Ravitch Kicks Rhee's Book-Selling Tail

You'll remember earlier this year when Michelle Rhee's auto-hagiography, Radical, was published. I tracked the sales for a while on Amazon; maybe I missed a higher number, but this was the best sales rank for Rhee that I could find, a little less than three weeks after her book was released:

As I wrote at the time:

According to Amazon.com, Radical was released on February 5, 2013, almost three weeks ago. In that time, Rhee has been on what must be any author's dream book tour: The Daily Show, This Week, Charlie Rose, and many other outlets. She's been treated very gently, despite the cheating scandal that surrounds her and her mediocre record running Washington, D. C.'s schools. Given the extent of her book tour and it's fawning nature, you would think that Radical would be flying off of the shelves.

It didn't. In contrast, Diane Ravitch's Reign of Error was released to the public today. How's it doing on Amazon?

As far as I know, Diane hasn't done any national television; certainly, nothing on the level of the shows Rhee appeared on. And yet, after one day, Ravitch is kicking Rhee's tail in the book-selling game.

Aside from my obvious glee in watching Diane soar where Rhee crashed, I bring this up to make a larger point:

Micheel Rhee does not lead a "grassroots" effort. Her wealthy backers bought her a place in the education reform debate -- a place she didn't earn through achievements, nor by speaking for parents, teachers, or students. 

The anemic sales of Radical are proof that Michelle Rhee's grassroots support is nonexistent. So it's time for the press to stop giving Rhee an outsized place in the media, and to start giving Diane Ravitch and those like her a chance to make their case.

America has voted: more of this...

...and less of this.

ADDING: Hey, some crazy music teacher/blogger wrote a review of Reign of Error for the NEA blog EdVotes.