The New York Times book reviews have long been a staple of the book and publishing industries, but the world has changed and so has the New York Times. With all the changes, it’s fair to ask if the New York Times book reviews are still relevant or have they become a relic of the past?
What Has Changed?
The primary changes that have altered the New York Times include bias, more book review options than in the past, and the publishing industry.
Change 1
For starters, the New York Times is no longer an objective, neutral news source. The paper now caters to a base of liberal and progressive readers, so it omits facts, stories, and information that does not promote liberal and progressive ideas. The book review section, accordingly, has followed. It’s impossible to find a fair-minded review of a book written by a moderate or conservative author. The reviews of conservative books are disrespectful, sarcastic, and misleading.
Change 2
Additionally, there are many more book review options now than in the past. For decades the New York Times held a prestigious position as a top-notch news source and reviewer of books. Now, however, there are numerous great reviewers from other newspapers and online. The Wall Street Journal, for instance, is the best book reviewer in the world. The online universe has also shifted the book review industry, adding endless reviewers – some of them are specialized in a certain space and some are general.
The Conservative Book Society, for example, recommends books for conservatives. The Wall Street Journal provides massive numbers of book reviews. Some celebrities have their own book clubs.
Change 3
Book publishers these days have consolidated into a handful of giant companies. For this reason, the level of competition has reduced in recent years and political forces are better able to restrict the free market nature of the industry.
This may be changing because of giants like Amazon entering the space, but book publishing is still done by a few mega companies who dictate who gets published and what gets published. Because of this, the New York Times book reviewers go to the publishers and dictate who and what is published. Their position is that they have the readers, so they tell the publishers what they will promote and what they will not. It’s a racket, but there are signs this mafia style reviewing and publishing fix may be beginning to break.
Death of Competition
Competition is a great thing. It makes products and services much better, and often reduces the price consumers pay. The New York Times has responded to competition by pivoting from a place where they offered fair, neutral, or moderate reviews to specifically targeting liberals and progressives.
The bigger aspect of today’s media is the shift to “opinion” news. For many years there were just a handful of news outlets and they all tried to report from an unbiased position. There were agreed facts, agreed political neutrality, but each media outlet held their own style with nuances for certain niches. Now, media outlets have had to pick a tribe to service. Instead of reporting from a position of “these are the facts” they all now report from a place of “these are the facts you want to see in order to buy more papers from me.” They have become adept at providing readers what they want to read, but it’s certainly not neutral.
For Instance…
Let’s take a couple examples of the New York Times bias against conservatives. Reviewing Ron DeSantis’ book, The Courage to Be Free, the reviewer is obsessed with pinning DeSantis as authoritarian. Over and over she attempts to make him seem obsessed with control, but the book’s theme is actually the opposite. “The dull coldness at the book’s core,” the times proclaims, is backed by DeSantis’ “bullying sense of superiority.” Nothing in the review is even handed. The entire point of it is to communicate to readers, “Don’t read it and don’t encourage this mad man by buying the book. If you do, you hate democracy.”
Other examples are the treatment by the New York Times of Nikki Haley and Mike Pence. Both have written books reviewed by the once great newspaper. Both were as rebuked as DeSantis. In all instances, the New York Times seems incapable of letting their readers evaluate books on their own.
What is the mighty paper scared of? Perhaps, they recognize that if readers are exposed to the other side of the story, they might stop subscribing. They are clearly out to win money, not advance civil discourse.
Reviewing the NYT Book Reviews
The world has moved online. With it, there are more options available which has created competition the New York Times did not face in decades past. Now that the New York Times book reviews face competition from fair minded reviewers, they have opted to direct the paper’s attention to their core audience – liberal, progressive, and woke.
The New York Times book reviews are certainly not yet a relic of a past age (as they still have many readers). They are also no longer relevant for most readers because of their extreme positions, and therefore, their biased reviews. If you are a self-described liberal, progressive, or consider yourself woke, then it’s a great resource. If you are moderate, not political, conservative, or libertarian, then there are many other resources available to you.
Where to Find Fair-Minded Books
The Wall Street Journal is an excellent source of books reviews ($50 per month for a subscription). Alternatively, the Conservative Book Society offers fair-minded reviews. More than ever, there are places to turn for books and entertainment that do not promote a progressive political agenda.
