In bookstores across the United States, people are reaching for books that heap criticism on Hillary Clinton.
At the top of this week’s New York Times bestsellers list for nonfiction are three books that appear very critical of the US Democratic presidential nominee. Of 20 bestsellers, anti-Clinton books rank second, third and fourth:
2. Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate, by Gary J. Byrne (Center Street, 2016)
A former secret service officer recounts serving former US president Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001. In it, Byrne recalls a Hillary Clinton who bullied her security detail badly. According to some critics, he also rehashes old gossip about the ’90s presidency. This is the title’s fourth week on the list.
3. Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party, by Dinesh D’Souza (Regnery Publishing, 2016)
The author of The Roots of Obama’s Rage (2010) and What’s So Great About America (2003) details the history of the Democratic Party and imagines a United States with Clinton as president. D’Souza predicts that if Clinton is elected president, the country will change from a land of opportunity to “a land of rapacious crony capitalism, run solely for the benefit of friends of the Obamas and the Clintons and the Democratic Party.”
4. Armageddon: How Trump Can Beat Hillary, by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann (Humanix Books, 2016)
Political columnists and husband-wife team Dick Morris (a longtime advisor to Bill Clinton) and Eileen McGann argue that keeping Clinton from becoming president is the only way to win the ”the ultimate and decisive battle to save America.”
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has endorsed at least one of the books:
Because the books are relatively new releases (they’ve all come out since late June), they’ve received quite a bit of recent promotion, which might be why people are particularly interested in them this week. D’Souza’s Hillary’s America has a companion documentary in theaters now.
Ultimately it’s the length of time a book stays on the bestsellers’ list, and not one single week’s appearance, that shows it really resonates with readers. If Hillary’s America and Armageddon manage to stay on the bestsellers list, which currently includes Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me (48 weeks on the list) and Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers (55 weeks), Clinton might well have something to worry about.
The rankings published by the New York Times are for print and ebook sales combined from the week ending July 23, 2016. The Times doesn’t disclose how it creates its rankings, but says it’s based on reports from booksellers across the US and that “sales are statistically weighted to represent and accurately reflect all outlets proportionally nationwide.”
All three books also appear in the top 25 bestselling books on Amazon, which includes fiction and nonfiction.