We last broadcast book read updates. There are two i want to start with. One is this monumental Frederick Douglass prophet of freedom by david w. Blight, the definitive biography of Frederick Douglass especially what is going on in the United States with racial injustice, nobody was more consequential it has been more consequential on the target of race in america than Frederick Douglass. Way ahead of his time. He was not only in abolitionist and passionate abolitionists as a former slave but he insisted from the earliest time in the 1840s right through his death in the Nineteenth Century video quality was the goal and he would brook no deviation from that. He was very clear what the goal was and so many of his words ring true today and i recommend the biography. It is a long read but one of the things i learned about Frederick Douglass is he was an active suffragist. Absolutely. Very insistent. Had a distinguished career, was able to talk to a mixed race audience at a time when that was unusual to say the least and was willing to take on the powerful when they had bad ideas. Abraham lincoln in the beginning of his presidency was fixed on the idea of colonization. We will free slaves but move them to some other country because clearly integration in america will never work and Frederick Douglass would have none of that and took lincoln to task and arguably can take some credit for changing lincolns idea about that. Douglas is up there with our fathers in terms of where he belongs in american history. This book is long overdue, fine piece of work. Another book i dont have with me because i went it out, biography by George Packer called our man Richard Holbrooke and the end of the american century. Unique. I never read a book like it. It is not a traditional biography. It mixes opinion with facts and friend knowledge he. It is not your traditional biography but is a powerful book about a man in washington who sacrificed almost everything for a mission to climb up that latter. Talented, destroyed family relations, destroyed personal relationships, friendships that were longstanding and just consumed by ambition. He also had some accomplishments, the author the dayton accord that ended the balkan wars and when he died he was the special envoy for afghanistan and made Great Strides in trying to tee up that issue and get america to look at its involvement but at the end of the day a tragic figure in terms of what he was willing to do and it took a story about power in washington and a cautionary tale of what happens so really powerful biography i highly recommend. Did you know him at all . I had met and interacted with him on several occasions in the course of his career. I cant say i was an intimate, nor did i serve with him or work with him on any kind of projects but he was clearly a towering figure but also a tragic figure. I think it is one of the best biographies i have ever read. Completely different style. Not your usual biography which made it so engrossing. I am so taken with it i have given it away multiple times for people to read because it has a lot of lessons for people in the place where i work. A book i just read recently by Sidney Blumenthal all the powers of earth. This is the prepresident ial history of Abraham Lincoln but is so much more than that. It is a sociological political cultural history of simultaneous years between 1856, and 1860. So much gets sandwiched into that for your period that made that civil war inevitable. Everything from popular sovereignty to Stephen Douglas to the kansas nebraska act, bloodied kansas, john browns raid in lawrence, kansas and harpers ferry, the dred scott decision. These are four important pivotal years that led to the civil war and Sidney Blumenthal goes in depth into the main characters, Stephen Douglas, Charles Sumner and others, it is really a great piece of history, lots of tidbits that one might not normally know. One of the characters who really comes out badly from a historical point of view is Stephen Douglas, a demagogue willing to sacrifice all kinds of principles to advance his career and he tragically failed in that endeavor, did huge damage to the country, opening up territories to slavery where it had earlier been prohibited and pleasing nobody in the south or the north. A really good piece of work. The burning massacre, destruction, and the tulsa race riot of 1921 by tim madigan, the story of a massacre in tulsa of a vibrant and successful africanamerican part of tulsa, greenwood. What took place, the massacre, hard to believe this could happen in 20thcentury america but it did. Hundreds of africanamericans killed, millers running rampant and ultimately burned to the ground 36 square blocks of this africanamerican community, churches, businesses, homes and subjugated the africanamerican population until the end of jim crow in the 1960s, 45 years later. It is a gripping story and given what is going on in america today, understanding the history, the insecurity of the white majority at that time and needing to really reverse economic, cultural and political progress of a vibrant africanamerican community. The wall street of black america was that successful but for some reason for a long time america kind of forgot this important part of history and it really needs to be revisited because the horror of what happened at the hands of overt racism led to unbelievable violence and it is a real contribution to the current discussion of Racial Justice in america. I dont read as much literature as i would like, yaa guasis homegoing, a beautifully written novel that juxtaposes the evolution of slavery and race in america with the story of ghana, where and how people lived in ghana prior to slavery and during the enslavement period and it is really a beautifully done book, shes a very talented young novelist who really has the future. She just came out with a new book as well. A book that really got me, killers of the farm owned by david grant. This is a book in oklahoma where a white power elite murdered a number of native americans, loyalties for Natural Resources on their land, were swindled, in order to have deeds transferred to almost always wait elite. Embezzlement, fraud, and murder, numerous things and some assassinations of native americans in order to get their land. This again took place in the 1920s in america. This is not ancient history, not the old indian wars of the midNineteenth Century, this happened not that long ago. It is an unbelievable story, deeply disturbing in terms of again the power of racism and the power of greed that it is something about our history people need to read. I just finished the enormous book called jerusalem, a history of the city of jerusalem, it takes you from the canaanite period, the babylonian captivity, incursions of the egyptians, the phoenicians and ultimately the romans and greeks to the crusaders and islamic period through modern history. The sweep of history when you read this book all at once really strikes you. What also strikes you, sadly, is how jerusalem is combined by violence, the constant killings, constant sackings and massacres and all for territory in the name of the sacred as we realize that remains unresolved today in the middle east. It is a sweeping history that gives you a sense of perspective. I dont know if it gives you a lot of hope about the future of the middle east, but it really does put a lot of what we are doing right now in very important context, this is not new and so much evil in the name of the sacred occurs irrespective of the period of history. Christopher lennon, a great book mostly focused on charles karch, kochland the secret history of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in america by christopher leonard, how he built an empire in kansas and how he used it to influence politics in america, certainly in a very effective if not troubling way. He used his money to build think tanks to insinuate himself into universities by creating schools. He used his influence to build a Grassroots Network and then applied all of that to legislative initiatives that reflected his libertarian government stay out of our lives philosophy. We are in a pandemic where we need more government right now, not less, that flies in the face of the watch philosophy. This is a great book in terms of giving you a sense of who is charles koch, where did he come from and where is he going. Let me talk about two between history and biography i like and escape and i have discovered recently, the school of writing that this is called the iowa and, all of this takes place in iceland, this blue, start landscape background of murderous activity going on. Sort of a loner inspector whose life is not gone well and nonetheless is intrepid and undaunted and all those the mystery where it needs to go. I have read for 5 of colin carter roles book, he created a mystery detective who is 72yearold coroner for the new liberated communist laos 1978, a former guerrilla, former medical doctor and kind of disillusioned with communism, but finds himself as a coroner pursuing mysterious deaths. He is a good writer and back in time to the revolutionary times in the 1970s and recreates that place and what is going on in a way that is spectacular for a little escapism, great writing. Finally i want to talk about midnight in chernobyl by adam higginbotham. We talk about Nuclear Power sometimes as if it is the unexamined alternative to fossil fuels, and that is true, but when something goes wrong it is catastrophic. This book in the words often of the victims of chernobyl, quite gripping. The heroism and the coverups of the soviet government really are told beautifully in this book. The series that hbo did on chernobyl might have benefited from this book and some of the accounts but it is a piece of history that ought not to be forgotten and obviously had huge consequences in leading to the downfall of the soviet union because of its nonperformance, its bureaucracy, its lack of empathy and ability to respond to the Worst Nuclear Disaster in modern american history. Host im sorry. Those are some of the things im reading. How are you getting your books these days . Is your local bookstore open, your local library . Amazon . All of the above. I have a huge Library Including books i got for the holidays, even cspan provided me with some books, that is the gift for birthdays, anniversaries or holidays and i have a lot of friends who share my love of reading and we have similar tastes that we are sharing books back and forth. I have no dearth of reading materials. And i am a racist reader, i wake up in the morning and every free moment i read. I think reading broadens your perspective, challenges preconceived notions about life and history and philosophy and is one of the most enriching activities a human being can engage in. There are several contemporaneous accounts of the trump administration, bob woodward, Michael Smith etc. Do you read those when they come out . I have read a couple of books on actually sort of the psychological profile of donald trump in terms of what is going on, by those who have really studied that. I dont generally like to read contemporaneous history or memoirs because i think they are too close to events to have a perspective that would be lasting but i do make exceptions. Bob woodward is one of them. I have read every bob woodward book ever written. So i intend to read this one because i think it really has a neck for being able to get inside and get people to say extraordinary things they otherwise wouldnt and they do give you insights to what is going on. So that one for sure i will read and my friend Michael Dantonio has written several books and is coming out with a new one on impeachment of trump this fall and i certainly intend to read that as well. Back to Sidney Blumenthals book about the 4 years of the civil war, with the hindsight 106 years. Was there a point during that four years when you read that history that the civil war could have been avoided . I dont think so unless the north was willing to live with slavery or the south was willing to say we are setting a timeline for its elimination and echoes of the past resonate today. It was all fueled by firebrands. There were hotheads especially in the south who really wanted to fuel the politics that the north is out to get us, we are going to lose power. The civil war in many ways was also about the fear of the transfer of power. Southerners had controlled the Congress Almost from the beginning and protected what they called the peculiar institution including doing very antiamerican anticonstitutional things like blocking petitions to congress about slavery which was the cause of John Quincy Adams when he was in the house and he was censured for refusing to recognize a ban on receipt of petitions, and that was all about slavery and power in the south and as the south saw a growing Abolitionist Movement in the north into north that was expanding they decided there only future, the firebrands but not just the firebrands was to separate and i think it was inevitable. The table was set for separation. And a violent separation. It took a leader like Abraham Lincoln to understand you cant accommodate secession. We are one country and he also evolved in his stand the to preserve the union we had to end slavery. That was not his view at first but he had said if i could preserve the union by preserving slavery i would do that. If i could preserve the union by eliminating slavery in some places but not others i would do that as well. If i could preserve the union only by ending slavery that too i would do. When he began it was all about the union but as the war went on he understood that actually it had to be more than that abstract. It also had to be what kind of union we were going to have and needed to be and that needed to be a union made of free men and free women. Knowing what you do about the antebellum period, from 1968 where would you put us today . How would you put todays world in context . I dont think the country is as torn asunder as we were in 1968. I think we came close in 1960 to this country just dissolving into something less than what we think of as the United States of america. There were so many forces holding us apart and divisions were so enormous about race, about the war, and today we are also a divided nation but i think what is different is there is a clear emerging majority that wants to see a more progressive america, that wants to address fundamental issues of Structural Racism in america starting with our law enforcement, that believes we have to empower people on liberty and deal with issues of iniquity, economic inequity, health and equity and expose that. So in some ways im more hopeful today than i was at the end of 1968 having lived through those turbulent times. Having said that i think frankly the president and his approach to issues and governance represents a clear challenge to the continuation of constitutional democracy in america. I really do. I say that is a member of congress had with it every day and that has to be addressed in this election or we are going to go a very different direction than that envisioned by our founders, by Abraham Lincoln and lots of us who care about our country. Host we talk to your colleague and friend, republican of oklahoma who said you talk about books quite often. Hes a great guy, a very thoughtful member of congress. Hes not somebody who just has a kneejerk reaction ideologically or in a partisan way to every issue that comes his way. I have enjoyed our friendship. We do share thoughts on books and once in a while we share a cigar. Gerald connolly, thanks for the update on your reading list. If you are interested in hearing more about your books, members of commerce are reading these days visit booktv. Org and search what are you reading at the top of the page. Beginning now, booktv on cspan2, 48 hours of nonfiction authors and books every weekend. Television for serious readers. Here are books to watch out for. Today at 1 00 pm eastern programs from the recent virtual Schonberg Center literary festival, new york city which features other discussions on the lives of authors and activists audra lewis and James Baldwin and Interview Program after words the Washington PostPulitzer Prize winning book critic offers his thoughts on volumes of books written about donald trump and his presidency. Later tonight, antonin scalia, judge jeffrey sutton, discusses a collection of the Late Supreme Court justices writings. Find more information on booktv. Org or your program guide. Now booktv begins with David Michaelis on eleanor roosevelt. Thanks for joining us with this joint effort of american ancestors of the genealogical society, library of massachusetts and Publishers Weekly 2020 bookstore of the year. We are open all night and in person with limited capacity. We shift into local delivery and have Curbside Pickup and Virtual Events like this one, the you should know this one and a special pandemic newsletter and lots of