New Books Aim To Unweave the Obama Narrative

The book is published by Simon & Schuster's Threshold Editions, whose main editor is former GOP strategist Mary Matalin.

Vietor characterized Corsi's new release as similar to his Kerry book in that it is a thinly veiled effort to keep Republicans in power. "This is an attempt to perpetuate those politics for four more years," he said.

Corsi acknowledged as much, saying: "One of the reasons I wrote this book is to keep Obama from getting elected."

Authors of the other anti-Obama books were similarly forthcoming about their motives. They wanted not just to analyze Obama but to debunk him, they wrote. In the introduction to "The Case Against Barack Obama," Freddoso says he felt compelled by duty: "As it became clear that he was going to win the Democratic nomination for president, it seemed irresponsible to stand by as so many were offering admiration, piety, even worship to -- of all things -- a politician. Because the idea of Barack Obama as a reformer is a great lie."

Readers of the new books are forced to differentiate on their own between bias and biography, between facts and fictionalizations, literary experts said. It is a task most readers have learned to manage. "Readers aren't as gullible as they used to be," said Tom Smith, a biography scholar at Pennsylvania State University at Abington. "One thing we've learned so far with biographies in the 21st century is that every book is going to be one person's take."

Pad a biography with enough slant and opinion, experts said, and a good author can make the same facts reveal two different stories. Take two McCain books that explore the same subject: There's Paul Alexander's glowing portrait in "Man of the People: The Maverick Life and Career of John McCain." Or there's Matt Welch's eviscerating take in "McCain: The Myth of a Maverick."

"Especially in politics, you have a crowded book market and there's probably room for five or six takes that can be totally different," Smith said. "It's ultimately up to the reader to decide which one he likes."