Requiem in the bookstores

Books, magazines help a nation mourn.

(But are they selling? And who's buying? And what exactly is the motivation?)

September 10, 2002|By Patrick T. Reardon and Robert K. Elder, Tribune staff reporters.

Think of them like the holy cards, handed out at Catholic wakes and funerals, with the name of the deceased and a small prayer on the back. Or like the eulogies pronounced from the pulpit or at the cemetery.

The current cascade of more than 175 books and countless magazine issues devoted to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, represents efforts by American publishers and media companies -- as well as the nation as a whole -- to mark the horrendous events of that day. To remember them. To try to understand them. To grieve over them. To move beyond them.

"You feel a real obligation," says Dennis Loy Johnson, a publisher and publishing-industry journalist, "to do what you can within your field of talent."

Book publishers began producing titles within weeks of 9/11. But it's only now that the full flood is arriving in stores -- books as diverse as "America From the Heart: Quilters Remember September 11, 2001," edited by Karey Bresenhan (C&T Publishing), and "Dissent from the Homeland: Essays on September 11," edited by Stanley Hauerwas and Frank Lentricchia (Duke University Press).

Some books are very practical in nature, such as "Teaching and Schooling in America: Pre- and Post-September 11" by Allan Ornstein (Allyn & Bacon) and "Employer's Guide to Legal, Safety and HR Challenges in the Post 9/11 Workplace" (Aspen).

There are photo books and books on virtually every aspect of the tragic days. Two are titled "Understanding Sept. 11," and there are three that ask the question: "Where Was God on Sept. 11?" Some are self-published; others, from major publishers, have huge first printings. Miramax has produced 500,000 copies of "Leadership" by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, dealing in part with his memories of 9/11.

Virtually all major publishers and most minor houses have produced at least one Sept. 11 title. And some already have become best sellers.

Several of the glossy photography books, published late last year, were big grossers in December as Americans snatched them up, not for Christmas presents, but as memorial objects -- to be saved and studied in future years when the pain of the trauma has lessened, and to be passed along to future generations.

"One Nation: America Remembers September 11, 2001," prepared by the editors of Life magazine (Little, Brown), was No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list Dec. 16. And it is still selling well, ranking 161st at barnesandnoble.com last week and 60th at amazon.com.

Buyers of such books, says Kathleen March, manager of the Anderson's Bookshop in Elmhurst, "want to have them so that, when their kids get a little bit older, or their grandkids, they can explain what happened."

But with so many books crowding store shelves and display tables, the reality is that many -- probably most -- of the 9/11 books won't turn a profit. Indeed, March says pre-anniversary sales at her store have been "kind of stagnant. I think people are leery about whether it's something they want to read about."

An emotional need

At Barbara's Bookstore in the Old Town neighborhood, manager Mark McElhinney says, "There hasn't been an absolute rush or surge to buy [Sept. 11 books]" -- although a fire truck did pull up outside the store on Wells Street recently and a fireman came in, looking for two titles.

For publishers, though, this is a case when financial concerns are taking a back seat to their emotional needs.

"Here, in New York, we just sat there and watched a holocaust -- people dying before your eyes," recalls Johnson who, with his partner, Valerie Merians, has edited and published "Poetry After 9/11: An Anthology of New York Poets" (Melville House). "You don't watch that happen without having a spiritual change take you. It's like Paul on the way to Damascus."

Robert Pledge, president of Contact Press Images, says making money was the last thing on his mind when he edited the photo agency's collection of 9/11 images, "Eleven: Witnessing the World Trade Center 1974-2001 (Rizzoli).

"We wanted to do a book. Why? Because it's our city," he says. "Our commitment was to do a book, period -- a book that would add something."

Amid the sea of Sept. 11 book covers, "Eleven" is striking in its severe simplicity. While many others feature photographs of the flames, smoke and horror at the World Trade Center that day, the Contact book cover is deep black with a large numeral 11 in white in the center, recalling the Twin Towers in their sharp vertical rectangularity. Along the bottom, in very small red type, is the book's title.

Dignified, austere

"I like the idea that a book that has photography as the main component doesn't have to have a photo on the cover," Pledge says. "There was a common collective feeling [among the Contact personnel] that we wanted something that was dignified, austere and respectful at the same time."
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