The Progressive Book Club Launches

The Progressive Book Club has been launched with the idea of promoting left wing books and ideas through on an Internet web site. It will combine the aspects of a traditional book club and an Internet social network with online discussion groups, blogs, and other features.

The Progressive Book Club initially will offer two hundred books, which will include everything from Clinton memoirs, to issue tracts, to the fiction of Toni Morrison. The club promises to add fifteen books per month.

Why a Progressive Book Club? The mission statement says, in part, "At PBC, our mission is to find the titles - and ideas - that can change our nation for the better and bring them to the forefront of the national debate." The Progressive Book Club also seems to be a reaction to the success conservatives have had in promulgating their ideas through the printed word:

"We started PBC because we realized that conservatives had used books, book clubs, and publishing to lend currency and legitimacy to their ideas - and that unless progressives learned to use those same tools, right-wing ideas would prevail for the foreseeable future. With the renewal of a vibrant progressive movement, we believe that America is again ready to embrace new ideas and to honor traditional ideals. "

The question arises, will the Progressive Book Club last or will it not survive the end of the Bush Administration, the existence of which has driven so many liberals to distraction. A quick analysis suggests that the club probably will, if it can avoid the over earnestness that has afflicted attempts to create-say-liberal talk radio.