blog_Clémence Villaines_America: a single-mandate mook

November, 8 2016, to the surprise of all, Donald Trump becomes the 45th president of the United States. Yet, the experts were sures that the trick was done for his opponent Hillary Clinton, who was the polls favorite. What is this America that the experts did not consider? François Busnel (managing editor) and Éric Fottorino (publication director) want to try, through literature, to decipher and understand the America that elected Donald Trump to its presidency.

It is from this ambition that America was born, a quarterly mook. Mook, what a strange word ! Contraction of magazine and book, we will call it "magazine". It announces, from the beginning, the end of its publication after 16 issues, for a 4 years period, time of the presidential mandate. Each quarter, America tells the America story in the time of Donald Trump, through reports and surveys, major interviews and columns signed by the best writers. The magazine welcomes in particular and in majority American writers, considered to be in the best position to speak about the society in which they live. We can quote big names of the American literature like Toni Morrison, Paul Auster, James Ellroy, Bret Easton Ellis, … who came, through fiction, to show us the reality of America. French literary figures like Lola Lafon, Alice Zeniter, Philippe Besson, J-M Le Clezio or Laurent Gaudé were also invited to give their vision of America.

When you know the inevitable disappearance of the paper press, America is a real challenge. A similar magazine costs at most 15€. The magazine is sold 19€, without subscription, without press announcement and without press group. America, is approximately 500 000 copies sold. So what attracts so many readers? Thought of as a collector item, which we know from 16 issues, an America magazine is a quality editorial object. It is a team of about ten people, graphic designers by trade, a 260 mm by 180 mm magazine, a perfect binding and about 200 illustrated pages. America is not a magazine that ends up in the trash, but on a shelf in our library with, for the passionate ones, the 15 other issues that accompany it. The backs of each magazine together form a design, which maintains this collection universe.

America has been working for 4 years to evoke and deconstruct the great American myths like violence, guns, sex and money, Native Americans… The magazine has brought together, in a pop and offbeat universe, an idea of that American literature offers the best today.