[allturtles]

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.

[chimeracoder]

> 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".

[spacechild1]

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.

[zamadatix]

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!