Transcripts For CSPAN2 Librarian 20240703 : vimarsana.com

CSPAN2 Librarian July 3, 2024

One of the favorite thicks that we f do here at tv and we dont do very often is ask you and we want to hear from you what book is on your bedside table and on your tablet and why its attracted you 202 is the area 7488200 if you live in east time zones. Big crowds here at the National Book festival. Nathey have a whole area full of authors from different areas for of the country, book signings, book sales, i want to let you know that in about 20 minutes the librarian of congress is rejoining us here on your book tv set to make a special announcement. So thats coming up in about 20 minutes. Youve probablyy noticed as well on the screen that there is a 25th anniversary sliver over on the right side of your screen, yes, this is book tvs 25th anniversary. September 12th, 1998 will be our 25th anniversary and our cspan bags all have 25th anniversary on them as do our cspan book tv mugs. So we are very pleased about that. In those 25 years, we have been on the air over 1300 wkends. 92,000 hours of programming which is all Available Online covered over 22,000 authors, covere 16,000 events, cities that have hosted book tv events, 871 book tv over the years has been to 875 book festival and hopefully more to come but in the meantime what are you reading, you can see it there on the screen and we will take those calls in just a minute. First, though, we want to show you a little bit from last nights National Book festival Opening Ceremony, this is author david grant, his bestseller is killers of the flower moon, thats a book thats being mad into a movie. His most recent book is called the wager, here is david grant. And it happened back in 2004 when i was newly hired as a writer at the new yorker mag accident and i was behind on my contract to produce a certain number of stories. As many people know im very slow and i was frantically fearing i might lose the covenant job and i was calling everybody for a story idea and i called a friend and he said, why dont you look for the giant squid, that wowed make some news and my only image from a giant squid was 20,000 leagues under the sea and i thought it was a myth butou after i got off the phone, sure enough its a real creatures. It has the eyes of a human head, how are you going to tell the story, theres nothing to to see. I did a little board digging, low and behold they are giant squid hunters and they had devoted their lives to try to become the first to document one of these creatures alive and eventually i found perhaps the most obsessed giant squid hunter of all, a man in new Zealand Steve and he had come up with a novel scheme rather than trying to capture the big calamari, he was going to capture a baby and grow it in captivity. During spawning period hypothetically there should be more babies and easier to catch. I called him up, im going out on an expedition, come on up and we will make history. I rushed to my editors at the new yorker and in my desperation i maid have committed the sin that reporters do which is to oversell a storiment i showed maps of squid migrations and dassured them that we would be the first to document a baby giant squid and id even get them a photograph. They said god speed and sent me off. When i arrived in new zealand i realized that things were a myth. The bought which i thought would be, a skiff with outdoor motor hd out to be a graduate student who got seasick and myself who was ready to put to work. Then he turned to me and he said i should warn you theres a we bit of a cyclone coming our way. [laughter] he was not exaggerating, there was a cyclone coming our way. It was a national emergency. I said we will wait it out. He said no, apparently the giant squid only hatched during this time so we have to go now. We get in his car with the trailer and the boat and we finally get there around twilight and he starts to launch the boat. I said what are you doing, its getting dark . He said they rise at night so we have to go it night. We set off into the water and my squid hunter will was different from a diving accident. He said color . I said its green. He said im not just half, im also colorblind. Then he aims between these blocks. It all seems to be following through and a flash with me and all i can see in front of me is water 20 feet high. I turned behind me and all i could see was another mallet and but was going like this. He said you wont find this in new york. It was in that moment when i began to wonder if my cap was in full command of his faculties. He managed to leave us through and we put the traps into the water, they were made of coke bottles. Into the water we go. Im an observer i have to pull them out. We do this hour after hour to no avail than we do it the next night and next night. Then finally, one time at 3 00 in the morning, we pull up the traps and the graduate student looks and says i think that is your dream squid. He puts his eye to the tank and says that looks like arche. Sure enough, it was only this big but i could see a big eye and its tentacles. We were really tired and exhausted and we had to transfer this thing into another tank. We were transferring into another tank and suddenly, he says where did it go . Its bloody gone. Its a complete catastrophe. He may have swore. He had a look of utter despair and i must confess do you know what i was thinking . Im dead im completely dead. I promised my editors that we would come get a baby squid and we had it and we lost it. I thought i dont have a story. I have absolute nothing. It was only after the expedition as i kind of was still wallowing in my own despair and the despair of this poor squid hunter that i realized that that was the story that this was the story about a man, a captain ahab who had devoted his whole life to capturing his whale, and he had it, and he lost it. And it was so much more interesting than this fairytale i concocted in my imagination, and it taught me something so fundamental about the nature of writing some stories and discerning the truth, that you have to keep your eyes open to the story, that you have to be careful about your blinders or your preconceptions or your biases. You have to recognize reality sometimes before you and often the most profound truths in the deepest stories are the ones we are not even looking for. Thank you so much. [applause] that was david graham from last nights Opening Ceremony of the National Book festival. You can see it in its entirety on her website book to be. Org. Look to be. Org. What on your reading list must mark parks i am reading raised in america. It is an affirmation of a lot of what im already aware of, what i saw most interesting so far. The discussion of cultural capital. What role it plays in the progress, the development, the definite advantages that avail the youngsters as they navigate academia and living. Thats what i found most interesting. I think it is a textbook, but i found it amazingly enlightening. What is the name of the book again . Race in america. Thank you for calling. What is on your reading list . I am reading finding me by viola davis and it is a magnificent read. Why . Because she describes her life from the beginning until where she is now. Im only halfway through the book. The issues around poverty, being hungry and racism are very prevalent in her life. Its a wonderful read and everybody should read. Host thank you for calling. Ed, Cleveland Ohio is on your reading list . Caller [indiscernible] the revolutionary a biography of samuel adams it takes place in the 1760s. It shows i believe a disconnect of those in authority with power who and their interaction with the people they serve. The people he put in power and place they seem to be in a disconnect to the people with similar items, the people of boston. She seems to also recognize the patriots here in america. They werent necessarily the most nicest people you would meet. They said if you disagreed with them, they made quite clear that you werent one of them. My second book is back to the classics. I am reading dante. Not the inferno is most popular. I am on purgatory. Thank god for footnotes. You would have to be a medieval scholar without the footnotes to know what he is referring to. Those are the two that i have. Host thank you for, i, we appreciate it. William in louisiana. He texted i am currently reading the fiction thriller hammerhead, the first in a series by jason garbo, i cannot put it down. Its about u. S. Sending special operations into mexico to confront the cartels. Again, its called hammerhead by nick bradshaw. During the segment, we have been trying to show you scenes from around the National Book festival. You can see big crowds upstairs. There are pavilions for each state. There is a library of congress pavilion. There are book sales, book signings, and in just a few minutes we will show you something very special that we will announce. It is a partnership between the library of congress and cspan. We will show you that in just a few minutes. First, we want to show you this video from the new series. This fall, join cspan for a literary journey featuring books by american authors that are provoked thoughts, controversy, and change throughout our history and are still talked about today. Join us as we trace history and learn who would become through the books that shaped america. Starting in 1776, thomas payne argued it was common sense to break away from great britain. As the new nation evolved, advocates of a strong federal government launched a campaign to ratify the constitution. The Young Country pushed west of the pacific and under lewis and clark, explored the lands of the recent louisiana purchase. In 1845, slavery still divided the country but Frederick Douglass autobiography books and ideas continued to shape our national identity. From Huckleberry Finn to the harlem renaissance to free market principles to cesar chavez fight for labor rights. These are the ideas and movements that shaped america. Join with your calls and comments. We look at books that are landmarks of american politics and law. Books that take you down the Mississippi River to the open prairies of nebraska and pacific coast. Books that examine freemarket capitalism and workers rights. Books that shaped america. Live for 10 weeks on a nights at 9 00 eastern on cspan, cspan. Org, and cspan radio starting september 18. Host carla hayden, books that shaped america. You realize the new series is inspired by the library of congress. Yes in 2013 the library of congress developed a list of 100 books that shaped america. It was so popular and so the series are hoping everybody will join us to think about not only the 10 books that will be featured, but to give suggestions. It will be interesting to see. I know you were not at the library at the time, but talking to people there, how did they narrow it to 100 books and we will talk about how we narrowed to 10 books as well. They thought about what were the books in the 200 years of American History that more people reading that were shaping some events like when you think about common sense by thomas payne, 1776 whats going on. Here were all of these people, it was a best seller. We are reading this about selfgovernance, what it means to be free, all those things. The curators and librarians went through history and said what are the books that quite a few people read that they talk about later in life the impact it had in their lives. What were those books . Host we want tqukly give you the list of 10 books that book tv narrowed from the library of commerce list. Here is that list of 10 here is the schedule beginning monday, september 18 these w all be live programs 9 00 p. M. On monday nights. Common sense by thomas payne. The federalis tion under the command of of the lewis and clark. Ber not, nrative of the life of Frederick Douglass. E first of his three autobiographies. The common law follows that. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. At the impact that book had in 1884 w was written. My antonia 1918. Freeo choose, a personal statement came out in 1980. And the words of cesar chavez 2002. Those are the 10 the book tv took from the library of Congress List and i will tell you, it took a couple of months to come up with that because i had 14 in the list myself i had 14 lists creating this. Ms. Hayden you probably read different books in different times of your life. A book that met something to you in this time in your life, helped people understanding like the autobiography of the narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass. His chapter about literacy and here we are at the book festival book tv he said once i learned to read i was forever free. What that meant to him but it also helped the Abolitionist Movement to have Frederick Douglass have this narrative that he wrote and have more people read about slavery. That was a seminal book in terms of the Abolitionist Movement. Host it absolutely furthered the cause. Ms. Hayden yes and he was so striking as well. To have him rating and other people reading it at the same time. Thats the thing about books that shape america. You have people reading the same thing at the same time. We are looking at this list and as always, on all cspan programs, we want to hear from you. What books do you think impacted america . What books shaped america . You saw the list of 10 books we came up with. We will show you where you can go if you search books shaped America Library of congress, that list will come up. The library has put it up on blog post so you can see it immediately. You can see the books on their original list. Start dialing and, if you have a book you think shaped america, impacted america, helped create what we are today, we want to hear from you. The numbers are divided by regions. If you sent a text message with your idea, please include your first name, your city, and why you think that book was important. When we developed this list, we look for various points of view, various perspectives. It looks like the library did the same thing. Ms. Hayden of course, because you have such diversity of thought in this country. There are certain authors that appeal to people for different reasons. When you look at the impacts of those books, the federalist, thats a term that you hear. What was going on . These are those essays. James madison and Alexander Hamilton in fact. All of those people at that time were writing about their ideas about government. There were divisions. Even at the start of this country. It started with the parties. Host upstairs at the National Book festival is a display. Heres what it looks like. Books that shaped america display. If you go inside, you can see the you can record what book you think shaped or impacted america. We might use that on the air. This display you are seeing now will also be over the library of congress throughout this series and we are very pleased with that. On top of that, we have the website cspan. Org books that shaped america. The route, we detail the 10 books we will be talking about. On the main page, you will see fewer input. If you click, you can send a video directly to cspan. We want to hear from you as always what books shaped america. Our partner is the library of congress. If you look at this list of 10 books dr. Hayden, the library has an infinite amount of material about these books. That will be added to the blog and the website. And the program. We will be showing some of the artifacts. The library has the papers of Oliver Wendell holmes. We will be able to show his personal correspondence and the movie the magnificent yankee at the end, he says im getting my papers to the library of congress and its like oh boy. We will be able to bring out first editions of these books but everything that companies them. Its an exciting series. The exciting part is that we want to know what the viewers are thinking. What will you say . Our librarians and curators are excited. Will you be updating the list as well . Hacks yes. We will keep and coordinate with you about whats coming in and revealing it, talking about it. It will be a way to get people to think about the importance of reading and getting ideas and sharing them as a collective. Host before we end this segment, we will show you the list of 10 books we chose. The ones we didnt choose include ben franklin, dr. Seuss, margaret sanger, alex haley. Those are some of the names on the list of books that shaped america created by the library of congress that we did not choose necessarily for perhaps season one in this series. Our producers were up at the library and your curators put out some of the artifacts. They talked about the Oliver Wendell holmes, hurston papers, and the mass from the lewis and clark expedition. I guess there is a map of the United States that in the middle it basically says to be determined or to be discovered. Thats whats so wonderful when you think about that expedition and the fact that the library of congress has the Worlds Largest collection of maps. We have some of the maps that were used on the expedition. Then the diaries of the expedition. You get to see in realtime as that discovery was being made. What were people thinking . What were they writing down . How are they describing it . Its time when we are thinking about our environment and the things that have changed, to have realtime descriptions of a new world basically. Host you are a bit of a diplomat so you probably wont answer this, but what is the book we left off our list of 10 that you would have put on . Ms. Hayden probably black boy by Richard Wright. That was, its a long time between that and Frederick Douglass. What Richard Wright did was bring some of the same emotions, feelings the repercussions of what had happened with Frederick Douglass. So many writers especially in the africanamerican tradition talk about the impact of that book. In fact, desmond ward one of the authors at the book festival said when she was like i didnt learn about this in school. I didnt know about some of this. That book had quite a bit of influence. Host

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