Advancing the cause

We have all lived through the harrowing down and up of how coronavirus ambushed America’s biggest city, killing thousands before millions of New Yorkers learned how to thwart the monster and beat it back. These pages, in print and electronically, are the first draft of that history.

Books are the second draft. And Random House’s forthcoming October volume by Gov. Cuomo, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” is a chance for Cuomo to tell the story as he sees it. Where’d he find the time?

There’s plenty we admire about the governor’s steady hand as we descended into the depths of death and slowly and painfully climbed our way out. We may buy a copy to read how the feds and President Trump failed to warn us about the virus, then fumbled the response.

While Cuomo was right early on mandatory masks, will he be candid about how New York took too long to blow the bugle, and about clashes with Mayor de Blasio? Will he answer still-burning questions about thousands of deaths nursing homes?

But there’s another concern for now. Cuomo’s deal likely includes an advance — a big pre-publication payment that may or may not be recouped by the publisher in sales. His last book didn’t come close to recovering it.

Advances are cash from a corporation, in this case a massive German conglomerate. Better to let sales alone determine author fees. And if there is an advance, give it to charity. Millions of New Yorkers are hurting.