The Progressive Book Club Launches

The Progressive Book Club has been launched with the idea of promoting left wing books and ideas through on an Internet web site. It will combine the aspects of a traditional book club and an Internet social network with online discussion groups, blogs, and other features.

The Progressive Book Club initially will offer two hundred books, which will include everything from Clinton memoirs, to issue tracts, to the fiction of Toni Morrison. The club promises to add fifteen books per month.

Why a Progressive Book Club? The mission statement says, in part, "At PBC, our mission is to find the titles - and ideas - that can change our nation for the better and bring them to the forefront of the national debate." The Progressive Book Club also seems to be a reaction to the success conservatives have had in promulgating their ideas through the printed word:

"We started PBC because we realized that conservatives had used books, book clubs, and publishing to lend currency and legitimacy to their ideas - and that unless progressives learned to use those same tools, right-wing ideas would prevail for the foreseeable future. With the renewal of a vibrant progressive movement, we believe that America is again ready to embrace new ideas and to honor traditional ideals. "

The question arises, will the Progressive Book Club last or will it not survive the end of the Bush Administration, the existence of which has driven so many liberals to distraction. A quick analysis suggests that the club probably will, if it can avoid the over earnestness that has afflicted attempts to create-say-liberal talk radio.

Liberals (yes, they prefer the term "progressive", but really let's call them who they are) may heartily look forward to the day President Bush lays down the burden of office and returns to Crawford, Texas. But they will quickly find that happiness will be a little more fleeting. This will especially be true if John McCain is elected to succeed President Bush. The anger of the liberals being undiminished, they will want to have that anger validated. A good book, discounted by the club, with titles such as "The End of America" or "Why Conservatives are Evil and Stupid" will help in that process.

And, as the club boasts, liberal books have, from time to time, changed history. Ralph Nader's "Unsafe at Any Speed" helped to usher in massive regulation of the automobile industry. Michael Harrington's "The Other America" inspired the Great Society and the War on Poverty. These two successes (for liberals if not the country) are decades old, but as Barack Obama might say, there is audacity in hope.

The online discussion aspect of the club should help with its success. Moveon.org and the Daily Kos have proven that there is a market for online liberal discussions (which, to be sure, often resemble online liberal rantings.) The site already has videos and podcasts to supplement the printed fare being offered.

And, finally, with online content controversy will follow. Ironically it will be conservative bloggers who will aid in this kind of free publicity. Posters to such sites as the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post have often provided outrageous material for conservative commentators to tut tut over. One suspects, knowing the nature of its intended audience, the blogs and discussions groups on the Progressive Book Club site will be the source of similar material.

Sources: The Progressive Book Club