For all who have been waiting for the latest contribution to our literature by an American ex-president, the much-anticipated Bush-43 memoir Decision Points will be released November 9 in two different e-book editions. According to the publisher’s press release, “The book is a chronicle of the fourteen most critical and historic decisions in the life and public service of the 43rd President of the United States.”
The standard e-book Kindle edition will contain the complete print edition text and photographs and is already available for pre-order here at a discounted price of $9.99, compared with the “list price” of $35 for both print and ebook editions.
Equally interesting is the fact that, at least for now, the deluxe ebook edition is also available for pre-order in the Kindle Store for $9.99 as of late afternoon Tuesday, October 11. I strongly recommend ordering that deluxe edition right away if you are interested in getting it at the $9.99 price, because it may not last. Amazon is currently discounting the hardcover edition by 46 percent to $18.90.
The deluxe edition edition with audio and video enhancements will be released for platforms and devices that support such media, including the Kindle app for iPhone and iPad. (When I placed a pre-order, the Kindle Store did not restrict devices based on the capacity to display video.) The deluxe edition will include:
- Videos from the defining moments of the Bush presidency, including President Bush’s inspiring speech to 9/11 rescue workers, intimate Bush family movies, and a special introduction to the edition by the President himself
- Handwritten letters from President Bush’s personal correspondence
- Full texts of President Bush’s most important speeches, including his addresses to the nation about the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and his Second Inaugural
- More than 50 additional photographs not contained in the print edition
Decision Points will also be released as an audiobook read by the former president. It will, apparently and perhaps not surprisingly, be an abridged version. A cloth-bound, signed, and numbered limited edition ($350) will be published on November 30, 2010.