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Comment by Animats | Hacker News Reader

Almost all copies of the critical biography of John MacArthur, "The Stockholder", have disappeared. The Library of Congress' one copy is stored offsite. The New York Public Library's copy is still available for on-site reading. But there's still a used paperback on Amazon for $149.

Now that's a successful cover-up.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Stockholder-William-Hoffman/dp/B0006B...

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117 in libraries: https://search.worldcat.org/title/1068506288

Ah, Worldcat is back up. Stanford Libraries have a copy.

Destroying all copies of a critical biography is a recurring theme in the novel Trust.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_(novel)

$12 here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/155399954450?_skw=the+stockholder+w...

I just bought it.

It's a 55-year-old book about a businessman who was modestly famous in his lifetime and now is pretty much unknown. Was it some mega-hit at the time? If not, then <10K were ever printed. How many do you expect to still be floating around vs. being in landfill? How many people do you think are clamoring for a copy at their local library? FWIW, you can buy one on eBay right now for ~$15.

> a businessman who was modestly famous in his lifetime and now is pretty much unknown.

This is quite an understament about who John MacArthur was and what is impact and legacy has been. You're talking about a guy whose name appears in multiple US history textbooks.

I haven't read that biography, so I can't speak to it, but I wouldn't call him "pretty much unknown".

I'd hazard to guess that most of the names (by volume) which appear in history textbooks are pretty much unknown. Who knows, maybe I'm just one of today's lucky 10,000 - but this is the first time I've ever heard of anyone actually talk about this guy.

I have heard "MacArthur Fellows" before, so to me this is a bit like the only reason I can tell you Alfred Nobel invented dynamite is because people mention it in connection with the Nobel prize - so maybe they both succeeded in the end!

This is about John Donald MacArthur https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._MacArthur. From reading the wikipedia article I wouldn't know why he would appear in US history textbooks.

You can get a fair condition used hardback for $65 or a good one for $83 on Abebooks.

> Almost all copies of the critical biography of John MacArthur, "The Stockholder", have disappeared.

After an intense 30 second investigation into this mystery, I have discovered a physical copy on campus at UCLA. Do I dare check it out?

> Now that's a successful cover-up.

You seem to have only sent one small piece of evidence for your claim.

Is it possible that you are keeping the rest of the pieces of evidence together so you can send them all at once, for the sake of efficiency?

If so, please send them now that I've acknowledged receipt of the first small piece of evidence. :)

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