before or where you want to research your own life as a historian a scholar in order to understand more than just your memories and just the context. one of the things that my editor said to me was, you know, a memoir, just here's what i remember, but he said, you know, you want to do something. here's what i remember. here's how, here's how it fits in with all of this deep research, other people's memories, other people's experiences, captors, all of the resources i drew upon in order to tell. still only my story but to tell it in the truest possible. i think we can do better than that. the book is sensational. it will for sale outside the doors, the holidays coming. martha is here to sign for you thank you so much for coming. state.

on about books, we delve into the latest news about the publishing industry with interesting insider interviews with publishing industry experts. we'll also give you updates on. current nonfiction authors and books. the latest book reviews, and we'll talk about the current nonfiction books featured on c-span's book tv. well, actor and author kevin sorbo, your most recent is a children's book, the test of lion hood. what's the plot? the plot is a wonderful story about this lion cub. his name is is lucas. and he and his sisters are out playing in the woods. and this young, little, little sister, she gets a cut and a very poisonous plant. and he knows that the only way to save a life now is, get this, a certain flower.

that's way up on top of a mountain. and he doesn't have any time to back to get his father because he's got to act right now. so he's got to get past his fears, kind of get past the obstacles. now in front of them. he's got to rely on all the things his father was teaching him about a boy, just being a boy and growing into a man. so he goes through all these different things that just sort of fighting his way through that and getting his courage up and finding his own strength and able to get up there, get the flower and get back down to save his little sister before she before she dies. so it's a wonderful story really about just, you know, taking of your life in situations that you probably never thought you'd to face. and the the whole idea of this book is really, you know, i know they've got this whole thing about emasculating men. and we've been doing it for decades, but know no more than we have over the last five years, which has gotten crazy. and this book is really about celebrating. there's nothing wrong with a boy being a boy and a girl being a girl and is that why you wrote the book? because of supposed d

masculinity of men. sure. i mean, you see movies all the time. i mean, it's crazy what's going on. i mean, i haven't seen barbie. i know it's a big hit worldwide, $1 billion or more. but everybody inside said, oh, yeah, they pretty much help. they don't need men. they make men look like they're a bunch of wimps and can't do anything. and women, far superior and all this. and you see that in action movies now too, where the woman is one has got to come and save the day in. the anna jones comes to mind. i mean, they put sort of in the in the back room and they have this woman be the big the big guy action hero of that thing. so this has been playing out over and over again. you know, growing up as a kid, i remember all these sitcoms and even around now the guy is always kind of the one hit the button of all the jokes. he's kind of a dumpy dad. the moms kind. half the kids are teenagers and all just pick on dad to make dad look horrible. and and this is what kids are going up or the saying that the father is not that important for the family which is quite sad to me so to me you know you eliminate patriarchy and i think you eliminate the human race.

and the bible teaches, you know, honor my father. but sitcoms don't do that. it's the totally opposite way around. and television and movies have been doing it for a very, very time now. and i think that we got to get to a place where enough is enough and just start standing up for let let kids be kids and let them grow up to decide what they want to be in their lives when they become adults. now, you've written a couple of adult titles, true strength, true faith. how does it different writing a children's book. i think i had a lot more help on this one, which is good. i mean, brave books is amazing what they do. people go to brave books dot com and it's amazing what they're able to get out there with the number of books they've been doing and people can go join or join them right now and they go to books and they can sign up for the freedom island book club or get my book free. and then they get a new book every month and they really cater to like the four year old, the 12 year old crowd and. there's just a number of books that are great kids of all ages in that group, and both boys and girls and just wanted to be they

came to me because they me speak a lot. and i said, you know, i'm tired of the sheep in this country. i'm tired of people saying there's a silent majority. why need the lions to wake up and get out there? and the fact that i mentioned lions all the time, speech, no fence. i think that's when braveheart came to me and said, let's do something about masculinity and was called linwood. and i sounds good to me. now, kevin, have times changed since you were hercules in the 1990s as far as society and how we treat men and women? yeah, i mean, i think it's been changing for decades. i think the sixties was obviously a big, pivotal decade with vietnam war. the you know, the feminist movement and the civil rights, the hippies and the whole the the the really the explosion of rock and roll, which was all good and bad, and there's all those messages and all those things. so, but it's definitely, i think, just gotten worse with a lot of the political leaders we've had through the last the last 15 to 20 years. and you just see that you see a change in this country. you see you're where this i mean, there's so much anger out there, so much there's so much divisiveness. and people want to tag people

all the time. and you it's it's interesting to me that, i don't harbor that kind of anger and hatred of people that have a different point of view politically than me or that are atheists or agnostics. i'm a christian. i don't i don't maybe i wear that on my sleeve enough. i don't know. but i do a lot of family movies and, faith movies. i know that's out there. so i see the attack on that all the time i see the war every time you got a pastor in a movie or conservative, they're portrayed as the goofballs, the idiots and the evil people, which is quite i mean, when i find there's plenty of evil, both sides of the political aisle. kevin sorbo you mentioned brave books as your publisher? they also are kirk cameron's publishers. a lot of news about his being banned from libraries. you planning a book tour? i believe or not, i'm going to be reading at a public school, an elementary school, new jersey. so i think that's going to be stuff to see what happens. i think pretty much a lot of the liberal teachers will be glaring at me just talking about, letting boys be boys. and i don't know why. why that's such a big deal, but

i kirk, we were neighbors for many years when i lived in california and the attack he had i thought was just very strange me i said well wait a minute you're okay. drag queens reading in the public but not kirkus prize i. i said, where is this country going? mean this doesn't make any sense to me. well, speaking of which, should drag queen. i'm reading hours be banned in your view from public libraries. i don't think should be banned but. i think parents have a right the decision if they want to bring their kids to that. you know, from my point of view, i honestly don't understand it and i don't know why it's become a thing. but drag queens, we think reading in these libraries. but i'm a live and live kind of guy. i don't tell people how they should live lives. i'm just tired of so many people in the press and the media and movies and television telling me how i'm supposed to live my life. you know, i've worked around gay people all my life in hollywood, 40 years. you're not going to find one out there that says, i was horrible to them because i'm not. i treat the same and everybody equally. and to it's like, let's let's make a movie together in same

industry. let's have a good time. so i don't like i said, i don't harbor that sort of anger. i mean, why not. they can read if they want to read in there. it's really up to the parents if they want to bring their kids to that. what about book bans? what do you think about banning books from public libraries? well, i there's i don't want to ban banned books, but i do want to ban books out of the sexual nature that you're reading a third graders, because that doesn't make any sense to me. let kids grow up. you don't have to teach them now how to have sex as a nine year old. let them grow up the way we'd grown up for centuries and us let let kids find out the old fashioned way. hopefully, maybe through their parents doing the birds and the bees you know, my dad was a biology teacher. so the five kids, my family was kind easy listening to my dad. but let let kids grow up in sort of discover life the way they normally do to their kids to their fellow friends. but, you know, hopefully get strong parents that are leading them on an road that's that's not going to be detrimental to them.

but let decide where they want to be. like i said before, when they get older and become adults, the new president of the american library association, emily dobriansky, is a self described marxist lesbian. and here is here is a quote in the washington times from her. she says that every reader has a right to decide for themselves what they read and that includes children. well, i don't think children are deciding to look at a book that has to deal with -- and intercourse. think those are being pushed on by teachers in third grade which is crazy to me. it's interesting. the whole marxist thing. i'm. are people even aware truly communism is all about and what marxist has done and what all they've got to do is at the history of countries that are going through that. venezuela is the most recent one that has gone through such a huge change in the last 30 years with the government that has come in there. i mean, how many have been escaping that country and how many people to get out, get away

from the most prosperous country in the southern hemisphere? 30 years ago now is one of the most poorest and the people are just flooding of that country. so to me, i'm hard to show where communism is a good thing. because all it does is it strip away from hope and pride and self-esteem and motivation that makes people lazy to get to the point that, well, i'm going to give up. and i think that's the biggest killer in america, let alone the world. thing is, apathy right now, because people at the government, government just keeps saying it can each a little bit more and more. one day we're losing freedom of speech left and right. i mean, people are getting banned, getting arrested, country having freedom of speech. why can't? i have a different opinion than you. you can have a different of me. i'm okay with that. that's what freedom of speech is all about. and that's the reason we have a constitution. most politicians want to pay attention anymore. kevin sorbo you talked about and write about the fact that you were a victim of cancel culture. in your view several years ago. what happened? my manager and agent over a decade ago called me in and said, you're, you know, when you're posting on facebook, you

know, your christian views and and i looked i'm trying to think i post on facebook, i put a lot of sarcasm and and sarcastic truth is what i do. people do stuff follow me on twitter case storms i very funny things i mean one of the i made a joke on one i said i need i need more conspiracy theories because all mine kept coming true. and that's facebook took me down. so my my age imagines that we can't work it anymore. and i find that quite interesting because i'm in an industry always camps for tolerance, you know there's attack when they have gays in a movie or they have, you know, a certain opinion political movie, some people get very upset. i don't get upset about that to me. but. but why do they get upset? i have a different point of view than they do this post. they scream for tolerance and freedom of speech. but let's face it, the hypocrisy in the world is so blatant, obvious right now and, you know, freedom of speech, a one way street in hollywood, which is to combat. has that affected your acting career? no, i continued. it has affected me in terms of getting things in hollywood, getting, you know, they're not going to call me in anymore or

any more cable or certainly for network television, just i have a different point of view. but i got there and i formed studios dot com please go to circle studios dot com a lot of things to comment on the pipe and i've got four movies that are in post-production i've got a wonderful movie opening at the end of october. there's the poster for it right there. it's called in east texas. it's a wonderful family. pg rated opens october 29th. got a star wars story is dot com. get your tickets right now and so i'm staying very busy since they booted me out i shot over 50 movies so. they're just not on the mainstream of hollywood. i'm going to get $100 million advertising budget behind us. but i do movies that hollywood used to do i do movies that have love and hope and redemption and faith and laughter and things like that. hollywood wants to push anger and violence and sex. well i'm doing the opposite now. kevin sorbo a way you've kind of lived your your value. you've you left. correct. but we've been looking to move for a long time. i love the state of california. i loved where i lived out in it.

i lived on the mountains, 40 miles north of l.a. i missed my house there, but got to a point that was just unlivable for me. i mean, look at the crime. you look at the that the taxes, you look at the traffic. i've shot over 80 movies and i've shot probably 70 of those 80 movies in texas the further east. so my wife and i just said, you know, we both our family here in the state of florida and, we don't want to do come here. well, you know this is the one on one or four or five. i would just cringe cause it takes an hour and a half to go 20 miles. and i said, i'm done with this. i just i said, there's no reason for us to be here. i don't need i'm my own i'm my own manager. so we made the move five years ago and haven't looked back since. i love it here in the state of florida. it's been great. there's a reason why people are leaving new york, new jersey and all these other states moving to nevada, texas, tennessee and florida. there's a reason for that. kevin sorbo you and, your wife sam have co-written a book and she's written several herself. yeah, she's very busy.

she's done a lot. i did a book called true strength my journey from hercules to mere mortal and i'm nearly dying saved my life. i suffered. i had an aneurysm that had no way up in my my shoulder and opened up and sent a series of clots, hundreds of clots in, my arm. but she was a clot brain, of course. took me three years to fully recover from. and i a book talking about my journey talking about that life throws obstacles i here was playing the strongest man in the world with hercules and all of a sudden i to learn how to walk and balance again and i'm very and it was a book didn't want to write sam bugged me to write it she's very strong willed. pittsburgh, new york girl. and it's been a blessing. it came ten years ago, 11 years ago now. and i do about 15. speaking of best, a year with it now something i thought i'd never be doing and i speak on a wide range of things. so it's been it's been it's been an interesting door that was open to me. and then get a follow put together called true faith really to try and finding faith and all the anger and hatred in the world and whether it's a religious faith or just having a belief in yourself that can get past these obstacles without

blaming god or god, you don't believe in or the world or the government and just really pushing yourself to be a better person. so this book was something totally different and something i wasn't expecting. i knew kirk was doing it and i know people like, let's see, bethany hamilton wrote a book, brave books. i mean, she was part of the movie i did called singer with dennis quaid in al-anon so this is this has been kind of fun for me doing something i never really thought i'd be doing. and you have a third author in family. i think it's your eldest son. braden braden's got a book out there as the initials are be braden sorbo. and he said the best guide to politics and he he's actually been hitting the road just got back from a charlie kirk event turning point usa and he's got another one coming up he's preparing right now is speech for for that event coming up next month so what's the process having three authors in one family i, i don't know it's it's kind of fun he's going to write another book right now. he's actually writing a script as well. so he's got the bug. i mean, i'm not surprised. my kids, my two boys are sort of

following my footsteps and sam's footsteps because they're homeschool advocates. sam travels country speaking, homeschooling and, braden and shane's up to me when they were 11 and 13, said dad, we want to be actors and, you know, they like i said, the movies that's they were in acting classes for years now and i think just finished his eighth or ninth movie. and is on about four of them. so we had a meeting at age, i was doing commercials and brian's age at 21, 22 years old, but i didn't really get my big break until my early thirties with hercules. so let's let's finish with going back to the test of lion hood. when you came up with the concept, what's the between writing for children and writing for adult. well i'm not an at it, but i think a lot of it has to do with all the i read to my kids for three years. so i think i'm a semi i got a good idea you know, and i know the quality books that they do is geared for that age group since i had three kids go through that and i was the one that read children's books to

them every night before i putting the bed up until they were about five, six years old, it's been it's been fun. i mean read books that had a great group of guys you know when we would kick back ideas, back and forth and stuff like that. so i, you know, i was just i was just thrilled to be part of this. i'm looking forward to see the release coming up here in september and what happens with it. kevin sorbo the test of lion hood is his new children's book put out brave books. we appreciate your time on book tv.