As both presidential campaigns sprint toward the finish line I took one more look at the political books being bought in October 2008 and the patterns they created.
The arrows in the network map above show which books were "also bought" together. A-->B shows that customers who bought A, also bought B. Click on the map above for a larger view.
A few surprising patterns...
- unlike in previous maps, there are no bridging books between the red and blue clusters -- the two parties are totally separated! This reflects the immense polarization and animosity we currently see in campaign rallies on both sides.
- the "key book" of community organizers -- Rules for Radicals -- was being bought by the right-wing! It was being purchased along with several anti-Obama books. Is the Right trying to figure out why Obama's campaign, based on community organizing principals, is so successful? Maybe articles like this are driving the curious red to read normally blue books?
- those buying positive books about Obama, are not buying other political books. Are they interested in the candidate, but not politics in general?
- there are no books about McCain or Biden that made the Amazon cut-off for "most popular political books." The book about Palin -- Sarah -- is the only popular book about the Republican team.
- the Right focus on fewer books to get their message across. The map does not reflect volume of books sold. It is possible that the Right buy more volume of fewer books.
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8 comments:
The Right is reading Saul Alinsky? That's astounding.
How have you got those data, by browsing the site or with an internal source? Is there a proxy for the total sales, like the ranking history?
I would have loved to see that dynamically — but it's too late for that campaign. What other country is closing to an election?
There will be Bundestag elections in Germany September 2009. Warming up has begun.
A great visualization of the "social firewalls" that separate groups.
Tom, I beleive spending time on book shops (Has Amazon the same quasi-monopoly?) and Wikipedia (I'm assuming a major source of political validated information during the campaign) to measure this could be a great research project.
ummm. you said there were no books that bridged the gap between the left and the right, but then you say that the right is reading a book traditionally bought by leftist community organizers.
Why isn't "rules for radicals" a bridge book?
It is not a bridge book now, because the Amazon data does not show sufficient purchases with any of the current blue books.
IOW, the people who are buying the left-leaning political books are NOT buying the Alinsky book, or buying it insufficient quantities to register on the current Amazon cut-offs.
I usually read books like 'The Shock Doctrine'. When I read 'The Audacity of Hope', I found it a little too soft for my tastes; it was like reading a hug.
I appreciate the hard edges of the anti-Bush books. While it's nice to believe in something, it's far more satisfying to poke the Republican elephant with a stick.
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