleian Library, depicting the life of Alexander the Great, ages 8 and up.  The age restriction seems to tip the balance in my favor as the niece and nephews are all under 5 at this point.  I need to think this through.  Maybe, just like hundreds of books, it will simply be filed in the "want list" in my mind for future reference, a spare $149, or a great sale!

Sartre's Roads to Freedom Trilogy (now a quartet)

I collect a range of books concerning existentialism broadly defined, from Kierkegaard, the "father of existentialism," to Sartre and in between and beyond.  As a cultural phenomenon, existentialism feeds my natural dislike for dogmatism in any guise and my natural inclination to be a contrarian.  One of my favorite examples of the existential genre, in fiction,  is the Roads to Freedom trilogy (now a quartet) by Jean-Paul Sartre. 

I first read the Roads to Freedom sometime around 1983.  The novels, an extended investigation of the lives of an existential cadre of coming of age intellectuals, living in Paris during World War II, spoke to me on many levels.  Freedom is essential to a live life well-lived, life is messy, life doesn't come with an owner's manual or a warranty, life is an adventure, all seem to be what drew me to these novels.  I wasn't first introduced to existentialism via this series but after reading them I knew that they would someday be a foundation for my private library of great existentialist writings.  Since then, acquiring the first edition first printings of the Road to Freedom series was always on my general want list.  Today, while I own many classic books of existentialism and still many more page worn paperback editions, acquired during my college days,  I have accumulated a number of collectible firsts by Sartre (and Camus and others).

Sometime in 2009, I came upon an announcement for a new book, the previously unpublished fourth and final book in the Road to Freedom series.  I have the first three titles in the series and while I needed to learn more about this new title, I was certain I would like a first printing to add to my Sartre section.  From the product description I learned that this was an unfinished manuscript with two chapters published after Sartre's death by Gallimard in French along with an interview with Sartre and an essay by Simone de Beauvoir offering her recollections of Sartre's plan for this final book in the Roads to Freedom quartet.  I placed an order for the soon to be released Hardcover and Paperback edition, published by Continuum in late 2009. 

Immediately, I knew I would be annoyed by the publication plan based on the price of the hardcover but I placed the orders and awaited publication.  As I imagined, the publication of this fourth installment was a world class disappointment, a publication disappointment, not a content disappointment.

There are many reasons I acquire books but one reason is that I love to have the original book object to contemplate.  I waited around 20 years to pull the trigger and buy the First American Edition of the original trilogy, The Age of Reason, The Reprieve, and The Troubled Sleep, published by Alfred Knopf, Borzoi Books, 1947, 1947, 1951, translated by Eric Sutton (1st two) and Gerard Hopkins.  My editions are in Fine Condition with naturally yellowing pages and clean dust jackets with an illustration by Warren Chappelle.  The Knopf edition is a classic example of publishing aesthetics in the late 1940's and early 1950's.  The edition has a classic look and feel and whether shelved face out or spine out, the three books together are a proper trilogy and have an almost magnetic drawing power.  If you visit my library and see them, you just want to pick them up.  A fine set of books honoring one of my favorite authors.

After a few months wait, the new edition to Roads of Freedom arrived and my fears were realized.  Continuum, an independent contemporary academic publisher, released Last Chance: Roads of Freedom IV  simultaneously in hardcover and paperback edition.  I had hoped that the hardcover release would be a throwback to the look and feel of the Knopf edition (or at least the Hamish First British Edition) but what arrived was, to my horror, a simple "library bound" hardcover edition in a larger trim size and a paperback with expected illustrated cover.  I am outraged.  I understand the economics of current scholarly and academic publishing and I too, published many books in simultaneous release with the economic expectation that the remaining 200 libraries around the world that still acquire new books would understand that the $95 price for the hardcover simply covered the expense to them if they acquired a paperback and had it rebound for library use.  A simple and seemingly minor service to the ever shrinking library marketplace and a real financial support to a book that may be projected to sell 5000 copies over the first three years of publication.   This is a standard approach to publishing for the scholarly and academic markets.

What it said to me was much more and while I was happy to be able to read more, new to me, Sartre, I was depressed about the condition of the book in contemporary society.  Continuum confirmed, with their approach to this title, that they were worried there was a very small market for new Sartre in English, that the market would be scholarly, and that the market did not care about the aesthetic of this in relation to the original English language publications.  I wonder how hard it would have been to at least, if nothing else, match the trim size of the new work with the original Knopf or Hamish editions?  I wonder why they didn't try to match the look and feel with a similar cover design and illustration that would hearken back to the era when the manuscript was written and the first three books were published?  I wonder why a growing publishing house didn't try harder.  Now, I have my beloved Knopf Edition of three, plus one, stamped hardcover and one illustrated paperback in larger format hidden from view.  For now, Sartre's Roads to Freedom remains face out on my shelves as a trilogy, with the fourth book spine out, in the back!