Of congress about the books they are reading. Joining is now on book tv tom cole a republican from oklahoma, congressman wiebe asked you this question before, youve always had a large reading list, what is on your current reading list. I just finished the splendid and the vile by eric larson, wonderful account of him and his family, there in the worst year of the war right after becomes Prime Minister in 1940, the day of the german invasion in the countries in france and basically what it was like to stand alone against not see germany until june of 41 the russians are in the war and obviously by december 41, the United States is in the war, youve seen the book, its a wonderful read about a guy that i consider the greatest person of the 20th century and the supreme ordeal of long and brilliant career, ive also been reading, i just picked up the greatest story of the name of jean edward smith, great biographer, i read his biographies a grant in eisenhower, by far the best eisenhower biography ever written and there has been some good ones. But he died in 2019, right now just got into what may have been his best book fdr on the Department Price which is american historians choose the best book of the year, back in 2007 its been around its been a book weve been sitting on my bookshelf and we had not gotten to it, its a six or 700 page read, we lost smith last year about a year ago september, almost precisely a year ago and i happen to think about them pulled out the book and ordered his last book which ive not read on liberation of paris which was published in 2019, i have been doing that in earlier this summer i got on by accident a binge of biographies of ambassadors and eric larson also wrote a great biography of a guy named william he was an American Ambassador in germany in the 1930s, and his family which is quite an eccentric group and their experience of being and not see germany as hitler was consolidating power in the first evidence of what was going to be truly the dark. In World History was becoming evident and then i read the same time a book by luke paper called in the cauldron which is the tale of the American Ambassador in tokyo a guy named joseph gr grew, he was our ambassador for ten years i think from 1931 1931 41, all of his ultimately fruitless efforts to head off or between the United States and japan in them what it was like being in japan during the group of a fascist military regime that was guiding the country to racket ruling, a lot of that and then one last thing one of my favorite political scientist of all time usually read historians but this guy is a different political scientist in my view, richard who just died this year but was very famous for writing histories on congress were studies of congress from the district level up rather than the washington level he traveled into the district of various congressmen and senators or the states of senators and i read a couple of his books but i just happened to read his obit and i read a couple of his books the challenge of congressional representation which was his last book published in 2013 and an earlier book called congressional travel but its a granular view of congress, i know a lot of the members that he writes about in these things and its fascinating, its a reminder of how often what somebody does in washington is really a reflection of who they represent, what their interests are, what their understanding in the world is and we kind of lose that dimension sometimes we study politicians and we forget that they have another part of them which is not in washington, d. C. Which shapes what they do in washington, d. C. , a lot of reading this summer. Congressman there seems to be a theme among the history books and that is world war ii . It just happened to be there, no delivered design, unlike everybody else always fascinated by them and there have been other books, calling callaway book the indian world of George Washington as native american, that fascinated me as well but no question world war ii is a seminal conflict and shaper of the 20th century and really the postworld war ii era and obviously you have to understand the war leading into it, what came out of it to understand the time in which we live in the United States was a great power before the Second World War but it became the superpower after that, so understanding calls from the country went through and how it changed to we are, how we think, how we act globally is really an indispensable grounding which you have to have if you want to be effective in the current ti time. Is eric larson one of those writers are historians if you write the book, you read it. Yes, he is an absolutely superb writer and vivid, sometimes its almost like reading a novel, the descriptions and yet its all footnoted but he has a real talent and again, seizing on something to look at more closely, weve had a lot of really fine biographies of winston churchill, Robert Andrews most recent is the best, this idea, its not a book on my bookshelf, i cant remember the authors name but its a same thing, its on churchill in the 1920s, the single pivotal year when he was working as colonial secretary and helped reshape the middle eastern ways with the boundaries of countries, i like what he doesnt like how he does things, i like how he writes in these always worth reading whatever the topic is. The New York Times correspondent came out with a book about congress a yo year or two back, when the book comes out about congress you almost automatically pick it up. I do, i happen to know carl very well and hes one of the smartest reporters out there and confirmation bias which is on the Supreme Court wars that we have seen in recent years is a brilliant look and if you want to understand some of the struggles that shape capitol hill, not any better guy than carl, also just to finish Jonathan Carls book, not congress per se because hes a White House Correspondent and of course for abc news but front row in the trump show is an interesting read and i know carl ive been interviewed by him and appeared on a podcast once or twice so 70 like that writes a book and i think its really knowledgeable and professional and you want to hear what they have to say, again there talking to a lot of people and they dont have the occasion to talk to and they bring a lot of insight into the political field and into congress. How much sharing of book ideas do you do in congress. Quite a bit, i do a favor bookofthemonth that we publish regularly on our website and we have a lot of inquiries about that, i also throw a party for republican of both figures. Ill send him a book, i remember years ago and in kensington or from illinois was a young member. Hes one of our brightest guys in congress and was elected in the class of 2010 and his hair back then was very short, almost like a crew cut. Hes still in the reserves, still flies and hereminded me of the picture id seen of Donald Rumsfeld at about the same age. Square jaw, goodlooking guy and so i just bought rumsfelds autobiography and i sent it over to him. I said youre from illinois, hes from illinois, youve got a crew cut, hes got a crew cut and you guys should get together. Ill send a book to somebody occasionally because it struck me as something that might interest them and adam is one of our really thoughtful thinkers in congress on both sides of the aisle on National Security issues and military matters. He deployed to combat zones so hes a guy who knows what hes talking about and i thought hed be interested in a guy like rumsfeld who had also served and had been the youngest and oldest secretary of defense in American History i dont know if you saw this Mister Rumsfeld wrote his most recent book on his years at ford white house. I have to get that. I just finished chris warfels book the gatekeepers on the chiefs of staff. And of course he figures very prominently so ill be interested in havinga more thorough view. I have a picture of ford that i keep in my office. I knew and campaigned with him on a number of occasions andwas a big admirer of his. I think its the lou cannon biography of him, time and chance on gerald ford so it will be interesting to give rumsfeld a closeup look at president ford. Tom cole, republican of oklahoma thanks for joining us on book tv. Thanks for having me. Watch this and all are what are you reading interviews at booktv. 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