Book TV Schedule: February 16th - 19th

[Viva_La_Revolution]

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C-SPAN2's Book TV: February 16-19
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Insightful author interviews
Saturday 9 PM, Sunday 12 PM, 6 PM and 9 PM, Monday 12 AM ET
Mark Siegel, Benazir Bhutto's longtime friend and former speechwriter, assisted Ms. Bhutto in writing Reconciliation. In her book, Ms. Bhutto looks at the conflict between Islam and the West, including the decades-long relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan, which she argues has contributed to the problems Pakistan and the region face today. Mr. Siegel discusses the book with Akbar Ahmed, chair of Islamic Studies at American University and former Pakistani High Commissioner to Great Britain.


Weekend Highlights - Three days of Book TV
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Join us for three days of Book TV programming this holiday weekend, beginning Saturday, February 16, at 8 AM ET and running through Tuesday, February 19, at 8 AM ET.

David Nichols, A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution
David Nichols contends that former President Dwight Eisenhower was more active in terms of civil rights legislation than commonly understood. Mr. Nichols relays that President Eisenhower assisted in the desegregation of the District of Columbia and the armed forces prior to Brown v. Board of Education and argues that Eisenhower was more progressive on civil rights than his predecessors in the Oval Office. David Nichols presents his book at the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas.
(Monday 9 AM and 6 PM ET)

Randall Kennedy, Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal
Randall Kennedy examines the idea of "selling out" and racial betrayal in Black America. Mr. Kennedy explores the history behind the subject and presents ways in which prominent African Americans have been stigmatized as sellouts. This event was hosted by Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA.
(Sunday 11:15 AM and 7 PM ET)

Larry Diamond, The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World
Larry Diamond talks about the spread of democracy around the world and discusses what needs to be done to increase democracy-building efforts. This event was hosted by the Carnegie Council in New York City.
(Sunday 5 PM and 8 PM, Monday 5 AM ET)

Sudhir Venkatesh, Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets
While a graduate student in Chicago, Sudhir Venkatesh spent seven years observing the daily life of the urban poor and the inner workings of a local gang. In his third book, Mr. Venkatesh chronicles his experience getting to know the residents of a public housing project, interacting with gang members, and befriending the gang's leader. This event was hosted by Borders in Chicago. (Saturday 8 PM, Monday 2 AM ET)

Mark Penn, Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes
Mark Penn, chief adviser to Senator Hilary Clinton's presidential campaign, discusses his theory that special interest groups that contain a small percentage of people (1% of the population) can wield great social and political change. From "Shy Millionaires," Americans who live below their means, to Protestant Hispanics, Mr. Penn presents what he concludes are the next group of influence peddlers akin to his previously coined "Soccer Moms." Mark Penn presents his book at the Strand Bookstore in New York City.
(Sunday 9 AM and 3:45 PM ET)



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Program times are approximate. All times are Eastern Time (ET).

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Saturday, February 16, 2008

8:00 AM 1 hr, 43 min History
A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom
Author: David Blight

9:45 AM 1 hr, 41 min Stem Cell Century: Law and Policy for a Breakthrough Technology
Author: Russell Korobkin

11:30 AM 28 min "The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor & Privacy on the Internet"
Author: Daniel Solove

12:00 PM 1 hr, 6 min History
Ralph Ellison: A Biography - 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
Author: Arnold Rampersad

1:15 PM 1 hr, 6 min History
Partners in Command: George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower in War and Peace
Author: Mark Perry

2:30 PM 1 hr, 3 min History
To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne, 1918
Author: Edward Lengel

3:30 PM 53 min Politics
Senator Sam Ervin, Last of the Founding Fathers
Author: Karl E. Campbell

4:30 PM 1 hr, 15 min History
This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War
Author: Drew Gilpin Faust

6:00 PM 57 min Encore Booknotes: "James K. Polk"
Author: John Seigenthaler

7:00 PM 1 hr, 7 min Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
Author: Jonah Goldberg

8:00 PM 59 min Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets
Author: Sudhir Venkatesh

9:00 PM 52 min After Words: Mark Siegel, "Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West" interviewed by Akbar Ahmed

10:00 PM 53 min Politics
Come to Think of It: Notes on the Turn of the Millennium
Author: Daniel Schorr

11:00 PM 1 hr, 8 min The Almanac of American Politics, 2008
Author: Michael Barone


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Sunday, February 17, 2008

12:00 AM 1 hr, 2 min In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
Author: Michael Pollan

1:00 AM 1 hr, 15 min Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History
Author: Thomas DeWolf

2:15 AM 1 hr, 31 min Walled: Israeli Society at an Impasse
Author: Sylvain Cypel

4:00 AM 1 hr, 6 min The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics
Author: Michael Shermer

5:05 AM 15 min In Depth Vignette: P.J. O'Rourke
5:30 AM 28 min "The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor & Privacy on the Internet"
Author: Daniel Solove

6:00 AM 1 hr, 27 min History
Robert F. Kennedy and the Death of American Idealism
Author: Joseph Palermo

7:30 AM 57 min Politics
The Conservative Ascendancy: How the GOP Right Made Political History
Author: Donald Critchlow

8:30 AM 33 min Caucus of Corruption: The Truth about the New Democratic Majority
Authors: Matt Margolis; Mark Noonan

9:00 AM 55 min Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes
Author: Mark Penn

12:00 PM 52 min After Words: Mark Siegel, "Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West" interviewed by Akbar Ahmed

1:15 PM 1 hr, 7 min Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
Author: Jonah Goldberg

2:30 PM 1 hr, 6 min Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap
Author: Jeffrey Ogbar

3:45 PM 55 min Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes
Author: Mark Penn

5:00 PM 57 min The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World
Author: Larry Diamond

6:00 PM 52 min After Words: Mark Siegel, "Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West" interviewed by Akbar Ahmed

7:00 PM 51 min Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal
Author: Randall Kennedy

8:00 PM 57 min The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World
Author: Larry Diamond

9:00 PM 52 min After Words: Mark Siegel, "Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West" interviewed by Akbar Ahmed

10:00 PM 1 hr 2007 Texas Book Festival: Marcus Luttrell and Brandon Friedman on the War in Afghanistan
Authors: Brandon Friedman; Marcus Luttrell

11:00 PM 58 min Crazy for God: How I Grew Up As One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (Or Almost All) of It Back
Author: Frank Schaeffer


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Monday, February 18, 2008

12:00 AM 52 min After Words: Mark Siegel, "Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West" interviewed by Akbar Ahmed

1:00 AM 46 min History
The Liberals' Moment: The McGovern Insurgency and the Identity Crisis of the Democratic Party
Author: Bruce Miroff

2:00 AM 59 min Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets
Author: Sudhir Venkatesh

3:00 AM 1 hr, 12 min Politics
Election 2008: A Voter's Guide
Author: Franklin Foer

4:15 AM 42 min History
America 1908: The Dawn of Flight, The Race to the Pole, The Invention of the Model T, and the Making of a Modern Nation
Author: Jim Rasenberger

5:00 AM 57 min The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World
Author: Larry Diamond

6:00 AM 1 hr, 5 min History
American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic
Authors: Richard Brookhiser; Joseph Ellis

7:00 AM 56 min History
For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions
Author: James Gaines

8:00 AM 50 min History
Julie Fenster "The Case of Abraham Lincoln: A Story of Adultery, Murder, and the Making of a Great President"
Author: Julie Fenster

9:00 AM 31 min History
A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution
Author: David Nichols

9:30 AM 1 hr, 11 min Public Lives
John Adams by David McCullough
Author: David McCullough

10:45 AM 1 hr, 11 min History
George H.W. Bush
Author: Timothy Naftali

12:00 PM 1 hr, 5 min History
A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign
Author: Edward Larson

2:00 PM 52 min History
Panel Discussion of Arthur Schlesinger Jr. "Journals: 1952-2000" including Eric Foner, David Nasaw, and Louise Mirrer
Authors: James Basker; Eric Foner; Louise Mirrer; David Nasaw; Andrew Schlesinger

3:00 PM 1 hr, 15 min History
Heroes Hacks & Fools: Memoirs from the Political Inside
Author: Ted Van Dyk

4:15 PM 1 hr, 11 min History
Write It When I'm Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald R. Ford
Author: Thomas DeFrank

5:30 PM 30 min History
2007 National Book Festival: Michael Beschloss, "Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America, 1789-1989"
Author: Michael Beschloss

6:00 PM 31 min History
A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution
Author: David Nichols

6:30 PM 1 hr, 35 min History
Belva Lockwood: The Woman Who Would Be President
Author: Jill Norgren

8:00 PM 41 min History
Virtue, Valor, & Vanity: The Founding Fathers and the Pursuit of Fame
Author: Eric Burns

8:45 PM 1 hr, 9 min History
Presidential Biography Panel with David Greenberg, "Calvin Coolidge"; Ira Rutkow, "James Garfield"; and Sean Wilentz, "Andrew Jackson"
Authors: David Greenberg; Ira Rutkow; Sean Wilentz

10:00 PM 1 hr, 5 min History
Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher: A Political Marriage
Author: Nicholas Wapshott

11:00 PM 1 hr After Words: Jimmy Carter interviewed by Brian Williams


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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

12:00 AM 1 hr, 1 min After Words: Sir David Frost author of "Frost/Nixon: Behind the Scenes of the Nixon Interviews" interviewed by Timothy Naftali, Director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library

1:00 AM 39 min History
2007 Roosevelt Reading Festival: Elizabeth Borgwardt: "A New Deal for the World"
Author: Elizabeth Borgwardt

1:35 AM 43 min History
2007 Roosevelt Reading Festival: Daniel Scroop: "Mr. Democrat"
Author: Daniel Scroop

2:20 AM 39 min History
2007 Roosevelt Reading Festival: Hal Vaughan: "FDR's 12 Apostles"
Author: Hal Vaughan

3:00 AM 41 min History
Virtue, Valor, & Vanity: The Founding Fathers and the Pursuit of Fame
Author: Eric Burns

3:45 AM 1 hr, 11 min Public Lives
John Adams by David McCullough
Author: David McCullough

5:00 AM 58 min History
Tom Wheeler, "Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War"
Author: Tom Wheeler

7:00 AM 51 min Politics
The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America
Author: Ronald Brownstein


http://www.booktv.org/schedule.aspx

[Bozita]

1. looking forward to Frank Schaeffer

Thanks, Viva.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. Hi Boz!

:)

[Bozita]

3. kick

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. thank you! and another...

:hug:

[SalmonChantedEvening]

5. Viva!! Greatest Page Time for you!!!

:hi: :hug: :loveya: :toast:

K&R for all you do :)

:kick:

[Kurovski]

6. K&R

Love & Kisses. :loveya:

[Jeffersons Ghost]

7. K&R

:pals:

[Kurovski]

8. Kick. (nt)

[Viva_La_Revolution]

13. Hey baby!

:loveya:

[Hidden Stillness]

9. "James K. Polk" John Seigenthaler

This book is part of the Presidential Biographies series started by the great historian Arthur Schlesinger a few years ago, which attempts to give well-written and well-researched tellings of the lives of the Presidents, in small volumes that people will actually read. This one is about James Knox Polk, the eleventh President, who served one-term during the 1840s. Although ranked as one of the near-greats as President, always high on lists by historians, and ranked the 4th greatest President ever by Pres. Truman, Polk remains one of the most ignored and underrated by the general public. Apart from 3 previous biographies mentioned by John Seigenthaler, the author of the new Polk book, and a book report I did as a kid in sixth grade, there is very little else.

Polk is apparently known for accomplishing four great things: lowering the tariff on imported goods; establishing a Treasury Dept. to secure collected taxes and pay Government bills, getting the funds away from corrupt and unregulated commercial banks that handled things at that time (that is truly great); settling the Oregon boundary dispute; and annexing and admitting as States both California and Texas. The last thing, which led to Polk's later reputation as a war-monger, partly deserved but partly not, was discussed at length by Seigenthaler on this program. What was stunning and really interesting about this part of Polk's career and later, is how many great names of history, and even later President's pop up during these earlier episodes--Zachary Taylor as a General during the Mexican War, Abraham Lincoln denouncing the war on the floor of Congress and calling Polk a liar. Like some people, Polk seems to have been at the center of every major historical incident of the times, and intersected with almost every major name. The scandal of Andrew Jackson's Presidency, involving a divorce/marriage that actually broke up most of Jackson's Cabinet, was commented on by Polk in a diary extending to hundreds of pages, and that was so great that it was the reason why Seigenthaler decided to write the book at all.

Part of the program talked about Polk's personality, which was apparently brooding, angry, not friendly, not likeable, secretive, tough-minded, "a little prig from Tennessee" which was apparently a self-description, but a great writer in this diary, where Polk would blast people, give long opinions on events, and great histories not available elsewhere for much of this period of time. Part of Polk's great suffering was written about (recently? I don't know) by a doctor, who analyzed symptoms and medical writings from Polk's time, as gall stones and urinary stones, and a horrific and crude surgery, with no sterile instruments and only brandy for the pain, was done when Polk was a young adult.

Seigenthaler described many stories during Polk's Presidency, of fights with the Secretary of State and other Cabinet members, (during an era when duels were legal, and fistfights on the floors of Congress were common), and of a President, Polk, who was extremely partisan, denying jobs to Federalists/Whigs, even when they had held them from previous Administrations, etc. These things were described, but they actually did not strike me as unusual. There was a very interesting part of the discussion, though, where it was described how many newspapers at the time were actually owned and controlled by the political Parties, which had the power to hire and fire editors, staff, etc.

The most interesting part of the whole program for me, though, was the way the Polk era was so jam-packed full of American history, some of the most important historical events and names, many of whom would reach their own greatest eras later. The fact, also, that Polk is so routinely ranked as among the ten-or-fifteen greatest Presidents ever, which I had read before, but not understood at all, (being as unaware of Polk as anybody else), makes me want to read this book. It sounds great. By the way, if the name John Seigenthaler seems familiar, it may be because Seigenthaler was on the staff of Robert Kennedy, and a few years ago had a huge problem with some archcon liars on this "Wikipedia" thing, making up horrific lies about how Seigenthaler had "murdered" somebody or other, and all kinds of other shit, and this "Wikipedia" thing would not correct or edit it. Also, Seigenthaler is the father of John Seigenthaler, Jr., a correspondent and anchor on NBC and MSNBC.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

10. I felt the same way when I watched the WW1 program earlier today.

Meuse-Argonne in 1918. So much history I don't know.

Great review, as always! Thanks. :)

[Viva_La_Revolution]

11. kick!

[Bozita]

12. kick

[seaglass]

14. Did anyone see Daniel Schorr? He told the funniest Nixon story,

he was great :-)

[SalmonChantedEvening]

15. keek. i pirate. yarr.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

16. luv teh kitty!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

17. extra day kick!