by Prodigal Son » Wed Apr 28, 2004 2:57 pm
Woo wee! That there govment of ubelievers is shore gonna git it come judgement day!
This is why I fear for America.
Left Behind, but not forgotten
Apr 15th 2004 | BOSSIER CITY, LOUISIANA
From The Economist print edition
Who needs Mel Gibson anyway?
IT IS Sunday afternoon in Bossier City and a lengthy line of fans holding books snakes around the Wal-Mart Supercentre, past NASCAR fishing reels, tyres, plastic dishes, and facial creams. Some 200 middle-class, middle-aged white people, some still dressed in their church clothes, buzz with an excitement that rivals teens awaiting a Justin Timberlake concert.
AP
LaHaye and Jenkins burn through Bossier
They have come to this corner of Louisiana to see the authors of “Glorious Appearing: The End of Days”—the 12th and final part of the “Left Behind” series of books focused on the world after the Rapture (for the unGodly, the moment when God takes away the Godly and leaves the rest of us to be ruled by Satan). Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, accompanied by several black-suited handlers, duly arrive in a glitzy tour bus that has a suitably apocalyptic if somewhat spooky motif, with bolts of lightning showering down upon a silhouetted family of four.
Most bestselling authors strut their stuff on “Oprah” and the “Today Show”, and spend as much of their time as possible in the pleasure palaces of New York and Los Angeles. By contrast, the Left Behind bus is on a tour through 12 cities in the Bible belt. More than 40% of the series' readers claim the South as home. The core buyer is a married evangelical woman, aged between 25-54, who is a college graduate and attends church weekly.
In many other countries, this would not translate into big sales. Yet the series has sold 40m copies in barely a decade; add in the spin-off books for children and that number exceeds 60m. The authors recently launched two new series of Left Behind military and political books written by up-and-coming Christian authors. Then, there are calendars, audiotapes, study guides and videos. Borrowing a trick from “Star Wars”, the authors now plan to write two new series, to serve as sequels and prequels to the Left Behind books.
The success of Mel Gibson's film on the Passion should have come as no surprise to anybody who has followed the success of the Left Behind series. Mr LaHaye, a minister and the commercial mastermind, and Mr Jenkins, who does most of the writing, published the first instalment in 1995 through a small Chicago publisher—but word soon spread across the web.
Around three-quarters of the sales for the first book occurred in Christian bookstores. By the time the fifth book, “Apollyon”, reached the top of the New York Times bestseller list, 75% of sales were in secular, mainstream outlets. Wal-Mart has done particularly well out of the books, as it has out of other conservative tomes.
Cynics may carp about their prose style; but the books cleverly blend pulp fiction with scripture—and they have struck a chord in uncertain times. People in the queue at Wal-Mart said that Mr LaHaye, a prophecy scholar, has been blessed with the voice of God whispered into his ear—just as they believe that George Bush was ordained by God to serve as president.
People still talk reverently about the moment when Air Force One landed at nearby Barksdale on September 11th 2001, for Mr Bush to address the nation after the terrorist attacks. It is rather hard to imagine John Kerry picking up many votes from Left Behind readers.