Great to know that Mr. Bruce Reed enjoyed Book World – we’re on the same page. But, what Mr. Reed doesn’t seem to appreciate enough is that Book World was more than just a critics soap-box. Every Sunday it printed author signings, literary calendars, and scholarly retrospectives of notable authors. It was a great town square for the writerly life. It’s hard to imagine First Lady Laura Bush could have inaugurated our National Book Festival without Book World’s non-stop promotion of the huge circus-like annual event. We have no Literary Hall of Fame in America, no museum to learn about Wharton or Cather or Dubois. There is no Westminster Abbey-like “Poets Corner” in America. But there is, of course, the Newseum in Washington D.C. And, as you know, every U.S. president gets public financing for a presidential library, which are merely shrines for their legacy. Let’s step up for books! There is no reason why a private foundation or federal arts grant can’t put resources into keeping book culture alive in American newspapers during a deep recession. There are many creative ways to pull it off.
Theodore Roosevelt found Congressional funding for federal publishing of books on biology, cowboys, Indians, natural resources, and much more during the Panic of 1907. F.D.R. employed scores of scribes with the Federal Writers Project, giving jobs to Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, John Cheever, Saul Bellow, and hundreds of other shining talents. And what would American culture be without the WPA guides? L.B.J. poured millions into the area of performance art funding.
Mr. Reed thinks its fine to live in a world of e-books. I don’t. Perhaps I’m old-fashioned, but the physicality of books has a lingering appeal which transcends websites. Keeping the Modern Library, Library of America, and Penguin Classics alive, as just three fine examples, is essential to the long-term benefit of our intellectual heritage. Writers should support the National Book Foundation and promote educational supplements in newspapers like Book World. Mr. Reed – whose work I admire – should join the fight.


Douglas Brinkley
Austin, Texas
January 29, 2009