C-SPAN Bookshelf

Author Craig Fehrman has written a new history of the expedition of Lewis and Clark. It's called "This Vast Enterprise." In the prologue to his 515-page book, Fehrman writes: "After departing from near St. Louis on May 14, 1804, the Corps of Discovery traveled 8,000 miles to find 'the most direct and practicable water communication across the continent for the purpose of commerce.'" The Corps was Jefferson's idea. Craig Fairman continues: "When Lewis and Clark returned more than two years later, they did not have a Northwest Passage, but they did have an incredible tale…" This is Mr. Fehrman's third book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jean Becker and Tom Collamore, former staffers to President George H.W. Bush, discuss the work done by advance teams for presidential events, including foreign trips, state visits, and campaign rallies. They share behind-the-scenes stories of success, near disaster, and failure, told by the professionals who prepared for these events over the past 60 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bestselling author and CNBC journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin joins David M. Rubenstein at the New Orleans Book Festival to discuss his book examining the 1929 stock market crash. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar talked about how the U.S. can revive its industrial base and win the defense technology race against America's adversaries. This event was hosted by the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sir Antony Beevor, an historian based in London, has authored 13 books which have sold at least 8.5 million copies and been translated into 35 different languages. In his latest book, he focuses on Rasputin and the downfall of the Romanovs. The country is Russia and the timeframe is the early 1900s. Sir Antony Beevor, on his official website, sums up his findings this way: "Grigori Rasputin, a barely literate peasant from Siberia, is one of the most enigmatic and influential figures in modern history. In a bizarre reversal of the Great Man Theory of History he had no official position and no mass following…" His book details Rasputin's relationship with the czar and czarina of Russia before their downfall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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