>> joining us is richard rhodes, winner of the pulitzer prize in "the twilights of the bombs." richard rhodes realistically speaking is there a prospect for no nuclear weapons on the planet? >> i think so. they really lost the utility since the cold war. they cost us $50 billion a year. it is official u.s. policy that we move towards zero.

it's just a matter of working out some of the security relationships that are standing in the way. >> with regard to working out those relationships, will we be able to come to agreements with countries like north korea and iran who seem to be on the path to making their own nuclear weapons? >> they do. partly because that's the only way they can -- they feel they can defend themselves against the major nuclear powers like the united states. but each of them has -- has security needs. if we can kind a way to satisfy those, north korea would like to be an ally. they have been saying that now for more than 40 years. in fact, they'd like us to build them some nuclear power plants to replace the electricity that we destroyed. >> in the book you talk about iraq's secret program. how did the story of this bomb program grow? and even if they didn't have any bombs, or they haven't found any bombs so far. >> you know, we went into that

first gulf war argues that they did have a bomb program. which we did not know at the time. but afterwards when inspectors from the united nations and the international atomic energy agency went in, they found a huge effort to enrich uranium to make material for a bomb. they cleaned all of that out. so did the iraqis. they were tired of having our people. they blew up all of their stuff. but they didn't keep records. so when the second bush came along with an interest in resolving and settling the country down and getting rid of saddam, there wasn't any proof. but the fact is it was fully cleaned up by 1998. >> speaking of cleaning up, you talk also in the book about the scramble for what was left over about the soviet nuclear arsenal. talk to us about that. >> it wasn't so much the arsenal . los alamos director said to me,

they know the -- it was the material they used to make the bombs, the whole country had a prison camp. there was no way to get it out. when the walls came down, they were like us. we went in and sent a lot of money. with the real effort on our part helped them begin to put all of their materials under lock and key. we're still sam nunn the former senator estimated that about 60% of our nuclear materials are now carefully guarded and accounted for. so the job still remains to be finished. but we've made a good start. >> earlier today, you had a presentation at the national book festival. tell us about that and during the question and answer period, what was foremost on the minds of the people that were asking you question there is? >> i really went through my new book, the "twilight of the bombs" and talked about some of the serious issues and sometimes

the cops and robbers stories that came out after inspecting iraq after the first gulf war. ultimately what i talked about was the serious question of can we get rid of nuclear question. the usual question today, what about iran. as if a country that has not figured out how to build a bomb is as much of a threat to the world like a major power. like the united states which has at least 1200, 2,000 maybe 5,000 bombs. we tend to think we're the good guys. that make it is okay. it's a basic imbalance in the world that we maintain large nuclear arsenal but say other countries can't. that was the kind of issue that i discussed in talking about how we get to zero. >> the book, "the twilight of the bombs: recent ch

>> and that's a phenomenon you're all familiar with. recently on public radio, talking to a fellow in albany, new york, and he wanted to talk about -- it's a sad reality about the industrialization in america with so many communities it used to be known for a company that is no longer there. >> i was curious about the town that is connected to tabasco hot sauce. could you talk about that? >> sure. actually my wife and i went there a number of years ago when

i was thinking about doing a project like this. it's a free island, louisiana, which is a lot farther from new orleans and when we started off. anyway, it's over in the western part of the state. it's a little island off the coast. i don't know how it fared in the recent oil spill, but it's kind of a salt lake in the ocean and you have to go across, take a little ferry to get there. the memory that still haunts my wife is, when we got to the theory there were these very ominous tissue culture singer on the get looking very scary and seeming to warn you away. anyway, we went out there, and the air smells like the pepper plants that they used to make tabasco sauce. so they still have a little industrial -- and they have a nice tour you can take if you

enjoy industrial tours. the making of tobacco -- tabasco sauce. >> i know you have sort of said that government is not a company town, but i'm just wondering about something like nasa, because i had relatives who lived in houston in the 1960s, and everything was completely dominated by nasa. i'm just wondering if you could consider that kind of a company town, or is it only, you know, private enterprise that you are thinking about? >> well, yeah, i suspect houston is a very large and complicated metropolitan area. became known very diverse. i do have a government company

town in my book. i talk about oak ridge, which i think i mentioned before was part of the manhattan project with the ingredients for atomic bombs were made during world war ii. that's a fastening story in itself. there was nothing there. the government came in and arranged to buy the land and to move the farmers who were there out. often, the farmers who were leaving what crossed paths with a construction worker who are arriving to the new town. before long, before the end of the war let's say, there were 17,000 people living there, and they didn't know what they were doing that they had no idea that it was a secret project. they didn't realize what they did. so a lot of the workers who work there were young women, fresh off the farm, who spent their days looking at the house, watching the dials and sort of things, to make sure that the dial stayed within a certain range. but exactly what you're doing, they had no idea. it was a secret from them and a secret from america.

after the bombs were dropped on japan, the "new york times" ran a big story, secret cities in america are where these bombs are made, and telling, you know, as much as anyone knew about oak ridge in hanford, washington, which were not supposed to talk about. they are, again, a common phenomenon in the company town's, particularly let's say a mining town. if you lost your job in a company would have to leave, be forced out, evicted from company-owned housing. the infraction in oak ridge wouldn't be attempted organize a union, let's say that it would be some violation of secrecy. maybe you would write a letter to your and and say something. and all the letters were read by the authorities of oak ridge to make sure that there was no information coming out of there about what was going on.

it was wartime secrecy measures. that's a much clear instance where i think you have a company government town. >> has any colleges or universities reached the left is of dominance to be a company town? >> i was asked by that i radio program, and as pointed a lot of wisconsin towns, for example, to our colleges that really dominate. so i probably don't really know the answer, but i suspect there could be. kind of like madison is too diverse, the home of wisconsin state government, so it doesn't really qualify. but i suspect there are smaller towns where, i don't know, antioch maybe where they run everything.

>> thinking about growing up in washington, d.c., in the '50s and early '60s, that that time there were able to make more the case in washington was a company town because there was virtually no other employers other than small businesses. and in august when the senate was that down, the places deserted, people went back to the hometown. i mean, after the beltway was built and there's this massive sprawled and the growth of lobbyists and lawyers and all these other businesses that have grown a. but anyway, i felt that way growing up and that's what is get him moved to new york city where it was more exciting and there were more things going on. but what do you think is the impact on politics, on the political center of the country or states because of the

domination of, you know, many towns and small cities by companies? >> well, there are a number of these places that i write about where the companies really worked to get to go where they wanted it to. it's probably hard to generalize without that to say that i can see some general trend. i mean, there are notable instance would be gary, indiana, where again with the u.s. steel company would did not control the politics of the town, at least in the beginning, in the 19 teams as they're building the towns. there was sort of a local local figure who they didn't like, who became mayor and to sort of created a local machine. and they worked hard to get rid of them, and ultimately did. at least for a while they were

not always. >> what about las vegas, when it was created? >> that's an interesting example. i think we know about, we know more about las vegas than we do about many places, about how moe green, a guy in the godfather who was a big figure who really created las vegas, from nothing in the desert. [inaudible] >> bugsy siegel. these movies aren't a waste of time. >> we've learned all sorts of things.

>> was new york ever considered a company town at one time? >> i was just thinking when when she was talk of washington, d.c., tom many people feel that the finance, financial industry is too much a part of new york economics, and that the city is too dependent on wall street. and when something goes wrong there, the whole city really feels it. or when they're having a good year, all the restaurants are happy. i mean, i think again new york is a very diverse place that it probably always has been, but it was once more important than it is today, shipping down. so it's going through a real economic evolution. [inaudible] >> like, let's say in the 16 hundreds, so maybe 1700s, would there have been like basically a

poor town strictly -- >> it was more so. actually the new public library another branch had a number of maps, maybe they were just maps about near. and one fastening map that they had their, or they have exhibits of the main branch of new public library showed the city map. it was a map of the island of new york. and has are blocked off in different colors, the kind of industry that was in different parts of town. so, you know, one part down, they would have that in red, or the garment industry would be in blue. or finance would be yet another color. book publishing was a little part of midtown manhattan. so all of these were industries that were in new york. and this map was not contemporary. it was somewhat an older map but a very interesting to see how, within new york, there are all these little islands of

concentration. the garment district is an obvious one where, you know, cabdrivers do you like to drive in there because it is so dense and guys pushing, you, things run in the streets with garments on them. >> so i guess nick was always pretty much the beginning, diverse? >> pretty diverse, yeah. well, maybe we should stop. thank you all so much for coming. thank you for asking good questions. [applause] >> hardy green is the former associate editor of businessweek, informally taught history at stony brook university.

pulitzer prize was eugene robinson and. of the texas book festival in austin to talk with his latest book, disintegration. in the book he argues that the african-american population in the u.s. is made of four distinct communities that have experienced varying degrees ofan success.'to the program is 45 minutes.i'm >> i'd like to welcome you to pp the texas book fair.tori i'm alberta phillips.olumnist i will be -- thank you.-- thank [applause] moderator today. you might say that this is like a first date for me because it is the first time i have moderate for the texas book festival and, boy, did i luck out on my first day. [applause] >> i get to introduce a great journalist, a great writer,

eugene robinson. so forgive me if i'm gushing and giddy. before i got to the intro, i have already taken care of the housekeeping duties. you know where to go after the conversation with eugene robinson is over. so with no further adieu, i'd like to introduce mr. eugene robinson. [applause] >> he was born and raised in orangeberg, south carolina. that's where my mom is from. and earned his ba at the university of michigan, where he was the first black student to be named co-ed did for in chief of the michigan daily. he began his journalism career at the san francisco chronicle, and joined the washington post in 1980. where he has serve in various capacities, including london bureau chief, foreign editor, and currently associate editor

and columnist, he was a neiman fellow at harvard, and serve on the council of foreign relations in 2009, robinson was awarded the pulitzer prize for distinguished commentary, the highest prize in journalism. [applause] >> the citation read: for his eloquent kole lums on the 2008 presidential campaign that focused on the election of the first african-american president, showcasing graceful writing and grasp of the larger historic picture. robinson lives in arlington, virginia, with his wife and two sons, "disintegration: she plinterring of black america" is his third book. so show him some texas love. [applause]

>> thank you. thank you, austin, and thank you, texas. all i can say is, ah, shucks. >> i read this book and there were a lot of surprises in this book for me. we decided to talk about this like a discussion and let him do most of the talking, and one of the things i won -- wondered about the title. pie disintegration. "don't ask, don't" tell us how h the title. >> i didn't. my wife came up with it. i give her full props on that. i like the title, and my editor and publisher liked it, everybody liked it because does have that ambiguity about it. integration, and