--- title: Ted Cruz Picks a Winning Book Fight With New York Times description: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz picked a fight with the New York Times over whether his book deserved to be on its bestseller list. canonical: https://time.com/3955976/ted-cruz-new-york-times-time-truth/ author: Alex Altman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-13T22:31:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:02:31.314Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ted Cruz Picks a Winning Book Fight With New York Times og:description: The paper may have done the candidate a favor. og:url: https://time.com/3955976/ted-cruz-new-york-times-time-truth/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e87b57d5ae59560/69885ab6e20a87736ca8c443/ted-cruz-book-times.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, speaks during the Faith and Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority" legislative luncheon in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, June 18, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ted Cruz Picks a Winning Book Fight With New York Times twitter:description: The paper may have done the candidate a favor. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e87b57d5ae59560/69885ab6e20a87736ca8c443/ted-cruz-book-times.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ted Cruz Picks a Winning Book Fight With New York _Times_  by [Alex Altman](/author/alex-altman/)  ## Alex Altman Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME. Jul 13, 2015 10:31 PM CUT  Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, speaks during the Faith and Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority" legislative luncheon in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, June 18, 2015. Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, speaks during the Faith and Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority" legislative luncheon in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, June 18, 2015.Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Alex Altman](/author/alex-altman/)  ## Alex Altman Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME. Jul 13, 2015 10:31 PM CUT One of the hoariest cliches in conservative politics is to [claim you don’t read](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/03/26/why-its-dumb-for-politicians-to-say-they-dont-read-the-new-york-times/ "undefined") the New York _Times._ Ted Cruz has picked a fight with the _Times_ after the paper claimed that people aren’t reading him. The spat between Cruz and the Gray Lady began last week, when the newspaper said it would omit the Texas Republican’s new memoir, _A Time for Truth_, from its bestsellers’ list. The book has sold 12,000 copies since its release on June 30, according to [Nielsen Bookscan data provided to TIME](http://time.com/3956146/ted-cruz-hillary-clinton-election-books/ "undefined"). That’s enough to rank the volume among the top few nonfiction hardcovers. But [the paper determined](http://www.politico.com//blogs/media/2015/07/ny-times-keeps-cruz-off-bestseller-list-210254.html "undefined") the book’s stats were goosed by “strategic bulk purchases” in a bid to game the system and make the list. The _Times_ has stood by its decision as Amazon, an impartial retailer, and publisher HarperCollins have said they found no evidence of attempts to manipulate sales statistics. Cruz’s team wanted to make the bestsellers list, which would have conferred a stamp of credibility on his literary debut. But a public battle with the paper of record was an even better result. For a conservative presidential candidate, the New York _Times_—an emblem of liberal elitism, right up there alongside arugula, the Toyota Prius and San Francisco—is a perfect foil. And the Cruz campaign has done its best to fan the flames, blasting out a series of statements decrying partisan bias. The kerfuffle is “a chance to get yet more attention and drive readers to Senator Cruz’s book,” Keith Urbahn, the book’s literary agent, [told](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/ted-cruz-feud-new-york-times-119981.html "undefined") _Politico_. “This controversy is already helping sales.” **MORE:** [_Here’s Which 2016 Candidate’s Book Sold the Most Copies_](http://time.com/3956146/ted-cruz-hillary-clinton-election-books/ "undefined") As it happens, _A Time for Truth_ is a good read—especially by the dismal standards of the genre. A candidate memoir has two overriding goals: first, to make money for the author; and then, to do no harm to the writer’s future prospects. When boring is the best-case scenario, the result is almost always a pudding of platitudes. (A typical line from Hillary Clinton’s _Hard Choices_, selected by opening the book at random: “Hard men present hard choices—none more so than Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia.”) Even worse, such books reveal little about the author, other than he or she is ambitious or long-winded enough to write an entire book without saying anything controversial. Cruz’s book is different. First, he is both a fluid writer and a talented storyteller. He knows how to bait the hook to lure in readers. A section about clerking at the U.S. Supreme Court, for example, opens with an anecdote about watching hard-core pornography with Justices William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O’Connor. But the book has merits beyond the prose. One of them is the revealing glimpse it offers into Cruz’s family background. The senator has gotten a lot of mileage out of the remarkable life of his father, a Cuban revolutionary who came to Texas with $100 sewn into his underwear, learned English from the movies, launched an oil company and now travels the country as a Tea Party icon. But Rafael Cruz isn’t the only member of the family with an fascinating story. Cruz recounts how his mother, Eleanor Darragh, defied her own father to become the first in her family to attend college, emerged from Rice with a math degree, then dodged clerical duties and became a computer programmer at Shell after refusing to learn to type. He talks about his half-sister’s struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, and his aunt’s battles with Castro. But beyond biography, the book has enough dishy material to sustain the attention of non-political obsessives. It’s filled with interesting nuggets on everything from Justice David Souter’s dietary habits to the Bush campaign’s legal machinations during the 2000 recount to a shouting match inside a Republican Senate luncheon. You don’t need to have a strong opinion of Cruz one way or the other to appreciate the glimpse it offers into campaigns, the Capitol or the country’s top courtrooms. Like all political documents, this one is self-aggrandizing, meant to explain the origins of Cruz’s brand of conservatism as well as underscore his commitment to principle in the face of adversity. But it’s also sprinkled with enough self-deprecating stories and personal insights to humanize a politician who is often reduced to caricature by both fans and opponents. If the fight with the _Times_ makes it likelier that ordinary readers will pick up the book, then the paper has done Cruz a favor. And those who end up buying the book because of the spat won’t be any worse off, either. ### See the Covers of the 2016 Presidential Hopefuls' Memoirs  The cover of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 2014 book "Hard Choices" is a classic of the political memoir genre: The politician's face, front and center with a strong but vague title beneath.  Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina's 2007 book "Tough Choices" followed the same playbook as Clinton's, even down to the similar titles.  Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson's 2014 book "One Nation" is a variation on the theme, the crossed arms and the subtitle underlining the message, since he's not been a politician before.  Former New York Gov. George Pataki's 1998 autobiography, "Pataki," presents him as such a towering figure that he doesn't even need a regular title.  Other politicians go for a softer touch with a more autobiographical book to help voters learn more about who they are, as in Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's 2013 memoir, "An American Son."  South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham's 2015 e-book, "My Story," takes a similar approach.  Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum's 2005 book, "Rick Santorum," is less autobiographical, but the cover also goes for the soft touch.  Some books zero in on a specific image. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's 2015 book, "God, Guns, Grits and Gravy" and the photo of him, tieless, in a pastoral scene, sells him as an avatar of rural America.  Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry's 2014 book defends the Boy Scouts, reinforcing the fact that he's an Eagle Scout and a cultural conservative.  And business mogul Donald Trump's 1988 book, "The Art of the Deal," sells his image as a dealmaker so much that he still references it today.  Other candidates aim to show they are leaders, as in Ohio Gov. John Kasich's 2006 book, "Stand for Something."  Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's 2015 book, "Taking a Stand," goes a similar route, though the subtitle, "Moving Beyond Partisan Politics," gives it a slightly different spin.  Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's 2015 book also pitches him as a truth teller, with a casual portrait and the title "A Time for Truth." AP  Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee's 2010 book, "Against the Tide," also promotes him as willing to go it alone, in this case referencing his vote against the Iraq war.  Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's 2014 book, "Unintimidated," goes the same route, promoting his fight against labor unions. Penguin Group/AP  And Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's 2010 book, "Leadership and Crisis," adds a photo of first responders to bring to mind natural disasters.  But the cover of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' 1998 memoir shows that he really does go his own way. 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