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Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 4:15 PM UTC

Is Bill O’Reilly America’s most popular historian?

From Kennedy to Lincoln, Bill O'Reilly has been pumping out nonfiction bestsellers -- and has no plans to slow down

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Topics: Bill O'Reilly, Fox News, History, Writing, Nonfiction, Editor's Picks,

Is Bill O'Reilly America's most popular historian? (Credit: AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Most Americans associate Bill O’Reilly with his perch on “The O’Reilly Factor,” the most-watched show on cable television. But the conservative commentator is making a name for himself elsewhere, too: The New York Times bestseller list.

The New York Times notes that his recently published presidential biographies, “Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever” and “Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot,” have been the top two books on the list for the past full week, with the latter having sold about one million copies.

In fact, the Times suggests that O’Reilly might be “the most popular history author in America” in part due to his television fame, and partially due to the sheer volume of work he has pumped out over the years:

But few authors manage more than one book on the hardcover list because even regulars like the historian David McCullough and the journalist Michael Lewis do not grind it out at the pace of Mr. O’Reilly, who has produced about a book a year over the past decade and intends to keep going.

Based on the Times profile, this is O’Reilly’s carefully manufactured intention. O’Reilly boasts an ability to write quickly and efficiently, saying “I can write 1,000 words in my sleep,” and increases his efficiency by a partnering with researcher Martin Dugard, allowing the two to forge a narative with minor edits (“Nobody edits me,” he said).

His next work, according to O’Reilly, “will be a blockbuster of epic proportions.”

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Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com. More Prachi Gupta.

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