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The Most Dangerous Novel in America?
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Patriots predicted a financial meltdown and the ensuing chaos. Now it’s a bestselling manifesto. Survivalist James Wesley, Rawles talks to Sara Nelson from an undisclosed location.
Every once in a while, a book you’ve never heard of by a writer you’ve never heard of comes out of the woodwork to become a bestseller. That was the story with the Tim LaHaye Left Behind novels of the 1990s, and with last year’s The Shack, by William P. Young. Both “faith-based,” and both originally either self- or tiny-house published, these books would never be reviewed by the likes of any of the usual literary suspects and have initially small advertising budgets—but score nonetheless, thanks to passionate word of mouth. This year’s entry in the Where-Did-That-Come-From? Sweepstakes is a 384-page paperback novel called Patriots from tiny Berkeley-based Ulysses Press. Published April 7, the book has already hovered around the top 10 on the Amazon bestsellers list. Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 75 percent of sales but does not receive reports from Wal-Mart (a store at which Patriots would likely sell well, thanks to its libertarian, survivalist themes), says 1,500-plus copies have sold in its first week.
“I generally recommend that people pick religious people for neighbors because they’re going to be the most law-abiding and trustworthy in a crisis, because they’re God-fearing. If I had a Bahai as a next-door neighbor, I’d feel much safer than someone who was a Marilyn Manson fan.”
What is Patriots, and who is its author, James Wesley, Rawles? (The internal comma is intentional; according to Rawles, an admitted “student of common law,” it’s what he calls a minor affection that distinguishes between his first names, which belong to him, and his family, which “owns” the surname.) According to one Amazon reviewer, Patriots is “one of the best researched books, ever.” Admits another “who’s not a big book reader,” it’s unputdownable. In fact, pretty much the only thing fans of the book seem to squabble over is whether the story of a band of survivors of a collapsed world should be called a novel or a survival guide. Its author, Mr. Comma Rawles, says, “I like to think it succeeds as both. I don’t pretend it’s a literary masterpiece.”
A graduate of San Jose State University with a bachelors in journalism—and a longtime editor at Defense Electronics magazine—Rawles has been writing about survivalism and its many tactics since at least the mid-1980s and this book, which does seem eerily prescient about the current economic crisis, has existed in one form or another (online, self-published, in the author’s head) since the mid-'90s. But it’s really taking off now—the author says that his representative, Tom Clancy’s ex-agent Robert Gottlieb, is negotiating with HarperCollins, for a mass-market paperback version of this novel as well as a sequel; at the same time, and on his Web site, SurvivalBlog.com, he announced that Plume will publish a nonfiction manual: How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It, an instant book to be published, as Rawles says, in August, “aught nine”— or, as the rest of us might say: this summer.
It’s not easy to catch up with Rawles, as he lives in an “undisclosed location, West of the Rockies,” but his publicist at Ulysses Press connected us by phone. Loath as he was to talk about himself or his family—beyond acknowledging that the book is dedicated to his wife, whom he calls the Memsahib, and that he and the Memsahib have an undisclosed number of children, whom they home-school—he was positively chatty about his novel, and the philosophy behind it.
Your book exhibits a very definite philosophy about the world and how we can and should live. Can you describe that philosophy?
My basic philosophy is that we live in a very fragile society, and the recognition of that leads logically to the conclusion that people need to be better prepared than most are. Some people call it “Guns and groceries” survival. You can’t rely on the government’s infrastructure. There are going to be crises, and natural disasters—Hurricane Katrina is a perfect example. People need to be self-sufficient, and have a deep larder—it’s primarily about food storage and water filter for water you’ll have to gather for yourself. For the majority of my readers who either live in the suburbs or the countryside, they can store six months’ or a year’s worth of food. For someone living in a major metropolitan area, they might only have room for two- or three-months' supply of food.
What about the “guns” part of the equation?
I look at guns as any other tool for survival: A gun is an inanimate object that has a purpose, like a claw hammer. You can build a house with it, or bash someone’s head in with it. Its value is in the user. I look at guns as tools, either for self-defense, or as tools for hunting small or big game.
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Why the focus on an author's personal life? The writer as commodity is patently absurd. My eyes to the sky. As if what's on the cover of the thing is the primary focus. Which it is. As if the interview is the primary focus. Which it is. As if the publicist's Manolo Blahniks are her focus. Which they are. It's become a ritual they've incorporated into their idiot's business model like a check box. "Big Buba lives in a truck stop in Whiskey, Texas, with his sixteen children and a dog." It's like the book blurb. Annoying. Meaningless. What these rituals really do is give the editorial assistants who are smoldering to become editors jobs. But woe to the writer who doesn't participate in the ritual. Some high priestess of the temple will cut your dick off. "I live in an underground bunker in Idaho with my sixteen guns." WHO CARES? Take "where a writer lives" to another level. How DARE some troublemaker writer even suggest that in publishing, it's not about what you write (the book blogs scream it isn't so but it is so), it's about who you are, which has everything to do with where you live. We want the package wrapped neatly. With temple ribbon. "Where you live" is actually code for what class are you from. "Big Buba lives with his dog on the Upper West side of Manhattan." When in doubt go for cliche. Now we know everything we need to know. We can form a mental picture some publicist in her Manolos can sell like Motoko Rich's real estate. The "sixteen children" might complicate the image so let's tastefully leave them out of the blurb. Ditto the guns. The rituals have become more important than the book. It's become the paradigm in the publishing business for how things sell. How interviews are conducted. How awards are given out. How good is your rubber chicken dinner. Let's get the headshot. Let's get him on Charlie Rose. Quick, call Courtney Lizt. She wears Manolos. She speaks the language of the publicist. Publishing is the culture of absurdity (I thought I proved that). Take it to another level. Let's REALLY go for the truth (how about urine tests and genetic spit tests). "Buba and his companion live in the Hamptons." Code for we know who Buba sleeps with. I swear to you, publicists send writers forms they have to fill out that ask "hobbies?" I'm a writer, you idiot, I write. How about a blurb that just says "Buba has had sex with 239,872 men and two women in under a year, a record even for the Hamptons. Bookslut could go around chasing names like the Health Department to confirm this. The truth! The truth! The truth! Motoko Rich might have to leave her phone. Courtney Lizt could just say no. "Did you have sex with Buba in 1949?" Yes. It's as relevant as the term "gay book." WHEN did books start having sex. "Where do you live" is also part of the paradigm that goes to race. "I live on the Navajo Reservation." Where I live supposedly tells you what race my grandmother was. The real question isn't where do you live who do you have sex with how many children do you have what are your hobbies what is your race, it's are the people who run publishing really as stupid and as petty and as vindictive and as greedy and as arrogant and as vile as they appear to be in their new high heels. Yes. But are they evil. Yes. Yes. Yes. http://le-too.blogspot.com -- Tim Barrus, Amsterdam
So, you're going to be ok when it's finally revealed the author of this book is really Jon Peters?
Credibility counts. Knowing an author is really following his own advice counts too.
You take him at his word?
Good luck with that! Milli Vanilli has a few cds they'd like to sell you.
I read it; it is a great read. Not exactly Hemingway or Samuel Clemens, but an interesting, informative and throught-provoking read. I don't agree with everything the author conveyed...but it is hard to dispute as a completely impossible scenario, either.
Seems to me that the reviewer is the type of person who would read the just-released DHS report on "right-wing extremism," and actually believe it was a serious piece of government "intelligence analysis" rather than just half-cooked political hackery. Didn't you notice the timing of that hit piece--released a couple of days before the TEA Day Parties??? Not a single media outlet, including Fox News, glommed onto that particular coincidence of timing--the report's timing gave the MSM a tool with which to move the focus away from the TEA Party movement, and forced TEA Party interviewees to spend their time defending themselves against the charges of being home-grown terrorists.
Definitely one of our government's sadder days in histories.
And then this interviewer spends no time trying to understand Rawles, his book or those that read and find it enjoyable. Rather, she resorts to character assassination and
In the title of this article, the author suggests that 'Patriots' may be the "Most Dangerous Novel in America." Which part of the interview addresses this question and lends any support to this view, or is this simply rethorical hype (as, having read the first novel, I suspect it is)?
Sara is just a ditts, her title had nothing to do with the article, they call this journalism, go figure.
Okay, I am not a Christian (actually about as far from it as you can get), not a Republican, liberal, gay loving (best friend is gay) and live in major metropolitan city.
I've read his book three times and will likely buy the latest edition even though I own an earlier edition. If your looking for the next great American novel - this ain't it. If you are looking for a decent read and an almost ridiculous amount of information on how to survive the collapse of America (an idea that has gone from ludicrous to disturbing in the last few years) this is your baby.
I also read his blog - James Wesley, Rawles (really who cares about the comma? It's not like he changed his name to a symbol!) is consistent, patient, informative and helpful. He has also been more accurate in his assessment of where things are heading in this country then *anyone* on MSNBC. Actually, if he were to be interviewed on TV I would love it to be John Stewart. That would be fun!
T
Thank you.
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