If I were really good, I'd have seen this one coming...
I'd heard a bit here and there about a book by John Kerry from 1971, The New Soldier, and decided to start looking about for it. A quick Googling took me to this article about the skyrocketing prices for the book on E-bay. Apparently the cover of the book has several anti-war soldiers planting an upside-down American flag, making it a bit of an instant collector's item. Meanwhile, conspiracy theories abound that Kerry and his campaign were 'rounding up existing copies.' My guess is that's silly--trying to track down copies of a book that old would be tough and counterproductive--but who knows?
Sure enough, there's one selling on e-bay for over $100.
I knew about the book, because believe it or not, it came up in a 'mock campaign' we had back in middle school. (This was during the 1988 campaign, and certain kids in my history class had to take a current candidate, speak for them, and see how the class voted. I represented Gary Hart, and lost miserably.)
When I think how much of my law school tuition I could have paid off had I cornered the market for this book even a few months ago...
Comments
Posted by: Joel | March 18, 2004 1:25 AM