Did you see that A-Block we did a few months ago about a long-forgotten book called "Night at Camp David"?
It was right after the anonymous NYT Op-Ed that claimed Trump was nuts enough that White House staff were constructively (?) sabotaging him for the good of the country...
It was right after the anonymous NYT Op-Ed that claimed Trump was nuts enough that White House staff were constructively (?) sabotaging him for the good of the country...
The basic idea was that an obscure 1965 political thriller (written by Fletcher Knebel, the author of Seven Days in May) had an eerily similar premise.
This was subhead on the cover of the book: "What Would Happen if the President of the U.S.A. Went Stark Raving Mad?"
This was subhead on the cover of the book: "What Would Happen if the President of the U.S.A. Went Stark Raving Mad?"
From that A-Block:
"We've got a great pantheon of these great, dark American political thrillers that simultaneously freak us out and also serve the constructive purpose of spelling out the kinds of outlandish dangers and threats we might...
"We've got a great pantheon of these great, dark American political thrillers that simultaneously freak us out and also serve the constructive purpose of spelling out the kinds of outlandish dangers and threats we might...
"maybe conceivably need to protect our country against some day. At the very, very edges of our Constitution, at the very edges of what we might imagine is possible in U.S. history."
In other words, fiction is entertainment -- especially a roiling little potboiler like this one -- but in the right circumstances it can also help us get our head around how we might/should/could handle extreme circumstances we might otherwise never anticipate. Anyhoo.
(It is no spoiler for me to say here that the solution to the fictional nutball president in "Camp David" is itself nutball, but still...)
When I did that A-block, part of the point was that "Night of Camp David" was out of print and long forgotten.
But now... IT'S BACK!
nytimes.com/2018/11/08/boo…
But now... IT'S BACK!
nytimes.com/2018/11/08/boo…
The book has just been re-released -- as of yesterday -- and look at how they did the cover!
I'm ridiculously excited.
TBH, it's not fine literature -- the supposed romance subplot is particularly lame.
But it ought to be out there in the world! I'm so glad it is.
Here's its listing at ABE:
abebooks.com/book-search/ti…
And here it is at Powell's:
powells.com/book/-97805255…
TBH, it's not fine literature -- the supposed romance subplot is particularly lame.
But it ought to be out there in the world! I'm so glad it is.
Here's its listing at ABE:
abebooks.com/book-search/ti…
And here it is at Powell's:
powells.com/book/-97805255…
