president of the norton company. >> this weekend on afterwards, details fast and furious. >> this is something that was swept under the rug and kept from not only the american people but mexican people as well. there are hundreds of faceless, innocent mexican citizens have been murdered as a result of this. the only thing we knew outside of the government program was that custom american gun deals for going into mexico and causing all these problems with the cartel, and really the government was sanctioning these sales and sending them into mexico. >> she interviewed by white house correspondent major garrett sunday night at 9 p.m., part of booktv this weekend on c-span2. >> iranian author mahmoud dowlatabadi talks about the struggles published political books in iran where he still lives. and the banning of his work by a reigning authorities.

next on booktv. this is about an hour and 10 minutes. >> greetings everyone. im dennis johnson johnson, the cold publisher of melville house and it's my great pleasure to welcome you to our officers in brooklyn for this event. which focuses on one biters attempts to write under extraordinary, even deadly, pressure. the talk page one of the world's most esteemed men, a great iranian historic, and the man generally hailed as iran's greatest writer. westward under levels of stress not known to most writers here in the u.s. the publish am always and counting writers to me about the risks they are taking. police say they decided to try free verse. novels thing about writing from a woman's point of view. but today we'll hear from a writer who know something much more profound about whiskey writing but i will let mahmoud

dowlatabadi tell you about that himself. having just published a great novel, "the colonel," and having earlier publishes magnificent epic of rural life in iran, "missing soluch." i have to observe, he's not really a political writer. he simply writes about life in his country. not about the show or the ayatollah, but about the people. and the fact that he has been in prison in the past for this kind of until you something about the cuteness of his writing but i suspect i have learned more about the reality of this country from his beautiful, beautiful book, that i have from 1000 newspaper reports. we should be thankful to him for that, and by the way, reminding those of us in america who have lately been questioning the value of book -- >> as i speak right now -- spent

the significance of this particular novel is? [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: very difficult question. it belongs in place but i never imagined. [audio difficulty]

>> we apologize for the interruption and we are working to correct the problem. we hope to return to the program shortly. [audio difficulty]

>> was to give people a readable story of the constitution. and not just that. i went to clause by clause and a broken down. so that students of the constitution, whether they are at cecc or whether they're in california or maine or hawaii, or washington, d.c. or across the country would know what it meant to read the constitution, what the founding generation said this constitution. and i also was motivated to write the book because of the charge in the constitution itself. the founding generation let this constitution to their posterity, and that's often a word we don't use. and that's to us.

and we have a sacred trust to know what that constitution means, to understand, to read it, to digest it. and so again by doing this i hope the american people would do that. if their students of the constitution. now, oftentimes you hear different ideas about the constitution. some will say the constitution is an elastic document. you can read into the. it is stretch will. it has words, and you can read these words, but we have to go beyond that because that's what this supreme court judge or this constitutional scholar says it means. then have those who say the constitution is a limiting document. the constitution is what it says. you can't go beyond that. and so we should interpret the constitution literally. and there's this big debate. people get confused by this. which one is it?

is it loosely interpreted document? is it an elastic document? or is it a limiting document? so i ask we thought to cut through all that. i really didn't care what modern scholars have said about the constitution to be honest with you but i didn't do what the supreme court has said about the constitution. i cared what the founding fathers said about the constitution. and so my journey began there. and, in fact, when originally conceptualized this book, i pitched it to begin with, those of you don't know the publishing process, you pitch an idea and then you're told yes or no, and if you're told yes then you go from there. so when i pitched the idea i was going to focus on primarily on the opponents of the constitution. i'll talk about some of these terms in a minute but i was going to focus on what they thought about the constitution. the publisher came back and said no, no. that wouldn't be good. because it might turn out to look like an anti-constitution but. so i said okay, well, how can we work with us.

so we brainstorm a bit and we decided we would write a constitution, a book on the constitution basin with the founding generation said about the transfer, oath for the constitution and against the constitution. i had read all about the material about this, but as i started digging through the mountains of research that is out there on the subject i realized i'd only scratched the surface. much of what i knew was going to be changed, or at least in some ways what i thought i knew about was only going to be more involved. because as i get into the material i said my gosh, this is deeper than i thought. what i often thought about the constitution is there, but there's so much more to it. it is much more complex and even what i said about the constitution in my first book. and, of course, we are looking at this document, and i see it the founding fathers got to the constitution because that's where does. it's not just the founding father that you're for me with. i will talk about him any

minute. but it's all the founding generation. this is a generational book for the american generation. not just one, two, three or four people and what they said. i went and looked at what everyone said about it that i could put my hands on. and public documents because again this thing had to be sold to people. i'll talk about that in a second. so the founding fathers are important because they wrote it. so i thought what choice would be better than going to the people who wrote the document itself, and who had presented the thing to 13, sometimes hostile ratifying conventions and tell people this is what it means. they had to go to the press and say this is what you might be think the constitution will do xyz but no, no. be reassured it's not going to do that. this is what it means. so that's the constitution that we should be looking at. that is the founding fathers constitution. that is the constitution as an book over and over again as ratified. that process is very important. again that hold ratification process, the constitution meant

nothing until the states decide to ratify it. so that's the over all subject of the book. and going to read you a quote in a few minutes from a founding father of north carolina, and i were refer back to that quote quite a bit. but oftentimes you will get this statement, the founding fathers were just a combative group of people. they denigrate anything. what founders are you talking about? we all know some of the big names, or maybe you know some of the big names, you've probably heard of alexander hamilton. you probably have heard of james madison and john j. they are the authors of the federalist papers. e85 essays in defense of the constitution. so most people do read the constitution and think that they understand the constitution will look at the document itself and maybe look at the federalist papers and say that's it. but it is deeper than that. in fact, it goes much deeper than that. i would argue, i say the

federalist papers are not as important as you think the they were written in new york, and didn't have much of an impact in new york it's so. because the state of new york only ratify the constitution by three votes. three votes. so these 85 essays that people say are the definitive source on the constitution didn't have much impact at the time. but there are others and there are other members of that founding generation and perhaps are even more important than people like james madison. james madison is often called the father of the constitution but i say that's a misnomer. the historical scholarship on the subject has kind of come around to that, over time. he did present the virginia plan, or a least wrote it and, of course, was presented by the virginia delegation at the philadelphia convention, but the constitution that we have is not his. it was gone over and over in the philadelphia convention and modified over and over again by a number of important people.

so some of these people you probably never heard of before like john dickinson of delaware. probably saying who the heck is john dickinson? this is a guy who was called opinion of the revolution. he was one of the most important of the founding generation. bar none. when he went to the philadelphia convention he looked at this constitution that james madison had written and he said no, no. we are not having that. that's not going to work, in these united states. or just someone like roger sherman of connecticut, a man that thomas jefferson said once -- i'm paraphrasing, never said a stupid thing in his life. this was also his constitution because again he was a conservative moderating influence. when he got to the philadelphia convention and saw james madison's work, he again said no, we're not having that in these united states. people of connecticut will never agree to this thing. or john rutledge of south carolina.

another very important founding father john rutledge would later serve on the supreme court. he basically helped win the american war for independence in south carolina from the governor. so very important individual and he said no, this constitution that you've written, mr. medicine, is not going to work in south carolina. we need to modify this thing. so that's what happened in philadelphia. one historian has called it the miracle in philadelphia because no one was even sure if this thing was going to get out of philadelphia to begin with. there was only different ideas and opinions floating around in philadelphia that it appeared the constitution was going to die before the middle of the summer of 1787. and the store that you often hear about that constitution is simple but it's the large states against the small states. the people i just listed, all came from small states. madison of courses from a very large state. but that's not the real issue. in fact the real issue was what

type of government were we going to have. was going to be speed we apologize again for having to enter at our programming. we are now able to return to our program schedule. >> yet a more clear image in my mind, and then began to bring that image down on paper. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so it was a very difficult time an event at the time, and i was very anguished, and suddenly it all translated into somebody knocking out the door at night, this began to grow. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: as i began to write, i remembered that i had a terrible nightmare. and i've actually written notes about this nightmare at some point. and the body of this book became the storyline of that nightmare that i have. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i was anguished and depressed, and this book in a sense became an articulation of this anguish. and in a way i had to get it

out, to prevent myself from becoming depressed. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: this is like an unwanted child. [laughter] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so as i was creating it i was also very fearful. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so, you described the process by which this book came into being, but i'm going back to the question of, where does this book now that it has appeared in english,

and various other european languages, where does this book stand, in your mind, in comparison to your other major works, such as "kelidar" and "missing soluch," and others? [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: this is a very different book from any of the work i have done before. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: but it's to the point i want to make is that i had to write this book in order to be able to write the other books that i later wrote. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: it's like a bridge that took me to the past days of aging people. and it has to be created before

i could go on with my writing. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so the mind does, aside from the will of the person, the mine has an incredible power. and leads us to things that are unexpected. [speaking in native tongue] what is the, the relationship between unconscious and the brain and the effect of that on will? i've always been very curious about this. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: when i finished "kelidar," i asked myself how do they do this? that was a long book. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: so when i wrote this book at aubrey written it once before in some form when i was in prison. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: in searching about where this came from, i came to the conclusion that our genes have a certain kind of memory that contain memory. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so this probably was in the works without my knowing it for a long, long time. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: well, this book also has another peculiarity, in that the german came out last year. english this year. pretty soon the italian and french versions are coming out. it's as if they these additions are shadows of a book that has nobody yet because it has not yet come out in version. so what is your opinion about that? [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: realism used to be a genre. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: and that everything has turned upside down, and our lives are surrealist. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i wrote this book 25 years ago. didn't want to publish it then, but after 25 years i assume that it wouldn't be a problem. so it did not get a permit yet. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: whitey think

this book is not getting a permit for publication in iran? [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: our young journalists actually ask people from the ministry of culture and guidance why are you not issuing a permit for this book. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: in the person, the authority said i haven't read it yet. i am reading it. [speaking in native tongue] so they kept on asking and they finally pressed him about it, and he said i finished it, yes, i did. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: why aren't you issuing a permit? [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: and the official answered that this is a very good book, but it's very different interpretation of the revolution. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: and he said we're going to contact authorities and will talk about this. but they didn't. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so they ran into each other at the funeral of a prominent writer, and the authority from the ministry said to him, i would like to see. and he said i would like to see you, too. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: this is an obvious censorship. it's not even been camouflaged. it's public, and you stated that there has to be a third way. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: my usual preferred third way. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so before my trip i wrote a letter to the minister, ministry of culture and guidance and said, we have to find another way because here

i am off on a trip and this book is being published in different languages, and i'm willing to do the right a forward or an afterword, or find another way for it to be acceptable. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: obviously this other solution that i found will also, as in other times, need a dead-end. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: what did you want to write in the afterward or the forward? [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: there's a formula that you can use that will refer people, the sensors, to the fact that part of this story was written about a long time ago. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: you have the

possibility of having this book published in persian, in europe, in the united states. why don't you do what? [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i have principles about this. i feel that persian literature, which dates back to over 1000 years, has to be or should be published in our own country first. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: only for that. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: either should be published in iran in persian in our own country, or not published. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: there is a huge version speaking death or of a rainy. there's other countries that read and speak persian, like afghanistan, like kazakhstan. so if you think you're being a little prejudicial by insisting that it be published in iran first. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: this is a good point, and a sensitive one, but i feel i have a responsibility towards my publisher in iran. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: a work of art is not only in and of itself, especially when it comes into the public sphere, it takes on a life of its own. and don't you think that there are possibilities for ms. readings, misinterpretations, or misunderstandings arising from the fact that this work cannot be read in its original

language, but it is being published in other languages? [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: this is a very valid point, and i'm worried about this, but i have to trust the translators to be true to my work, and hope that it doesn't create misunderstanding. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: as you know, the persian language has certain characteristics in itself that makes it different from other languages, and in persian we have certain silences that are very meaningful in the writing. and this may not come out the same way in other languages. ..

[speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: creating a new as this is coming out in english because it will not only be read by americans or people in the united kingdom, but also various other countries where english has become the most prominent languages did you use the word

anglo clause? and local furthermore, there are lots of iranians who do not speak person that well anymore. they're going to understand your work as it is written in english what do you think of this whole new level or dimension of? [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i'm actually very pleased about this new dimension of. i think that when persons read this work they understand it in a certain way that is connected to their own language, but sends the translation in english is very good and, i believe the other languages as well, that -- the good translation will allow the reader to make their own connections and find about new

realities that they may not have known before. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: we have a thing in the persian, don't say good things about yourself, but i have to say that when that the german version came out, the response to it by critics was very, very positive. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: the translation was good enough to allow those critics to compare him to some of the greatest writers and the west. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: and this caught him by surprise. it was interesting. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: similar, positive responses when it was published in german. and switzerland. it was very interesting how a novel based upon the realities of tribal life in iran could

somehow, through the translation , be comprehensible to people who have no familiarity with that environment. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] [laughter] >> translator: he -- processor hamid dabashi got an e-mail from an egyptian colleague who teaches comparative literature at the university of california who was asking for recommendations of person novels to add to his reading list. and what he is saying is that -- that that egyptians dollar were turkish scholar, someone who cannot speak or read version now has access to your work and so you now gained a much wider audience just, you know, because of and in spite of the fact that you are not allowed to publish this in your own country.

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i don't know how to translate. i hesitate to to do a quick translation, but the essence is that if god closes one door he will open another door somewhere else for you. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: and yet we know that we can understand a civilization and a people through its literature. [speaking in nativ tongue] >> translator: much more difficult to translate. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so this necessitates more time, more patients, more depth, and more difficulty in transferring the literature to the world from a particular place and considering the immense difficulties of the writer. [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: it is the audience that is different, too. for example, american cinema has taken over the world in terms of film production, distribution, except to, but when i want to think of america i think of faulkner and melville and steinbeck. i don't go to the last american movie to try to understand america, but it depends on the audience as well. [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: sends the

translation which was widely read -- the blondel, yes, i'm sorry, in various languages and the west there really has not been a major novel from a round -- iran that has been widely read and appreciate it. do you think that this is because it is a problem with language or translations or is it because -- [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: the problem with the persian language is its beauty. [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: is sensitive to build a chance that the person language it needs a great deal of skill and delicacy and various other characteristics. very difficult. [speaking in native tongue] [laughter] >> translator: he just -- he recited a poem that is extremely difficult to translate. [laughter] as an example of how difficult it is to translate, and i'm not going to do it. [laughter] [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: poetry is more difficult. prose is also difficult, not as difficult as poetry, but extremely difficult because it too has risen and nuances and certain difficult images that are extremely difficult to translate. i have always said that in every iranian pros writer there is a little poet hidden inside. [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: now we're reaching a time when the great work has just actually been translated. this is a new thing. several are all parts.

they have lived and produced in his geographical trying go where he comes from. being translated, and being translated, so this is the beginning of a new time where the iranian culture should be and needs to be understood better. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: they want progress toil that it takes, they won't regret the toil they have taken in translation. [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: every language has a duty in some way. i'm sure my children consider spanish to be extremely beautiful. in every language there is beauty, and that has not stopped people from translating extensively the works of great authors that have written other languages. we are -- we do have some more transition being done of our classical text as well, but the question is, do you think that person has been generally considered as and other, sort of an unknown other and therefore it has not been approached as much and embraced as much in the whole cycle of translation?

[speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: it's true, what you are saying. however, the arabic literature and turkish literature have experienced less of the, sort of, being ignored, state of being ignored. and part of the reason why a

person has not been translated and explored in the international readership is because for the last 200 years or so we have been, in a sense, and the dog house. i'm sure their is a better way of saying it, but they're is a sense of otherness and negativity that is being attached to this island of persian speakers. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: in our day there are lots of negative

things, but one good thing is people are becoming more and more aware that they should know about the unknown, that they should explore the unknown and therefore it is very much time check it to know persian literature. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: all right. give me time to -- once he got the nobel prize, that created more interest in arabic literature in the same way that his nobel prize has created more interest in turkish literature. in that way nobel has acted as a midwife for interesting and different cultures, but the other question is about this book. you mentioned that this book started as a nightmare for you. do you think that that nightmare that is encased in this book and the nightmare that you actually put out, that reflects the

nightmare of the iranian people. is that nightmare over as well? where do we stand vis-a-vis this nightmare? [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: when they read this book they will remember those nightmares. and one of the main roles of literature is to shed some light on what has happened on history. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: if my life has been worthwhile at all it would be due to the fact that i put a

lot of time into trying to understand our past. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i don't know if people have put these nightmares behind them. i don't know, but i hope so. i hope that it is happening. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: sense you've come to new york and put your pictures on my facebook page, and there has been a tremendous outpour of affection from people from everywhere and from iranians, and you should know that the -- that the -- the time you have spent writing that you have has and you the great love of your people. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: thank you. [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] [laughter] >> translator: someone came up to him after one of his panels and said, a whole nation is grateful to you. he said, no, i am grateful to the nation because they created me. i did not create to the nation. is there any questions? have take. go ahead. [inaudible question] [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: when he was a child he lived in the village. he heard his mother and other women talking about a person, a real live person who was extremely poor and who had a number of children, but he was extremely proud and did not want

the others to look upon him with any kind of thinking about his poverty. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: so this character was a kind of a real legend and had become the symbol of pride and perseverance in the face of poverty, so this was in my mind. [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: as time passes i leave the village and go through many professions. i went through all kinds of different spots, the theater, the writer. and in the last few months of prison i remembered this legend. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: and in prison you have to of right in your mind, and that is what i started doing it in my mind, this story. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: and when i had finished a long one, only

halfway, and i was in prison. so this came in interruption of trinidad writing in my mind. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] ..

>> his father said sit down and write because that is the solution to the level of anxiety that you have. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: he was struggling with having written once in his mind and revisiting it on paper. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: he went against the win, so to speak, and sat

down and wrote it. he didn't get up until it was finished. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: towards the end of writing this book, the revolution was beginning. his mother called and said, the revolution is starting. and he said, what do i care, have to finish my novel. [laughter] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: okay, the question was, mozart used to write his pieces from beginning to end without any editing. what are your styles? you go back and write all the time or do you sit and write from beginning to end? he said i usually do it the most hard way. except for the current one. the other ones were very smooth, but i haven't touched or edited at all. the kernll. the kernel was the most edited. the most revised.

[speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i had to crafted -- the structure of this book is very different from my other books. i had to pay particular attention to the crafting of it. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i was careful because it is structurally different. i was careful because of the relationships in it are very

different from my other work. also, i was very careful because i did not want any part of it to be taken as any kind of a political slogan or it i was being very careful. being very careful on that front. >> [inaudible question] [inaudible question] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: he says that we actually, it seems that we were dealing with the book in terms of beyond borders in terms overran always being open to translating works of others, and our translation of other works actually started over 150 years ago. there is a great deal of interest in the reading of literature from other languages, if you want to hear a book about

the history of african literature, we have it there. we have it translated. there is a great deal. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i became familiar with the literature through translation, and i have always been a great deal a translator. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: the question was, in addition to yours, the continuation of your question, did it translated literature have any influence on the development of your own writing style? and he said undoubtably, yes, reading international literature had a great deal of influence on development of his style. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue]

>> translator: modern prose developed with direct contact of literature. the traditional prose was very different. they were interconnected. >> translator: yes. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: translators know a great deal about different genres, and they can try to adapt it towards a kind of persian equivalent of that shauna -- of that genre of literature. one last question? >> [inaudible question] [inaudible question] [speaking in native tongue]

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: has time in prison affected him? it has changed him, but what he was writing was a continuation for what he was writing before. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: my big challenge and or art -- in prison was, it was to keep writing in my mind and to continue what i was doing so i wouldn't lose the spread of what i was writing.

and then to come out and be able to finish those projects. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: usually i don't like to react to daily changes that are going on. i want to keep the constancy of my work. distractions, i would say. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i have not ever written anything about prison. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: and i may someday write about prison, but i have not yet. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i rely on

intuition, and i have to get that intuition before i write. >> translator: writing is a part of painting a portrait. it is very important work, he is saying. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: once the intuition is there, you don't know how it is. [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i feel like the whale that goes under the water and goes for long periods of

time, comes out for small breaths and back again. [laughter] [applause] [applause] [applause] >> here are the best-selling hardcover nonfiction books according to "the new york times." this list reflects sales as of june 21. that number one, edward klein argues that president obama is unfit for the presidency with his book the amateur. second is the greatest warrior by david limbaugh. in his book, mr. limbaugh because what he believes is president obama's want a republic. cheryl strayed recounts or 11-mile -- 1100-mile hike. followed by a book about a prisoner in world war ii. colin powell is that, with his