My friend
John Miller is a political reporter and a conservative commentator of real integrity and independence [see, for example, how
he's run up against anti-immigrant forces]. He's also an avid reader and reviewer of books, especially (but not exclusively) those dealing with history and literature. You can glimpse the breadth his interests by listening to his
podcast interviews with authors at National Review. The author of several nonfiction books, John has just published his first novel, a work of historical fiction set in the Civil War entitled
The First Assassin. I'm expecting my copy from
Amazon any day now.
But, as John's debut novel becomes available, there's been a disturbing preemptive attack on this unassuming, non-political literary endeavor. Apparently because John is a
National Review contributor, a
small mob of politically-motivated posters are trying to poison the Amazon customer-reviews just as the book has come on the market. Of course, I can't attest to the literary quality of John's novel, because I haven't read it yet. But that lack of first-hand information hasn't stopped sophomoric political censors from trying to overwhelm
Amazon's customer feedback to
The First Assassin.
Now, the reviews--and the comments on the reviews and the votes on the comments--are becoming yet another platform for infantile political theatrics. Yet another example of how Amazon's review system is
broken and laughable. "Mobs"
aren't always wise.
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Update: I just came across this Consumerist post about the restaurant and venue review site Yelp deleting "secondhand" and irrevelant reviews. Why can't Amazon take similar responsibility for editing customer reviews?
