A Visit To The Local Bookstore

Up here a few dozen leagues north of New York City, sometimes it can get a little boring. Perhaps a good book about current events might keep the mind occupied. Fortunately, there is a generally well-stocked independent book store not far away. It has recently re-opened after a substantial hiatus. I thought, perhaps I can go over there and score a copy of something interesting — for example, Thomas Sowell’s new book “Charter Schools and Their Enemies”; or perhaps Iain Murray’s “The Socialist Temptation.”

Just inside the front door there was a table piled with copies of the featured current releases:

Quickly, I could see that this wasn’t looking good. Around the corner, there was the action figure section of the store. You could take your pick — RBG or Joe Biden:

And finally, in the Current Events section, another display of featured titles:

Of course, my immediate thought was that a book titled “Pocket AOC Wisdom” would have to be a parody. It was not. Similarly, after all the revelations of FBI and DOJ wrongdoing in 2016/17 in creating a totally fictional “Russian collusion” story to undermine the President, could anybody still be selling a purportedly serious book claiming that U.S. elections have been “Rigged” by the Russkies? It appears that that is exactly what Mr. Shimer is doing. From the book’s blurb at Amazon:

Russia's interference in 2016 marked only the latest chapter of a hidden and revelatory history. In Rigged, David Shimer tells the sweeping story of covert electoral interference past and present. He exposes decades of secret operations--by the KGB, the CIA, and Vladimir Putin's Russia--to shape electoral outcomes. . . .

Anyway, after a careful tour of the store, I couldn’t find either the Sowell or the Murray book. The front desk confirmed that they didn’t have either in stock. I ordered a copy of “Charter Schools and Their Enemies.” Hey, at least I didn’t have to buy it from Amazon!