The 90-Headed Finalist Is Feeling Grumpy
The spectacle of W.W. Norton & Co., the publisher of the best-selling “authorized” edition of The 9/11 Commission Report, being fêted at the National Book Awards this week already has some of the 90 co-authors grumbling. They didn’t receive royalties, and Norton has not yet found a promised charity for some of its profits. But the history professor who headed the writing staff, Philip Zelikow, did get paid for narrating Norton’s eight-hour, $35 audio version of the report. He’s also set off eye-rolling for meddling in congressional negotiations over the report’s conclusions. (Commission chairman Thomas Kean made it clear Zelikow was speaking for himself.) Then there’s the issue of who’s attending the awards ceremony. “I’ve been invited, and I think I’ll accept,” says Zelikow, who’ll be joined by Kean and four other co-authors. But one uninvitee says, “There are going to be a lot of people unhappy with him swanning around in his tuxedo.”
—Carl Swanson