Inside the List

By JENNIFER SCHUESSLER

CONSERVATISM LIVES! Mark R. Levin’s “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto” enters the hardcover nonfiction list at No. 1 this week, freeing American readers at last from the heavy yoke of the Canadian Malcolm Gladwell, whose “Outliers” falls to No. 2. Levin, a syndicated radio host and author of the best-selling “Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America,” argues for a return to “the Founders’ idea of the dignity of the individual, who can flourish through ordered liberty.” If Levin’s stately neo-federalist tone isn’t your cup of tea, a glossary at the Web site ­Mark Levin Fan (marklevinfan.com) offers a crib sheet of his views. “Philosophy of the stupid” = liberalism. “RuPaul” = Ron Paul. “The spiteful troll” = Al Franken. “New York Slimes” = . . . um, can I use a lifeline?

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Mark R. Levin

This column will appear in print in the April 12, 2009 issue of the Book Review. On the Web, the best-seller lists and the "Inside the List" column are available one week early.

Levin is withering in his assessment of “Barack Milhous Nobama” and the kind of “statist” he represents, who is “dissatisfied with the condition of his own existence” and likes to blame “his fellow man, surroundings and society itself for denying him the fulfillment, success and adulation he believes he deserves.”

YUMMY MUMMY: Heather B. Armstrong’s gonzo memoir, “It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita” (sure that’s the right order?), enters the hardcover nonfiction list at No. 16. Armstrong, a self-described lapsed Mormon with a self-consciously manic prose style and a history of clinical depression, comes on like Erma Bombeck with some hip new tattoos. The book, an outgrowth of her wildly popular confessional blog, dooce.com, reads like a kind of “American Pie” for the procreative set. There are riffs on hemorrhoids, dog vomit, urinary tract infections, chapped nipples and — especially — constipation. Here’s Armstrong on her infant daughter’s diapers: “Jon and I were totally fascinated with the color and texture, as if she were some sort of Picasso weaving neon orange creations into her diapers. I was very jealous of her ability to poop so regularly and with such artistic flair. . . . Every time I heard her fill her pants I got so excited that I wanted to frame the dirty diaper and hang it on the refrigerator.”

Sequel alert: Armstrong is pregnant again! On her blog recently, she updated readers on the state of her marriage to the rather patient-sounding Jon: “We try to be respectful of each other’s space, and he routinely follows the No. 1 rule of the house: NO TALKING TO ME WHEN I’M WORKING. This isn’t always easy for him, because the Armstrong genes are cursed with an abnormality that makes it impossible for anyone of that lineage to shut their mouths. It’s on the same chromosome that requires they spend three-fourths of their lives on the toilet.”