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Elizabeth Edwards, author, was at UNC-Chapel Hill today to promote her scheduled appearance next month at the North Carolina Literary Festival.

She wanted to talk about books and the festival that will draw more than 100 authors to Chapel Hill Sept. 10 -13, reports Anne Blythe. Questions about her husband's indiscretion with Rielle Hunter were off limits. There was no discussion about whether there had been DNA tests to determine paternity of Hunter's child. Nor were there inquiries about the federal investigation of her husband's campaign spending.

When one reporter dared broach the topic, Edwards became testy. She launched into a tirade about how the media focus on gossip is a problem for society.

"Serious people in the news are talking about serious issues," Edwards, 60, said. "Attention to things like this as opposed to the serious issues is one of the things that contributes to the dumbing down."

She is the author of "Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers,” published in September 2006, and "Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities," released in May.

In Elizabeth Edwards' new book, "Resilience," she scorns her husband's former mistress (Rielle Hunter, whom she refuses to name). But she paints another former campaign worker with the same brush, calling them both "pathetic."

Edwards compares the mistress with a young man who first volunteered in John Edwards' 1998 Senate campaign, reports Jim Morrill. She describes him as "John's obsessed fan."

"I will call him Jim," she writes.

Jim "volunteered for everything," drove the candidate around, washed his car, took care of his dry-cleaning. "There was no job too menial for Jim," she said.

Jim and his wife, who worked a late shift, would leave McDonalds breakfasts outside the Edwards' door until Elizabeth told her to stop. Jim's obsequiousness got to Elizabeth until a lie on his part finally forced his departure from the campaign. But he hung around. He tried to vacation where they vacationed and sent daily e-mails to the Edwards' friends.

"The existence of a Jim made it easier to accept the existence of this woman," Elizabeth wrote. "...My life at some level is tragic. Theirs is worse; theirs is pathetic."