Mark Levin's 'American Marxism' ends 2021 as top-selling adult trade book of the year
Publisher Threshold Editions, a division of Simon & Schuster, said Thursday that Levin's smash hit sold more than 1.2 million copies across all formats, including print books, ebooks, and audiobooks since it went on sale July 13, 2021.
A roaring success, "American Marxism" spent 10 weeks atop the prestigious Times bestseller list and remained on the list for 16 straight weeks. The book is Levin's seventh No. 1 debut in a row and is currently in its 19th week on the Times list, Threshold said.
“We were thrilled to see BookScan’s year-end tally and commend 'American Marxism’s' #1 best-selling achievement," Jennifer Long, deputy publisher for Threshold, said.
"Levin’s book outsold not only the best-selling nonfiction titles of the year, it topped sales across both fiction and nonfiction, and it continues to sell thousands of copies each week — demonstrating the phenomenal appeal of this book,” she added.
In "American Marxism," Levin examines how Marxist ideology has influenced American society and culture, including in schools, the media, corporations, the entertainment industry, and the modern Democratic Party and Biden administration.
Levin expressed gratefulness in an interview, crediting his audience with propelling the book to No.1.
"I have an extraordinarily intelligent and loyal audience who care greatly, greatly about this country and they want to understand, as I do, what exactly is going on," Levin said. "When I write a book, I spend a lot of time on it. I do all the research. I give it a tremendous amount of thought — I'm harder on myself than most people are on me."
He added: "When I finished the book, I handed it to my wife, Julie — who's smarter than I am, she had looked at it as I was putting it together — and I said to her, 'Well honey, I don't know how well this book is going to do, but I've done the best I can to alert as many people who are willing to be alerted to this horrific threat we face from within that I call American Marxism.' And she looked at it, spent a little time on it, and she said this is going to be a big hit. I said I have no idea, but there it is."
When asked what made the book so popular, Levin said it was the subjects he covered, the substance of his explanations of how Marxist ideology has permeated through American civil society and how it is showing up in leftist movements around issues like critical race theory, climate change (what he calls a "degrowth movement"), transgenderism, and more.
"When I write a book like this, I'm trying to find answers to my own questions. So I take a journey when I write a book, I think about my audience all the time, what it is I'm trying to convey," Levin said.
"These are things I wanted to answer, and I did answer, and I think the audience wanted answers."
Levin speaks to a massive audience. His nationally syndicated radio program reaches an estimated 8.25 million people each week, according to Talkers magazine. On top of that, his Fox News program "Life, Liberty, & Levin," which airs Sunday night at 11 p.m. ET, had 1.6 million viewers on Nov. 21, demolishing the competition on CNN and MSNBC.
It's a diverse audience of millions that cannot be easily defined based on race, income, or background, Levin told TheBlaze.
"I think, I hope, I attract people who love this country. Who want it to last for generations to come, who are deeply concerned about the direction of the country. They want the best for their children and grandchildren and know that they live in the best country on the face of the earth and they're deeply blessed to do so," he said.
He added that he shares a bond with his listeners, readers, and TV viewers that's based on respect.
"Rush Limbaugh used to say to me, the number one idea you need to remember is this: Always treat your audience with respect. And I try to do that," he said.
Levin also believes that the phenomenal success of "American Marxism" is a preview of a "convulsion of liberty" that will happen next year, when the American people will go to the ballot box for a referendum on Congress and President Joe Biden's administration.
"The American Marxists among us have pushed us too far. We got a small taste of it in Virginia and New Jersey this last month. That's one battle. There's many more battles to be had," Levin said, referring to the sweeping GOP victory in Virginia's gubernatorial election and the surprising near-defeat of Democratic Gov. Phil Muprhy in New Jersey.