Tyranny of Clichés Million Dollar Book?
The news that National Review‘s Jonah Goldberg has received a one million dollar advance from Penguin imprint Sentinel to write a book tentatively titled The Tyranny of Clichés has drawn some eye rolling from Steve M. and Steve Benen.
I have my doubts that the July 2002 column of the same name can be stretched to fill 300 pages. Then again, the vast majority of nonfiction books are essentially interesting articles that belabor the point.
Steve M makes a point that Steve B echoes:
As for the book itself, even with the current popularity of righty screeds, I’m struggling to see how it will earn back its advance if it doesn’t trumpet the notion “liberals are the embodiment of pure evil” somewhere in its title.
That’s a fair point. Goldberg’s last book, Liberal Fascism (The Totalitarian Temptation from Mussolini to Hillary Clinton) used very provocative language on the cover for precisely that reason even though the inside of the book was less strident and more banal. The market for these books clearly depends on rabble rousing language.
Somehow, I’m reminded of Dire Straits’ classic “Money for Nothing.” Here’s a version you’ve likely never seen before.
UPDATE 11/22/2021: Alas, YouTube took down the video in question at some point. I’m not sure whether this is the one I posted originally but it may well have been given some comments in the discussion section:
It happens with both parties.
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm
The tyranny of shoddy writing.
Steve
I despise Goldberg and his facile idiocies as much as the next literate person. But on the subject of the fat book advance, I’m not going to be a playa-hater. Mazel-tov, Jonah, just don’t spend it all in one place.
Jonah aside……….
Proving once again that rock and roll never dies.
And was that Phil Collins banging on the drums like a chimpanzee?