New York
Book publishers see surging interest in the U.S. Constitution and print new editions
NEW YORK (AP) — When Random House Publisher Andrew Ward met recently with staff editors to discuss potential book projects, conversation inevitably turned to current events and the Trump administration.
“It seemed obvious that we needed to look back to the country’s core documents,” Ward said. “And that we wanted to get them out quickly.”
On Wednesday, Random House announced that it would publish a hardcover book in July combining the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, followed in November by a hardcover edition of the Federalist Papers. Both books include introductions by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham, who has written biographies of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson among others.
The Random House volumes, released through its Modern Library imprint, will join a prolific market that has surged in recent months. According to Circana, which tracks around 85% of the print retail market, editions of the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers and the U.S. Constitution are selling at their fastest pace since Circana began compiling numbers in 2004.
Around 162,000 combined copies have sold through mid-April, compared to 58,000 during the same time period the year before and around 33,000 in 2023. Sales were around 92,000 in the early months of Trump’s first term, in 2017, more than double the pace of 2016.
Brenna Connor, a book industry analyst for Circana, said the jump “is likely in response to the recent change of administration” and cited increased interest in other books about democracy and government, among them Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny” and the Michael Lewis-edited “Who Is Government?” a collection of essays about civil servants by Dave Eggers, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell and others.
“This pursual of political understanding is playing out in a few different areas,” Connor added.
Meacham, during a recent phone interview with The Associated Press, said that the founders had sought to make sense of a revolutionary era — whether breaking with England or debating how to form a federal government with enough power to rule effectively, without giving it the kind of monarchical authority that enraged the colonies.
Reading the Declaration and other texts, he believes, can give today’s public a similar sense of mission and guiding principles.
“It is a tumultuous moment ... to put it kindly,” Meacham said. “One way to address the chaos of the present time, what Saint Paul would call the ‘tribulations’ of the present time, is to re-engage with the essential texts that are about creating a system that is still worth defending.”
The Modern Library books will have many competitors. The 18th century documents all are in the public domain, can be read for free online and anyone can publish them. According to Circana, popular editions have been released by Skyhorse, Penguin, Barnes & Noble and others.
“We generally see increased sales of editions of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution every election cycle, but particularly this year,” said Shannon DeVito, Barnes & Noble’s senior director of book strategy.
“This could be because next year marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence,” she said, “or the fast and furious current political conversations and policy changes.”
New York
George Santos defends social media tirade to federal judge set to sentence him Friday for fraud
NEW YORK (AP) — George Santos is defending his recent social media tirade to a federal judge who will be sentencing the disgraced former New York congressman later this week on fraud charges.
In a lengthy letter ahead of the Friday court date, Santos, 36, said he remains “profoundly sorry” for his crimes but protests that the seven-year prison sentence sought by prosecutors as “ridiculous” and overly harsh.
“Every sunrise since that plea has carried the same realization: I did this, me. I am responsible,” wrote the former Republican lawmaker, who pleaded guilty last summer. “But saying I’m sorry doesn’t require me to sit quietly while these prosecutors try to drop an anvil on my head.”
Prosecutors, in a filing last week, argued Santos “remains unrepentant” and has not shown genuine remorse, as his lawyers have claimed in their own filing seeking a lighter, two-year prison stint.
They cited a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, in which he disparaged the U.S. Department of Justice as a “cabal of pedophiles” and cast himself as a victim of prosecutorial overreach.
Santos, who admitted he deceived donors and stole the identities of nearly a dozen people to fund his congressional campaign, countered that his “colorful” posts are being wrongly “repurposed as a sword against me” by prosecutors.
“Contesting the severity of a proposed sentence is not the same as contesting guilt, and punishing protected speech because it questions punishment should trouble anyone who values fair prosecution over personal vindication,” he wrote.
Santos said calling himself the “scapegoat” in social media posts was in reference to prosecutors claiming he was the “organizer/leader” of his campaign’s financial fraud and warranted a stiffer sentence. He argued his former campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, who has also pleaded guilty and faces sentencing next month, shares equal part in the blame.
“If I were the criminal mastermind they portray, I would be the clumsiest in modern memory: leaving a trail of screenshots pointing directly back to myself,” he wrote in the Saturday letter.
Santos also pushed back at prosecutors’ claims that he has not made efforts to pay the roughly $580,000 owed as part of his plea deal, saying he’s “liquidated personal assets, reduced my living expenses, and tried as hard as I could to raise some money for restitution.”
He added that he has not asked any of his friends or family to write letters to the court on his behalf, nor did he expect any supporters to attend Friday’s sentencing in Long Island federal court out of embarrassment and shame.
“I don’t want to bring anyone else in my life into this mess,” Santos wrote. “This is mine to deal with and mine alone.”
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York’s office, which is prosecuting the case, declined to comment.
Santos was elected in 2022 to represent parts of Queens and Long Island but served barely a year before being ousted by his House colleagues.
Santos fabricated much of his life story, leading to questions about how the political unknown had funded his winning campaign.
Book publishers see surging interest in the U.S. Constitution and print new editions
NEW YORK (AP) — When Random House Publisher Andrew Ward met recently with staff editors to discuss potential book projects, conversation inevitably turned to current events and the Trump administration.
“It seemed obvious that we needed to look back to the country’s core documents,” Ward said. “And that we wanted to get them out quickly.”
On Wednesday, Random House announced that it would publish a hardcover book in July combining the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, followed in November by a hardcover edition of the Federalist Papers. Both books include introductions by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham, who has written biographies of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson among others.
The Random House volumes, released through its Modern Library imprint, will join a prolific market that has surged in recent months. According to Circana, which tracks around 85% of the print retail market, editions of the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers and the U.S. Constitution are selling at their fastest pace since Circana began compiling numbers in 2004.
Around 162,000 combined copies have sold through mid-April, compared to 58,000 during the same time period the year before and around 33,000 in 2023. Sales were around 92,000 in the early months of Trump’s first term, in 2017, more than double the pace of 2016.
Brenna Connor, a book industry analyst for Circana, said the jump “is likely in response to the recent change of administration” and cited increased interest in other books about democracy and government, among them Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny” and the Michael Lewis-edited “Who Is Government?” a collection of essays about civil servants by Dave Eggers, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell and others.
“This pursual of political understanding is playing out in a few different areas,” Connor added.
Meacham, during a recent phone interview with The Associated Press, said that the founders had sought to make sense of a revolutionary era — whether breaking with England or debating how to form a federal government with enough power to rule effectively, without giving it the kind of monarchical authority that enraged the colonies.
Reading the Declaration and other texts, he believes, can give today’s public a similar sense of mission and guiding principles.
“It is a tumultuous moment ... to put it kindly,” Meacham said. “One way to address the chaos of the present time, what Saint Paul would call the ‘tribulations’ of the present time, is to re-engage with the essential texts that are about creating a system that is still worth defending.”
The Modern Library books will have many competitors. The 18th century documents all are in the public domain, can be read for free online and anyone can publish them. According to Circana, popular editions have been released by Skyhorse, Penguin, Barnes & Noble and others.
“We generally see increased sales of editions of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution every election cycle, but particularly this year,” said Shannon DeVito, Barnes & Noble’s senior director of book strategy.
“This could be because next year marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence,” she said, “or the fast and furious current political conversations and policy changes.”
New York
George Santos defends social media tirade to federal judge set to sentence him Friday for fraud
NEW YORK (AP) — George Santos is defending his recent social media tirade to a federal judge who will be sentencing the disgraced former New York congressman later this week on fraud charges.
In a lengthy letter ahead of the Friday court date, Santos, 36, said he remains “profoundly sorry” for his crimes but protests that the seven-year prison sentence sought by prosecutors as “ridiculous” and overly harsh.
“Every sunrise since that plea has carried the same realization: I did this, me. I am responsible,” wrote the former Republican lawmaker, who pleaded guilty last summer. “But saying I’m sorry doesn’t require me to sit quietly while these prosecutors try to drop an anvil on my head.”
Prosecutors, in a filing last week, argued Santos “remains unrepentant” and has not shown genuine remorse, as his lawyers have claimed in their own filing seeking a lighter, two-year prison stint.
They cited a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, in which he disparaged the U.S. Department of Justice as a “cabal of pedophiles” and cast himself as a victim of prosecutorial overreach.
Santos, who admitted he deceived donors and stole the identities of nearly a dozen people to fund his congressional campaign, countered that his “colorful” posts are being wrongly “repurposed as a sword against me” by prosecutors.
“Contesting the severity of a proposed sentence is not the same as contesting guilt, and punishing protected speech because it questions punishment should trouble anyone who values fair prosecution over personal vindication,” he wrote.
Santos said calling himself the “scapegoat” in social media posts was in reference to prosecutors claiming he was the “organizer/leader” of his campaign’s financial fraud and warranted a stiffer sentence. He argued his former campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, who has also pleaded guilty and faces sentencing next month, shares equal part in the blame.
“If I were the criminal mastermind they portray, I would be the clumsiest in modern memory: leaving a trail of screenshots pointing directly back to myself,” he wrote in the Saturday letter.
Santos also pushed back at prosecutors’ claims that he has not made efforts to pay the roughly $580,000 owed as part of his plea deal, saying he’s “liquidated personal assets, reduced my living expenses, and tried as hard as I could to raise some money for restitution.”
He added that he has not asked any of his friends or family to write letters to the court on his behalf, nor did he expect any supporters to attend Friday’s sentencing in Long Island federal court out of embarrassment and shame.
“I don’t want to bring anyone else in my life into this mess,” Santos wrote. “This is mine to deal with and mine alone.”
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York’s office, which is prosecuting the case, declined to comment.
Santos was elected in 2022 to represent parts of Queens and Long Island but served barely a year before being ousted by his House colleagues.
Santos fabricated much of his life story, leading to questions about how the political unknown had funded his winning campaign.
