New York – When Random House’s editor, Andrew Ward, recently met with staff editors to discuss possible book projects, conversation inevitably became current events and the Trump administration.
“It seemed obvious that we needed to look back in the country’s central documents,” Ward said. “And we wanted to get them quickly.”
On Wednesday, Random House announced that he would publish a hardcover book in July that combines the declaration of independence and the Constitution of the United States, followed in November by a hard lid edition of the federalist documents. Both books include presentations by the winning historian of the Pulitzer Jon Meacham Award, who has written biographies of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, among others.
The random volumes of the house, launched through its modern impression of the library, will join a prolific market that has increased in recent months. According to Circana, which tracks around 85% of the printed retail market, editions of the Declaration of Independence, the federalist documents and the constitution of the United States are sold to the fastest pace since Circana began compiling numbers in 2004.
Around 162,000 combined copies have been sold until mid -April, compared to 58,000 during the same period of the previous year and around 33,000 in 2023. Sales were around 92,000 in the first months of Trump’s first mandate, in 2017, more than double the 2016 rhythm.
Brenna Connor, an analyst at the Circa book industry, said the jump “is likely in response to the recent change of administration” and cited greater interest in other books about democracy and government, including “about tyranny” of Timothy Snyder and “Who is the Government”? “A collection of essays on Dave Eggers officials, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell and others.
“This performance of political understanding is developing in some different areas,” added Connor.
Meacham, during a recent telephone interview with Associated Press, said the founders had tried to make sense of a revolutionary era, either breaking with England or discussing how to form a federal government with sufficient power to govern effectively, without giving him the type of monarchical authority that enraged the colonies.
He believes that reading the statement and other texts can give today a similar sense of mission and guiding principles.
“It’s a tumultuous moment … to put it kindly,” Meacham said. “A way of addressing chaos of today, what San Pablo would call the ‘tribulations’ of today, is to participate again with the essential texts that are to create a system that is still worth defending.”
The Books of the Modern Library will have many competitors. The 18th century documents are in the public domain, you can read for free online and anyone can publish them. According to Circana, Skyhorse, Penguin, Barnes & Noble and others have launched popular editions.
“In general, we see greater sales of the Editions of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in each electoral cycle, but particularly this year,” said Shannon Devito, Book Strategy Director of Barnes & Noble. “This could be due to the fact that next year the 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence is fulfilled,” he said, “or the rapid and furious current political conversations and policy changes.”
