The book, says Lemann, is a fascinating–if hastily written–narrative of one man’s fall. Blair comes off as honest (for a change) for refusing to pass the blame. But still, there’s that provocative title. Lemann says Blair himself doesn’t seem to buy his own charges of racism: “There are a fair amount of racial references, [but] he sort of doesn’t have his heart in it as he’s writing from page to page.” Blair’s cocaine and alcohol addictions, along with recently diagnosed manic-depression, played a larger role than race in his downfall. And Blair himself told NEWSWEEK last week, “Nothing–not mental illness, not substance abuse, not race–drove me to make my bad decisions. My character flaws caused me to make bad decisions.” Lesson for the media? Lemann suggests newspapers randomly fact-check stories as a deterrent. But he dismisses worries that book deals will encourage copycat liars. “Which would you rather have,” he asks, “the money you’re going to get from the book or a clean reputation?”
