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Posted at 05:17 PM ET, 02/13/2012

Bristol Palin’s Craigslist plea for fans

She’s still pitching her book, still hoping someone will come out and see her when she shows up at a signing, but Bristol Palin isn’t able to pack 'em in the way she used to — if a recent classified ad on Craigslist was any measure.

Bristol was in D.C. over the weekend along with her mother, Sarah, who spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Bristol’s book, “Not Afraid of Life: My Journey So Far,” came out in June last year and immediately slid off the radar after reviewers pretty much trashed her trash talk: “In the place of real insight, we frequently get catty asides,” wrote Stephen Lowman in The Post. “Some of her ex’s [Levi Johnston’s] trash-talk expertise must have rubbed off on her, because she dishes it out with aplomb.”

The public, too, seems to have lost its appetite for Bristol’s brand of spectacle. She had to turn to Craigslist to beg people to show up at a book signing on Saturday at Books-A-Million in the District. In an ad on the Web site, Palin offered free, autographed copies of her book to the first 100 people to RSVP. Even the conservative DC newspaper the Examiner noted that the ad was “an attempt to entice fans to attend the event.”

After first bursting into the spotlight during her mother’s run for the vice presidency in 2008, at which time it was revealed she was an out-of-wedlock pregnant teen, Bristol went on to slide across the floor as a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars.” She was herself the latest shooting star who was famous for a few moments for being famous, and now at last it seems the world is getting close to closing the book on her.

By  |  05:17 PM ET, 02/13/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)

Posted at 09:20 AM ET, 02/13/2012

BOOK WORLD bestsellers — Feb. 12, 2012

Apologies for the delay in getting these lists out — which feature just a smattering of new titles, and the return of some old stalwarts.

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By  |  09:20 AM ET, 02/13/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Political Bookworm

Posted at 09:17 AM ET, 02/13/2012

The Political Best — Feb. 12, 2012

Here, at last, is the list ...

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By  |  09:17 AM ET, 02/13/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Political Bookworm

Posted at 10:43 AM ET, 02/10/2012

Sex and political polarization

First there was the sexual revolution, then the sexual
counterrevolution — and what has this counterrevolution wrought? Our current political polarization.

At least that’s how Nancy L. Cohen tells it in her new book ”Delirium: How the Sexual Counterrevolution Is Polarizing America,” published this month by Counterpoint Press in Berkeley, Calif.

Cohen’s theory goes like this: the sexual revolution gave us feminism and gay rights, which led to a shadow movement, a Republican backlash that was “ideologically powered, strategically organized, and well-financed.” This shadow movement has had staying power, she argues, influencing power politics for the past 40 years.

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By  |  10:43 AM ET, 02/10/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)

Posted at 05:02 PM ET, 02/03/2012

The Political Best — Feb. 5, 2012

The list inches a little longer this week, with the addition of the new biography of Gen. David Petraeus by military veteran Paula Broadwell and The Post’s Vernon Loeb (though not overtly political, the conflict in Afghanistan placed the general squarely in the center of the tussle over troop strength, strategy, most everything ... and his perfromance undoubtedly affected decisions in Washington). Someone not afraid to tred in the political realm is Zbigniew Brzezinski, formerly President Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor and a professor at Johns Hopkins’ SAIS, whose latest title, “STRATEGIC VISION,” also hits the list this week --- an impassioned argument for why American influence doesn’t need to wane, despite the grousing and hand-wringing from many who are direly predicting the demise of a super power.

Another book on President Obama? Yes, but one that actually rushes to the president’s defense — syndicated radio journalist Bill Press explores the myriad (and often outrageous) ways people and groups have been gunning for Obama ... and playing fast and loose with the truth in the process.

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By  |  05:02 PM ET, 02/03/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Political Bookworm

 

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