When Books Take Center Stage in Current Events

Perhaps because my tutelage in the media world began as as a bookstore owner, it’s been a long time since I’ve been surprise when an author and his or her book lands in the center of a swirl of current events. The latest connection between the book world and current events is the revelation, as reported tonight by Richard Engel on NBC, that the woman with whom David Petraeus had the affair prompting his resignation today as DCIA is his biographer. Her name is Paula Broadwell and in January 2012 Penguin Press published her book  All IN: The Education of General David Petraeus. Last week, she published a piece drawn from the book, in the Daily Beast, as pointed out by Josh Marshall on Twitter.

The romantic link between Petraeus and his biographer, reported by Fred Kaplan of Slate among others, is pretty stunning. If a spy novelist presented me with that plot point in a thriller I’d question its plausibility. On the other hand, there’s something so human–but also predictably tawdry–about a writer being seduced, taken in, by her subject. Yet, there are times when it works differently, so perhaps this is the other way around.  Writers like Janet Malcolm are known for so closely examining their subjects that they are able to write intimate portraits of their biographical subjects, far more revealing than their willing subjects ever imagined or intended.

Please note post below, “NBC’s Richard Engel, on the Petraeus Resignation.” I will continue following the Petraeus story, and the frequent intersection of the book world and current events.