Another book

I worked for the Economist, a weekly news-magazine, for about ten years. My main tasks were writing about Asian affairs (I had lived for a time in South-East Asia) and producing an obituary page each week. No one much wanted to be the paper's undertaker, but a job is a job, and the editor's word is final. You couldn't interview the subject of the obit, as you would with an ordinary article. On the other hand the subject was not in a position to complain about anything you wrote. You had the world's dead to choose from; and not ncessarily the obviously great and good. All the editor asked for was someone interesting. The editor once met Bill Clinton, then American president. Clinton said he read the Economist. What did he think of it? Clinton said he always read the obituary. Bill Emmott, the editor, took it on the chin that the world's most powerful person did not immediately turn to the Economist's leading article to find out what he should do. He stoically told the story at the paper's weekly editorial meeting. The obituary page acquired a sort of respect among the staff as they dealt with mere mortal matters. Ann Wroe runs the page nicely these days, but I don't know if George Bush is among her readers.

Anyway, what this is leading to is that the Economist is publishing a book (with Profile Books) of obits later this year, so that an eager world can find out what it was that grabbed Clinton's attention. I am happy to give it a first review. My verdict: 'Brilliant, not to be missed.' As I mentioned in an earlier post, the other big publishing event of the year is of course my novel Beyond Reason (Solidus), now flying off the bookshops' shelves.