C-SPAN Bookshelf

This year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner will take place on Saturday, April 25th, at the Washington Hilton. In preparation, we look back at memorable performances by presidents and comedians at the annual fundraiser going back to the Reagan administration. Joining us for the discussion is C-SPAN's Director of Communications Howard Mortman, who for years has been chronicling the happenings at WHCA dinners on his "Extreme Mortman" podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Alice McDermott joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss her novels, writing process, and work as a creative writing professor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Michael Pollan ("A World Appears") discussed the science of consciousness and the human experience with bestselling author Michael Lewis. This event took place at the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Crawford plays upright bass, bass guitar, and violin with the Grammy nominated Americana band, the Avett Brothers. He's been with the band for 25 years. Since 2016, Mr. Crawford has had his own podcast called The Road to Now, along with Ben Sawyer. Their focus is about history. Six years ago, during his band's tour, Mr. Crawford received his master's degree online from Arizona State University. The focus again was history. Now comes his first serious book titled "America's Founding Son: John Quincy Adams, from President to Political Maverick." Bob Crawford spends a significant amount of time discussing the 17 years Adams spent in the House of Representatives, after he was president, trying to stop the spread of slavery in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Muckraking journalist Jessica Mitford and her 5 sisters – two of whom were intimate friends with Hitler – were global celebrities during the early and mid-20th century, known for their colorful personal lives and political differences. Born a British aristocrat like her sisters, Jessica Mitford rejected her upbringing at an early age, eventually moving to America, where she became a communist, civil rights activist, and bestselling author. Northeastern University literature professor Carla Kaplan, our guest this week, tells Jessica Mitford's story in her book, "Troublemaker." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Evan Smith interviews America's Book Club Host David M. Rubenstein about the presidency, Congress, and the state of the economy in a special episode from The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Judith Enck warned against the health and environmental impacts of plastic. Politics & Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C., hosted this event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Giles Tremlett is a biographer, a narrative historian, and a journalist based in Madrid, Spain. He was born in Plymouth, England, in 1962, but since graduating from Oxford University has almost continuously lived in Spain. His latest book is titled "El Generalísimo," a biography of the late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Supported by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, Franco rose to power by defeating the loyalists in the Spanish Civil War that lasted from 1936 to 1939. He then controlled the Spanish government until his death in 1975. He was a strong supporter of national Catholicism and a strong opponent of democracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Smithsonian Institution National Air & Space Museum's Jennifer Levasseur discusses the history of the 135-mission Space Shuttle program (1981-2011), its accomplishments, and two tragic failures that led to the deaths of 14 shuttle astronauts. Ms. Levasseur, the curator in charge of the Space Shuttle Discovery at the Air & Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, where this interview took place, also takes us on a tour of the shuttle orbiter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Newsmax host John Bachman talked about the 1983 U.S. invasion of the island of Grenada and the overthrow of its People's Revolutionary Government. This event was hosted by The Right Book Club in Palm Beach, Florida. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and editor Tom Wells opens his 600-page book titled "The Kissinger Tapes" this way: "Henry Kissinger is one of the most polarizing figures in recent American history…He is hailed by many as a master in the art of diplomacy and realpolitik…" Tom Wells, who has a PhD in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley also writes this: "[M]any critics consider his diplomacy overhyped and some condemn him for committing war crimes…" Mr. Wells' book is subtitled "Inside His Secretly Recorded Phone Conversations." These recordings cover the years 1969 through August of 1974, the end of the Nixon presidency. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, author of the memoir "Streetwise," discusses his upbringing in public housing in Brooklyn, being educated at Harvard, and rising through the ranks of one of the world's largest investment banks. He also talks about the 2008 financial crisis, which happened during his tenure as CEO, and the power and influence of Goldman Sachs executives within the U.S. government going back decades. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian and Yale University Professor Beverly Gage joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss her Pulitzer Prize winning biography of former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and her road trip across America visiting historic sites. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Michael Kimmel discussed the first-generation Jewish American toymakers who manufactured now-famous children's toys, including the Teddy Bear and the Rubik's Cube. P&T Knitwear in New York hosts this event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a follow up to the most recent Booknotes+ featuring Seth Harp on his book "The Fort Bragg Cartel," we are replaying an interview from June 12, 2012. The guest on Q&A, the television program, was 31-year-old Michael Hastings, author of the book "The Operators," which he said is what the special forces call themselves. It is based on a Rolling Stone article that allegedly led to the dismissal of General Stanley McChrystal, who was commander of the Joint Special Operations Command from 2003 to 2008. One year almost to the day after our interview with Michael Hastings, he was killed in an automobile accident in Los Angeles at 4:25 in the morning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York Times staff photographer Doug Mills has won 3 Pulitzer Prizes for his work covering the White House & Washington, Super Bowls, Olympics, and many other major events. He tells us that he's taken over one million photographs of President Trump alone. In our conversation, he talks about some of the events he's covered going back to the Reagan administration. He talks about being in the Oval Office and on Air Force One, photographing the Clinton/Gore campaign in 1992, accompanying President George W. Bush on September 11, 2001, and taking the photograph of the attempted assassination of President Trump in 2024, which won him his third Pulitzer Prize. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chuck Collins discussed his book Burned by Billionaires where he examines the impact of wealth concentration on society and politics. The event was hosted by Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seth Harp is a lawyer and an Iraq war veteran and an investigative writer and journalist. His first book, "The Fort Bragg Cartel," is about drug trafficking and murder in the Special Forces. Near the end of his book, Harp writes: "Between January 2017 and September 2022, a total of 15,293 active duty service members suffered drug overdoses, and 322 of those were fatal. The Defense Department data showed that Fort Bragg had far more overdoses than any other military base in both absolute and per capita terms." Fort Bragg is located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and is the largest populated army base with close to 50,000 soldiers. It is the headquarters of the secret Delta Force. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former longtime Columbia University president Lee Bollinger discusses his book "University: A Reckoning," about the purpose and future of universities in the United States. He also talks about protests and free speech on college campuses and the targeting of Columbia, Harvard, and other institutions of higher learning by the Trump administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed discussed his 2019 arrest and imprisonment in Russia and his decision to volunteer in war against the Russians in Ukraine after his release. This event was hosted by Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices