In the two years since Deer Hunting with Jesus was published, Joe Bageant has been pleasantly surprised by the reaction to the book outside the United States, in addition to thousands of positive comments from his American readers. The book has gone into several printings in the US, and new editions have been published and distributed in eleven countries on four continents.
"When I was writing the book, I never considered that the rest of the world would be so interested in America's social class system," Joe said. "That's the class system that we Americans insist doesn't exist."
Deer Hunting was first published in hardback in the US and Canada by Random House/Crown, then in paperback by Three Rivers Press.
The first foreign publication of Deer Hunting with Jesus was by Scribe Publications in Australia. A year ago, Joe made a two-week book tour of most major cities in Australia, where he was received warmly in a dozen television and radio interviews, in addition to extensive coverage by newspapers and magazines. Some of the praise for Joe's book came from unexpected quarters, such as Simon Hughes in the Australian Financial Review Magazine. Declaring it the Book of the Month, Hughes said of Joe's writing, "Passionate, opinionated, wise and true, this is the best book about the imminent death of the dis-United States you will read this year." And, Bruce Elder in the Sydney Morning Herald said, "This is a wonderful scream of rage at how Karl Rove and his cohorts have persuaded a mass of Americans to vote against their best interests."
Deer Hunting was next published in the United Kingdom by the highly respected publisher, Portobello Books in London. Joe made another two-week book tour, this time to England, Scotland and Ireland. He had many interviews on BBC radio and television, in addition to widespread positive coverage in the British press. Portobello kept the title, but changed the sub-title from "Dispatches from America's Class War" to "Guns, Votes, Debt and Delusion in Redneck America".
The book was next translated into Spanish and published by Los Libros del Lince in Barcelona, Spain. The title of this Spanish edition is Crónicas de la América profunda: Escenas de la lucha de clases en el corazón del imperio, which can be translated as "Chronicles from the American heartland: Scenes from the class struggle in the heart of the empire". (Here is a link to a PDF file of the book's introduction to the Spanish edition.)
Most recently, Deer Hunting was translated again into Spanish, this time for the Latin American market. The publisher is Marea Editorial in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Although the text is somewhat different, the title for the book in Latin America is the same as that in Spain. Here is an excerpt from the Latin American edition, published in La Nacion, one of the largest newspapers in Argentina.
Speaking of things foreign, Joe and his book were the subjects of a documentary made for Switzerland's Italian-language television network.
Although there is not yet a French edition of Deer Hunting in the works, a friend and admirer of Joe's work has translated most of the online essays into French. Tancrède Bastié has the rare ability to translate Joe's writing and humor into French. Here is the link to Joe in French.
Finally, a major film production has purchased television and movie options on Deer Hunting. Nothing is ever certain in Hollywood, but it looks good and Joe may soon announce that production has begun.
Joe is now working a dozen hours a day, sweating blood, writing his next book, which is about the ecology of a working community. He describes it as a personal and social memoir on the creation of America's underclass. He is on schedule to deliver the manuscript to the publisher this fall. The title and the publication date are not yet set.
Meanwhile, Joe continues to live on one-half of his Social Security check, and he continues to use all proceeds above $6,000 annually for his Third World projects, which include children's health and education and housing grants to families in need.
-- Ken Smith
