Former United States Vice President Albert Gore will share the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an honor his publisher is calling not only a well-deserved recognition for the man, but affirmation of the power of books.
"When we sat down with Al Gore, we asked about him why he wanted to write a book. He said because books have the power to affect the public conversation more than any other form of media in America," said Steve Murphy, pesident and CEO of Rodale Books. Rodale published the bestselling An Inconvenient Truth and will publish Gore´s next title, The Path to Survival, in May 2008. In 2006, Rodale reissued a paperback version of Gore´s 1992 Houghton Mifflin title, Earth in the Balance. Gore is also the author of Assault on Reason (Penguin Press 2007).
Gore was awarded the Prize for his work on making the world aware of the effects of climate change and what can be done to correct it. His documentary film An Inconvenient Truthwon the Academy Award this year. “His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change,” the Academy's citation said. “He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted.”
Gore´s editor at Rodale, Leigh Haber, heard the news while at the Frankfurt Book Fair today. She said that Gore´s achievement is inspiring on a human level. "You look at this man who by all intent and purpose won the presidential election and had it taken away. That is a crushing thing for any human being. For a man to pick himself up from that and say, ´I as a private citizen can make that kind of difference,´ is such an an inspiration."
As for more practical considerations, Haber said An Inconvenient Truth will go back to press--there are already 800,000 copies in print--and books will be stickered. By extremely happy coincidence, Haber and 30 of Gore´s international publishers are scheduled to meet for dinner tonight in Frankfurt.
Another of Gore´s editors, Scott Moyers, called the announcement, "absolutely joyful news." Moyers worked closely with Gore on Assault while an editor at Penguin and is now part of the Andrew Wylie Agency, which represents Gore. Moyers, who is also at the fair, said the award represents one of the best "validations of a crusade," possible.
This is the second day in a row that Nobel excitement has come to the fair. On Thursday, champagne corks were popping in the HarperCollins booth after Doris Lessing won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
