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C-SPAN Bookshelf

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The C-SPAN Bookshelf podcast feed makes it easy for you to listen to all of the C-SPAN podcast episodes about nonfiction books. Each week we gather episodes from the different C-SPAN podcasts that feature authors talking about history, biography, current events, and culture to make it easier to discover the episodes and listen. If you like nonfiction books, follow this podcast feed so you never miss an episode!

181 Episodes
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"June 6, 1944, is the most famous single day in all human history." Those are the words of Garrett Graff in his author's note in his book "When the Sea Came Alive." This month is the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landing in World War II. As Graff introduces the reader to his oral history of D-Day, he writes: "The official launch of Operation Overlord, the long-anticipated invasion of Western Europe, marks a feat of unprecedented human audacity. A mission more ambitious and complex than anything ever seen, before or since, and a key turning point in the fight for a cause among the most noble humans have ever fought." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Author and actor George Takei talks about growing up in internment camps in the U.S. during World War II, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Mr. Takei and his family were four of the 120,000 Japanese Americans to be forcibly removed from their homes and relocated to military-run camps during the war on the orders of President Franklin Roosevelt. Mr. Takei has recently published a children's book about his experiences titled "My Lost Freedom." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Health reporter Shefali Luthra looks at what impact the 2022 Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is having on patients seeking an abortion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Independent Book Publishers Association CEO Andrea Fleck-Nisbet discussed her trade association's work to promote small and mid-sized presses and author-published books. 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
In the first week of publication of Erik Larson's latest book "The Demon of Unrest," sales put it at the very top of the bestseller list. It's about the start of the Civil War, with a focus on the five months between Abraham Lincoln's election and the day of the first shot fired on Fort Sumter which is off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. That was April 12, 1861. In his introduction, Erik Larson writes: "I invite you now to step into the past, to that time of fear and dissension…I suspect your sense of dread will be all the more pronounced in light of today's political discord…" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We sat down with two World War II veterans – former U.S. Navy gunnery officer Steve Ellis and former U.S. Army Air Force B-24 navigator Rolf Slen – to talk about their experiences during the war. Mr. Ellis, age 99, and Mr. Slen, age 100, both served in the Pacific Theater. Of the 16.4 million Americans who served in uniform in World War II, 119,550 were still alive as of 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
NBC investigative reporter Mike Hixenbaugh looked at how issues of race and identity are playing out in school districts around the country. He was interviewed by Chalkbeat editor and author Cara Fitzpatrick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Glenn C. Loury is a professor of economics. He teaches at Brown University and is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He calls his new book "Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative." His publisher, W.W. Norton, describes Prof. Loury on the flap of the cover: "[He] grew up on the south side of Chicago, earned a PhD in MIT’s economics program, and became the first Black tenured professor of economics at Harvard at the age of 33. He has been, at turns, a young father, a drug addict, an adulterer, a psychiatric patient, a born-again Christian, a lapsed born-again Christian, a Black Reaganite who has swung from the right to the left and back again." In his book, Prof. Loury attempts to explain all of this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Q&A: Betty Koed, "Scenes"

Q&A: Betty Koed, "Scenes"

2024-05-2701:01:04

This Memorial Day weekend, retired U.S. Senate Historian Betty Koed shares stories from her book "Scenes: People, Places and Events That Shaped the United States Senate." It's a collection of brief chronicles of Senate history that she presented to Senators during their Tuesday caucus lunches between 2009 and 2023. Some of the stories told include the influence and power of Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, the story of the first female senator, and when Mark Twain worked as a Senate staffer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Alan Taylor is the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation professor of history at the University of Virginia. He is only one of 5 history writers who have won the Pulitzer Prize twice. His 11 books focus mostly on the early years of the creation of the United States. His latest book is titled "American Civil Wars: A Continental History, 1850-1873." During these 23 years, North America's 3 largest countries – Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. – all transformed themselves into nations. Professor Taylor includes stories of Black soldiers fighting for the Union, Native Americans struggling to preserve their homelands in the United States and the West, women fortifying the homeland, and newly arrived immigrants thrust into the maelstrom of the Civil War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Author and president emeritus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Freeman Hrabowski talks about the role of college presidents, the handling of campus protests over the war in Gaza, and political involvement in higher education. His new book "The Resilient University" looks at how UMBC dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd by police in the summer of 2020. Freeman Hrabowski served as president of UMBC from 1992-2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Theologian Jim Wallis argued that a faith of love, healing and hope must be used to dismantle a false gospel that promotes White Christian Nationalism. He was interviewed by Daily Beast columnist and author Wajahat Ali. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For over 10 years, Washington Post investigative reporter Craig Whitlock has tracked the story of Malaysian shakedown man Leonard Francis, aka "Fat Leonard," and his collusion with hundreds of U.S. Navy officers, several of whom have spent time in prison. Now comes the book titled "Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy." Craig Whitlock writes: "On the surface, with his flawless American accent, Fat Leonard seemed like a true friend of the Navy. What the brass didn't realize, until far too late, was that Francis had seduced them by exploiting their entitlement and hubris." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ilyon Woo, our guest this week, was recently awarded the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for her book "Master Slave Husband Wife." The book recounts the harrowing journey of self-emancipation made by married slaves William and Ellen Craft in 1848. Disguised as a wealthy disabled white man with his servant, the Crafts left Georgia, avoiding slave traders, law enforcement, and even friends to gain their freedom. This program originally aired in February 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Journalist Johann Hari reported on the success and concerns surrounding the new weight-loss drugs, as well as his personal experience taking Ozempic. He was interviewed by Bloomberg News health reporter Madison Muller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Award winning children's book author Jonah Winter discussed his experiences with censorship, and why he believes cancel culture is more dangerous than book banning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Duke Ellington was the grandson of slaves. Louis Armstrong was born in a News Orleans slum so tough that it was called "The Battlefield." William James "Count" Basie grew up in a world unfamiliar to his white fans, the son of a coachman and a laundress. Author Larry Tye says the Duke, the Count, and Satchmo transformed America. The book is called "The Jazzmen" and Mr. Tye writes: "How better to bring alive the history of African America in the early to mid-1900s than through the singular lens of America's most gifted, engaging, and enduring African American musicians." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Former congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) talks about Americans who have struggled with mental illness and the stigma and silence that he says still surrounds it. He shares the stories of the people profiled in his book, "Profiles in Mental Health Courage," including himself and members of his own family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
New York Times correspondent David Sanger spoke about China's rise, Russia's invasion of Ukraine & America's role in the world in the 21st century. He was interviewed by Harvard University Belfer Center senior fellow Paula Dobriansky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The book "Fire and Rain" is a narrative, according to author Carolyn Woods Eisenberg, about the way national security decisions, formed at the highest level of government, affect the lives of individuals at home and abroad. Her primary focus is on the way the Nixon administration fought and ended the Vietnam War. Early in the book, Hofstra University professor Eisenberg quotes President Nixon's predecessor, Lyndon Johnson, during his 1964 election campaign: "We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves." However, the U.S. left Vietnam permanently in 1975 and, at the end, the number of U.S. military personnel killed in the war was 58,098. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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