Melville House Books

Henry Paulson, author for charity

Former Goldman Sachs CEO and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson — the Bush administration engineer of the first bailout to his old cronies on Wall Street — has struck a deal with Hachette imprint Business Plus, which itself is an imprint of Grand Central. According to an Associated Press wire story, the book, as yet untitled, will be released in October, in a deal brokered by — surely you’ve already guessed — Washington attorney and agent to the political stars, Robert Barnett. But lest you think that means he got a bailout-sized advance, here’s a shocker: Paulson “is taking no advance and will donate all profits to the non-profit Homeownership Preservation Foundation, which helps families in danger of foreclosure.”

“I hope some of the lessons I’ve learned will help others,” Paulson tells the AP. As to what that means about the content of the book: “I will clearly want to have something to say about where I see markets developing and where I think policies should go, so I may have some things to say about what’s happened since I left office,” he says. “But my focus is my recollection of the events that I was at the center of.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.