The wrong 'Fire and Fury': an old book by the same name
January 10, 2018
Though critically-acclaimed, until just recently, the decade-old book, "Fire and Fury: The Allied Bombing of Germany, 1942-1945" had sold just 15,000 total copies.
Suddenly last week, however, online booksellers began marking an increase in sales that caught the attention of its author, Randall Hansen, a professor of political science in Toronto. Those sales came just as news of "Fire and Fury," a book with the same name which is said to reveal the inner workings of a chaotic White House under President Donald Trump, was leaked.
While the new book, written by journalist Michael Wolff, was released early due to popular demand, others appear to have bought the wrong book of the same name. "I don't know how much of this is a mistake and how much of this is from new interest created by free advertising," Hansen told The New York Times in an interview.
Read more: Michael Wolff: Who is the 'Fire and Fury' author?
Hansen's scholarly work documents the aerial bombing campaign undertaken by the US and UK against Germany during World War II with an eye toward its impact on civilians. The interim director at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto who focuses on migration finds the renewed focus on his book — and its subject matter — an amusing twist.
In an interview with Canadian Broadcaster CBC, Hansen said, "It's amusing, but my sales don't matter. What I hope will happen is that in the moment when we have this demagogue, this unstable demagogue in the White House threatening war, that people who read my book will reflect on the morality of war and above all, the horrific consequences of war for civilians. And if that happens, this will have all not only been fun, but worth it."