Summer pre-order update #2 August 27, 2008

For the first time in the 3 1/2-month history of these pre-order posts, I’m reporting that I’ve pre-ordered something other than a music CD.  I have pre-ordered a nonfiction book and unabridged audiobook (CD):

Bill O’Reilly, “A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity: A Memoir” (9/23)

Courtesy Amazon.com

Here is the book synopsis:

In 1957, in the heart of the Eisenhower years, in the third grade classroom of Sister Mary Lurana in Saint Brigid’s parochial school in Westbury, Long Island, was a mouthy, obstreperous kid by the name of William O’Reilly.  Quite a handful he was, and so one day Sister Lurana bent over him in exasperation in response to some piece of mischief and told him to his face, “William, you are a bold fresh piece of humanity.”  Little did she know that she was, early in his career as a troublemaker, defining the essence of Bill O’Reilly and providing him with the title of his brash and entertaining issues-based memoir.

In his most intimate book yet, O’Reilly goes back in time to examine the people, places, and experiences that launched him on his journey from being a working-class kid to an immensely influential television personality and bestselling author.  Readers will learn how his traditional outlook was formed in the crucible of his family, his neighborhood, his church, and his schools, and how his views on America’s proper role in the world emerged from covering four wars on five continents over three-plus decades as a news correspondent.  What will delight his many fans and surprise many others is the humor and self-deprecation with which he handles one of his core subjects: himself, and just how O’Reilly became O’Reilly.