Colin Powell’s Book Not A Peek Into The Future
Colin Powell is telling audiences these days that “there are one or two titles that are better than ‘chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”’
“President of the United States” is obviously one, but “best-selling author” could be the other.
Powell’s autobiography, “My American Journey,” is due out next month from Random House with an advance build-up that matches that for “To Renew America” by that other will-he-or-won’t-he presidential candidate, Newt Gingrich.
But the two books could not be more dissimilar, said Random House publisher and editor-in-chief Harold Evans, who personally edited “My American Journey.”
“They’re like chalk and cheese,” the British-born Evans asserted. The Gingrich book is “didactic, a how-to,” while Powell’s is “a genuine full-blooded autobiography.”
The Powell book is being kept under the tightest of wraps until excerpts appear in Time magazine’s Sept. 11 issue - and $25 copies won’t appear in bookstores until Sept. 16 - but Evans was eager to talk about it in a telephone interview this week.
“The marvelous thing about the book,” Evans said, “is that you identify very early on with this fellow,” from his childhood in the South Bronx, “where he wasn’t a terribly good student,” through “the slips and triumphs of his military career.
“You’re going to keep wondering,” Evans said, “will he make the next step to major, or will he get through that jump in parachute training?”
As for Powell’s political philosophy - the question that is still drawing speculation from political analysts - Evans said that the reader “will know what kind of a person he is, in the round.”
“It’s not a policy wonk paper, clause 26 of the welfare bill or how much we should spend to irrigate Montana,” said Evans, “but they’ll know his character and his convictions.”
In Powell’s most extensive comments on the forthcoming book - given during a talk at the American Booksellers Association convention in June - he described himself as “a New Deal kid.”
Powell said that while he endorsed “free-enterprise capitalism,” he said he was concerned for the people and families it left behind. “I have something of a social conscience that puts me to the left of center,” he said.
The ABA convention comments suggest that Powell gives considerable attention to the issue of race. Indeed, he told the booksellers he was surprised at just how much attention he devoted to that issue. Powell said that while he never lost hope growing up in the South Bronx, he has no illusions that inner-city residents have much hope today.
Evans gave a firm “no-comment” on whether Powell will disclose in the book which political party he supports - or whether he will run for president in 1996.