Heads in the Sand

I'm not sure if you've heard, but I wrote a book recently called Heads in the Sand: How the Republicans Screw Up Foreign Policy and Foreign Policy Screws Up the Democrats which examines the politics and policy of the 21st century national security debate from a progressive perspective. The main idea of the book is that the key to future political success for American liberalism is dependent on mastering the national security issue, and that the key to doing this isn't to endlessly continue the vacuous search for "toughness" but instead to ditch the people and ideas who wound up leaving so many Democrats complicit in the Bush administration's horrible war in Iraq.

Fred Kaplan calls it "a smart, vital book," Ezra Klein deems is "a very serious, thoughtful argument that has never been made in such detail or with such care" and Hendrick Hertzberg emphasizes that it's not boring (as those of you who get the Ezra Klein joke may surmise), "Heads in the Sand is not just a razor-sharp analysis cum narrative of the politics of national security in general and the Iraq war in particular, it's also an enthralling and often very funny piece of writing."

Today is the "official" release date, so not only can you order a copy but I think it should now be in brick and mortar bookstores. Also if you live in DC and have a job that lets you wander off to think tanks in the middle of the day come see me today at noon talking about these issues with Rand Beers, Kurt Campbell, and Brian Katulis.

So, you know, buy my book. Tell your friends to buy my book. Read the book, even!

Comments

Hrmph. Amazon has bundled my copy with Nixonland and is scheduling both for 19 May shipment. grrrr.

Posted by Fermion The Clown | April 25, 2008 9:47 AM

So, do you think you can get any policy wonk groupies to massage your sore legs?

Posted by steve duncan | April 25, 2008 9:48 AM

So, do you think you can get any policy wonk groupies to massage your sore legs?

I am sure he always has McMegan to fall back on. Then again she could still be sleeping off her hangover after doing 3AM drunken blog postings.

Posted by Joe Klein's conscience | April 25, 2008 9:55 AM

So, do you think you can get any policy wonk groupies to massage your sore legs?

I'm feeling kind of better today.

Posted by Matthew Yglesias | April 25, 2008 9:55 AM

I eagerly await the delivery of my favorite new doorstop!

Posted by Yossarian | April 25, 2008 9:56 AM

How about a "quota" of one major and two minor HITS plugs per week?...

Posted by RKU | April 25, 2008 9:56 AM

Apparently, the M Street B&N has already sold out its copies.

Posted by Macker | April 25, 2008 9:57 AM

"A very serious, thoughtful argument..."

I cannot believe you put that on the dust jacket. That is awesome.

Posted by Aaron | April 25, 2008 9:57 AM

Did Ezra really refer to you as "very serious" ?
That's not an insult anymore?

Posted by heedless | April 25, 2008 9:59 AM

Also if you live in DC and have a job that lets you wander off to think tanks in the middle of the day come see me today at noon talking about these issues with Rand Beers, Kurt Campbell, and Brian Katulis.

And bring pie!

Posted by Al | April 25, 2008 10:05 AM

HITS has been at my local Barnes and Noble for weeks. Unfortunately, at the back of the book rack and down near the floor where the fat shoppers (i.e., 50% of the clientele) won't see it. As I asked before, is "Yglesias" Spanish for "he who gets the shitty end of the stick"?

Whereas Glenn Beck's book is at the front of the rack and at eye level.

Ah, the secret to the success of the right wing propaganda machine.

They may hire alcoholics, sex perverts, and alleged narcotic addicts -- but they make sure their last name ends in a letter between A and O so their books get good placement on the display racks.

Beck. Coulter. Hannity. Limbaugh. O'Reilly. It shows a certain low animal cunning, when you think about it.

Posted by Don Williams | April 25, 2008 10:06 AM

Picked up a copy yesterday, the book was featured prominently in a Upper East Side NYC B&N current affairs display table (front row!), with a better table spot than Great American Hypocrites.

Posted by seanh | April 25, 2008 10:12 AM

I would buy the book but then you would make money and don't you know that making money makes you a sell-out? You have to be poor to keep it real.

For your own good I'm going to have to abstain :).

Posted by libarbarian | April 25, 2008 10:14 AM

Did Ezra really refer to you as "very serious" ?
That's not an insult anymore?

Posted by heedless | April 25, 2008 9:59 AM

No, because it's a joke off Jonah Goldberg. Ezra doesn't really think Matt's serious.

Posted by aleks | April 25, 2008 10:17 AM

What - you wrote a book?

I had no idea!

Posted by low-tech cyclist | April 25, 2008 10:17 AM

I'll buy it...but no more posts about sitting on your veranda on beautiful days...."working".

I like to think of you agonizing in a dingy room, coffee pot dripping in the background, loose pieces of paper askew on your desk, pursuing truth and a better way for America!

Yeehaw...it's three cup morning for me.

Posted by jvoe | April 25, 2008 10:25 AM

Wow Matthew... I've never seen any blogger flog his/her own work quite so shamelessly as you've been doing the last few weeks. I think your approaching record self-plug levels.

Someone better inform Andrew Sullivan that his legacy is in danger, pronto.

Posted by Xeynon | April 25, 2008 10:39 AM

Re Don Williams

Nothing alleged about Limbaughs' addiction to oxycotin.

Posted by SLC | April 25, 2008 10:42 AM

I know you deserve success, but it really is reaching the point where the number of reminders is becoming seriously annoying and making me less likely to touch the book with a ten-foot pole. Remember the entries are in your blog, not at new stops on your book tour through 60 cities with different audiences.

Posted by John Haber | April 25, 2008 10:44 AM

You expect me to buy a book that doesn't even mention me in the index?

Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | April 25, 2008 10:45 AM

Wow Matthew... I've never seen any blogger flog his/her own work quite so shamelessly as you've been doing the last few weeks.

Who says I'm not ashamed?

Posted by Matthew Yglesias | April 25, 2008 10:48 AM

Just to add, I won't say that you might not wish to have lots of posts laying out clever parts of the argument and why someone had better be making them, or relating things to the day's events. But hey I'm really and truly on Amazon is not the same thing.

Posted by John Haber | April 25, 2008 10:52 AM

I don't think Yglesias has much of a choice in the matter of how much to promote his book. There are marketing contracts and such involved, I'm sure.

Additionally, how about this: let's start an email campaign to get young Matthew a segment with Charlie Rose!

Posted by dry_fish | April 25, 2008 11:02 AM

Planning to appear on the Colbert Report or Daily Show? Might not be a bad idea.

Posted by Chuck | April 25, 2008 11:07 AM

I look for it yesterday at a Barnes & Noble in Atlanta...they told me that did not have it.

I found it in Borders, although being located under "Y" for Yglesias, it was on the bottom shelf at the end of the political section. That's gotta hurt sales.

Posted by Oberon | April 25, 2008 11:09 AM

Hey Matt,

I bought your book but then left it at the new Target in Columbia Heights. Can you send me a new one?

Posted by Patrick | April 25, 2008 11:20 AM

"I found it in Borders, although being located under "Y" for Yglesias, it was on the bottom shelf at the end of the political section. That's gotta hurt sales."

Yeah, you should have published it under the pseudonymous name "Matthew Aglesias."

Posted by Aaron | April 25, 2008 11:20 AM

I think Matt should go balls to the wall guerilla/viral on HITS marketing. Encourage readers to submit YouTube videos showcasing all the effective around-the-house uses they've found for their copies of HITS or something.

I know my copy will make an excellent wedge for my window fan.

Posted by Brent | April 25, 2008 11:23 AM

I, for one, don't understand why anyone should be ashamed of flogging his or her own book. It seems a perfectly natural thing to do.

Posted by Al | April 25, 2008 11:24 AM

I think Matt should go balls to the wall guerilla/viral on HITS marketing. Encourage readers to submit YouTube videos showcasing all the effective around-the-house uses they've found for their copies of HITS or something.

I know my copy will make an excellent wedge for my window fan.

Posted by Brent | April 25, 2008 11:27 AM

In honor of finally being able to buy this book:

http://thisbookstinks.ytmnd.com/

(Yes, I think I shall.)

Posted by Aaron (No. 2 - collect the set!) | April 25, 2008 11:54 AM

I think he should make promotional youtubes based on '80s dance hit. I was trying to think of one, but the only one that seemed to work was "Homosapien." But I've used that one already...

Posted by godoggo | April 25, 2008 11:55 AM

"a very serious, thoughtful argument that has never been made in such detail or with such care" now gets 908 hits on yahoo. I am not sure whether that's because it's the one of funniest jokes in history or whether it's tired and old.

Posted by Dilan Esper | April 25, 2008 12:07 PM

Hmm...grunge seems to work better. God, the things I use my brain cells for...

Posted by godoggo | April 25, 2008 12:09 PM

I wish posters hitting on Matthew for plugging his book would shut up. It's his blog -- how much money have they donated for server upkeep and bandwidth?

Besides, I enjoy watching Matthew flog his book. It's publicly humiliating for him and I'm a sick bastard who enjoys that.

Posted by Don Williams | April 25, 2008 12:13 PM

"hitting on Matthew?"

Posted by godoggo | April 25, 2008 12:17 PM

"hitting on Matthew?"

Has Matthew been hit on (passively speaking)?

Posted by godoggo | April 25, 2008 12:20 PM

And here's another comment!

Posted by godoggo | April 25, 2008 12:27 PM

Re Al's comment "I, for one, don't understand why anyone should be ashamed of flogging his or her own book. It seems a perfectly natural thing to do."
-------------
Because Harvard assured Matthew that they would make him into a philosopher king and nubile young acolytes would be drawn like moths to the radiance of his manly intellect.

Wealthy elderly men would engage in streetfights for the privilege of being his patrons.

Socrates didn't flog his Dialogues. Socrates didn't even WRITE his Dialogues -- he had an aristocratic young buttkisser called Plato do it for him.

There is an upside , however. If Matthew ever gained enough rep to threaten the Establishment, they would turn on him just as they did with Socrates.

What's the equivalent of drinking Hemlock these days? Forcing Matthew to take a teaching position at Phillip Andover -- Making him kowtow to snotty little brats that are the next generation of George W Bushs? heh heh heh

Just look at what they did to poor Daniel Drezner. TUFTS!!!

Posted by Don Williams | April 25, 2008 12:28 PM

I am afraid you have violated the rules of COI (conflict of interest). You quote your friends lauding your book.

What if a GOP (any GOP) did that?

You would be on Keith Olbermann (quiet possibly the worst person on cable) shouting - COI, COI, COI - these GOPs have no shame.

Do you?

Posted by eorse | April 25, 2008 2:56 PM

Yes! Start a write-in campaign to get him on Charlie Rose and Colbert! Matt's not obligated to plug his book on the blog, but he's doing it because IT'S WORKING. Lots of people don't read every post (I know, right?) and have only seen one plug.

Posted by Eric the Editor | April 25, 2008 2:59 PM

"I wish posters hitting on Matthew for plugging his book would shut up. It's his blog -- how much money have they donated for server upkeep and bandwidth?"

If this clown is paying for his own server for this crap, then that explains why the server is such a piece of shit.

Meanwhile, all copies of his book have been rerouted to Hwang hung Lo's Bookstore on Kim Street, Pyongyang, North Korea.

Or maybe that was Poontang, North Korea - I don't remember. My typing is almost as bad as Matt's.

Almost.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | April 25, 2008 10:19 PM

A question: WHY SHOULD ANYONE CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT FOREIGN POLICY WHEN YOU GOT IRAQ WRONG?

As paul krugman has said, all those who supported the iraq war should be flung in a a cave, the entrance then being sealed by a boulder so large that zeus himself could not budge it.

Crafting good foreign policy requires a wealth of disperate expertise. The most salient commonality between these being that you have none of them. Youre a turd and only an idiot would buy your dreadful, crappy, assholish, prick bible of a book.

Posted by pimp hand strikes! | April 26, 2008 6:07 AM

I should add that alongside not buying this book neither shall I buy your inevitable autobiography 'head in my ass: how a blogger wrote a book on foreign policy despite having no relevant skills or experience'

Posted by pimp hand strikes! | April 26, 2008 6:12 AM

I picked up a copy at the Barnes and Noble in Potomac Yards. he good news is that they have it up in the 'new releases / current events' case. The bad news is that they have it at the bottom right corner where nobody will ever see it, apparently due to the above-mentioned alphabetical issues...

Of course, getting in a bike ride along the Potomac in what remains of this beautiful afternoon trumps reading a book... but will probably start on it this evening. Hope to catch the streaming video of the CAP event at some point. I have a job that allows me to attend events, but unfortunately, some scheduling problems got in the way yesterday...

Posted by Greg Priddy | April 26, 2008 3:29 PM