Bias in book reviews
David Harsanyi, author of the new book Nanny State, compares and contrasts Publisher’s Weekly book reviews of conservative/libertarian vs. liberal books.
Surprise, surprise: “The one-sidedness of the PW reviews was inescapable.”
If anyone can find a right-leaning book that has gotten as positive a review as Franken’s Olbermann’s, or Huffington’s, let us know.
Meantime, you can help balance the bias in the publishing world by purchasing a conservative author’s book.
I’m buying Harsanyi’s book this weekend.
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On the topic of books, a friend of mine whose mother was good friends with George and Barbara Bush stated with certainty that there were no books at all in the Bush household. Go figure.
Heck, I’d like to find one in my PUBLIC LIBRARY.
The troll is now full. Full of _____.
You CAN’T be serious. You believe that? Or you’re just just railroading MM posts as silly shenanigans?
I LOVE that, “a friend of my mother”…”stated with certainty”…
Oh, that’s rich.
Yes, Schweggie, my friend’s mother was a close friend of Babs all through their youth and lived next door to the Bushes in DC when George was a member of the House. Giving the intellectuality of GWB are you surprised by that revelation?
Yes, MikeB, give us your frined’s mothers take on Bush’s education. Seems the President graduated from an Ivey league college. What is her take? Oh, and now you have to attack Barbara Bush? What gives with you anyhow?
Namedropper.
I know Jessie Helms. YES, I am proud to admit it MIKEB.
Congrats Gayle, sorry, I have to go chase an ambulance.
Except for coloring books, right MikeB? And big round crayons (8 colors is less confusing for GWB!)
Are you trying to look stupid or is this inadvertent?
And how about bias in movie reviews. Here Schlussel takes on the effete media and recommends are darn good flick.
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/002707print.html
Soap, the fact that George’s grandfather and father also graduated from Yale had nothing to do with him getting into an Ivey [sic] league school, huh?
Funny. I thought Laura Bush was a librarian and a compulsive reader. Maybe those are lies repeated over and over again for the last 16 years.
So where did you attend law school, MICHAEL??????????
Berlin?
So you believe there was nary a book in the elder Bush household. Ok, that’s cool. One of the reasons I love listening to Dennis Prager, he always demands clarity in a discussion or debate. Once an impasse is reached, as here, the two parties shake and agree to disagree. There’s no point in going any further.
No, Gayle, right here in the Big Apple. Ok Schweg, let’s agree to disagree. And, puhiawa, I do believe Laura Bush does love books, it’s her in-laws I was discussing.
I see. I suppose he lied his way through too.
Of course this thread is about PW’s bias and as usual, you cannot debate the facts.
This would be an opportune time to plug the Claremont Review of Books, which is a sort of a smart conservative answer to the NY Review of Books. Good essays too.
You can subscribe through the Claremont Institute at claremont.org.
Okay, on that topic. I will have to read the article to discuss whether there is a bias at PW. But, I will say this normally books by Pundits be they on the left or right are usually boring, unoriginal, uninspired, etc. When my book comes out, you all will know–Dec 31 is my deadline.
Spot on.
On July 27th, 2007 at 2:40 pm, see-dubya said:
That has all the makings of a “hate site”.
/sarc off
Great plug!
Oh ok, so you’ll get back with us on this one. I’m not holding my breath.
He will come back and complain that the is not enough BDS in the book (that he will not read).
That is if he manages to stay on topic. I would guess he will come back, guns smarmily blazing about global warming or something or other.
People, please!
It only took me a few posts on one thread to realize that MikeB isn’t just your typical troll, he’s the worst kind. My guess is that he’s about 13 years old and is growing up in a house with parents who look like rejects from Woodstock. His posts follow a distinct pattern – confront and annoy with typical dim/lib talking points, work everybody into a tizzy, and when he realizes that he’s about to go too far he posts a few comments where he backs off what he’s been saying and starts to agree with the posters who have been pointing out what a juvenile idiot he’s being. Then he quits that thread and moves on to the next one.
Like some others posting here, I’m wondering just how long Michelle will take to ban MikeB.
Until then: Please don’t feed the troll!
BUSH LIED, PEOPLE DIED!
Sorry, just thought I’d throw that in there since this thread is all shot to heck anyways. You’re right drone. We bit. Was pretty funny though. ‘Bias in book reviews’ meets with, “my mother’s friends cousin’s brother, stated with certainty that there were no books in the Bush household! C’mon, that’s funny.
“No matter who you are, that’s funny right there!”
Nice one Schweggie.
At first I thought MikeB was a great example of BDS. However, the longer he’s around, I’m not so sure that maybe it’s just plain old DS.
Wonder what it’s like to live in your own little world like that?
Big Apple Huh? LOL
Worm ?
The liberal propaganda machine at its finest.
MikeB is Alan Colmes.
LOL. While we’re all changing subjects around here, anyone gonna see Rescue Dawn tonight? Can hardly wait myself. Looks great.
Nah. Can’t be. At least Colmes has a lucid thought every once in awhile.
Not too often, but he does manage one about once a pay period.
MikeB on the other hand . . .
Unlike MikeB, I read Mr. Harsanyi’s post and color me not suprised. I’m wondering which books sold better? Yeah, thought so.
Oh and I have a friend whos Mom was friends with someone who read that G.W. Bush had better grades at some Ivey league school than that guy who lost the 04 election. Go figure.
My apologies to our hostess. It wasn’t my intention to assist in hijacking this thread, so here’s my contribution to getting it back on topic:
Yes, I have noticed that like all other things in the media, even book reviews seem to be biased. This bias continues on into bookstores where you sometimes have to ask the clerk where a book by a conservative author is, only to be greeted by a look that says “hmm, I didn’t notice there was gum on my shoe.”
I think it’s just a continuation of what Bernie Goldberg has pointed out so well in his books. It’s an institutional thing. These people only hang around in places and with people who share their viewpoint, so to them they are “middle of the road” and they don’t see themselves as biased.
We’ve made some inroads into that institutional bias over the last few years, but don’t kid yourselves. We’ve got a long way to go. We can’t give up the fight now.
I went to Borders to preview the book Infidel and had to chuckle when I found it and other Conservative books stuffed into nooks and crannies. No shortage of Lib books on proud display with multiple copies. I notice the same cold shoulder treatment when I ask for help finding Conservative books.
This is why I buy books online. Cheaper, too.
Ok, I read the article–how many here can say that. It is very incomplete. The writer takes a negative sentence fragment from a review of a conservative book and a positive sentence from a liberal book. Of the books I read quoted I thought Franken and MM’s books both were terrible, as in shallow, pointless, and not well written. There you have it.
And Schweggie, Bush did lie (greeted as liberators, WMD in Iraq, Rumsfeld wouldn’t be fired)and 100 Americans a month are dying. Is there something funny about that?
I hear circus music whenever MikeB is around.
I don’t like clowns.
I know someone who knows Peter Pan, he told me that Captain Hook doesn’t have a hook for a hand.
Not to be sarcastic, but does this bias really surprise anybody?
No, not surprising. I’ve grown up dealing with the bias and it certainly isn’t anything new or appalling.
Ann Coulter wrote about this phenomenon in her book “Slander”. Conservatives may get lousy reviews in the liberal-dominated publishing world, but sales revenue and weeks on the best seller list do not lie.
Note to the editors at Publisher’s Weekely: No one cares what your reviewers think.
Well, right out of the gate I know he lied to you. He only ‘told ‘ you. Now if this person ‘stated with certainty‘ that Captain Hook doesn’t have a hook for a hand, then that’s something altogether different, isn’t it?
Point of information: (1) There’s more evidence to support young W not having reading material than there is for creationism.
Circus music!
Don’t bite people. The troll is desparate for attention and is showing it.
Nothing to see here.
Adults, please continue the on-topic discussion.
Um, once again, Edwards said Bush did not lie. Read this:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3131295/
Now that we know that you can read, tell us about the Matthews (who hates Bush more than you do) could not prompt Edwards to say Bush lied.
As for creationism, go study DNA and the mathematical impossibility of DNA alone being formed at random.
Clue: The number of seconds in 4 billion years is 10 to the 23rd power. There are 10 to the 83rd power possible combinations two strands of the DNA double helix can be linked. Unless DNA strands were linked the first time in every second, you would still run out of time to form even a small strand let alone a single cell which is so complex, chance of one being formed by chance is way beyond computation. Keep in mind, mathematical impossibility is around 10 to the 23rd power (I think that is correct – it has been a while). Also, DNA cannot exist without proteins and proteins cannot exist without DNA (chicken/egg deal).
And, for goodness sake, stay on topic.
I can’t wait to NOT buy your book in Dec.
Oh yes, MikeB, I can see Harvard, one of the most liberal schools in the U.S., admitting George W. Bush just because of his father….who was head of the Republican National Committee during the Nixon years.
Uh, I don’t think so.
Besides, why didn’t they admit John Kerry just because of HIS father?? Oh yeah, they actually checked his grade point average…but not Bush’s?? Could it be that GWB had better grades than Kerry??? Not in your world, I suppose.
An MBA from Harvard is one of the hardest degrees to obtain. And yet GWB obtained one…..admit it, that fact alone p*sses you off!
MikeB….i am re-christening you now as MikeCB for Mike “Carney Boy”.
Ya know MikeCB, there is plenty evidence around the entire *world* to support the FACT that “creation stories” are part of indigenous cultures. Creation stories help people make sense of what continue to be great mysteries to people who have the humility to admit they don’t know everything and possibily cannot know everything.
That some myopic Christian denominations want to impose a hegemonic version of a time-honored instrument of culture is no basis for you to poke fun at something you don’t understand.
It makes you look fear-filled, MCB.
Image: Bear tossing a handful of sage onto the fire to make it go poof! sending Carney Boy back in time to an episode of COMBAT w/Vic Morrow.
LOL!
Now we know! MikeB is “Tommy” Reids cousin. Makin up imaginary friends…..lmao
The bias against conservative authors and topics is no longer a “secret” but is in full bloom. Thanks for the information.
Artb:
Um..Bush got his degree from Yale – sorry.
MikeB, liar and troll wrote: “Bush did lie (greeted as liberators…..”
Where was this lying fool on April 9, 2003, when Saddam’s statue was pulled down?
How does MikeB, liar, explain New York Times reporter John Burn’s comments to Tim (the Dhimi tool) Russert?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10ysMsrCV2Q Burns was there!
And there are these videos showing the Iraqi people greating us a liberators.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgCbemd6AS0&mode=related&search=
The photo of the Iraqi man kissing the hand of the American tanker says it all.
So, who ya gonna believe, Mikey? Your lying, leftwing, moveon.org, trash-talking, traitor talking points, or your own lying eyes?
And to reinforce it (and because I like viewing it):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZqyAaiidT8&mode=related&search=
“You can tell a lot about a person by who his enemies are.”
Mike B..
you have a book coming out soon?
you’ll have to let us all know when it’s due..
even a title or publisher..
What do you think the chances are of a book review when the cover depicts the impostion of a Mexican flag on top of an Al Queada flag?
Think a liberal paper would look at it with an open mind? Not so far.
Yes, and in this one he even manages to stay inside the lines.
Mike B= Bush stoled the election.Bush lied people died.What else do you want to say.
There is another bias in the NYT book reviews. They slant about 90+% to women, unless the man writes like a woman. This is brought out extensively in several books, one being The Anti-Chomsky Reader and Arrogance by Horowitz and Goldman respectively.
While in Balad AFB, Iraq, I looked in the library there and noticed about 95% of the books were written by women; same situation at Mosul AB, Iraq. I finally found one paperback written by a man and enjoyed reading it during my few off hours.
MikeB:
Then I guess it’s a “certainty” that there were no books in the Kerry household, either, because evidence has shown that GWB earned grades better than or equal to John Kerry’s.
So if Bush is an idiot, Kerry must be one too (and worse, if Bush outdid him).
Bush: Undergrad degree from Yale (’68) one “D” no “A”s. Master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard (’75).
Kerry: Undergrad degree from Yale (’66) five “D”s no “A”s. Law Degree from Boston College (’76).
Chief RZ #59 – Somewhat OT, do you know if any of the books in the libraries in Iraq were sent as used books by any organization? I have tons of books, read 1 time, backs are never broken and for all intent, new. I seldom buy a book by a woman author so they might be of interest. I’ve tried contacting the VA hospitals with little interest or response. Thank you for your service sir.
24Klady, thanks, no problem. “Better later than never”.
Most of the books were “donated” by individuals, for example, there were about fifteen copies of Seabiscuit. I took one of those and brought it back, also good reading. You are welcome.
Have you heard of Edward S. Aarons for fiction?
The book, Flyboys about WW II for non-fiction was a gripping, Truthful read.
I think you guys might have scared little MikeyB away. lol
Chief RZ #63 – I’ve not read E.S.Aaron nor “Flyboys” – I’ll look for it. Love truthful but fiction reads on WW11. Some of the non-fictions are too tedious.
Do you know of the organization that donated the books to Iraq? I’ll pay the freight or expenses to get them to the people that can forward them on. Are there content/author restrictions? We all want to do something for those deployed…and, there are only so many cookies you can eat. It’s hard to know what is needed at this late stage. I keep contributing to Fisher House in memory of every older person I know that has passed on – whether they served or not! What they offer to the wounded and their families is a great cause.
Oh for heaven’s sake…
I can’t believe you guys are actually arguing about GHWB’s house!
Do I CARE if Mike’s mother’s friend actually saw a book at the Bush’s?
Let me give you a clue. I’ve been to many many house’s and have not seen a book. If you came here on a day that you were expected you would not find a book. My mother insists that all books, newspapers and magazines be ‘cleaned up’. She considers them to be clutter. Now, if you showed up today there are piles of them everywhere
.
All of our bookcases are in our bedrooms. My kids are voracious readers. 2 of them just got awards for scoring 95% or better nationally on the MAT reading exams.
Maybe the Bush’s don’t read. Maybe the Bush’s read but like my mother consider the actual books clutter. Maybe the Bush’s have an entire library of books that is not considered to be ‘public’ and Mike’s mother’s friend was not invited into that room.
I don’t care.
Personally I believe that the inference he was going for is that only stupid people don’t read. And the rest of you took up the challege admirably. Therefore reinforcing his snobbery with your own.
Lots of people don’t read for various reasons. Yes, some of them are just ignorant. Others have difficultly reading due to health reasons. Some never learned to read well and don’t find it enjoyable.
But to assume that a lack of books equals a lack of intelligence is a stupid stereotype.
As far as the actual topic at hand.. I don’t know why anyone would be surprised that a ‘conservative’ book does not get a decent review. In fact I’d be AMAZED if it did. The snobbery of the literary world is about as liberal as the academic.
Heck, the New York Times bestseller list doesn’t even include the biggest selling book EVER in one day. I am, of course, speaking of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.. that sold almost 9 million copies in the United States in 24 hours. But it is not included on the bestseller list… why? Because it’s a ‘children’s book’ and is not ’serious fiction’. They banned children’s books from the list in 2000 when JK Rowling held the top 3 spots.
So I find the whole literary worlds snobbery offensive to begin with. The fact that they would not give a fair shake to a book written by anyone with known leanings to the right comes as no surprise to me at all. And shouldn’t to any of us.
24Klady. (My turn for delay)
I am not certain, but they may have been donated through the USO. There also was a library in Kuwait with similar type books. Restrictions: Yes, after the Clinton administration’s censorship, which may be an influence on these books, most “aggressive” books are not available. For information purposes, most of those deployed are men. I never saw one reading one of the women’s books. Most of these donations did not get to their intended audience.
What combat troops need: The small things like toothpaste, small bottles of shampoo, toothbrush, small washcloth, disposable wipes. When we deployed, we were living out of our carry on bag for three weeks!
Did you hear??? Bush also lied to get into Yale. Apparently, he was looking for weapons of math instruction.