Interestingly (to me at least) I’m getting mixed reports. Some generally — though not uniformly — excellent placement in New York and DC, but generally — but not uniformly — poor placement in the rest of the country. I’ve gotten a lot of email like this:

Jonah, In response to your request, here’s my experience in buying your book today: Went to Barnes & Noble in West Chester, OH, about noon. The book was placed in “current events,” only two copies on the shelf, and turned so that the spine was showing. It was not displayed in any sort of “new arrivals” area, whether at the front of the store or even on the endcap of the current events section (which is behind the history section, at least in that store). I had to ask the lady at the info desk to look it up – she had trouble. Couldn’t find it under the title, but found it under your name, and walked me over to it. Handed it to me like she was handling a dead fish. Heh, that last part could be my imagination, but as a conservative who loves bookstores I always brace for the stereotypical lib clerk in the big box bookstore. Anyway, very much looking forward to reading it, big fan, yadda yadda, etc.

Some folks have gotten the dead fish treatment. For example:

This is why I didn’t buy your book on Amazon or NRO. I love getting in the face of liberal bookstore clerks. Here at my local Borders [near Philadelphia], I asked where I could find it. The clerk made me say the name three times. She looked for it. Couldn’t find it. I made her go in the back. They were still in the box apparently. She looked like she wanted ice tongs when she picked it up. …

And then there’s this:

the lady at the help desk at barnes & noble in somerville, nj told me they were out of you book and had ordered more. and that was at 11:30 this morning.

Update: More reports pouring in:

FYI, I dropped by the local Barnes and Noble here in Winston-Salem, NC, today. Your book was nowhere to be found on the front table of New Releases, nor in the New Releases section of the Current Affairs shelves. It took me several minutes of scouring to spot four copies on the bottom shelf with only their spines facing out. Of course, I bought one, but I removed the remaining three from the bottom shelf and placed them front and center atop the three huge stacks of Valerie Plame’s book. Can’t wait to read the book. Congratulations!

And: I loved this:

I stopped by the Silver Spring Border’s this afternoon. The book was back in the politics section. There were three copies of which two appeared to have been sliced while the box was being opened. It was not in the front under new releases and in the computer directory it said it was “on the way” and you had to check with the front desk.

And:

I went to my favorite local bookstore, Anderson’s Bookshoppes, in Downer’s
Grove (west of Chicago) to pick up a copy of *Liberal Fascism*. Couldn’t
find it on the shelf because — the clerk informed me — it had already sold
out. So the clerk called the main store in Naperville (southwest of Chicago)
because the computer showed they had one copy left. Too late. The copy had
just been sold. So I put in an order for my own copy.
That one will be for my daughter. Me, I already bought an ebook version from
eReader (http://ereader.com).
I’ve just finished reading the introduction and ALREADY my brain is
beginning to expand like those of the aliens in the “Menagerie” episode of
Star Trek Prime. Is it safe to go on?

Note: Once Chaka gets the book blog up, I’ll spare you these sorts of posts.