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59640-1
|
Ben Yagoda
|
Will Rogers: A Biography
|
Ben Yagoda discussed his book "Will Rogers: A Biography," published by Alfred A. Knopf. The book examines the life and career of the famous political satirist. Mr. Yagoda also discussed the research he conducted in preparing to write the book.
| 1994-09-25T00:00:00
|
0806132388
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/59640-1
|
153825-1
|
Alfred Young
|
The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory & the American Revolution
|
On December 16, 1773, some 150 men boarded three ships docked at Griffin's Wharf. Dressed as Mohawks, their faces darkened with soot, the men cracked open chests of tea and threw them into Boston Harbor. What began as a protest against the duty on tea became an icon of the American Revolution. But what did the Boston Tea Party mean to its participants? Indeed, what did the Revolution mean to the ordinary person? In The Shoemaker and the Tea Party , Alfred F. Young tells the story of George Robert Twelves Hewes, who was involved in several events in Boston during the Revolution. In 1835, when Hewes was in his 90s, he was celebrated as one of the last survivors of the Tea Party. The Shoemaker and the Tea Party comprises two linked essays. The first is about Hewes (whom Young describes as "a nobody who briefly became a somebody in the Revolution and, for a moment near the end of his life, a hero"), his memories, and what these memories reveal about the meaning of the Revolution for him. "For a moment he was on a level with his betters. So he thought at the time, and so it grew in his memory as it disappeared in his life." The second essay follows the lead of Michael Kammen and Eric Hobsbawm by looking at the dichotomies of public vs. private and popular vs. official memory, and the external forces that shape these memories into "tradition." Young does an excellent job of illustrating his theory with experiences from Hewes's life, newspaper accounts, and contemporary prints. This book will interest both scholars and general readers, though Young does presume some prior knowledge of the Revolution on the part of the reader. A thought-provoking look at the nature of memory, history, and tradition. —Sunny Delaney
| 1999-11-21T00:00:00
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0807054054
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/153825-1
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23740-1
|
August Heckscher
|
Woodrow Wilson: A Biography
|
Mr. Heckscher, author of Woodrow Wilson: A Biography, discussed the life of the 28th president of the United States. He described President Wilson's eight-year tenure as president of Princeton University, his governorship of New Jersey, and his two terms as U.S. president. His book was published by Charles Scribner's Sons. Mr. Heckscher is former president of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation.
| 1992-01-12T00:00:00
|
0945707266
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/23740-1
|
153487-1
|
Robert Conquest
|
Reflections on a Ravaged Century
|
Mr. Conquest talked about his book, Reflections on a Ravaged Century, published by W.W. Norton and Company. He examined the role of ideology in shaping the history of the twentieth century, including communism, Marxism and fascism.
| 1999-12-19T00:00:00
|
0393048187
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/153487-1
|
8269-1
|
George Wilson
|
Mud Soldiers: Life Inside the New American Army
|
The experience of modern day U.S. Army infantryman is explored in "Mud Soldiers" by George Wilson. In 1987, Wilson followed the progress of an infantry company from basic training to their first war exercises. Mr. Wilson was a witness to the rigors of basic training and the boredom of life at a military base. He uses this experience along with his expertise as the chief military correspondent for the Washington Post to suggest methods to reform the military training system.
| 1989-07-16T00:00:00
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0020710518
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/8269-1
|
62252-1
|
M. Stanton Evans
|
The Theme is Freedom: Religion, Politics, and the American Tradition
|
Mr. Evans, the author of The Theme Is Freedom: Religion, Politics and the American Tradition, published by Regnery Publishing, talked about some of concepts found in his book. He said that common belief about the origins of our country, institutions and freedoms are incorrect and are the product of an accepted "liberal history lesson." He stresses that the roots of U.S. liberties lie in the Christian understanding of the Bible and that modern political liberalism undermines both religion and freedom.
| 1995-02-05T00:00:00
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0895264978
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/62252-1
|
154106-1
|
Michael Patrick MacDonald
|
All Souls: A Family Story from Southie
|
In this searing, coming-of-age memoir, told through the eyes of the troubled yet keenly gifted observer he was even as a child, MacDonald describes growing up in Irish South Boston. —from the publisher's website
| 1999-12-12T00:00:00
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0807072125
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/154106-1
|
10238-1
|
Arthur Grace
|
Choose Me: Portraits of a Presidential Race
|
Photographer Arthur Grace talked about his book Choose Me: Portraits of a Presidential Race, published by University Press of New England. He described his project of covering the 1988 presidential race. Black and white still photography is highlighted in the book that contains a selection of over one hundred photographs from the campaign trail. Armed with a twin lens reflex camera, Grace photographed each of the major presidential candidates. Among the people photographed are George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, Michael Dukakis, and Richard Gephardt.
| 1989-12-10T00:00:00
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0874514916
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/10238-1
|
26188-1
|
Lewis Puller, Jr.
|
Fortunate Son
|
Vietnam veteran Louis Puller, Jr. discussed his book, Fortunate Son: The Autobiography of Louis Puller, Jr., which details his experiences in Vietnam and his relationship with his father, a career soldier. Mr. Puller, currently an attorney with the Department of Defense, won a Pulitzer Prize in literature for the book.
| 1991-05-24T00:00:00
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0802136907
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/26188-1
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102205-1
|
Paul Johnson
|
A History of the American People
|
"The creation of the United States of America is the greatest of all human adventures," begins Paul Johnson's remarkable new American history. "No other national story holds such tremendous lessons, for the American people themselves and for the rest of mankind." Johnson's history is a reinterpretation of American history from the first settlements to the Clinton administration. It covers every aspect of U.S. history -- politics; business and economics; art, literature and science; society and customs; complex traditions and religious beliefs. The story is told in terms of the men and women who shaped and led the nation and the ordinary people who collectively created its unique character. Wherever possible, letters, diaries and recorded conversations are used to ensure a sense of actuality. "The book has new and often trenchant things to say about every aspect and period of America's past," says Johnson, "and I do not seek, as some historians do, to conceal my opinions." Johnson's history presents John Winthrop, Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, Cotton Mather, Franklin, Tom Paine, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton and Madison from a fresh perspective. It emphasizes the role of religion in American history and how early America was linked to England's history and culture and includes incisive portraits of Andrew Jackson, Chief Justice Marshall, Clay, Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. Johnson shows how Grover Cleveland and Teddy Roosevelt ushered in the age of big business and industry and how Woodrow Wilson revolutionized the government's role. He offers new views of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover and of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and his role as commander in chief during World War II. An examination of the unforeseen greatness of Harry Truman and reassessments of Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan and Bush follow. "Compulsively readable," said Foreign Affairs of Johnson's unique narrative skills and sharp profiles of people. This is an in-depth portrait of a great people, from their fragile origins through their struggles for independence and nationhood, their heroic efforts and sacrifices to deal with the "organic sin" of slavery and the preservation of the Union, to its explosive economic growth and emergence as a world power and its sole superpower. Johnson discusses such contemporary topics as the politics of racism, education, Vietnam, the power of the press, political correctness, the growth of litigation and the rising influence of women. He sees Americans as a problem-solving people and the story of America as "essentially one of difficulties being overcome by intelligence and skill, by faith and strength of purpose, by courage and persistence . . . Looking back on its past, and forward to its future, the auguries are that it will not disappoint humanity." —from the publisher's website
| 1998-04-05T00:00:00
|
0060168366
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/102205-1
|
168241-1
|
John Laurence
|
The Cat From Hue: A Vietnam War Story
|
John Laurence covered the Vietnam War for CBS News from 1965 to 1970 and was judged by his colleagues to be the best television reporter of the war. He lived with a squad of American soldiers in the jungles of War Zone C to produce an unforgettable documentary, The World of Charlie Company, which won every major award for broadcast journalism and also the George Polk memorial award for "best reporting in any medium requiring exceptional courage and enterprise abroad." Despite the professional acclaim, the traumatic stories Laurence covered became a personal burden that he brought home and carried long after the war was over. The result is this passionate memoir about what he witnessed there, laced with humor, anger, love, and the unforgettable story of a very idiosyncratic cat who was determined to play his part in the Vietnam revolution. In reconstructing his experiences, Laurence relied not only on his notes and memory and formidable literary skill, but on dozens of hours of film footage shot at the time, giving the book an uncanny power and fidelity to facts. The Cat from Hue is full of bizarre stories of unknown soldiers and famous journalists and generals, of incredible humanity and tenderness and also corruption and cowardice, of the worlds of the American grunt and of the Vietnamese civilian, and of the price of survival and sanity. Along the way, it clarifies the history of that murky war and illuminates the role that journalists played in it. This book will stand with Michael Herr's Dispatches, Philip Caputo's A Rumor of War, and Ward Just's To What End as one of the best ever written about Vietnam. John Laurence was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. As a foreign correspondent for CBS and ABC News, he has covered many of the most important events of our times: from the Democratic Convention in 1968 and the subsequent trial of the Chicago 7, to the bringing down of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet empire. He lives in rural England with a tribe of cats. —from the publisher's website
| 2002-01-20T00:00:00
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1891620312
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/168241-1
|
104104-1
|
Max Boot
|
Out of Order: Arrogance, Corruption, and Incompetence on the Bench
|
Hear about the judge who got busted for selling crack? What about the judge who released from jail a felon who then promptly killed a rookie cop? Or the one who ordered a prison to supply its inmates with hot pots? In Out of Order: Arrogance, Corruption, and Incompetence on the Bench, investigative reporter Max Boot documents dozens of stories like these as he blows the whistle on the least publicized, the most destructive, branch of the government, the judiciary. He combines shocking anecdotes with compelling statistics to support his belief that judges have greatly damaged both the criminal and civil justice system. Boot criticized well-known judges like Lance Ito, who presided over the O.J. Simpson follies, and Harold Baer, the New York judge who initially decided to execute from evidence eighty pounds of drugs because he found nothing "unusual" about a courier fleeing from the cops. He reveals judges who have taken advantages of their office not only for personal gain, but also to gain greater political power. The "juristocracy," as Boot calls it, has taken over the running of schools, prisons, and other institutions, with disastrous results: forced busing, which has led to white flight from inner-city schools; higher taxes, as judges have ordered more government spending, regardless of results; and greater social divisions, because judges have taken controversial issues like abortion out of the political arena. Rundowns of case after case reveal judges who have routinely overturned popular initiatives without the legal right to do so, implemented controversial policies with no basis in law, and has put millions of dollars into the pockets of undeserving plaintiffs. Following in the footsteps of the bestselling Death of Common Sense and Slouching Towards Gomorrah, Out of Order is a tightly reported highly opinionated expose that should set off a national debate about the woeful state of our legal system. It also offers you hope, by provoking ways to improve the performance of the judiciary and reclaim the original role as servant of the people. —from the publisher's website
| 1998-05-31T00:00:00
|
0465054323
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/104104-1
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8534-1
|
Michael Kaufman
|
Mad Dreams, Saving Graces Poland
|
Michael Kaufman, former New York Times Warsaw bureau chief, discusses his experiences in that capacity in his book "Mad Dreams, Saving Graces/ Poland: A Nation in Conspiracy." The son a communist who was imprisoned for nine years in a Polish prison, Kaufman combines his family history with that of the Polish nation. His unique insights into Polish history give Kaufman an interesting view of the nations' political culture. He also discusses the state of current events in Poland, including the relationship between Solidarity leader Lech Walesa and head of state General Wojciech Jaruzelski.
| 1989-07-30T00:00:00
|
0394554868
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/8534-1
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164532-1
|
Rick Perlstein
|
Before the Storm
|
Before the Storm begins in a time much like the present—the tail end of the 1950s, with America affluent, confident, and convinced that political ideology was a thing of the past. But when John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960, conservatives—editor William F. Buckley, Jr., John Birch Society leader Robert Welch, and thousand of students—formed a movement to challenge the center-left consensus. They chose as their hero Barry Goldwater—a rich, handsome Arizona Republican who scorned the federal bureaucracy, reviled detente, despised liberals on sight—and grew determined to see him elected President. Goldwater was trounced by Lyndon Johnson in 1964. But by the campaign's end the consensus found itself squeezed from the left and the right; and two decades later, the conservatives had elected Ronald Reagan as President and Goldwater's ideas had been adopted by Republicans and Democrats alike. The story of the rise of conservatism during a liberal era has never been told, and Rick Perlstein's gutsy narrative history is full of portraits of figures from Nelson Rockefeller to Bill Moyers. Perlstein argues that the 1964 election led to a key shift in U.S. politics-from concerns over threats from abroad to concerns about disorder at home; from campaigns plotted in back rooms to those staged for television. —from the publisher
| 2001-06-03T00:00:00
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080902859X
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/164532-1
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157392-1
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David Brooks
|
Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There
|
In this witty report, Brooks identifies the new dominant class in our ever-evolving meritocracy—it is the Bobos, bourgeois bohemians, the new strivers whose culture, tastes, and attitudes have replaced the older elite by melding into the bohemians. —from the publisher's website
| 2000-07-30T00:00:00
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0684853779
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/157392-1
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9652-1
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Kenneth Adelman
|
The Great Universal Embrace, Arms Summitry -- A Skeptics Account
|
Kenneth Adelman, former director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency during the Reagan administration, chronicles his experience in “The Great Universal Embrace: Arms Summitry - A Skeptic's Account.” Adelman advised the president on arms control issues and he specifically talks of his involvement in three U.S.-Soviet summits. "Summits are like Cleopatra," says Adelman. "They can be fun, but they are treacherous." Adelman discusses the personal quality of the Reagan-Gorbachev summit meetings. He recounts the "pantry meeting," when Mr. Gorbachev invited Mr. Reagan into a pantry for a seventh personal meeting during the Reykjavik summit. Confused, Mr. Reagan agreed. Later, the U.S. delegation realized Gorbachev's motive: he could boast of his seven different meetings with Reagan, an important measure of success in Soviet politics.
| 1989-10-22T00:00:00
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0671672061
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/9652-1
|
122024-1
|
Norman Podhoretz
|
Ex-Friends
|
Allen Ginsberg, Lionel and Diana Trilling, Lillian Hellman, Hannah Arendt, and Norman Mailer—all are ex-friends of Norman Podhoretz, the renowned editor and critic and leading member of the group of New York intellectuals who came to be known as "the Family." As only a family member could, Podhoretz tells the story of these friendships, once central to his life, and shows how the political and cultural struggles of the past fifty years made them impossible to sustain. With wit, piercing insight, and startling honesty, we are introduced as never before to a type of person for whom ideas were often matters of life and death, and whose passing from the scene has left so large a gap in American culture. Podhoretz was the trailblazer of the now-famous journey of a number of his fellow intellectuals from radicalism to conservatism—a journey through which they came to exercise both cultural and political influence far beyond their number. With this fascinating account of his once happy and finally troubled relations with these cultural icons, Podhoretz helps us understand why that journey was undertaken and just how consequential it became. In the process we get a brilliantly illuminating picture of the writers and intellectuals who have done so much to shape our world. —from the publisher's website
| 1999-03-28T00:00:00
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0684855941
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/122024-1
|
155311-1
|
John Dower
|
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
|
This study of Japanese society shows how, after Japan's defeat in World War II, the Japanese reshaped their old traditions and incorporated new ideas from the West in a unique mix. They were thus well-positioned to participate in the emerging free-market opportunities. EMBRACING DEFEAT won the 1999 National Book Award for Nonfiction. —from the publisher's website
| 2000-03-26T00:00:00
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0393046869
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/155311-1
|
99360-1
|
Roger Simon
|
Showtime: The American Political Circus and the Race for the White House
|
Show Time is about seduction: the seduction of a system, the seduction of a people, the seduction of a nation. It is also a riveting, rollicking, behind-the-curtain peek at the greatest show on earth: the modern American presidential campaign. "This is not a country that elects an entertainer in chief," Newt Gingrich said at the beginning of the last presidential campaign. He could not have been more wrong. The candidate who refuses to entertain is doomed to defeat, a lesson that is already influencing the 1000 campaign. In a certain sense, the American people never had a chance against a campaigner as good as Bill Clinton. We were wooed by a master. But will we respect him in the morning? And how will we both select and judge the presidents who come after him? To answer those questions, award-winning syndicated columnist Roger Simon has gone backstage, where the hucksters, carneys, and ringleaders of presidential politics struggle to shape an image that the American people will not only buy, but demand. In 1996, no detail was too small to escape the attention of the Clinton juggernaut, form the height of the stage the president stood on (four feet, so people could wave signs and not block the TV cameras) to the color of the pom-poms people waved (orange for Arizona, green for Oregon) to the length of the debates with Bob Dole (ninety minutes instead of sixty to keep Dole up past his usual 10 P.M. bedtime). As White House press secretary Mike McCurry told Simon, "This is the first campaign I know of where we beat the other side by a country mile on stagecraft." But despite the carefully constructed facade, campaigns are still about power, money, and manipulation and no one is better equipped to reveal their underbelly than Roger Simon, whose Road Show was called by time magazine "the most fun you can have with a political book." Somewhere between Hunter Thompson’s manic accounts of campaign desperation and double-dealing and Theodore White’s revealing investigations into what’s required to win, Show Time is the clearest dissection of presidential politics to be published in years. It is an insider account of a system gone wrong and required reading as we look toward 2000. —from the publisher's website
| 1998-02-01T00:00:00
|
0812929632
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/99360-1
|
176834-1
|
Jon Kukla
|
A Wilderness So Immense
|
—from the publisher's website The remarkable story of the land purchase that doubled the size of our young nation, set the stage for its expansion across the continent, and confronted Americans with new challenges of ethnic and religious diversity. In a saga that stretches from Paris and Madrid to Haiti, Virginia, New York, and New Orleans, Jon Kukla shows how rivalries over the Mississippi River and its vast watershed brought France, Spain, Great Britain, and the United States to the brink of war and shaped the destiny of the new American republic. We encounter American leaders--Jefferson and Jay, Monroe and Pickering among them--clashing over the opening of the West and its implications for sectional balance of power. We see these disagreements nearly derailing the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and spawning a series of separatist conspiracies long before the dispute over slavery in the territory set the stage for the Missouri Compromise and the Civil War. Kukla makes it clear that as the French Revolution and Napoleon’s empire-building rocked the Atlantic community, Spain’s New World empire grew increasingly vulnerable to American and European rivals. Jefferson hoped to take Spain’s territories--piece by piece,--while Napoleon schemed to reestablish a French colonial empire in the Caribbean and North America. Interweaving the stories of ordinary settlers and imperial decision-makers, Kukla depicts a world of revolutionary intrigue that transformed a small and precarious union into a world power--all without bloodshed and for about four cents an acre.
| 2003-07-06T00:00:00
|
0375408126
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/176834-1
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179856-1
|
Walter Mears
|
Deadlines Past: Forty Years of Presidential Campaigning: A Reporter’s Story
|
—from the publisher's website Walter Mears had an insiderÂ’s edge—and he made the most of it by serving newspapers and their readers around the country with some of the best presidential campaign coverage to see print. The Pulitzer Prize winner also witnessed enough of “the oddities, inside stuff, and impressions” during his 45-year Associated Press career that he ended up with a treasury of American politics and the forces that shaped them.Fortunately, in Deadlines Past Mears finally commits his unwritten stories to paper. Readers are richly rewarded by his focus on the 11 campaigns he covered, campaigns that altered the way American presidents are nominated and elected, and how the media told the tales along the way. The changes were gradual from Nixon versus Kennedy through Bush versus Gore, but the historical significance of each matchup becomes very evident in MearsÂ’s detailed and engrossing narrative.This poignant political recounting is illuminated by personal experiences and the observations of one of the finest AP reporters to ever file a story. Yet Mears never preaches any viewpoint about candidates or campaign history. He tells readers what he thought at the time, without telling them what to think. The results are a richly woven fabric of fact and reflection made by a penetrating eyewitness with nearly unlimited access to his subjects.Deadlines Past is destined to become a classic in the political genre, one of the most compelling examples of a hard-news reporterÂ’s life, and a captivating view of 40 years of American history.
| 2004-01-11T00:00:00
|
0740738526
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/179856-1
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13342-1
|
Michael Shapiro
|
In the Shadow of the Sun: A Korean Year of Love & Sorrow
|
Michael Shapiro discussed his book, "Shadow in the Sun: A Korean Year of Love and Sorrow." He compared living in South Korea to being locked in a room with a manic depressive because of his conflicting passions of bitterness and love for the country. Mr. Shapiro says it is important for Americans to learn more about Korea because of its increasing economic prowess. In less than a generation, he wrote, South Korea has moved from a state of poverty to industrial might. Where its main export was once rice, it now exports computers, televisions, VCRs, ships, and automobiles.
| 1990-07-29T00:00:00
|
0871133571
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/13342-1
|
173268-1
|
Michael Mandelbaum
|
The Ideas That Conquered the World
|
—from the publisher's website One of America's leading foreign policy thinkers outlines the new power realities in the world today, and the challenges facing American leadership--his magnum opus and a major new statement in the mold of Samuel Huntington, Francis Fukuyama, Paul Kennedy, and Jacques Barzun. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, three ideas dominate the world: peace as the preferred basis for relations between and among different countries, democracy as the optimal way to organize political life, and free markets as the indispensable vehicle for the creation of wealth. While not practiced everywhere, these ideas have-for the first time in history-no serious rivals. And although the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were terrible and traumatic, they did not "change everything," as so many commentators have asserted. Instead, these events served to illuminate even more brightly the world that emerged from the end of the Cold War. In The Ideas That Conquered the World , Michael Mandelbaum describes the uneven spread (over the past two centuries) of peace, democracy, and free markets from the wealthy and powerful countries of the world's core, where they originated, to the weaker and poorer countries of its periphery. And he assesses the prospects for these ideas in the years to come, giving particular attention to the United States, which bears the greatest responsibility for protecting and promoting them, and to Russia, China, and the Middle East, in which they are not well established and where their fate will affect the rest of the world. Drawing on history, politics, and economics, this incisive book provides a clear and original guide to the main trends of the twenty-first century, from globalization to terrorism, through the perspective of one of our era's most provocative thinkers.
| 2002-10-20T00:00:00
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1586481347
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/173268-1
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20968-1
|
Andrew Cockburn
|
Dangerous Liaisons
|
The husband-and-wife team of Andrew and Leslie Cockburn discussed their experiences researching their book Dangerous Liaisons, which details collaboration between Israeli intelligence and the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies. They amassed documentation from U.S. and Israeli intelligence sources, Israeli press reports, interviews and Hebrew documents. Their information indicates significant U.S.-Israeli cooperation in covert operations in various parts of the world.
| 1991-09-01T00:00:00
|
0060921455
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/20968-1
|
10541-1
|
Sig Mickelson
|
From Whistle Stop to Sound Bite
|
The former head of CBS news in the 1950's, Sig Mickelson discussed issues surrounding his book, "From Whistle Stop to Sound Bite: Four Decades of Politics and Television." He addressed his career and the evolution of network news coverage since his days with CBS. He focused on technological change and the competition it produced between newspaper, cable, and telephone industries. Mickelson also analyzed the effect of TV coverage on the U.S. electorate. He attributed a decline in voter turnout since the 1950's to an increasing complexity of issues and a lack of development of major issues by the media. Currently a professor of journalism at San Diego State University, Mickelson concluded the interview by sharing his thoughts on the future of the network news industry.
| 1990-01-07T00:00:00
|
0275923517
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/10541-1
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67617-1
|
Sanford Ungar
|
Fresh Blood: The New American Immigrants
|
Sanford Ungar discussed his book, "Fresh Blood: The New American Immigrants," published by Simon and Schuster. It focuses on how waves of immigrants have renewed U.S. society over the centuries. He also talked about the current political debate over immigration and his journalistic and academic career.
| 1995-11-26T00:00:00
|
0684808609
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/67617-1
|
73280-1
|
Denis Brian
|
Einstein: A Life
|
Mr. Brian talked about his recent book, Einstein: A Life, published by John Wiley and Sons. It focuses on Einstein's private life, which Brian argues previous biographers have ignored for the most part. He also talked about the more controversial parts of Einstein's life, including his alleged communist leanings.
| 1996-08-04T00:00:00
|
0471193623
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/73280-1
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172901-1
|
Rick Atkinson
|
An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943
|
—from the publisher's website In the first volume of a remarkable trilogy, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson provides the definitive history of the war in North Africa. The liberation of Europe and the destruction of the Third Reich is an epic story of courage and calamity, of miscalculation and enduring triumph. Now, sixty years after America joined this titanic struggle, Rick Atkinson shows why no modern reader can understand the ultimate victory of the Allied powers without a grasp of the great drama that unfolded in North Africa in 1942 and 1943. Atkinson's narrative begins on the eve of Operation TORCH, the daring amphibious invasion of Morocco and Algeria. After three days of hard fighting against the French, American and British troops push deeper into North Africa. But the confidence gained after several early victories soon wanes; once Allied forces engage the Germans, it becomes apparent that they have more than met their match. Casualties mount rapidly, battle plans prove ineffectual, and hope for a quick and decisive victory evaporates. The Allies -- particularly the Americans -- discover that they are woefully unprepared to fight and win this war, in part due to lack of experience, in part due to an unwillingness to pay the necessary price in blood. North Africa then becomes a proving ground: it is here that American officers learn how to lead, here that soldiers learn how to hate, here that an entire army learns what it will take vanquish a formidable enemy. Most of the West's great battle captains emerged in North Africa, including men whose names remain familiar generations later -- Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, and Montgomery. Atkinson brings these commanders and others vividly to life, along with enemy generals such as Rommel and Kesselring. He also takes us right to the front lines of every major battle -- from Oran to Kasserine to Tunis -- and his gripping accounts of soldiers fighting and dying makes the war horrifyingly real. Gradually, we come to understand the profound accomplishments of this bloody campaign. In North Africa, the Allied coalition came into its own, the enemy forever lost the initiative, and the United States -- for the first time -- began to act like a great power. Even as he weaves a compelling narrative of a heroic victory, Atkinson casts a clear eye on the dark tragedies that haunt every war. The first volume of the Liberation Trilogy, An Army At Dawn is history of the highest order -- brilliantly researched, rich with new material and surprising insights, the deeply human story of a monumental battle for the future of civilization.
| 2002-11-17T00:00:00
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0805062882
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/172901-1
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Liz Trotta
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Fighting for Air: In the Trenches with Television News
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In this piercing look into the grit and the glamour of television news, award-winning journalist Liz Trotta traces her career from the early days of broadcast news to the slick superficiality of today. The first female television correspondent in Vietnam, Trotta tells the searing truth about being a woman in a male-dominated industry and recounts many of her most fascinating stories, from the scandal of Chappaquiddick to the campaign trail of George Bush. Filled with candid, often stinging assessments of the movers and shakers in the industry, "Fighting for Air" is the story of an uncompromising woman and of television news coming of age--told from the trenches. —from the publisher's website
| 1991-08-18T00:00:00
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0826209521
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/20663-1
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Lee Edwards
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Missionary for Freedom: The Life and Times of Walter Judd
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Mr. Edwards discussed his new book, The Life and Times of Walter Judd: Missionary for Freedom. Judd, who served as a medical missionary in China for ten years, went on to become a U.S. Congressman from Minnesota. He served in the Congress for nearly twenty years. Mr. Edwards credits Judd with being a "doer." He cites the 92 year-old former congressman's insights on isolationism, foreign trade, and domestic issues.
| 1990-09-02T00:00:00
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1557780315
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/13792-1
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Tim Russert
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Meet the Press: 50 Years of History in the Making
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"If it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press!" On November 6, 1947, Meet the Press made its network debut. Now, 50 years and an astonishing 2500 shows later, the most influential news program in the history of television is celebrated in MEET THE PRESS: 50 Years of History in the Making. GRAB A FRONT-ROW SEAT to the world events of the past five decades as seenthrough the lens of this groundbreaking show. MEET THE PRESS: 50 Years of History in the Making spotlights the newsmakers, the journalists, and the issues that have shaped today's world. Meet the Press is the one news show that both reports on the news and makes it—breaking more "next day" headlines than any other show. Now, in honor of the show's golden anniversary, NBC and the show's producers open the archives of videotapes, rare photographs, transcripts, and revealing private anecdotes to recreate the program's history-making highlights. MEET THE PRESS: 50 Years of History in the Making captures all the drama and the excitement of the show that millions of views, newsmakers, world leaders, and journalists consider a national treasure. —from the publisher's website
| 1997-12-07T00:00:00
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0070466149
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/94704-1
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Bruce Oudes
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From: The President
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Bruce Oudes dicussed his book, From: The President, Richard Nixon's Secret Files," which publishes for the first time many of President Nixon's confidential memos and papers. The editor described the topics of these memos as diverse, ranging from opinions on how to properly decorate the White House to instructions to the staff on how to handle the Watergate crisis. Memos to the President from White House staffers such as John Ehrlichman, Bob Haldeman, and Henry Kissinger are also included in the book.
| 1989-04-16T00:00:00
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B000UD71W2
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/7198-1
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Richard Holbrooke
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To End a War
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When President Clinton sent Richard Holbrooke to Bosnia as America's chief negotiator in late 1995, he took a gamble that would eventually redefine his presidency. But there was no saying then, at the height of the war, that Holbrooke's mission would succeed. The odds were strongly against it. As passionate as he was controversial, Holbrooke believed that the only way to bring peace to the Balkans was through a complex blend of American leadership, aggressive and creative diplomacy, and a willingness to use force, if necessary, in the cause for peace. This was not a universally popular view. Resistance was fierce within the United Nations and the chronically divided Contact Group, and in Washington, where many argued that the United States should not get more deeply involved. This book is Holbrooke's gripping inside account of his mission, of the decisive months when, belatedly and reluctantly but ultimately decisively, the United States reasserted its moral authority and leadership and ended Europe's worst war in over half a century. To End a War reveals many important new details of how America made this historic decision. What George F. Kennan has called Holbrooke's "heroic efforts" were shaped by the enormous tragedy with which the mission began, when three of his four team members were killed during their first attempt to reach Sarajevo. In Belgrade, Sarajevo, Zagreb, Paris, Athens, and Ankara, and throughout the dramatic roller-coaster ride at Dayton, he tirelessly imposed, cajoled, and threatened in the quest to stop the killing and forge a peace agreement. Holbrooke's portraits of the key actors, from officials in the White House and the lysée Palace to the leaders in the Balkans, are sharp and unforgiving. His explanation of how the United States was finally forced to intervene breaks important new ground, as does his discussion of the near disaster in the early period of the implementation of the Dayton agreement. To End a War is a brilliant portrayal of high-wire, high-stakes diplomacy in one of the toughest negotiations of modern times. A classic account of the uses and misuses of American power, its lessons go far beyond the boundaries of the Balkans and provide a powerful argument for continued American leadership in the modern world. —from the publisher's website
| 1998-07-26T00:00:00
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037550057X
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/106538-1
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Stephen Kinzer
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Crescent & Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds
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For centuries, no terror was more vivid in the Western imagination than fear of "the Turk." To this day many people think of Turkey as exotic and fascinating but at the same time repressive, wild and vaguely dangerous. In Crescent and Star , Stephen Kinzer offers an intimate report on Turkey today, pulling aside the veil that has long hidden its wonders from the outside world. He traces its development into a modern state and explains the great dilemmas it now faces. Turkey is poised between Europe and Asia, caught between the glories of its Ottoman past and its hopes for a democratic future, between the traditional power of its army and the needs of its impatient citizens, between Muslim traditions and secular expectations. Will Turkey continue to hide behind its fears, remaining only half-free and fulfilling only half its great potential, or will it yield to the pressure of a new generation and become a powerful and prosperous democracy? Kinzer spent years working and living in Turkey, and he was captivated by its many delights. He describes the pleasures of smoking water pipes, searching for the ruins of lost civilizations, watching camel fights, discovering the country's greatest poet, swimming across the fabled Bosphorus and even hosting a blues program on an Istanbul radio station. He takes us from elegant city cafés to wild mountain outposts on Turkey's eastern border, talking along the way to dissidents and patriots, villagers and cabinet ministers. He reports on political trials and on his own arrest by Turkish soldiers when he was trying to uncover secrets about the army's campaign against Kurdish guerrillas. And he explores the nation's drive to join the European Union, the human-rights abuses that have kept it out and its difficult relations with Kurds, Armenians and Greeks. Will this vibrant country, Kinzer asks, become the world's first Islamic democracy? Crescent and Star makes clear why Turkey might—or might not—become "the most audaciously successful nation of the twenty-first century." —from the publisher's website
| 2001-10-21T00:00:00
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0374131430
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/166753-1
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Thomas Keneally
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The Great Shame, Part 2
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Based on unique research among little-used sources, this masterly book surveys 80 years of Irish history as seen through the eyes of political prisoners—some of whom were the author's ancestors, who served time in Australia. —from the publisher's website
| 2000-01-09T00:00:00
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0385476973
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/154122-1
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Leonard Sussman
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Power, The Press & The Technology of Freedom
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Leonard Sussman discussed his book concerning the impact of new technology on the ways people communicate and govern. He focused on Integrated System Digital Networks (ISDNs), and the roles they will play in increasing the speed of all forms of voice, data and image communications in his book, "Power, The Press & The Technology of Freedom."
| 1990-04-08T00:00:00
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0932088392
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/11832-1
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Tim Penny
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Common Cents
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Former Congressman Tim Penny and Mr. Garrett discussed their book, "Common Cents," published by Little, Brown and Company. The book focuses on Washington culture and how Washington politics is riddled with many nonsensical activities and practices. It also provides tips for people who feel disaffected with national politics on how they can reconnect with the political scene. Former Representative Penny also talked about why he didn't seek re-election in Minnesota's First District.
| 1995-05-14T00:00:00
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0380727196
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/64626-1
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James Humes
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Confessions of a White House Ghostwriter
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Mr. Humes talked about his new book, Confessions of a White House Ghostwriter: Five Presidents and Other Political Adventures, published by Regnery. Mr. Humes talked about his influences early on in his life and his love of history and the English language. In his book, Mr. Humes talks about what he learned during his tenure as a speechwriter for different presidents, the real reason Ford pardoned Nixon, why Reagan was his own best speechwriter and the reasons why Bush lost in the 1992 election. Mr. Humes also discussed the major influences in his life both personally and professionally.
| 1997-06-22T00:00:00
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0895264331
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/81209-1
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53447-1
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David Levering Lewis
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W.E.B. DuBois: The Biography of a Race, 1868-1919
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Professor Lewis discussed his book, "W.E.B. Dubois: The Biography of a Race, 1868-1919," published by Henry Holt and Company, Inc. The book is the first volume of a two volume biography covering the 95 years of W.E.B. Dubois' life. Topics included the events which influenced his life and the influences he has had on American society.
| 1994-01-02T00:00:00
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0805035680
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/53447-1
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10430-1
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Hedley Donovan
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Right Places, Right time
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Right Places, Right Times: Forty Years in Journalism Not Counting My Paper Route is the autobiography of former editor-in-chief of Time, Inc., Hedley Donovan. In this interview, he discusses his childhood, his education, and his experience as a Rhodes scholar. He traces his career steps as a reporter for the Washington Post and subsequently being selected as managing editor of Fortune magazine after WWII. Donovan discusses the contributions of Henry Luce to the world of journalism.
| 1990-02-27T00:00:00
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0671731602
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/10430-1
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179911-1
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Nikki Giovanni
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The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998
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—from the publisher's website For the first time ever, the complete poetry collection spanning three decades from Nikki Giovanni, renowned poet and one of America's national treasures. When her poems first emerged during the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s, Nikki Giovanni immediately took her place among the most celebrated, controversial, and influential poets of the era. Now, more than thirty years later, Giovanni still stands as one of the most commanding, luminous voices to grace America's political and poetic landscape. The first of its kind, this omnibus collection covers Nikki Giovanni's complete work of poetry from three decades, 1968–1998. The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni contains Giovanni's first seven volumes of poetry: Black Feeling Black Talk, Black Judgement, Re: Creation, My House, The Women and the Men, Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day , and Those Who Ride the Night Winds . Arranged chronologically with a biographical timeline and introduction, a new afterword from the author, title and first-line indexes, and extensive notes to the poems, this collection is the testimony of a life's work -- from one of America's most beloved daughters and powerful poets. Known for their iconic revolutionary phrases, Black Feeling Black Talk (1968), Black Judgement (1968), and Re: Creation (1970) are heralded as being among the most important volumes of contemporary poetry. My House (1972) marks a new dimension in tone and philosophy -- it signifies a new self-confidence and maturity as Giovanni artfully connects the private and the public, the personal and the political. In The Women and the Men (1975), Giovanni displays her compassion for the people, things, and places she has encountered -- she reveres the ordinary and is in search of the extraordinary. Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day (1978) is one of the most poignant and introspective. These poems chronicle the drastic change that took place during the 1970s -- in both the consciousness of the nation and in the soul of the poet -- when the dreams of the Civil Rights era seemed to have evaporated. Those Who Ride the Night Winds (1983) is devoted to "the day trippers and midnight cowboys," the ones who have devoted their lives to pushing the limits of the human condition and shattering the constraints of the status quo. Each volume reflects the changes Giovanni has endured as a Black woman, lover, mother, teacher, and poet. A timeless classic, The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni is the evocation of a nation's past and present -- intensely personal and fiercely political -- from one of our most compassionate, vibrant observers.
| 2004-02-08T00:00:00
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0060541334
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/179911-1
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Steven Waldman
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The Bill
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Steven Waldman's book, "The Bill," published by Viking Penguin, describes the process of transforming a presidential idea into a law. It focuses on President Clinton's National Service Initiative, which founded Americorps, and how this idea was changed by the contentious political environment of Washington.
| 1995-01-29T00:00:00
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0670853003
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/62456-1
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Ben Wattenberg
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The First Universal Nation
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Ben Wattenberg explained why his book, "The First Universal Nation: Leading Indicators and Ideas About the Surge of America in the 1990s," concludes that America will remain a vital nation into the 21st century. America's success will, in large part, be due to the broad spectrum of ethnic groups which contribute to the dynamism of the culture. He elaborates on other indicators such as health, politics, immigration, and housing. His topics all draw on statistical evidence for guidance. The book is also a memoir of his career, which included working as a speech writer for President Johnson. He is currently a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.
| 1991-01-06T00:00:00
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0029340020
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155182-1
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Arianna Huffington
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How to Overthrow the Government
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When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for a people to rise up in protest . . . When a handful of bull-market bullies and corporate profiteers amass vast fortunes while 35 million citizens languish in poverty . . . When average Americans decide they're sick of the burden of credit card-fueled lifestyles, tired of sending their children to violent, decaying schools, and sick and tired of sending corrupt, ineffectual career politicians back to Washington year after year to pander to their richest soft-money contributors . . . When a majority of registered voters no longer have enough faith in our fat-cat "leaders" and their obsolete parties even to show up at the polls to replace them . . . When these truths become self-evident . . . Then the time has come to overthrow the government. Arianna Huffington has earned a reputation as one of America's best-known and most independent political commentators, but this book will surprise even the most ardent followers of Beltway politics. In its pages she breaks away from the party-line platitudes of cynical Republicans and hypocritical Democrats alike and shines a harsh light on the real crises of contemporary America. Our democratic system has broken down, she contends. The two political parties have become indistinguishable. Their policies are feeble, their motives self-serving, their campaign tactics ruthless and insulting. And, as they kneel at the altar of profit, our nation's foundations are crumbling. Decay is everywhere: The physical decay of our cities and schools is matched by the moral decay of a drug industry that is allowed by politicians to push Prozac on children, a media industry that looks only for the next scandal, and a political industry that hypnotizes its candidates with polls, paralyzes them with smear tactics, and seduces them with carefully camouflaged cash. How to Overthrow the Government, then, is Huffington's call to arms: a challenge to the average American to seize the government back from the special interests that now hold it hostage and restore control to the people themselves. From campaign finance reform to new voters' rights to grassroots Internet activism and civil disobedience campaigns, she calls for fresh and radical solutions to this national crisis—and offers a directory of local and national activist groups to contact that can help make it happen. For if we are to preserve and protect our more perfect union, We the People must stand up and fight for our country—before it's too late. —from the publisher's website
| 2000-02-13T00:00:00
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0060393319
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/155182-1
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John Jackley
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Hill Rat: Blowing the Lid Off Congress
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Mr. Jackley, former press secretary to Representative Ronald Coleman (D-TX), discussed his experiences in Washington, DC and his book Hill Rat: Blowing the Lid Off Congress.
| 1992-06-21T00:00:00
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089526529X
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/26692-1
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171133-1
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Ann Coulter
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Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right
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Read the New York Times Review The immutable fact of politics in America is this: liberals hate conservatives. Ann Coulter, whose examination of the Clinton impeachment was a major national bestseller and earned widespread praise, now takes on an even tougher issue. At a time when Democrats and Republicans should be overwhelmingly congenial, American political debate has become increasingly hostile, overly personal, and insufferably trivial. Whether conducted in Congress or on the political talk shows, played out at dinners or cocktail parties, politics is a nasty sport. At the risk of giving away the ending: It’s all liberals’ fault. Cultlike in their behavior, vicious in their attacks on Republicans, and in almost complete control of mainstream national media, the left has been merciless in portraying all conservatives as dumb, racist, power hungry, homophobic, and downright scary. This despite the many Republican accomplishments of the last few decades, as well as the Bush administration’s expert handling of the country’s affairs in the wake of the worst attacks on American soil and of the war that followed. With incisive reasoning and meticulous research, Ann Coulter examines the events and personalities that have shaped modern political discourse the bickering, backstabbing, and name-calling that have made cultural mountains out of partisan molehills. She demonstrates how the media, especially, are biased and usually wrongheaded and have done all in their power to obfuscate the issues and the people behind them, bending over backward to villainize and belittle the right, while rarely missing an opportunity to praise the left. Perhaps if conservatives had had total control over every major means of news dissemination for a quarter century, they would have forgotten how to debate, too, and would just call liberals stupid and mean. But that’s an alternative universe. In this universe, the public square is wall-to-wall liberal propaganda. Refreshingly honest and unerringly timely, Slander continues where Bernard Goldberg’s number one bestselling Bias left off. —from the publisher's website
| 2002-08-11T00:00:00
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078624819X
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/171133-1
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Matthew Pinsker
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Lincoln's Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers' Home
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—from the publisher's website Lincoln and his family fled the gloom that hung over the White House, moving into a small cottage in Washington, D.C., on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home, a residence for disabled military veterans. In Lincoln's Sanctuary , historian Matthew Pinsker offers a fascinating portrait of Lincoln's stay in this cottage and tells the story of the president's remarkable growth as a national leader and a private man. Lincoln lived at the Soldiers' Home for a quarter of his presidency, and for nearly half of the critical year of 1862, but most Americans (including many scholars) have not heard of the place. Indeed, this is the first volume to specifically connect this early "summer White House" to key wartime developments, including the Emancipation Proclamation, the firing of McClellan, the evolution of Lincoln's "Father Abraham" image, the election of 1864, and the assassination conspiracy.
| 2003-12-21T00:00:00
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0195162064
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/179036-1
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James Chace
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1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft & Debs- The Election That Changed the Country”
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—from the publisher's website Four extraordinary men sought the presidency in 1912. Theodore Roosevelt was the charismatic and still wildly popular former president who sought to redirect the Republican Party toward a more nationalistic, less materialistic brand of conservatism and the cause of social justice. His handpicked successor and close friend, William Howard Taft, was a reluctant politician whose sole ambition was to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. Amiable and easygoing, Taft was the very opposite of the restless Roosevelt. After Taft failed to carry forward his predecessor's reformist policies, an embittered Roosevelt decided to challenge Taft for the party's nomination. Thwarted by a convention controlled by Taft, Roosevelt abandoned the GOP and ran in the general election as the candidate of a third party of his own creation, the Bull Moose Progressives. Woodrow Wilson, the former president of Princeton University, astonished everyone by seizing the Democratic nomination from the party bosses who had made him New Jersey's governor. A noted political theorist, he was a relative newcomer to the practice of governing, torn between his fear of radical reform and his belief in limited government. The fourth candidate, labor leader Eugene V. Debs, had run for president on the Socialist ticket twice before. A fervent warrior in the cause of economic justice for the laboring class, he was a force to be reckoned with in the great debate over how to mitigate the excesses of industrial capitalism that was at the heart of the 1912 election. Chace recounts all the excitement and pathos of a singular moment in American history: the crucial primaries, the Republicans' bitter nominating convention that forever split the party, Wilson's stunning victory on the forty-sixth ballot at the Democratic convention, Roosevelt's spectacular coast-to-coast whistle-stop electioneering, Taft's stubborn refusal to fight back against his former mentor, Debs's electrifying campaign appearances, and Wilson's "accidental election" by less than a majority of the popular vote. Had Roosevelt received the Republican nomination, he almost surely would have been elected president once again and the Republicans would likely have become a party of reform. Instead, the GOP passed into the hands of a conservative ascendancy that reached its fullness with Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and the party remains to this day riven by the struggle between reform and reaction, isolationism and internationalism. The 1912 presidential contest was the first since the days of Jefferson and Hamilton in which the great question of America's exceptional destiny was debated. 1912 changed America.
| 2004-08-29T00:00:00
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0743203941
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60099-1
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Shelby Foote
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Stars in Their Courses: The Gettysburg Campaign
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The author discussed his book, Stars in Their Courses: The Gettysburg Campaign, published by Random House. The book focuses on the role of "fate" in determining the defeat of General Robert E. Lee at the Civil War battle of Gettysburg. The book is a chapter excerpted from Mr. Foote's three-volume Civil War narrative.
| 1994-09-11T00:00:00
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0679601120
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/60099-1
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164139-1
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Robert Slayton
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Empire Statesman: The Rise & Redemption of Al Smith
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Franklin Roosevelt is said to have explained Al Smith, and his own New Deal, with these words: "Practically all the things we've done in the federal government are the things Al Smith did as governor of New York." Smith, who ran for president in 1928, not only set the model for FDR, he also taught America that the promise of the country extends to everyone and no one should be left behind. The story of this trailblazer is the story of America in the twentieth century. A child of second-generation immigrants, a boy self-educated on the streets of the nation's largest city, he went on to become the greatest governor in the history of New York; a national leader and symbol to immigrants, Catholics, and the Irish; and in 1928 the first Catholic major-party candidate for president. He was the man who championed safe working conditions in the wake of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. He helped build the Empire State Building. Above all, he was a national model, both for his time and for ours. Yet, as Robert Slayton demonstrates in this rich story of an extraordinary man and his times, Al Smith's life etched a conflict still unresolved today. Who is a legitimate American? The question should never be asked, yet we can never seem to put it behind us. In the early years of the twentieth century, the Ku Klux Klan reorganized, not to oppose blacks, but rather against the flood of new immigrants arriving from southern Europe and other less familiar sources. Anti-Catholic hatred was on the rise, mixed up with strong feelings about prohibition and tensions between towns and cities. The conflict reached its apogee when Smith ran for president. Slayton's story of the famous election of 1928, in which Smith lost amid a blizzard of blind bigotry, is faiths. Yet Smith's eventual redemption, and the recovery of his deepest values, shines as a triumph of spirit over the greatest of adversity. Even in our corrosively cynical times, the greater vision of Al Smith's life inspires and uplifts us. —from the publisher
| 2001-05-13T00:00:00
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0684863022
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91396-1
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Nat Hentoff
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Speaking Freely: A Memoir
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In 1995, when Nat Hentoff was honored by the National Press Foundation for lifetime distinguished contributions to journalism, Meg Greenfield said of Hentoff, "In an age when so many of us claim courage for taking on individuals and institutions that they couldn't be more safe in attacking, Hentoff takes real risks, challenges icons and ideas that are treasured in the community he lives in . . . he has come to the defense of some of the most loathsome human beings in our society when he knew their fundamental rights--and by extension the rights of all-were being endangered . . . Journalism doesn't get any better than Nat Hentoff." Through his nationally syndicated columns in the Village Voice and the Washington Post as well as his numerous books on Jazz, Religion, Education and Freedom of Speech, Nat Hentoff has come to be considered as "a giant in defending civil liberties." (Publishers Weekly.) Now, in SPEAKING FREELY: A Memoir, Hentoff recounts his incredible life and guides the reader through more than 40 years of his career in journalism. He tells of his days writing for the jazz magazine Down Beat and the relationships he forged with such greats as Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Dizzy Gillespie, offers reflections on his mentors George Seldes and I.F. Stone, recounts his associations with such individuals as Malcom X, Louis Farrakhan (who once labeled Hentoff "the Antichrist"), Adlai Stevenson and John Cardinal O'Connor, and shares his controversial stance on such issues as abortion and the testing of newborns for the HIV virus. SPEAKING FREELY is written in the candid and opinionated voice that has made Hentoff one of America's most provocative journalists. —from the publisher's website
| 1997-10-19T00:00:00
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0679436472
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32833-1
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Walter Isaacson
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Kissinger: A Biography
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Mr. Isaacson discussed his book, Kissinger: A Biography, which examines the life and times of the former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who served during the Nixon and Ford administrations. He discussed his research on Mr. Kissinger, and the political philosophy that drives the international diplomat.
| 1992-09-27T00:00:00
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0671872362
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/32833-1
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67506-1
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Ben Bradlee
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A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures
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Mr. Bradlee discussed his recent book, A Good Life: Newspapering, published by Simon and Schuster.
| 1995-10-29T00:00:00
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0684808943
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/67506-1
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34276-1
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Barbara Hinckley
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Follow the Leader: Opinion Polls and the Modern Presidents
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Professors Brace and Hinckley, co-authors of Follow the Leader: Opinion Polls and the Modern Presidents published by Basic Books, discussed the relationship between the modern presidents and opinion polls on their job performance and other issues. The two political science professors discussed how presidential decisions and decision-making processes are affected by opinion polls, and the role of opinion polls in American politics. Their book chronicles the influence of polling on presidential administrations from Harry Truman to George H.W. Bush.
| 1992-11-08T00:00:00
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046501335X
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/34276-1
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Sam Tanenhaus
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Whittaker Chambers: A Biography Part 1
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Sam Tanenhaus discussed his book, "Whittaker Chambers: A Biography," published by Random House. Whittaker Chambers was a communist author and Soviet agent in his youth and later became a writer at Time. He was the main witness in the case against Alger Hiss as a Soviet agent. This segment focused on Chambers's early life and the process of writing the book. This was the first half of a two-hour interview.
| 1997-02-23T00:00:00
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/78890-1
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James Bovard
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Terrorism and Tyranny
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—from the publisher's website "The war on terrorism is the first political growth industry of the new Millennium." So begins Jim Bovard's newest and, in some ways, most provocative book as he casts yet another jaundiced eye on Washington and the motives behind protecting "the homeland" and prosecuting a wildly unpopular war with Iraq. For James Bovard, as always, it all comes down to a trampling of personal liberty and an end to privacy as we know it. From airport security follies that protect no one to increased surveillance of individuals and skyrocketing numbers of detainees, the war on terrorism is taking a toll on individual liberty and no one tells the whole grisly story better than Bovard.
| 2003-11-02T00:00:00
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1403963681
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/178917-1
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Edward Lazarus
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Closed Chambers
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Racial integration, abortion, the rights of free speech—the Supreme Court is responsible for handing down decisions that dramatically affect the way we live our lives, but very little is known about what really goes on behind the scenes. Isolated in a marble temple, supposedly insulated from the pressures of politics, nine unelected Justices are charged with protecting our most cherished rights and shaping our fundamental laws. These nine Justices are assisted by approximately 36 law clerks each year. Never before has one of these clerks stepped forward to reveal how the Court really works—all the power, politics, and personalities. Now, in CLOSED CHAMBERS: The First Eyewitness Account of the Epic Struggles Inside the Supreme Court former Supreme Court clerk, Edward Lazarus provides an eyewitness account of the Court's inner sanctum—and explains why the Justices many times fail the country and the cause of justice. Lazarus explains, "What I saw inside the Court—how it worked or failed to work, the strengths and weaknesses of the Justices who presided while I was there, the role of clerks like me—all this left me with an irrepressible sense of disquiet . . . [T]his book is an attempt to give both lawyers and lay people a better understanding of a particularly significant and tumultuous period in the Court's history." As clerk to Justice Harry Blackmun for the 1988-89 term, Edward Lazarus took part in the Court's internal battles over the death penalty, affirmative action, abortion, and other pivotal decisions. In his ground-breaking account, Lazarus explains the collisions of law, politics, and personality over these fiercely disputed issues to reveal a court at war with itself. Feuds, friendships, and feelings are inevitably a part of the process. In CLOSED CHAMBERS, Lazarus contends that the Court "is an institution broken into unyielding factions that have largely given up on a meaningful exchange of their respective views or for that matter, a meaningful explication or defense of their own views." Compounding the Court's internal conflicts, Lazarus details how the Justices can delegate excessive power to young, ambitious, and politically zealous law clerks who, in turn, sometimes seek to manipulate their bosses and influence the law of the land—even on last minute life-or-death petitions for stays of execution. Focusing primarily on death penalty, race discrimination, and abortion rulings, CLOSED CHAMBERS weaves together past and present and shows us with astonishing detail not only the failings of the modern Court, but also what led to them, and why they are so devastating to our nation. "[T]his book is meant as both an indictment—a revelation of how a Court came to lose its essential character—and a hopeful plea that, as a new generation at the Court searches for balance, such character may be restored." CLOSED CHAMBERS will become required reading for every law student. lawyer, and anyone who cares about the lines between justice and politics. —from the publisher's website
| 1998-06-14T00:00:00
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0812924029
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/105026-1
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Alan Ryan
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Introduction Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America
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Democracy in America has had the singular honor of being even to this day the work that political commentators of every stripe refer to when they seek to draw large conclusions about the society of the United States. Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat, came to the young nation to investigate the functioning of American democracy and the social, political, and economic life of its citizens, publishing his observations in 1835 and 1840. Brilliantly written and vividly illustrated with vignettes and portraits, Democracy in America is far more than a trenchant analysis of one society at a particular point in time. What will most intrigue modern readers is how many of Tocqueville’s observations still hold true: on the mixed advantages of a free press, the strained relations among the races, and the threats posed to democracies by consumerism and corruption. —from the publisher's website So uncanny is Tocqueville’s insight and so accurate are his predictions, that it seems as though he were not merely describing the American identity but actually helping to create it.
| 1995-02-26T00:00:00
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0679431349
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Michael Medved
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Hollywood vs. America
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Film critic Michael Medved discussed his book, "Hollywood vs. America: Popular Culture and the War on Traditional Values," in which he criticizes producers of American media including television programs and popular music for maintaining cultural themes in opposition to traditional American values. He argues that movies and other cultural media espousing traditional values actually sell better than less morally uplifting products, and recommends consumers enact a grass-roots campaign to return American culture to traditional values.
| 1992-12-27T00:00:00
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0060924357
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/36670-1
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Philip Short
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Mao: A Life
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The definitive biography of the man who dominated modern Chinese history. When the Nationalists routed a ragtag Red Army on the Xiang River during the Long March, an earthy Chinese peasant with a brilliant mind moved to a position of power. Eight years after his military success, Mao Tse-Tung had won out over more sophisticated rivals to become party chairman, his title for life. Isolated by his eminence, he lived like a feudal emperor for much of his reign after a blood purge took more lives than those killed by either Stalin or Hitler. His virtual quarantine resulted in an ideological/political divide and a devastating reign of terror that became the Cultural Revolution. Though Mao broke the shackles of two thousand years of Confucian right thinking and was the major force of contemporary China, he reverted to the simplistic thinking of his peasant origins at the end, sustained by the same autocratic process that supported China's first emperors. One cannot understand today's China without first understanding Mao. Attempts to view Mao's life through Western lenses inevitably present a cartoonish monster or hero, both far removed from the real man. Philip Short's masterly assessment-informed by secret documents recently found in China-allows the reader to understand this colossal figure whose shadow will dominate the twenty-first century. —from the publisher's website
| 2000-04-02T00:00:00
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0805031154
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/155775-1
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Walter Mosley
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Workin' on the Chain Gang: Shaking Off the Dead Hand of History
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The author of Devil in a Blue Dress offers a powerful examination of the American economic and political machine and challenges readers to cast off the chains of yesterday's society, insisting that the nation and its potential are ours to command. —from the publisher's website
| 2000-04-23T00:00:00
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0345430697
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/155716-1
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Arthur Herman
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Joseph McCarthy
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Mr. Herman offers a biography of Joe McCarthy that examines this central figure of the "red scare" of the fifties, and looks at his life and legacy in the light of newly declassified archival sources from the FBI, the National Security Agency, the U.S. Congress, the Pentagon, and the former Soviet Union. After more than four decades, Mr. Herman tells the story of America's most hated political figure, shorn of the rhetoric and stereotypes of the past. Joseph McCarthy explains how this farm boy from Wisconsin sprang up from a newly confident postwar America, and how he embodied the hopes and anxieties of a generation caught in the toils of the Cold War. It shows how McCarthy used the explosive issue of Communist spying in the thirties and forties to challenge the Washington political establishment and catapult himself into the headlines. Above all, it gives us a picture of the red scare far different from and more accurate than the one typically portrayed in the news media and the movies. We now know that the Communist spying McCarthy fought against was amazingly extensive—reaching to the highest levels of the White House and the top-secret Manhattan Project. Mr. Herman offers the facts to show in detail which of McCarthy's famous anti-Communist investigations were on target (such as the notorious cases of Owen Lattimore and Irving Peress, the Army's "pink dentist") and which were not (including the case that led to McCarthy's final break with Whittaker Chambers). When McCarthy accused two American employees of the United Nations of being Communists, he was widely criticized. When McCarthy called Owen Lattimore "Moscow's top spy," he was again assailed—but Herman theorizes that Lattimore was a witting aid to Soviet espionage networks. McCarthy often overreached himself. In Joseph McCarthy, Arthur Herman reveals the human drama of a fascinating, troubled, and self-destructive man who was often more right than wrong, and yet in the end did more harm than good. —from the publisher's website
| 2000-02-06T00:00:00
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0684836254
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/154513-1
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Jeffrey Birnbaum
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The Lobbyists
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Mr. Birnbaum discussed his book, The Lobbyists: How Influence Peddlers Get their Way in Washington. He described the role of lobbyists in the legislative process and the effects of donations by special interest groups to congressional campaigns. He detailed the careers and probable influence of many individual lobbyists, explaining that much of their influence results from their great expertise in a particular field. In Washington there are are 35 lobbyists per per member of Congress.
| 1993-01-10T00:00:00
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0812920864
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/36906-1
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Thomas Byrne Edsall
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Chain Reaction
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Mr. Edsall, co-author of the recent book, Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights and Taxes on American Politics, is a political reporter for the Washington Post. He discussed the changes in national voting trends during the last twenty-five years. He explained how certain issues, such as race and taxes, have become integral to successful political campaigns, and how these issues may have affected the outcome of the last five presidential elections.
| 1991-12-15T00:00:00
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0393309037
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/23404-1
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Linda Chavez
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Out of the Barrio
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Ms. Chavez discussed the social, economic, and political implications of the integration of Hispanics into U.S. culture and she described the ramifications of current public policy programs such as immigration policy and affirmative action programs on their assimilation. Ms. Chavez served as executive director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights during the Reagan administration.
| 1992-03-22T00:00:00
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0465054315
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/25129-1
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Georgie Anne Geyer
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Guerrilla Prince: The Untold Story of Fidel Castro
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Ms. Geyer, a foreign correspondent and syndicated columnist based in Washington, DC, talked about her book, Guerrilla Prince: The Untold Story of Fidel Castro. She said that she wrote the biography because of Castro's tremendous influence on the United States, the Soviet Union, and the Third World. She described Castro's early political influences, his time as a guerrilla in the hills of Cuba, his rise to power, and the effect of his policies on Cuba today. By investigating his personal life she said that she was able present a more complete picture of Castro. The book is based on 500 interviews conducted in 28 countries, including four interviews with Castro.
| 1991-03-10T00:00:00
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0316308935
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/17009-1
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Patricia O'Toole
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Money and Morals in America
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Patricia O'Toole discussed her book, "Money and Morals in America: A History," published by Clarkson Potter. The book examines historical incidents where the "super rich" attempted to use their wealth to change the lives of lower economic classes.
| 1998-08-16T00:00:00
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0517586932
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/109116-1
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106121-1
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Andrew Carroll
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Letters of a Nation: A Collection of Extraordinary American Letters
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Six years in the making, LETTERS OF A NATION is the most comprehensive collection of American letters ever assembled, offering over 200 extraordinary letters—many published here for the first time—by presidents and prisoners, soldiers and slaves, explorers and expatriates, artists and activists, Nobel laureates and Native Indians, writers and revolutionaries. Spanning over 350 years of American history—from the first pilgrims to present day writers—these letters cover the full spectrum of human emotion and experience, including love, heartache, courage, hope friendship, humor, mercy, surrender, rage, regret, and consolation. LETTERS OF A NATION not only features letters by such American leaders as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan, but messages from Cesar Chavez, Susan B. Anthony, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Rabbi Stephen Wise, and many lesser known, though no less remarkable, Americans from all walks of life. A portion o the proceeds form Letters of a Nation benefit the American Poetry and Literacy Project for continued support of poetry and literacy in America. —from the publisher's website
| 1998-07-05T00:00:00
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1568361963
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/106121-1
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Sally Satel
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PC, M.D.: How Political Correctness is Corrupting Medicine
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Drawing on a wealth of information, much of it never before revealed, PC, M.D. documents for the first time what happens when the tenets of political correctness-including victimology, multiculturalism, and the rejection of fixed truths and individual autonomy-are allowed to enter the fortress of medicine. Consider these examples: 1. A professor at the Harvard School of Public Health teaches her students that racial discrimination causes high blood pressure among blacks-an unsubstantiated and dangerous "truth" 2. Nationwide, consumer-survivors preach against involuntary commitment of the severely mentally ill, arguing for their "right" not to be treated 3. Baltimore's Commissioner of Health proposes distributing heroin to addicts, claiming they are too oppressed to help themselves The consequences of putting politics before health are far-reaching, argues Sally Satel. Patients are the ultimate victims of these disturbing trends. Meanwhile, PC medicine diverts taxpayer money that could be better spent delivering health care, providing proven therapies, and rigorously investigating new ones. PC, M.D. is a powerful wake-up call to the medical profession and to patients. —from the publisher's website
| 2001-07-15T00:00:00
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0465071821
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Carolyn Barta
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Perot and His People: Disrupting the Balance of Political Power
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Ms. Barta discussed her book, Perot and His People: Disrupting the Balance of Political Power, published by The Summit Group of Fort Worth. After several months of interviewing Perot supporters around the U.S., she wrote about "Perotism," which is neither conservative nor liberal, but a very enthusiastic grassroots campaign to improve politics and government in the U.S. Ms. Barta believes the reason Ross Perot dropped out of the presidential campaign in July 1992 was because he had always considered himself a humanist, but political writers had begun to imply that he was a racist. The support of his followers continued after the November 1992 election.
| 1994-01-16T00:00:00
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1565300653
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/53808-1
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Stephen Oates
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The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm, 1820-1861
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Professor Oates talked about his book, "The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm, 1820-1861," published by Harpercollins. The book examines the events leading up to the Civil War, beginning with the Missouri Compromise of 1820, through the eyes of 13 major historical figures, including Henry Clay and John Brown.
| 1997-04-27T00:00:00
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006016784X
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/80568-1
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7655-1
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Gregory Fossedal
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The Democratic Imperative: Exporting the American Revolution
|
Mr. Fossedal talked about his new book, The Democratic Imperative: Exporting the American Revolution. He discussed the advantages of democracy and the duty of the U.S. to "export" democracy around the world. He also analyzed recent events in countries such as the Philippines, Argentina, and Chile.
| 1989-05-21T00:00:00
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0465098010
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/7655-1
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4282-1
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Neil Sheehan
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A Bright Shining Lie (Part 3)
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Neil Sheehan gave five 30-minute interviews about his book, “A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam.” The third interview was titled "The Press in Vietnam."
| 1988-10-19T00:00:00
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0394484479
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/4282-1
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Gary Hymel
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All Politics is Local and other Rules of the Game
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Mr. Hymel, former aide to the late Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, discussed the book he wrote with Mr. O'Neill, All Politics Is Local and Other Rules of the Game. The book contains a series of "political principles," each one illustrated by a story Mr. O'Neill loved to tell. The book was published by Times Books/Random House.
| 1994-01-23T00:00:00
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0812922972
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/53975-1
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Roger Wilkins
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Jefferson's Pillow: The Founding Fathers and the Dilemma of Black Patriotism
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A civil rights advocate and historian reconsiders life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness As the recent fervor over the confirmation of Thomas Jefferson's black descendents demonstrates, Americans have yet to reconcile American ideals with the legacy of slavery. In Jefferson's Pillow, noted journalist, educator, and activist Roger Wilkins looks at the lives of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Mason. His admiration and discomfort with these mythic heroes compels him to reexamine his relationship to those who forged a nation in which ostensibly "all men were created equal," but whose property included African women, children, and men. Wilkins was a determined participant in the civil rights movement, and Assistant Attorney General during the Johnson administration. His public activity emerges from the aspiration to live up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address. Carefully reflecting upon the lives of the founding fathers, Wilkins searches for the individual and institutional responses that enabled them to enjoy the fruits of slavery even as they declared to the world the inalienable rights of man. Rich in both personal and political revelation, Jefferson's Pillow reminds us not only of the long journey toward ideals set forth more than two centuries ago, but of the remarkable unifying power of shared dreams. —from the jacket of the book
| 2001-08-12T00:00:00
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0807009563
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/164859-1
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Marshall DeBruhl
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Sword of San Jacinto: A Life of Sam Houston
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Mr. DeBruhl discussed his book Sword of San Jacinto: The Life of Sam Houston, published by Random House, on the life of the once-president of Texas and U.S. senator. He discussed his research for the book, including research on the Texas revolution and other historic events in the Far West during the 19th century.
| 1993-05-02T00:00:00
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0394576233
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/40390-1
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Eleanor Clift
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War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics
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Ms. Clift and Mr. Brazaitis talked about their new book, War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics, published by Scribner. They focused on the careers of eight political figures as representatives of various roles in the political machinations that occur in Washington, D C. Their subjects included Newt Gingrich, Stanley Greenberg, Frank Luntz, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Sheila Burke, Maxine Waters, and two health care lobbyists. The authors said these people exemplify how politics is currently executed in the United States.
| 1996-08-25T00:00:00
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0684800845
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/74534-1
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14837-1
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Paul Taylor
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See How They Run
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Paul Taylor discussed his book, "See How They Run: Electing the President in an Age of Mediaocracy." As a political correspondent for the Washington Post, Mr. Taylor covered the 1988 presidential election from start to finish. The book includes profiles of the major party campaigns and candidates, and commentary on why the major players (the candidates, press and public) bring out the worst in each other. He described political campaigns as being "long, nasty, and even trivial." However, the American political process is not without hope. He concludes his book with possible "fixes" and even suggests that the state of world politics or the economy may be such that change will be sparked on its own.
| 1990-11-04T00:00:00
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0394570596
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/14837-1
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22178-1
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Anthony Lewis
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Make No Law: The Sullivan Case and the First Amendment
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Anthony Lewis, a New York Times columnist, discussed his book "Make No Law: The Sullivan Case and the First Amendment." In the book he recounts the historic legal battle waged in the early 1960s that affirmed American freedom of the press. In 1960 Alabama Commissioner L.B. Sullivan brought a libel suit against The New York Times for its criticism of Montgomery's response to civil rights protests. Mr. Lewis explained that the Supreme Court case established the actual malice standard and led to free reporting of the civil rights campaigns in the southern region of America. Mr. Lewis also offers a history of the First Amendment and discusses how its interpretation has changed to accommodate the needs of a changing society.
| 1991-10-20T00:00:00
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0679739394
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/22178-1
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116649-1
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P.J. O’Rourke
|
Eat the Rich
|
A conservative, prosperous, American journalist gadding around the world laughing at all the ways less successful nations screw up their economy—this might not sound like the recipe for a great read, unless you're Rush Limbaugh, but if that journalist is P.J. O'Rourke you can be sure that you'll enjoy the ride even if you don't agree with the politics. Although Eat the Rich is subtitled A Treatise on Economics , O'Rourke spends relatively few pages tackling the complexities of monetary theory. He's much happier when flying from Sweden to Hong Kong to Tanzania to Moscow, gleefully recording every economic goof he can find. When he visits post-Communist Russia and finds a country that is as messed up by capitalism as it was by Communism, O'Rourke mixes jokes about black-market shoes with disturbing insights into a nation on the verge of collapse. P.J. O'Rourke is more than a humorist, he's an experienced international journalist with a lot of frequent-flyer miles, and this gives even his funniest riffs on the world's problems the ring of truth. —from the publisher's website
| 1999-01-03T00:00:00
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0871137194
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/116649-1
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John Keegan
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A History of Warfare
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John Keegan, who has written twenty books about warfare, especially World War II, talked about his book, "A History of Warfare." This book attempts to summarize the story of war over the past 40,000 years. He examines the origins and nature of warfare, the culture of both the primitive and modern warrior, and the development of weapons and defenses from the battle of Megiddo in 1469 B.C. to the nuclear age. This interview was aired in conjunction with C-SPAN's Remembering D-Day special
| 1994-05-08T00:00:00
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0679730826
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/56542-1
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78359-1
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Katharine Graham
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Personal History
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Ms. Graham talked about her new book, Personal History, published by Knopf. It is an autobiography which through her own stories deals with the history of the Washington Post, over which Ms. Graham's father, husband and then she watched, over the past fifty years, as well as the many of the main characters in Washington, DC over that time period. She also deals extensively with the tumultuous events of her tenure at the helm of the newspaper, including Watergate, the Pentagon Papers and the journalists' strike.
| 1997-02-16T00:00:00
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0394585852
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/78359-1
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Pat Choate
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Agents of Influence
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TRW's former director of policy analysis, Pat Choate, discussed his book, Agents of Influence: How Japan's Lobbyists in the United States Manipulate America's Political and Economic System. The premise of Mr. Choate's work is that for over two decades the Japanese manipulation of the American system for their country's benefit has been increasing. "Japanese strategy follows a simple and predictable pattern: protect your own domestic market from foreign penetration and capture as much of your competitor's market share as possible," said Mr. Choate. He pointed at America's own former government officials, who get on the Japanese corporate payroll or become government advisers, as a major reason for Japan's success. In 1981, "the stream became a flood" when President Carter's administrators were out of office. He cited examples of important American politicians who are now key lobbyists for the Japanese system.
| 1990-10-28T00:00:00
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0394579011
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/14730-1
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Richard Norton Smith
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Patriarch
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Mr. Smith discussed his book Patriarch, published by Houghton Mifflin, about the life and times of President George Washington. The book focuses on the last ten years of Washington's life. Mr. Smith is the director of the Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa.
| 1993-02-21T00:00:00
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0395524423
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/38239-1
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58074-1
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David Hackett Fischer
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Paul Revere's Ride
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Professor Fischer talked about his recent book, Paul Revere's Ride, which tries to recreate the experience of the famous trip made over 200 years ago.
| 1994-07-17T00:00:00
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0195088476
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/58074-1
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157234-1
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Dan Baum
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Citizen Coors: An American Dynasty
|
With enough private dramas to put them on par with the Ewings of Dallas, and enough business crises to keep them constantly in the business hot-seat, the ultra-right-wing Coors of Golden, Colorado, represent one of the more riveting family sagas of our time. Their billion-dollar empire grew out of a single brewery begun in 1873, but it wasn't long before the family became known as much for their right-wing politics as their beer. The third generation of Coors men financed the birth of the Heritage Foundation, which jump-started the Reagan revolution. Old-fashioned about business and equally dubious of new ideas, they consistently ignored the importance of marketing until they were forced to, finally introducing the "Silver Bullet," and improved their image with unions and minorities only after they were compelled to do so by years of boycotts. Former Wall Street Journal reporter Dan Baum captures the eccentricity and foibles of this family and company in this fast-paced tale of vivid characters in business and politics. —from the publisher's website
| 2000-06-11T00:00:00
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0688154484
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Jane Holtz Kay
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Asphalt Nation
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Jane Holtz Kay, the architectural and planning critic for The Nation talked about her new book, "Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take it Back," published by Crown. She examines how U.S. society became dependent upon automobile transportation and points out successful efforts to make people less dependent on automobiles in communities across the nation. She also talked about the various social, economic and environmental problems caused by the dependence on automobiles and the relationship between urban planning and transportation.
| 1997-05-25T00:00:00
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0520216202
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https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/80419-1
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109114-1
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F. Carolyn Graglia
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Domestic Tranquility: A Brief Against Feminism
|
The principal targets of feminist fire in on going "gender wars" are not men but traditional wives and mothers, says a lawyer-turned-housewife in this powerful critique of contemporary feminism. With a profound understanding of the quandary of modern women, Carolyn Graglia shows that the cultural assault on marriage, motherhood, and traditional sexuality, rooted in the pursuit of economic and political power, has robbed women of their surest source of fulfillment. Mrs. Graglia traces the origins of modern feminism to the post-war exaltation of marketplace achievement, which bred dissatisfaction with women's domestic roles. In a masterly analysis of foundational feminist texts, she reveals a conscious campaign of ostracism of the housewife as a childish "parasite." Turning to the feminist understanding of sexuality, now pervasive in our culture, she shows how it has distorted and impoverished sex by stripping it of its true significance. Finally, after exposing feminism's totalitarian impulse and its contribution to the "tangle of pathologies" that have left marriage and family life in tatters, she argues for a renewed appreciation of the transforming experience of motherhood and the value of the domestic vocation. —from the publisher's website
| 1998-08-02T00:00:00
|
0965320863
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/109114-1
|
25857-1
|
Earl Black
|
The Vital South: How Presidents are Elected
|
Twin brothers Professors Earl and Merle Black discussed their book, The Vital South: How Presidents Are Elected, published by Harvard University Press. They talked about the politics of the eleven states comprising the old Confederacy, which they argued were of vital importance in presidential elections because of their size and their political unity.
| 1992-05-03T00:00:00
|
0674941314
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/25857-1
|
151056-1
|
David Atkinson
|
Leaving the Bench: Supreme Court Justices at the End
|
Life appointments make Supreme Court justices among the most powerful officials in government and allow even dysfunctional judges to stay on long after they should have departed. For that reason, when a justice leaves the bench is often as controversial as when he's appointed. This first comprehensive historical treatment of their deaths, resignations, and retirements explains when and why justices do step down. It considers the diverse circumstances under which they leave office and clarifies why they often are reluctant to, showing how factors like pensions, party loyalty, or personal pride come into play. It also relates physical ailments to mental faculties, offering examples of how a justice's disability sometimes affects Court decisions. Ultimately, Atkinson shows just how human these people are and enhances our understanding of how the Court conducts its business. He also suggests specific ways to improve the present situation, weighing the pros and cons of mandatory retirement and calling for reform in the delegation of duties to law clerks—who in recent years have dominated the actual writing of many justices' decisions. As the current Court ages, how long might we expect justices to remain on the bench? Because our next president will likely make several appointments, now is the time to consider what shape the Supreme Court will take in the next century. Offering a wealth of information never before collected, Leaving the Bench provides substantial grist for that debate and will serve as an unimpeachable reference on the Court. —from the publisher's website
| 1999-08-22T00:00:00
|
0700609466
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/151056-1
|
182554-1
|
Bryan Burrough
|
Public Enemies
|
—from the publisher's website In 1933, police jurisdictions ended at state lines, the FBI was in its infancy, the highway system was spreading, fast cars and machine guns were easily available, and a good number of the thirteen million Americans who were out of work blamed the Great Depression on the banks. In short, it was a wonderful time to be a bank robber. On hand to take full advantage was a motley assortment of criminal masterminds, sociopaths, romantics, and cretins, some of whom, with a little help from J. Edgar Hoover, were to become some of the most famous criminals in American history. Bryan Burrough's grandfather once set up roadblocks in Alma, Arkansas, to capture Bonnie and Clyde. He didn't catch them. Burrough was suckled on stories of the crime wave, and now, after years of work, he succeeds where his grandfather failed, capturing the stories of Bonnie and Clyde, Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and the rest of the FBI's nemeses, weaving them into a single enthralling account. For more than forty years, the great John Toland's Dillinger Days has stood as the only book that provides the entire big picture of this fabled moment in American history. But an extraordinary amount of new material has come to light during those forty years, a good deal of it unearthed by Burrough in the course of his own research, and Public Enemies reveals the extent to which Toland and others were fed the story the FBI wanted them to tell. The circles in which the "public enemies" moved overlapped in countless fascinating ways, large and small, as Burrough details. The actual connections are one thing; but quite another is the sense of connectedness Hoover created in the American public's mind for his own purposes. Using the tools of an increasingly powerful mass media, Hoover waged an unprecedented propaganda campaign, working the press, creating "America's Most Wanted" list, and marketing the mystique of the heroic "G-men" that successfully obscured an appalling catalog of professional ineptitude. When the FBI gunned down John Dillinger outside a Chicago movie theater in the summer of 1934, Hoover's ascent to unchecked power was largely complete. Both a hugely satisfying entertainment and a groundbreaking work with powerful echoes in today's news, Public Enemies is the definitive history of America's first War on Crime.
| 2004-09-19T00:00:00
|
1594200211
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/182554-1
|
173700-1
|
John Taliaferro
|
Great White Fathers
|
—from the publisher's website Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore National Memorial, hoped that ten thousand years from now, when archaeologists came upon the four sixty-foot presidential heads carved in the Black Hills of South Dakota, they would have a clear and graphic understanding of American civilization. Borglum, the child of Mormon polygamists, had an almost Ahab-like obsession with Colossalism--a scale that matched his ego and the era. He learned how to be a celebrity from Auguste Rodin; how to be a political bully from Teddy Roosevelt. He ran with the Ku Klux Klan and mingled with the rich and famous from Wall Street to Washington. Mount Rushmore was to be his crowning achievement, the newest wonder of the world, the greatest piece of public art since Phidias carved the Parthenon. But like so many episodes in the saga of the American West, what began as a personal dream had to be bailed out by the federal government, a compromise that nearly drove Borglum mad. Nor in the end could he control how his masterpiece would be received. Nor its devastating impact on the Lakota Sioux and the remote Black Hills of South Dakota. is at once the biography of a man and the biography of a place, told through travelogue, interviews, and investigation of the unusual records that one odd American visionary left behind. It proves that the best American stories are not simple; they are complex and contradictory, at times humorous, at other times tragic.
| 2002-12-15T00:00:00
|
1891620983
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/173700-1
|
62763-1
|
Jimmy Carter
|
Always a Reckoning and Other Poems
|
Former President Carter discussed his book, Always A Reckoning and Other Poems, published by Times Books. The book contains poems about his life and the lives of other members of his family.
| 1995-02-19T00:00:00
|
0812924347
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/62763-1
|
164172-1
|
Alan Ebenstein
|
Friedrich Hayek: A Biography
|
This book tells the story of one of the most important public figures of the twentieth century. It is the first full biography of Friedrich Hayek, the Austrian economist who became, over the course of a remarkable career, the great philosopher of liberty in our time. In this richly detailed portrait, Alan Ebenstein chronicles the life, works, and legacy of a visionary thinker, from Hayek's early years as the scholarly son of a physician in fin-de-siecle Vienna on an increasingly wider world as an economist and political philosopher in Londom, New York, and Chicago. Ebenstein gives a balanced, integrated account of Hayek's extordinary diverse body of work, from his fist encounter with the free market ideas of mentor Ludwig Von Mises to his magisterial writings in later life on the legal, political, ethical, and economic requirements of a free society. Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1974, Hayek's vision of a renewed classical liberalism-of free markets and free ideas in free societies-has taken hold in much of the world. Alan Ebanstein's clearly written account is an essential starting point for anyone seeking to understand why Hayek's ideas have become the guiding force of our time. His illuminating portrait of Hayek the man brings to new life the spirit of a great scholar and tenacious advocate who has become, in Peter Drucker's words, "our time's preeminent social philosopher." —from the publisher
| 2001-07-08T00:00:00
|
0312233442
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/164172-1
|
170936-1
|
Winston Groom
|
A Storm in Flanders
|
—from the publisher's website From the acclaimed author of Forrest Gump and Shrouds of Glory, a riveting historical account of the longest and bloodiest battle of World War I. Shrouds of Glory established best-selling author Winston Groom as an electrifying narrative historian. Now, in A Storm in Flanders , the Pulitzer Prize nominee visits the bloody four-year-long Battle of Ypres, a pivotal engagement that would forever change the way the world fought and thought about war. Groom describes how the quaint medieval Belgian town of Flanders following the dreams and schemes of the stubborn"butchers and blunderers" who commanded from afar became the most dreaded place on earth, a"gigantic corpse factory" where hundreds of thousands of men died for gains that were measured in yards. In 1914, Germany launched an invasion of France through neutral Belgium and brought the wrath of the world upon herself. In accessible prose, Groom presents Ypres as the centerpiece of World War I, with all of its horrors, heroism, and terrifying new tactics and technologies. Ypres is where some of history's most hideous weapons were unleashed and refined:poison gas, tanks, mines, air strikes, and the unspeakable misery of trench warfare. The battle's unprecedented horrors inspired some of the most compelling and enduring artistry of the war: from Remarque's classic novel All Quiet on the Western Front to the haunting poem that came to symbolize war,"In Flanders Fields," composed in the heat of battle by John McCrae, a grieving Canadian surgeon. Ypres was also the battleground of young soldier Adolf Hitler, whose experiences in Flanders, Groom argues, set him on his fateful path. Groom's story comes alive with the heart-wrenching journal entries of the men who fought on the grisly front lines, and is illustrated with breathtaking photographs published here for the first time. A gripping drama of politics, stategy, and human heart of the struggle for survival and victory against all odds A Storm in Flanders is a powerful work of military history.
| 2002-09-01T00:00:00
|
0871138425
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/170936-1
|
178020-1
|
Michael Parenti
|
The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People’s History of Ancient Rome
|
—from the publisher's website Most historians, both ancient and modern, have viewed the Late Republic of Rome through the eyes of its rich nobility. They have generally regarded Roman commoners as a parasitic mob interested only in bread and circuses, as Cicero’s “starving, contemptible rabble.” And they have cast Caesar, who took up the popular cause of the poor, as little better than an adventurer and a demagogue, presenting his murder as a personal feud or a constitutional struggle, devoid of social content. In The Assassination of Julius Caesar, the distinguished author Michael Parenti subjects these assertions of “gentlemen historians” to a bracing critique, and presents us with a story of popular resistance against entrenched power and wealth. As he carefully weighs the evidence concerning the murder of Caesar, Parenti sketches in the background to the crime with fascinating detail about wider Roman society. In these pages we find reflections on the democratic struggle waged by Roman commoners, religious augury as an instrument of social control, the patriarchal oppression of women, and the political use of homophobic attacks. The Assassination of Julius Caesar offers a whole new perspective on an era we thought we knew well.
| 2003-09-07T00:00:00
|
1565847970
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/178020-1
|
116077-1
|
Dava Sobel
|
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius
|
Dava Sobel's Longitude tells the story of how 18th-century scientist and clockmaker William Harrison solved one of the most perplexing problems of history—determining east-west location at sea. This lush, colorfully illustrated edition adds lots of pictures to the story, giving readers a more satisfying sense of the times, the players, and the puzzle. This was no obscure, curious difficulty—without longitude, ships often found themselves so far off course that sailors would starve or die of scurvy before they could reach port. When a nationally-sponsored contest offered a hefty cash prize to the person who could develop a method to accurately determine longitude, the race was on. In the end, the battle of accuracy—and wills—fought between Harrison and arch-rival Maskelyne was ruthless and dramatic, worthy of a Hollywood feature film. Longitude's story is surprising and fascinating, offering a window into the past, before Global Positioning Satellites made it look easy. —from the publisher's website
| 1999-01-17T00:00:00
|
0802713440
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/116077-1
|
183651-1
|
Hendrik Hertzberg
|
Politics: Observations and Arguments, 1966-2004
|
—from the publisher's website Cause for jubilation: At last, one of America's wisest and most necessary voices has distilled what he knows about politics, broadly speaking, into one magnificent volume. Imagine if the Rolling Stones were just now releasing its first greatest hits album, and you'll have some idea of how long overdue, and highly anticipated, Politics is. Here are Hendrik Hertzberg's most significant and hilarious and devastating and infuriating dispatches from the American scene-a scene he has chronicled for four decades with an uncanny blend of moral seriousness, high spirits, and perfect rhetorical pitch. Politics is at once the story of American life from LBJ to GWB and a testament to the power of the written word in the right hands. In those hands, everything seems like politics, and politics has never seemed more interesting. Hertzberg breaks down American politics into component parts-campaigns, debates, rhetoric, the media, wars (cultural, countercultural, and real), high crimes and misdemeanors, the right, and more-and draws the choicest, most telling pieces from his body of work to illuminate each, beginning each section with a new piece of writing framing the subject at hand. Politics 101 from the master, Politics is also an immensely rich and entertaining mosaic of American life from the mid-1960s to the mid-2000s-a ride through recent American history with one of the most insightful and engaging guides imaginable.
| 2004-10-10T00:00:00
|
1594200181
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/183651-1
|
168865-1
|
William Taubman
|
Khrushchev: The Man and His Era (Part 1)
|
—from the publisher's website The definitive biography of the mercurial Soviet leader who succeeded and denounced Stalin. Remembered by many as the Soviet leader who banged his shoe at the United Nations, Nikita Khrushchev was in fact one of the most complex and important political figures of the twentieth century. Complicit in terrible Stalinist crimes, he managed to retain his humanity. His daring attempt to reform Communism by denouncing Stalin and releasing and rehabilitating millions of his victims prepared the ground for its eventual collapse. His awkward efforts to ease the Cold War triggered its most dangerous crises in Berlin and Cuba. The ruler of the Soviet Union during the first decade after Stalin's death, Khrushchev left his contradictory stamp on his country and the world. More than that, his life and career hold up a mirror to the Soviet age as a whole: revolution, civil war, famine, collectivization, industrialization, terror, world war, cold war, Stalinism, post-Stalinism. The first full and comprehensive biography of Khrushchev, and the first of any Soviet leader to reflect the full range of sources that have become available since the USSR collapsed, this book weaves together Khrushchev's personal triumphs and tragedy with those of his country. It draws on newly opened archives in Russia and Ukraine, the author's visits to places where Khrushchev lived and work, plus extensive interviews with Khrushchev family members, friends, colleagues, subordinates, and diplomats who jousted with him. William Taubman chronicles Khrushchev's life from his humble beginnings in a poor peasant village to his improbable rise into Stalin's inner circle; his stunning, unexpected victory in the deadly duel to succeed Stalin; and the startling reversals of fortune that led to his sudden, ignominious ouster in 1964. Combining a page-turning historical narrative with penetrating political and psychological analysis, this account brims with the life and excitement of a man whose story personifies his era. "A brilliant, stunning, magnificent book. One of the most important figures of the twentieth century, who had a lot to do with setting the stage for the twenty-first, Khrushchev finally has the biography he deserves deep and detailed yet fast-paced, scholarly yet not stuffy, historical yet intensely human. Taubman brings Khrushchev alive in all his complexity, capturing both the humanity that somehow survived in him and became the bedrock for his political decency, and the cynicism that made him part of the brutality of the Soviet system. The book has the sweep of a Big Book about a Big Figure, yet its style is no-frills, no-nonsense, straight-from-the-shoulder, with judgments proferred judiciously. Taubman does a superb job of portraying the rogue's gallery of Soviet leaders while providing a colorful canvas of the country and its history. Having spent several years of my own life in Khrushchev's shadow, I couldn't be more admiring of what Taubman has accomplished." Strobe Talbott, former U.S. deputy secretary of state, editor and translator of Khrushchev's memoirs "Monumental, definitive, rich in detail. Taubman pulls aside the curtain and shows us both a fascinating man and new facts about Soviet decision making during the most dangerous days of the Cold War. A highly readable, compelling story." Anthony Lake, former U.S. national security adviser "The definitive account of Khrushchev's career and personality, this is also a wonderful page-turner about the deadly duel for power in the Kremlin. Altogether it is one of the best books ever written about the Soviet Union." Constantine Pleshakov, coauthor, Inside the Kremlin's Cold War "Few books in the field of Cold War history have been as eagerly awaited as William Taubman's biography of Nikita Khrushchev. Reflecting years of research as well as a keen sensitivity to culture, context, and personality, this extraordinary book more than matches the extraordinary character of its subject. It is a superb portrayal of one of the most attractive but also dangerous leaders of the twentieth century." John Lewis Gaddis, professor of history, Yale University
| 2003-04-20T00:00:00
|
0393051447
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/168865-1
|
11365-1
|
Richard Barnet
|
The Rockets' Red Glare
|
Richard J. Barnet discussed his book The Rockets' Red Glare: When America Goes to War, the Presidents and the People. The author examined the role of public opinion in presidential administrations from George Washington to Ronald Reagan. The premise of the book is that war is "the great test of democracy." Mr. Barnet was concerned about the role of the public in foreign policy decisions, especially in the changing "post-Cold War" world. The author discussed differences between his theories and those of Walter Lippman, whose early writings warned of the constraints of public opinion on leaders' decision making. He also discussed the relationship between journalists, scholars, and politicians in "propagandizing" the public. Barnet described the Institute for Policy Studies, which he co-founded in 1963. He talked about the lack of political dialogue by politicians and the public leading to passivity in responding to changes in the world
| 1990-03-04T00:00:00
|
0671732870
|
https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/11365-1
|
End of preview. Expand
in Data Studio
CSPAN Booknotes - Chat Dataset
This project develops a unique dataset from the public archives of the wonderful CSPAN program Booknotes. The dataset includes transcripts of the conversations between the show's host, Brian Lamb, and his more than 800 guests.
Datasets
There are (3) datasets available:
programs: Information for ~809 episodes, including title, description and guest information.transcripts: Full conversation transcripts (~200 turns/conversation) between Brian Lamb and his guests.related_items: Related or recommended programs (~5) for each episode.
The transcripts dataset is the key dataset here, with the other 2 providing additional context and information about each episode. Using the sequence, speaker_role, and text fields, we can create a chat-like dataset (representing very interesting conversations!) for evaluating language models.
Source JSON Schema
To understand how the 3 tables work together, we provide the source JSON schema for each program. This data is extracted by crawling each episode's page on the CSPAN website.
{
"id": "51559-1",
"url": "https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/51559-1",
"title": "For the Sake of Argument",
"guest": "Christopher Hitchens",
"description": "Mr. Hitchens discussed the recent publication of his book, For the Sake of Argument, which is a compendium of articles that he has written. He stated that the purpose of this book was a reply to the widespread notion that society no longer needs critique from the left. He hopes to restore the left as a \"very necessary part of the political argument.\" Articles included in the book were published in various periodicals.",
"book_isbn": "0860914356",
"air_date": "October 17, 1993",
"transcript": [
{
"sequence": 0,
"speaker_role": "host",
"speaker_name": "BRIAN LAMB, HOST:",
"text": "Christopher Hitchens, author of For the Sake of Argument, you've got a section in there called \"Rogues' Gallery.\" Was that your idea?"
},
{
"sequence": 1,
"speaker_role": "guest",
"speaker_name": "CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS:",
"text": "Yes."
},
{
"sequence": 2,
"speaker_role": "host",
"speaker_name": "LAMB:",
"text": "Why create a Rogues Gallery?"
},
{
"sequence": 3,
"speaker_role": "guest",
"speaker_name": "HITCHENS:",
"text": "For a lot of people, their first love is what they'll always remember. For me it's always been the first hate, and I think that hatred, though it provides often rather junky energy, is a terrific way of getting you out of bed in the morning and keeping you going. If you don't let it get out of hand, it can be canalized into writing. In this country where people love to be nonjudgmental when they can be, which translates as, on the whole, lenient, there are an awful lot of bubble reputations floating around that one wouldn't be doing one's job if one didn't itch to prick."
},
...
],
"related": [
{
"id": "55567-1",
"url": "https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/55567-1",
"author": "John Corry",
"title": "My Times: Adventures in the News Trade"
},
...
]
}
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