RICHARD NIXON: 1913-1994 : Stores Finding No Great Demand for Nixon Books

Propped on a crowded shelf at Rizzoli International Bookstore is a hardback copy of “Nixon: Ruin and Recovery,” by Stephen E. Ambrose, sharing space with a long line of volumes by and about other American political luminaries.

And like the other weighty tomes surrounding it, Ambrose’s biography of the 37th President was passed up Sunday by book shoppers who browsed the tony South Coast Plaza bookshop.

“I’m surprised,” said assistant manager Garrick Brown. “We haven’t had many requests for Nixon books.”

While federal, state and county officials stepped up preparations for the funeral of Richard M. Nixon in his hometown of Yorba Linda, bookstores across the county reported spotty interest in either histories about Nixon or works he had penned himself.

Many store clerks interviewed Sunday said they did not have any Nixon books at all, not because they had sold out but because they were returned to suppliers.

But with the renewed focus on Nixon’s topsy-turvy career, some stores are taking no chances on being caught short.

“When we heard he was in a coma,” Brown said, “we put some orders in. All the attention brings him back to the forefront.”

Most of the county’s larger book chains said they are expecting a rush of renewed interest in literature on Nixon as the week wears on.

Rizzoli’s main rival, Brentano’s Bookstore, also in South Coast Plaza, reported making “a few sales” over the last few days.

Store manager Cathy Dages said that of the wide variety of books on Nixon’s life and times, most buyers prefer those about him to those by him.

But as television continues to air snippets of his life, many readers will grow increasingly curious about his resignation from office, his efforts at instituting dialogues with the Soviet Union and China and his career as an elder statesman, several shop managers supposed.

“I know that as the talk shows keep bringing Nixon up and as Larry King keeps talking about him, we’ll see more interest,” Dages said.

Managers at other bookstores, however, were skeptical about a rush on Nixon material.

At Waldenbooks in the MainPlace mall in Santa Ana, store manager Mike McIntosh said that he has seen no interest in Nixon books whatsoever and that, after sending what stock the store had back to the publishers, he does not anticipate calling for new volumes.

“There’s just been no demand whatsoever,” McIntosh said. “Believe it or not, we have been selling more Henry Kissinger books lately.”

“I really expected to see a huge run on Nixon books,” said Melissa Knight, manager of Super Crown Books in Laguna Niguel. “It just hasn’t happened.”