C-SPAN Bookshelf

Prosperity gospel scholar, Kate Bowler, discusses her memoir, "Everything Happens for a Reason," in which she reflects on being diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and the age of 35. This program originally aired in February of 2018. Make your donation at: c-span.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

British-born author Nick Bunker, our guest this week, has written books on the Mayflower Pilgrims, the Revolutionary War, and a biography of Benjamin Franklin. Lately he has turned his attention to America and the world in 1950. His book is titled "In the Shadow of Fear." Nick Bunker, a graduate of King's College, Cambridge, and Columbia University, focuses on names like Joseph McCarthy, Harry Truman, Dean Acheson, Margaret Chase Smith, George Marshall, Robert Taft, Alger Hiss, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong. In addition, Bunker pays close attention to the Korean War. Make your donation at: c-span.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Susannah Cahalan discusses her book "The Great Pretender," about a 1973 experiment, led by Stanford psychologist David Rosenhan, that was conducted to test the legitimacy of psychiatric hospitals in America. For the experiment, Prof. Rosenhan and seven other healthy individuals checked themselves into mental asylums claiming that they were experiencing hallucinations. Once inside, they acted normally and told doctors that the hallucinations had subsided, but they weren't allowed to leave until they admitted to having a mental illness and agreeing to take antipsychotic drugs to treat their conditions. Susannah Cahalan talks about the experiment and the impact that the resulting study – "On Being Sane in Insane Places" – had on the psychiatric profession. This program originally aired in November of 2019. Make your donation at: c-span.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Atlantic staff writer Tim Alberta examined the evangelical movement in America and its intersection with political issues. He was interviewed by Messiah University history professor and author John Fea. Make your donation at: c-span.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael S. Bryant, our guest this week, is a professor of history and legal studies specializing in the impact of the Holocaust. He's based at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island. Among his many writings he co-edited and contributed an essay to a book titled "Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' and the Holocaust." In the introduction, the editors point out that: "When the Bavarian government's copyright to Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' lapsed on January 1, 2016, the opportunity to reissue the book in German arose for the first time since 1945." Make your donation at: c-span.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Musician and author, Daryl Davis, who, for over 30 years, has befriended members of the Ku Klux Klan to try to understand their hatred and to convince them that they are wrong. He is the author of "Klan-destine Relationships" and was featured in the documentary "Accidental Courtesy." This program originally aired in November of 2017. Make your donation at: c-span.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wall Street Journal technology reporter Jeff Horwitz discusses Facebook's growth as a company and the challenges its platforms have faced. He's interviewed by Bloomberg News reporter Sarah Frier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam Levy discusses his publishing company, Transit Books, which focuses on international literature and translated books. Make your donation at: c-span.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's not normal to hear what a politician really thinks about his or her colleagues in the United States House and Senate while they are still in office. McKay Coppins of the Atlantic magazine, our guest this week, tried to change that with his bestselling book about Senator Mitt Romney of Utah. The book, called "Romney: A Reckoning," is, according to the publisher, "a redemptive story about a flawed politician who summoned his moral courage just as fear and divisiveness were overtaking American life." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erik Larson talked about the life of William E. Dodd, who became America's first ambassador to Adolf Hitler's Germany in Berlin during 1933. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stanford University history professor Jennifer Burns discussed the life and career of economist Milton Friedman. She was interviewed by CATO Institute vice president for economic and social policy studies Alex Nowrasteh. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the beginning of November, the George Washington Presidential Library in Mount Vernon celebrated its 10th anniversary with a symposium titled, "The Great Experiment – Democracy from the Founding to the Future." Guests on this panel included: Historians H.W. Brands of the University of Texas, Douglas Brinkley of Rice, Joanne Freeman of Yale, and Edna Medford of Howard University. One point of the discussion was the Mount Vernon poll that found that 2/3rds of Americans are pessimistic about the country's direction and dissatisfied with the political climate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jesse Holland talked about his book, The Invisibles: The Untold Story of African American Slaves in the White House. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah Ogilvie spent 8 years studying the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. Her book is called "The Dictionary People." Ogilvie, who has a PhD in linguistics from Oxford University, studied over 3,000 original contributors to the dictionary. In her introduction to the book, she writes: "I was thrilled to discover not one but three murderers, a pornography collector, Karl Marx’s daughter, a president of Yale, the inventor of the tennis-net adjuster, a pair of lesbian writers who wrote under a male pen name, and a cocaine addict found dead in a railway station lavatory." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gerald Blaine and Clint Hill, two former Secret Service agents, spoke about the day that President Kennedy was assassinated. They also talked about the assassination’s conspiracy theories and their lives after retirement from the Secret Service.. Gerald Blaine is author of the new book, “The Kennedy Detail: JFK’s Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence.” Clint Hill wrote the prologue for the book as well as cooperating in interviews for the book’s content. Gerald Blaine worked for the Secret Service from 1959 to 1964. Blaine worked for several businesses after his time as an agent. Clint Hill was in the U.S. Army for three years before working for the Secret Service from 1958 to 1975. Mr. Hill was the Secret Service agent who jumped onto the trunk of the motorcade seconds after Kennedy was shot. Both men are currently retired. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stanford University's Fei-Fei Li spoke about her life and journey to becoming one of the leading scientists in the field of artificial intelligence. She's interviewed by New Scientist technology reporter Jeremy Hsu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Born in Yuma, Arizona, César Chávez began his working life as a manual laborer. After serving in the U.S. Navy, Chávez moved to California to join an organization that helped laborers register to vote. This week's guest is historian Miriam Pawl. He later began organizing strikes among farm workers, calling for better pay and working conditions. Chávez eventually co-founded the labor union that became known as United Farm Workers. In this first published anthology, from 2002, the editors of The Words of César Chávez reveal how the labor leader presented his calls to action and sought to inspire his audiences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Martin Gurri is a former CIA analyst who writes about the relationship between politics and media. Gurri was born in Cuba and came to the United States with his parents in the 1950s. In 2014 he self-published an e-book titled "The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium." It was republished in hardback in 2018. Martin Gurri says his thesis is a simple one: "The information technologies of the twenty-first century have enabled the public, composed of amateurs, people from nowhere, to break the power of political hierarchies of the industrial age." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rosemary Stevens talked about her book, A Time of Scandal: Charles R. Forbes, Warren G. Harding, and the Making of the Veterans Bureau. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Foundation for Individual Rights & Expression president Greg Lukianoff argues that the right to free speech is being threatened by cancel culture. He was interviewed by Reason Magazine's Matt Welch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Milton Friedman was a 1976 Nobel Prize-winning American economist and advisor to President Ronald Reagan and conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, among others. This week, a conversation with his friend and a Professor at Chapman University, Mark Skousen. In 1980, Friedman partnered with his wife, Rose, to create a 10-part television series for PBS titled "Free to Choose." The Friedmans argued that free-market capitalism works best for all members of society, leading to problem-solving where other economic approaches have failed. The companion book to the PBS series, also titled Free to Choose, was among the best-selling non-fiction books of 1980. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Friot discussed his book on Cold War history and how it explains current U.S.-Russia relations. About Books also reported on the latest publishing industry news and current non-fiction books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you read about the political history of Illinois, you often see the word "corruption." For instance, from January 1961 until January 2009 Illinois citizens elected 8 different men to be their governor. Four of those eventually went to prison, all convicted after they were out of office. Our guest this week, Robert Hartley, has written 11 books about the politicians of Illinois, including one titled "Power, Purpose & Prison." Mr. Hartley writes that these men met their downfall under different circumstances. He asks: "Where did they go wrong?" and "Were they able to recover self-respect in spite of their punishment?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professors Randy Barnett and Evan Bernick talked about their book, The Original Meaning of the 14th Amendment. They argued that the 14th Amendment, which gave the federal judiciary and Congress new powers over the states, has been misinterpreted by conservative and liberal judges alike since its adoption in 1868. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ruth Simmons spoke about her journey from poverty to academia, serving as president of Smith College, Brown University & Prairie View A&M University. She was interviewed by author Freeman Hrabowski. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zora Neale Hurston brings to life a Southern love story that explores race, gender roles, and identity, which influenced African-American and women's literature. In this episode, we speak with English Professor Gary Richards of The University of Mary Washington. The book is considered a classic of the Harlem Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben Stein, our guest this week, is close to 80 years old. When he was in his 20s he wrote speeches for Richard Nixon. He wants you to know that he still calls Mr. Nixon his hero. Mr. Stein also tells you in his latest book about what he's done since those early years: "I've worked as a university teacher, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, a scriptwriter, a novelist, an investigator into financial fraud for Barron's, a columnist for the late greatly lamented Los Angeles Herald Examiner, a writer and a commentator on economics, an actor, a game show host, a talk show host, a father, and a husband." His book is called "The Peacemaker: Nixon – The Man, President, and My Friend." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Tom Cronin talked about his book, Imagining a Great Republic, a survey of American novels that have helped tell the story of the American political experiment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Martin Baron talks about leading the Washington Post as executive editor under the ownership of Jeff Bezos & during Donald Trump’s presidency. He's interviewed by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Willa Cather's novel, My Ántonia, evokes the Nebraska prairie life of her childhood and pays tribute to the spirit and courage of immigrant pioneers in America. Historian Richard Norton Smith discusses Cather's works, including My Antonia, which was written in 1918. The book tells the story of a girl who arrives on the frontier as part of a family of Bohemian immigrants, and her friendship with an orphaned boy who taught her English. The novel explores issues facing women of the time in that region, and the meaning of success in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bridgette Exman discussed her actions when she was criticized nationally for her efforts to comply with a state law on "age appropriate" books in Mason City, Iowa, school libraries. About Books also reported on the latest publishing industry news and current non-fiction books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Hancock is one of the most famous signatures in the history of the United States. Most people don’t know much more than that about him. Brooke Barbier, our guest this week, who is the founder of Ye Olde Tavern Tours of Boston, wants to change your perception of this American signer of the Declaration of Independence. Barbier's newest book is called "King Hancock." He got that moniker back in the middle of the 1700s. The author writes: "His stature eventually rose so high that he became known by both his friends and enemies by that name." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elizabeth Papez talked about the influence of Chief Justice John Roberts and other high-profile chief justices on the direction of the Supreme Court as well as American life. Ms. Papez is a litigator and partner in the firm of Gibson Dunn who previously clerked for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas and served as deputy assistant attorney general during the George W. Bush administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NBC News' Ryan Reilly chronicled how citizens helped law enforcement find individuals involved in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. He was interviewed by Politico senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest this week is Elmira College Professor Matt Seybold, who shares insights and introspections into the life of Mark Twain. Named among the great American novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been known internationally since its first printing in 1884 and remains popular yet controversial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest this week is historian Stephen Budianksy, who shares his insights into the late Justice's life and work. After serving in the Civil War, during which he was wounded, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. became a scholar and jurist, eventually rising to the U.S. Supreme Court after being nominated by President Theodore Roosevelt. While practicing law in Boston, Holmes summarized a series of lectures he had delivered and had them published in 1881 as a book titled The Common Law. Holmes is known for the maxim, "The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience," and that the law develops according to the "felt necessities of the time." He served on the high court for nearly 30 years, retiring at age 90, and has been of the most frequently cited justices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Diana Henriques is the author of 5 previous books including "The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust." Originally from Bryan, Texas, and Roanoke, Virginia, Ms. Henriques spent 22 years as a reporter with the New York Times. In her latest book "Taming the Street," she writes in the preface: "My mission is to describe just one of the New Deal's most significant achievements, clearing out the vicious jungle that was the nation's financial landscape in the 1920s and replacing it with a well-tended terrain where ordinary Americans could save and invest with confidence." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wall Street Journal reporters Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson discuss the history of the AR-15 and how the weapon has influenced American gun culture. They were interviewed by author and journalist Paul Barrett. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Andrew Roberts calls this week's guest Kenneth Rendell the "manuscript whisperer." Rendell's new book is about his travelling the world during his career buying and selling significant historical letters and documents, from the Renaissance to the present day. The title of his book is "Safeguarding History: Trailblazing Adventures Inside the Worlds of Collecting and Forging History." One of the stories he tells is about his role in determining whether the Hitler diaries, published in 1983, were real or fake. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin McCarthy earned a place in the history books this week as the first Speaker of the House to be voted out of office. Just 9 months into his term, Speaker McCarthy was challenged by a "motion to vacate" offered by Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz. McCarthy lost by 6 votes; with all Democrats voting against him. Kevin McCarthy, a California republican, was the 55th Speaker of the House. Second in line to the presidency, the Speaker is the political and parliamentary leader of the House of Representatives, and the de facto leader of the Majority. As Republicans mull their choice for a new Speaker, we look back to a Q&A episode from February of 2018 on the historical power and influence of the House Speaker of. Our guest is Michael Green, author of The Speaker of the House: A study of Leadership. You'll learn about the role of the Speaker and the tenures of Henry Clay, Joe Cannon, Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Economist Melissa Kearney argues that the decline in two-parent married households is a driving factor in many of America's economic issues. She was interviewed by American Enterprise Institute's Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility director Scott Winship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest this week is Pultizer-Prize-winning Yale Professor David Blight. He expounds on the life of Frederick Douglas when he learned to read and write, and his relationship with President Abraham Lincoln. Born into slavery in Maryland, Frederick Douglass went on to become a writer, orator, statesman, and key leader in the abolitionist movement. After his escape to freedom as an adult, Douglass in 1845 wrote the first of his three autobiographies, titled The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"America is deeply divided. Our politics is broken, marked by anger, contempt and distrust. We must acknowledge that reality but not lose historical perspective. It’s bad now, but it’s been worse before—and not only during the Civil War." These are the words of Fox News contributor Karl Rove, a longtime political consultant and former senior adviser to President George W. Bush. He wrote them under the headline: "America Is Often a Nation Divided," in a recent Saturday edition of the Wall Street Journal. The piece is historical and starts back when the country began. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a dip into the Q&A archives, an interview from 2017 with former federal prosecutor and George Washington University Law School professor Randall Eliason. He talked about the ongoing trial of Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and other prominent political corruption cases that came before. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York Times reporter Adam Nagourney looked at the successes and failures of the last four decades of "the paper of record," The New York Times. He was interviewed by Columbia Journalism Review contributor Jon Allsop. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle discusses digital libraries, legal disputes over electronic book lending, and copyright laws. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest this week is author, historian, and magazine editor Lanny Jones. He is the author of "William Clark and the Shaping of the West. His latest work is Celebrity Nation. Shortly after the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore and map the newly acquired territory and to seek a water route to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis and Clark's two-year Tour of Discovery ended in September 1806 as the explorers returned to St. Louis with maps, sketches and journals detailing the region's plants, animal life, geography, and indigenous people. In 1814, many Americans were able to learn for the first time about the western lands upon the publishing of the book titled History of the Expedition Under the Command of Captains of Lewis and Clark. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Charlotte Gray, our guest this week, is a Canadian born in Great Britain who now lives in a suburb of Ottawa. Her book "Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons" is about Jennie Jerome Churchill and Sara Delano Roosevelt. The former Jennie Jerome was born in the United States and was the mother of Winston Churchill. Sara Delano married James Roosevelt and became the mother of FDR in 1882. Charlotte Gray writes that one of the reasons to write about these two women is that: "Their reputations, so different within their lifetimes, have both suffered since their deaths." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meg Kissinger spoke about her family's struggle with mental illness and her coverage of mental health care in America as a journalist. She was interviewed by Mindsite News founding editor Rob Waters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Colleen Sheehan, Arizona State University Professor, discusses the early life and times of the Federalist's three authors. She explains how their lives challenged their writing and thinking. Plus their lasting legacy today. In September 1787, the newly drafted Constitution of the United States was sent to the states for ratification. Responding to initial public criticism of the document, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay - under the collective pseudonym "Publius" - wrote a series of 85 essays to promote the ratification of the Constitution. The essays were first published in several New York newspapers and were later combined into a book titled The Federalist. Today, the original essays are commonly referred to as The Federalist Papers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices