In today's WSJ,
Jonathan Last tours the National Archives Shop:
Most of what you find in the Archives Shop is what you would expect in a kitschy modern museum store. Reproductions of Confederate currency are on sale next to Lewis and Clark action figures (the set includes a bonus figure--Sacagawea!) and snow globes with a picture of Nixon greeting Elvis. There are T-shirts and posters and, of course, books.
Lots and lots of books, from "The Story of the Civil War Coloring Book" to Michael Beschloss's "The Conquerors," John Keegan's "Intelligence War" and solid biographies of Jefferson, Lincoln and LBJ.
And then there are the books on George W. Bush.
And here's a surprise, they are
all anti-Bush whines by the most scrofulous of the usual suspects. The 3 volumes by Chomsky might be useful in case of a toilet paper shortage, but how about Michael Mann?
"I analyze and pick apart their 'new imperialism,' armed with my general comparative knowledge of power and empires, militaries and clerics, and fanatics of all stripes."
He knows something about fanatics. Discussing America, he solemnly warns: "For the sake of the world, it must be stopped."
Much more by following the link including a chat with the shop clerk who undoubtedly aspires to an IQ rising to room temperature. Jonathan asks:
Maybe the books at the National Archives really are just telling it like it is. After all, it's possible that George W. Bush is an illegitimately installed fascist monster leading America's military-industrial complex on a nuclear crusade for world domination. But what kind of dime-store dictator can't even crush dissent at his own bookstore?
Quite true. But I want to know why the government funded National Archives has a book store in the first place.
