*By Carlo Versano*
Bob Woodward's book detailing the chaotic atmosphere in Trump's White House is officially a hit.
"Fear," only went on sale Monday, and publisher Simon & Schuster has already ordered a seventh printing, bringing its initial run to 1 million copies, said Washington Post book critic Ron Charles.
"A million copies is an enormous release," Charles said Wednesday in an interview on Cheddar. "Just almost unprecedented."
The book by Woodward, whose legendary co-reporting on the Watergate scandal ultimately led to the resignation of Richard Nixon, benefits from two factors. First, the topic of Trump sells; and as Michael Wolff's sensational "Fire & Fury" showed, people devour the palace intrigue of this perplexing administration.
Second, Woodward, who still works as an associate editor at the Washington Post, has a sterling reputation. He's "the most trusted journalist in the world," Charles said. That gives weight to the tome, even if many of its revelations are already more or less public knowledge by now, he added.
Charles [reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/fear-is-flying-off-the-shelves/2018/09/11/40554618-b5df-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html?utm_term=.c6808ac435a8) that Barnes and Noble said "Fear" was its fastest-selling book since Harper Lee's 2015 novel "Go Set a Watchman", the long-awaited follow-up to "To Kill a Mockingbird". Woodward's book is currently available through third-party sellers on Amazon but displays a shipping estimate of "one to three weeks," implying a serious shortage of copies.
And the demand is coming from some unusual places ー Washington's large independent bookstore, Politics and Prose, told Charles it was selling bulk orders to foreign embassies, as diplomats struggle to understand the unorthodox president and hope the book will help them get to know "what are we dealing with."
While the book's stats are impressive, they also speak to the "weird economy" of publishing, Charles said. Because unsold books can be returned and pile up in inventory, publishers tend to be conservative in their initial sales estimates and early runs.
"Publishers are very reluctant to publish and print and ship more books than might sell," Charles said.
Though in this case, with a highly respected journalist giving readers a peek behind the curtain of a highly unusual presidency, S&S apparently can't print copies fast enough.
"Fear" is available in stores and online ー while supplies last, that is.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/woodwards-fear-reaches-one-million-copies).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
