WK Publishing

Nov. 16, 2008--Will President-elect Barack Obama stimulate a renaissance in serious book writing and reading? After eight years with a president and a party-in-power that embraced anti-intellectualism, we have a president who is a best-selling, highly-praised writer, and is drawing inspiration and guidance from books he considers important. Two that he has mentioned recently are Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," and on the CBSNews program"60 Minutes," Obama revealed that he has also been reading a book about another president who came into office in the middle of a national crisis: "The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope," by Newsweek's top political columnist Jonathan Alter. For those who care about good writing and books, it's a nice change to have an advocate at the helm.