continuity of parks

Is Osama bin Laden more influential than Oprah?

Not quite. Not yet. By 8:52 pm PST on Sunday 22 January, previously un-famous historian William Blum's book Rogue State: a Guide to the World's Only Superpower (Common Courage Press, 2000) had, thanks to a brief videotaped mention by Rogue Numero Uno, rocketed to number twelve on the Amazon top seller list, but Oprah, alas, retained the top two slots (Elie Wiesel's Night and that Certain Number of Varying Size Pieces book). James Frey's other book was still holding at number eleven.

Sadly, of the four copies owned by the Los Angeles Public Library system, three were currently checked out and one was "in transit." A dilemma arose: would it be better to order Rogue State from the author or to take part in helping the unlikely duo unseat Oprah?

Said Mr. Blum re: the surprise endorsement: "I'm glad."

By 9:14 am the following morning, Frey's My Friend Leonard had slipped to number twelve and Rogue State had hit the top ten, beating out Joan Didion's Year of Magical Thinking but bumping hard against Rachel Ray 365: No Repeats--A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners (A 30 Minute Meal Cookbook).

It was a tough field indeed and not all the reviews glowed. 549,320-ranked Amazon Reviewer Billy Ball gave the book five stars but wrote: "Leave it up to a capitalist like Bin Laden to line the pockets of his corporate crony William Blum by using a political speech as a shameless book plug. We can only hope an al-Qaeda operative was planted deep within the Common Courage Press organization prepared to unleash word of the impending need for a reprint."

By Wednesday am, Stephen King was on top, Frey was still well into the top ten, and Dr. Blum's book had plummeted to number twenty-five. Alas. Perhaps hoards of rogue consumers, at home and abroad, continued to buy the book but through sources other than Amazon.