[applause] thank you very much. [applause] [laughter] >> i think i got it.

thank you so much for coming out. thank you c-span and the viewers at home. we love you. thank you for being here. [laughter] i cannot stop grinning because there is so much of here tonight it is unbelievable. we have a bunch of my students here. [applause] we have little the coaches coaches -- little league coaches. . . what i want to do tonight, i

just want to set up a few of these passages and give you a brief introduction and i will read a couple of short things and then we will do a little q&a. a way you can think about the story is stories really kind of like bull durham and tel aviv. [laughter] that is one good way to think about it. irresolvable durum stories in there. there is the antics, and the parting and the knucklehead move that any minor league they spoke game, anything like that. it is in tel aviv. for me that was a really special part about it. it wasn't just a slow but baseball in the holy land a place that i was passionate about. i have been out of baseball for like three years. i was teaching in pursuing this new dream of mine, this new profession of mine and i was back in hawaii where he went to school. i was hanging out with a couple of buddies of mild baseball coach who was a short little japanese guy and he said hey there and they are having a baseball league and they elisa and i thought he was making funny because he is short

japanese and i'm tall and jewish and we like to give each other a hard time. three or four weeks later i came home and we had a sunday night dinner at my folks house and i was a little bit bored or whatever. i googled israel baseball league and to my surprise there were web site. unless it was this elaborate prank that my coach was playing, there was actually league. the first thing i did after looking at the israel baseball league web site as i clicked on schedule and a look at their calendar and the very next thing i did was i opened up the window for a school district and i realized to my surprise that it was sandwiched in the middle of our summer break so i thought, i think i can make this work. i played a little bit of rational baseball, scrape the bottom of the barrel in the minor leagues. i was jewish so i thought it would be a good fit for the league. [laughter] that is really what i thought. a guide by the name of dan, former general manager the boston red sox. i got them on the phone and i

basically said hey and, i played for fictional jewish and i think i would be a good fit for the league and he made me fill out a baseball resume. he said you are hired. so i was training for months after school with the baseball team. is training with the guys. i left the day after school and i would get home two weeks into the start of the school year so sandwiched perfectly right in between. [laughter] i mentioned that it was kind of like bold bull durham in tel aviv. 20 told me i should have named the book shekel ball. that would be a pretty good name as well. just a kind of zoom out a little bit and give you guys a little bit of context, we had six different teams and maybe you can tell by the jersey right jersey right down here, that is my jersey that i wore in the week. we were the tel aviv lightning so six different teams, teams like the tel aviv lightning, the blue socks and all kinds of stuff. all kinds of different teams.

i'm going to talk about it in a second. we had six teams in israel attempting to play six days a week because of course you can't play on shabbat so six days a week instead of seven but the only problem with that mathematical arrangement was the lack of baseball fields. we had one really good baseball field in israel and that was a good start. we had one real fields. the second field was a converted softball field with delight poll in the middle of right-field with i will talk about in just his second in the third one was built under cherished tel aviv soccer grounds three weekends this season. six teams attempting to play six days a week on 31.5, 2.5 baseball fields. so things like dr. ruth throwing out the first pitch of the game which i will tell you about in just a second. [laughter] ringside and alleged terrorist attack on opening day. the guys were really scared

about a terrorist attack on opening day. a near strike when the league nearly runs out of money help with two this season and a the work started. eight trip at me and a buddy into the west bank and you know it wouldn't be a story without a little bit of a love story so here is when the students get awkward and blurted rooted out and they put their hands over their ears. there was a little love story. that section i will not read for you guys. [laughter] so, i guess the way want to set up this first chapter, when i was thinking about what i, what passage i wanted to read to you guys, linda was mentioning that last friday i did a little reading as well. the city and r some of my buddies it was kind of like a friday night so it was a little bit different live in the city. i read about this chapter called the sex doctor. i'm not going to read that chapter to you but i just have to tell you the story.

i am getting loose in the early morning game and fridays are shabbat so we have to play early in the day is you can't encroach upon shabbat starting at sunset on friday. we played really early and all the other games in night games. everybody is groggy and everybody's in a fog. i'm starting that day and i'm kind of grumpy myself. we are playing the blue socks which is actually the best team in the leaks, so everybody is tense and i'm a little bit tense. i'm a little bit nervous and i see someone getting ready to throw out the first pitch and i look and it is a short community of little blond woman with a white ipl baseball hat and the pa guy goes, and now ladies and gentlemen dr. ruth, the sex doctor. i am doing my warm-up pitches and i momentarily break focus and i turn around and aye holy moly. i didn't say holy moly, but i said something else. [laughter] i said something else and i broke focus for a minute and i

tried to get back in it. i get focused and we go out and it is a close game. one of our guys and that getting hit and in retaliation one of their guys ends up getting hit. both benches end up clearing. there is a near brawl out in the middle of the soccer field which is a soccer field turned into a baseball field. no punches thrown at. we heard over the speaker, dr. ruth said now boise they play nice i promise you great sex for the rest of your lives. [laughter] the kicker to that story though is two innings later, somebody else gets hit and we have another near brawl so i guess we broke our end of that bargain. [laughter] of course it would have would have been nice though. [laughter] sorry, students. a little editing. so that was the passage that

i've read last friday and i figured it was appropriate for the occasion but i couldn't resist telling you the story. this passage that i'm going to read here is another passage -- i don't know if it is my favorite passage but i really like it. is symbolic because it is a baseball chapter but also a story about kind of the mystical quality of playing in the middle east, so i hope you will get that from this chapter called bus ride. the story takes place in the softball field with delight pole in right field. this is where this one goes down. arriving at koblenz desert, we cut across the field of sunflowers, through the obligatory security gate down a dirt road, past some houses before reaching the softball field. the softball field? we heard about to be our configurations but it was a

shock nonetheless. the miniature in fieldhouse to 90-foot basis place just short of the outfield grass. the warning track for the softball field, a thick strip of dirt arched across the middle of the out of about 100 feet from the recently extended fence which is now sitting up a five foothill and there was it like pole as i mentioned, in the middle of right-field. seriously. not to worry though, someone had duct taped a mattress to the pole. [laughter] left an ambitious outfielder should actually decide to attempt making a play. stepping down from the bus, guys work of etching at full throttle. can you believe this? what a joke. more like the israel ashley. since i was starting i let everyone exit 1, taking my time to leave. i looked out past the spectacle of the field onto a sea of sunflowers. fertile and whether, they're ordinarily bright faces now prostrate and soul and left a striking impression.

i wondered if they faced down in shame from the substandard playing conditions, in honor of our prisons or in disgust at her attempt to bring baseball to this holy land. and hallowed it was. some legends claimed that sunflowers at the foot of a modest slope lay the king of -- tomb of king solomon once ruler of the kingdom of israel. large white alabaster stones canopied with black archaeological tenting per cheated wrigley from the otherwise sparse landscape. it appeared the king and his sunflower foot soldiers are posthumously observing our every move. though we would have only 20 to 30 fans in attendance, it was clear i was pitching for a much larger audience. [laughter] warming up in the bullpen or rather the side of the hill in left, i noticed maximo nelson strolling down the line to get loose as well. evidently, today's battle for second place would feature a high school history teacher

versus a six-foot eight-inch flame throwing dominican. if the pa guy showed up by hoped he would not announce it as such. in the first inning both teams scored a run. hours with an rbi single from fish and theirs came on alazio rodriguez homered. he was one of the top two or three hitters in the league. he carried himself with a mixture of arrogance and gray succeeding professionalism which was no surprise given his minor league experience with the boston red sox. a great player or not, his first homer was cheap or going through them and 0-1 fastball which he pops 290 feet to write. jeff are right fielder was already playing behind a light pole, up the hill with his back against the 280-foot fence. the ball waterfalls just over his glove to tie the score in the first. it would remained 1-1 until the fifth. with two on and one out, his firs baseman props pops to shallow left. from shortstop, ahmed are

shortstop flew back and camped underneath. leftfielder called the muppet misjudged the pop up which drop between the two of them to load the bases. i thought briefly about whether the play would be ruled a hit or an error. after a strikeout alazio strolled. with will to ball someone strike at her change knowing he was looking to go pick fly with the eggs loaded thinking he would john. he did just that except the pitch was closer to his belt bend his knees. sufficiently ahead of the change he was nonetheless able to make good contact given the pitches hike. he is another pop-up, this time let. left. are leftfielder ran up the hill and pressed against the fence. the ball landed just over his outstretched glove for a grand slam and his second home run. we ended up losing 5-3. in the second game of audio hit two more home runs, this time both legit telling the mark to another victory placing them a bone in second place and dropping us to third.

it wasn't right to deny him his props but it was also safe to say we were heard by the geese. and in the long run it would probably even now but that sentiment was of little comfort in the short run. it was my first loss of the year. to be honest i forgot what it felt like. my last loss came three years earlier in france and i was having trouble making sense of the emotions. searching for some solace in only an active denial occupying a portion of the outcome on the short bizarre feel. i was thus far have been throwing well and i was now 5-1. and then there was a matter of my er it. i wondered if all five runs were earned and thought only two should have been. after the mishap that left i heard the score leaning over to the bench and say what they think? give it a hit. if it was my team i would have said the same thing but it wasn't. so that was five big ones in the wrong column. i could probably go talk to someone about changing at which players here did all the time but then i would they a stat rat

just like the rest of them. probably a natural tendency is still wasn't right, plus the move went against my mantra, process over product. process over product. this maxim applied to baseball in life. the best way to give get give positive or sold was to focus on the doing, the how. keep your head down, work hard and looked up at the end to see where you are. i first learned this lesson, true story ms. murphy's ninth grade arts explorations class. on the wall was an eccentric handmade poster emblazoned with three words, process over product. i glanced up one day and it just clicked. will i get an a on my painting? just work hard and i will be fine. will i get a good era? just focus and i will get there. does not even the product is an important. it is important but rather the best way to achieve one school was to concentrate on how to get there. hands process of a product, hence the reason i don't read

the paper look at my stats until after the season so screw the stats and losses for the day. let's get back to the game. [applause] that was a dramatic pause. maybe the applause was wrap it up already. but maybe this last part is worth it. sometimes ride home takes an instant. this day it took forever. perhaps i was overly defensive after the loss but pulling away from the game i noticed the setting sun. it was a large blood red orb casting a rosy glow on the hills of the west bank behind in the distance. rays of light shone through filmy bus windows is the sum near to impact with this looming horizon. i thought of the improv urged arabs in the west bank and king solomon and his israelite progeny. who cared about baseball and the centuries-old conflict was still raised -- raging. of baseball could have helped unite these two plants what good was it like staring out the window i lost track of space and time. suddenly i was back in france.

during a trip from paris to our home in toulouse i use for all intensive purposes we could have been on a bus in west texas why play the summer before and the view was identical. yellow vine race beside us in the foreground followed a metronome and telephone poles and a steadfast distance illuminated only by the faint light of the fading sun. in a vain attempt to be like my dad who is right back there, love you dadcamus was a working musician and i was born i remembered that hooked to a song i once tried to right. staring out the window the mountains pass on by in the twilight sky. how many times under how many conditions and how many places have a written a bus? whatever the final tally, i could add to the song one more verse. is a dream of peace in israel and palestine it is just another long bus ride. just another long bus ride. it is just another long bus

ride. the end. [applause] thank you. and if you guys do end up reading the book, there is a chapter in their, the second loss of the season called losing and i'm really mad at complaining because i am sweating so much. sweat is dripping off the rim of my cap and there is no rots in the bag. i simply send going to throw it and we will see where it goes. that is kind of what i feel like appear. i don't know if i am sweating. i need a rosson bag and to call a reliever. if you guys don't mind, i don't mind. the reason why he chose that passage was like i said when i processed it one of the great things about the summer was the combination of baseball in the holy land, so for me this wasn't just a feel. i remember having a dialogue

with king solomon. looking out there and seeing the -- is this cool? do you want us to be here? i see this king and he is the son of david, the whole deal and that made it really special for me. i mentioned a couple of guys and i probably should've mentioned a few other guys on my team. i told you about the six different teams in the league. one of the reasons why this was such a great experience for me was because i was blessed with an unbelievable cast of characters. as linda mentioned earlier third basement -- baseman whose name was nathan israel bloomberg fish. he has shoulder length black curly hair and he looks like some combination of howard stern and the biblical solomon or the biblical something like that. a crazy guy. our catcher was this wild man from australia. my best friend who was a pitcher on the team was the first israeli to play divisional baseball than the united states. so a neat little cast of characters there.

one of the guys who was probably my best friend are closest to it, the first guy he met out of everybody in the entire league was a guy named jeff hastings and he was also a teacher. it was neat to be the first guy i met in the last guy would say goodbye to is my friend jeff. in the book i mentioned to myself not disparaging way, my brother and i joke around about being a redneck jewish boys. that sounds kind of funny but my grandma was born on a working cattle ranch and my mom is jewish from new york. our parents thought it was important to expose us to both sides come both traditions and that was a really good thing. i think they did you write that because of that going to israel i got to not only explore who i was, but who i was as age as well and that was important to me as well. this next little passage i'm going to read to you will be the last one, my first shabbat dinner in israel. and a great thing about living

in the place, i am sure you guys have done traveling but it is me to travel somewhere but a different experience to actually live someplace and to get to know the people. anyplace is always fun for people. it is fun to go to paris in the crates but it's a whole lot different to live there and get to know the people and see what life is like. that was the really special thing for me, getting to know these israeli families. so, this is shabbat shalom. we arrived at our destination with the cabernet from the region also known as the sea of galilee, where jesus purportedly walked on water and turned it and grapes into wine. this particular section was the urban planning equivalent of a geological seduction. one of the few places for large-scale slow moving change was evident. hundred-year-old structures were complete with traditional

archways and geometric tapestries collided with half finished modern apartment complexes. pop, pop, pop three loud shots rang out behind a large stonewall. jeff and i her head down anticipating a firefight. what the heck was that? dan muttered to himself in hebrew, dan rothman the pitcher, probably nothing. we walked into a projection zone. through two doors down a secretive flight of stairs around the corner into a large protected courtyard. just been too bright green dots with gray smoke sailed into the air. pop, pop. dance expression data. kids were having fun with fireworks over the wall. he shook his head and smiled sarcastically and said -- arrows. we walked into the apartment and passed a couple heading in the other direction. dan exchanged pleasantries with them. the two americans said intifada referring to the ongoing fireworks display that sounded like a gunbattle.

can i replied is with a chuckle showing off my vast knowledge of hebrew. intifada, what's that, jeff asked shaking off. tell you later. coach, that is my high school basketball coach. he came with the kerchief to wipe my brow. give it up for coach to nellis. thank you. [applause] thank you, coach. he is always there for me. i love you. awesome, awesome. where were a rate? the brow will be dry for just a second. intifada, what's that correct shaking off. did not want to hear about the palestinian uprisings in gaza and the west bank in the 1980s and again at the turn-of-the-century. necessary or otherwise, israeli occupation of these plans was controversial and resulted in countless deaths on both sides. we enter the small inviting and

partner in. stone floors gave way to a kitchen and living room sandwich one on top of the other. we wrench just too's mom, brother and aunt. 's cousin or backup right fielder known as thor the red beard for his light skin and strawberry hair was there too. conversing with them i immediately felt at home. after unnecessarily quick tour of the apartment i found myself on the balcony is's mom and aunts leaning over the third-floor railing looking into the dust. it is beautiful here i said. thank you replied his mom. she spoke proficient english does seem shy about her accident. i was thinking of something to say which appointed to the lands just outside the courtyard. do you see this you motion with her hand? we are a settlement here she said half jokingly. answered with a chuckle i was uncertain of how to respond. dan clearly did not support the settlement but i wasn't sure about his mom. shortly thereafter, food appeared on the table and we

were ready to eat. unfortunately i angst over the pre-meal ritual return. fleshes apollo bread. i seem to remember the words -- but couldn't remember what they meant. i started sweating more than usual, give me a break. [laughter] it was the shabbat meltdown. i would be laughed at, disowned by my tribe. i was toast. if you guys do prayers and stuff, i'm just going to watch. i don't really know what i'm doing. me too, jeff added. prayers? we don't do any of that are going to come to eat. he sensed my trepidation patted me on the shoulder. you'll be fine. except for the heavenly garlic mashed potatoes and defined schnitzel there was nothing religious about the meal. we began with the peppery cabbage slaw and a traditional israeli salad of diced cucumbers, onions and tomatoes. the schnitzel came next and it did not disappoint. that lightly breaded kosher chicken slices were succulent,

tender. jeff and i insults like we have not had a home-cooked meal in weeks each was true. the conversation ping-pong between hebron english. we spoke about israelis being crazy drivers, our first -- everyone was cognizant of keeping jeff involved but there was often lively dialogue in the mother tongue that i did not understand. in addition to chatting with jeff during these moments i reflected on shabbat and general and this mail in particular. i thought the weekly creation of a space to slow down, pause and put the fast-paced life on hold was imperative. it might be friday night or sunday afternoon. the important part was spending quality time with friends and family whenever the culture would -- and there was no rigmarole this night. we ate, we drank, we laugh. some may not have called it is shabbat at all. for me it was a wonderful time. at one point the conversation seemed to take a turn for the argumentative but since it was in hebrew my conversation was

limited to volume, inflection and the occasional word or two. eye for an exchange such as this i imagined could only be about politics. voices raise, hands flew up in exasperation homemade pickles were devoured like ammunition but no one appeared angry. in fact, all seemed to be enjoying it. suddenly the discussion turned quite. dance mom leaned in closer for the table looking squarely at jeff and me and said dan, he is a palestinian preferring to her sons left were political views. his entire family began to laugh and dan looks slightly irritated. just like on the balcony i could not tell if his mom was serious. in any discussion about the conflict, sarcasm and sincerity were close friends. is that no one down i could take only shallow breaths, a full stomach encroaching on my lungs. agenda of the couch to land but along came desert, watermelon, cantaloupe and some strange fruit i did not recognize. what is that, jeff asked?

prickly pear. we call it cyberand hebrew's mom and objective. she explained the fruit was the informal name for israelis because they were and tough on the outside from years of toil in the desert and they remain sweden on the inside. i tried one. the fruits flush with sugary and the seats were pesky and difficult to you read it. you could chew and swallow them but they went down rough. you could spit them out but with everyone watching this was a bit awkward. sort of like the israelis themselves. after the mail everyone reclined lethargically in the living room which is really the same space is the kitchen and dining room. a mets game was rebranding on the tv providing ambience backed round stimulation, the modern-day fireplace. is time to go we stood up and said our goodbyes. thank you very much. it was great i said to dan's mom giving her a hug. jeff did the same. dan wished to me he was a bit chagrined about his family's

dinner table argument especially his mom stripping. i apply this made me feel more at home. combine equal parts embarrassment, guilt, mixed with an abiding need to feed the planet and you have any jewish mother. [laughter] i missed mine. you are welcome his mom said. i see you next week irca we are having ravioli. we did come next week as well as the next week in the week after that. i did not know it at the time but shabbat and -- would become as regular as my starting. both were exciting though the latter would get a bit old. though our shabbat dinner at come to an end our friday night was just getting started. [applause] so the second passage that i read last friday night to a different group, the citigroup, the next chapter is called suppers and you can see where that one goes.

it is a formal name for israeli. that is the chapter where he meets bil who became my cyberfor the summer and that is where the love story gets introduced but since this is the family crowd we will leave that one at that. those are the two passages that i wanted to share with you guys. if you guys have a few questions that will give me a break to stop visiting quite as much and after that, that will be it. thank you guys so much. [applause] one thing to remember. >> into the microphone but you will not hear yourselves on the pa or anything like that. >> how did they draft? >> how did they draft the 16th that is a great question. early on in the lead-up to the league, they did a fantastic job. they had all jerseys, all team names and everything laid out. they actually had a draft on

espn led by the sports reporters jeremy shaft. shaft. i miss pronounce the name. he led the draft and there was a lot of how about, lot of buzz around it and "the new york times" is covering the league. it was a really neat thing so they had a draft and they got players from all over the place. the clincher the thing that really pushed the league over the top i would say was once they started having dominicans in the league -- there's an interesting history between israel and the dominican republic that i think they kind of tease that out a little bit as their excuse to get the dominicans to leave. once the dominicans arrived, we have the same players from one country and they ranked the countries in order. they would be the best. most of them had minor league experience. vladimir guerrero's brother was in league irca but i played in the major leagues of japan was there so there were some really impressive players and they were drafted as well.

>> what made this the last season of the israeli baseball league? >> that is a great question. without getting into the business plan are the finance is too much, the leak was ultimately insolvent so we didn't receive our final checks. we were super close to going on strike halfway through the season when we didn't receive our checks but since we were halfway around the world what were we going to do and what were they going to do? it was the result of financial difficulties. they don't have a lot of people coming in and if people aren't paying for merchandise and stuff it is hard to generate revenue. ultimately it was a financial issue however for several different years they have been talking about starting up the league again. the new york yankees were talking about getting a group of financial bankers. we will see if they do it again. >> you talk about sandy koufax

being there. there. >> absolutely. sandy koufax was drafted in a symbolic gesture is the last player of the week. sandy koufax doesn't seem to like publicity too much so he didn't come. we were thinking baseball in israel, koufax has got to be there. he is our guy but he wasn't really involved with the league. we decided to draft in many ways. i think he was 71 at the time and he probably still could have pitched. [laughter] wherever, linda. >> over here. >> so what was the reference to the sea of sunflowers and the ghosts, reference to field of dreams? >> mrs. was at like. no is the honest answer but now absolutely it is symbolism. [laughter] absolutely. i am stealing that.

>> did you have to be jewish today in the league and if he did what was the percentage of jewish players? >> another great question. no you didn't have to be jewish to be nobody but the leak had a bit of an identity crisis. they didn't know if it wanted to be the best league in a jewish country the best jewish league so basically the equation that i figured out so late in the season was the more jewish you were the last good at baseball you had to be. [laughter] we had these dominican guys which were studs. they had great experience and we had a few orthodox players and some fairly religious jews as well. some of the guys could have made maybe junior college team or something like that so it was an interesting relationship but because of that a former pro, i place myself squarely in the middle there. >> what is the background between israel and the dominican republic they mentioned?

>> the dominican republic had an interesting role to play during the holocaust in terms of taking jews and after the holocaust and providing refugees -- refuge. israelis and jews the world over certainly owe a debt of gratitude to the dominican republic as well. >> the question was when was that the ships were turned away from the u.s. and that was part of it as well. us the air and you and i were coaching mock trials when we were writing this book i think. the question i have is. >> you have a question? [laughter] you can give an opening statement if you want to. >> touché. can you describe the process of writing? i know you were teaching, you were getting your masters degree. you were coaching mock trial. i couldn't figure out whether you are writing the book. how did you do that in what was

it like? >> fortunately i didn't have a girlfriend at the time so i had more spare time to devote to other things. coach, his sheer shout out david. it was a story that i really wanted to tell so to back up a couple of steps. before i went over there i think everybody had their mind on baseball and the holy land, this was a weird combination. eight mom -- my mom and a good friend of mine named russell hill who was back there as well, my literary coach. have a lot of great coaches in basketball and baseball coaches bud russell hills my literary coach. moms are mom so when somebody in the business is keep a journal, then you take a little bit more seriously. so don't get mad at me. a lot of times they talk about writing and imports of reflective thought. i kept a journal and wrote every single day and when i got back i have this trove of materials.

tons of words on a page that i would just pour out and i knew i had a story to tell. i knew there was a story there because all these crazy things that happened and i tried my best to get it out there. so with the help of russell hill and a few other offers -- authors i respected i set about trying to tell my story. the one thing that they all shared in common was if you rico but you know what good writing sounds like. so i read a lot and i read more and war and more. is one thing to read and enjoy a story and another thing to read with an eye towards the mechanics of the language. how do you put beautiful sentences together but have you also keep in mind the larger plot in the climaxes of like that? i get breeding and went through countless drafts and russell hill looked over a bunch of dress for me and said this is good, this is not so good in this is the direction you should go in. i'm going to get a little bit cheesy and maudlin for just a second. with a lot of high school kids and ongs w try to fail.

people say they're going to run a marathon and write a book or by not writing a marathon. if i was afraid of getting shot down this never would have happened so you do your best david and you lead your chips fall where they may. process over product, baby. believe it. [applause] what do you think? maybe one or two more? >> was the transition hard from becoming a teacher to a baseball player to a teacher again? >> that is a great question, elliott, a scholar in his own right. kucinich are stinking. it wasn't hard but it was interesting and somewhat difficult, you know. are you mr. preble or who are you? in the classroom you are mr. preble and through the summer have to start using the f-bomb more regularly, you kind of, you referred to your old

ways, so during the summer i didn't really think about teaching. does in the back of my mind that i was a baseball player. i was competing for a championship and i wanted to win. on the last day of the season the day before i am set to go home i am offered a contract to be the first player to pitch professionally in the united states united states and it is a heck of a decision. it was something i poured my heart and soul into ever since i could walk and it really was an important thing in my life. so do you follow the boyhood dream, another shot to draft one last time, your boyhood dream or do you know when it is enough and went to call it quits? i came back home one day on american soil and i decided, and it made my decision. let's just say it was pretty obvious at this point that is interesting to lock in -- want to a classroom that you probably shouldn't drop the f-bomb as much around high school students. that was an interesting transformation.

may be one last question? how are you guys doing? maybe one more, two more. >> we heard some of the baseball stuff but what about your jewish identity and being in israel? what did you learn about that? >> i never had -- that is a great question. i never had a bar mitzvah or a baptism or anything like that but i deftly felt connected to the history and one of the things that i feel most passionately about in terms of align myself with the jewish edition is a sense of justice. the hebrew phrase is -- so one of the reasons i got into teaching. i feel a sense of duty to give back to others. he to whom much is given, much is expected. and i felt a bit of a duty and i've always held tightly to that ethic. that was one part of it.

the other one is, who am i, this tall, goofy left-handed jewish guy who sweats way more than he should comment when i went over to israel i remember looking around and seeing every different type of person you can imagine, every color of the rainbow, short, fat, skinny, pretty and not so pretty and i remember looking around. first of all the girl i had a relationship was a tall, slender beautiful jew. we came from off the ends of the planet, opposite lyrical ideologies and i remember thinking if there was room enough for all these people under the beautiful rainbow there is probably room for me too. [applause] linda, what do you think? are we good, guys. i don't know.

>> we may have run out of books here because there are so many of you in such a wonderful book. they have a green form that you can fill out if you want the book and aaron, who is local, will come and find them becky was to get a copy here at book passage. he will come to your house. >> do i get the last word, linda? i can mention every single person by name, but that would take too long but from the bottom of my heart, my folks, my god family, my coaches in teaching friends, my students, you probably won't know and i can't put into words how much it means to me that you guys are all here. i just want you to know that from the bottom of my heart, and appreciate you guys coming out in thank you very much. [applause]

>> this event was hosted by book passage bookstore in corte madera california. find that more by visiting book passage.com. >> one of the largest displays here at bookexpo america 2011 is the perseus group book irca several different imprints are under the perseus name and one of them is public affairs. the publisher of public affairs book is susan weinberg who is going to tell us about some of the new books coming out by public affairs and some of the future books coming out by public affairs. susan weinberg where should we start? >> hi peter, thank you. is always a great to see that look expo. we can start with a book coming out now called the philanthropy of george soros building open societies. this is a book about george soros' working giving away billions and billions of dollars through his open society foundation which is based on his principles and putting his philosophy to work in the real

world. he covers his programs from around the world and includes an essay from george called my philanthropy, where he lays out his principles and what animates his giving. it just really turned out to be he's major business. >> right next to this susan is poor economics. >> poor economics is one of the most exciting big idea books we have had any while. day are the founders of the m.i.t. property lab and they have really pioneered the idea of, let's do some on the groundwork, experiment, observations to learn what really works and development. where we should put our effort, where we should put our money and they are award-winning, acclaimed economist whose work is really getting a lot of attention and really being embraced now. when i read the proposal i felt, this is the most important work

on poverty i have read since we published microfinance a social business and we just felt we had to have this book too. >> susan weinberg, does that book include the concept of microlending? >> well, the microfinance banker, this does have some about microfinance and microlending and some of the research on the ground that they have done on it but it has lots of other techniques too. it looks at how poor people really live and what they will choose to spend their money on brand they have money. how they make decisions and then it does, almost like controlled experiment tc-99 what will help in the long run. for example what is the best way to distribute your bed net to protect against malaria? or asking questions, when people seem to be not having enough money for food, why did they buy a tv instead of more nutritious food so you can help understand that and the decisions they might make about their lives. >> i want to ask about the cover

of that book, very interesting cover with a knockdown in the corner. >> i think the idea there is unkind and not of poverty in the developing world, and it is kind of a good motive but really they felt the words on the cover were so strong that we didn't want any kind of illustration to get in the way of it. is a very powerful statement. >> unnatural selection. you are very excited about this. >> unnatural selection is one of those, and again when i read it is like this is what we are here to do. we are here to do these kinds of books. marquice and all i call her a scholarly journalist and she has worked in places like the chronicle of higher education, based in shanghai. she is going back to beijing i believe to be the editor of "time" magazine now for them there. but a lot of essay one child policy in china, why so many more boys than in china and india and other places? we say, that is funny.

what is going to happen there but then we move onto another question. she did not move on. she said what is it mean there are so many missing girls? how did this really happen? what is going to happen when these boys grow up and there's no one for them to marry? how will they create families and what will society be like? reassess those questions both about the society and what is going to happen because of that but she also went back and researched how did this happen? some of, that is what we think we know about things like one child policy but some of it has to do with the zero population growth and an enthusiasm for population control that has had great unintended consequences, they think. >> that book is unnatural selection. wright's to that, two books about some troubled nation's. >> yes, dancing in the glory of monsters about the congo by jason stern. our editorial director got this book in from actually a friend of jason's the wonderful

journalist mikayla long who was also written about africa african the financial times. she said you know there is nobody who knows as much but the congo is jason stern. jason stern had a manuscript. the client threaded and said there is a real book in here and we are going to find it. he and jason went to work together to hone the book. you can't understand anything in the newspaper about the congo if you haven't read this book. the story is that complicated in the new stories are such a small piece of the whole and what is really happening there. reviews have warned us out. "the wall street journal" comes "the new york times" book review, the finance of times, they go on and on but the reviews of this book have been just an amazing response, and we are really seeing people not stepping away by saying i want to know about this story. i want to hear more about the

congo. >> dr. paul farmer. >> paul farmer as everyone knows, is partners in health and has worked so hard to develop health care in places like haiti. has a very interesting medical school kind of organization and practicing medicine on the ground in places like haiti and like lycra wanda. and, he had -- the effect of the earthquake in haiti and the work that they have done and the level that they got to know haiti, he said i want to write about it. i want to write about what is happening. is the response adequate? is the response from world leaders what it should be? is the age being used in the best way could be? he also uses this as an opportunity to get haitian voices involved in this issue. he talks about -- he gets

different people involved in haiti that he is known often for many years to write about this too soap paul not only is talking about the experience in haiti but he has also been able to give voice to the people in haiti who win all the brouhaha and all the publicity have not necessarily been hurt. >> susan limber, the load on the cover of this is rather powerful. >> it really is. we were looking for something that would convey the mix of emotions you get when you think about haiti and the earthquake and you think about the recovery and it is such a mixture of hope and maybe despair of you know grand plans but also understanding everyone is still vulnerable. >> we are talking with susan weinberg who is a publisher of public affairs books and over here on your lord i want to talk about sally jacobs new book, the other barack. when is it coming out and tell us about the book. >> sally jacob's look the other barack is coming out in july of

this year and this is a book as the subtitle couldn't say it better, the bold and reckless life of president obama's father. sally jacobs was a longtime correspondent at the "boston globe" and she said, she kind of did a profile of obama in kenya but all through the phone, not really deep enough. she said if he is elected i'm going to pursue the story. she had never done a book for -- before. she has been to kenya many times and talk to everyone that knew barack obama senior and she has put together his life story in a way that is riveting, arresting, revealing and i say, i can't know this but i think if president obama read this book he would learn things about his father that he doesn't know. and i think it is an amazing contribution to our knowledge of the president and his family. >> what is it like editing a journal?

>> well, it is an interesting process. journalists on the one hand can write very fluidly and they are used to the idea of changes in rewrites, so they are not hugging bear pros but sometimes the art of a book versus the art of a series of feature stories can be very different, and i think our editors, that is the thing they most work on is getting the art, giving the storyline together. the art of this book is amazing. the focus is where should be on barack obama senior. it is his childhood in kenya and his time in the u.s. which includes time at the university of hawaii and his time at harvard. it is a story of how harvard and immigration service decided you know, maybe you are lot of trouble. maybe you should leave and what happens when he goes back to kenya. >> and very quickly, three more books we want to preview for

public affair starting with peter thompson. >> peter thompson, the wars of afghanistan, is an epic book and that is because peter thompson's knowledge of afghanistan goes very far back through the soviet. now, in between the american involvement. he has had roles in afghanistan on the diplomatic level. he speaks russian and pashtun. these are very different languages so he was able to read sometimes documents in their original that demand that not many people are able to master including archives of the soviet period no one had ever used before in their researcher in their work. he brings a passion and a level of those detail and scope to the story that we think is unique. and it is quite, it is quite an effort getting a book like this together but absolutely worthwhile and we are thrilled it is going to see a trading

public in july. >> two books on the media that are out or coming out that -- the deal from hell hell and inside the new york stock. >> big deal from hell by shea is about the "chicago tribune" and what is happened to media business from an insider. jim o'shea was a longtime reporter at the "chicago tribune" and became the managing editor of the "l.a. times" so he is head groundwork is a reporter and the management experience of being, not quite the other side but in those decision-making meetings and it is the full unvarnished story of what happens to media businesses in america by focusing on the story of the shipping company. page one is a book in our series of looks we have done in conjunction with participating media. we have done books and films by food inc. and "waiting for superman." this is their new film called page one, inside "the new york times." we have done a book with david

was an npr media reported that is a collection of essays by many different than -- contributors writing about media, again taking the subject beyond the film's limitations. fm can tell you in a very visceral way the story but can only tell you so much. these essays in this book really tell you more fully what is going on with media today, especially digital, print and what the future might look like. >> i know i said just two more but we have one more to look at and this is the unquiet american. it is over on the wall there if you could get that. richard holbrooke. >> this is a book that we are very proud to be involved with. richard holbrooke's widow came to us and a bunch of people and said you know, we think you guys would be perfect to put together a book that really captures richard holbrooke's spirit and what he did.

our plan was always to publish on the upcoming anniversary of his death in december. derek shall i am samantha power are the editors. we have wonderful contributors writing about different parts of his life and career. vietnam, bosnia, afpak and we also have an excerpt from holbrooke's of work including his wonderful book and a lot of you know more of his speeches and essays in and things he's written over the years. we think he gives an incredible portrait of holbrooke both through his own words and about reflections on his career by people who knew him very well. >> we have been talking with susan weinberg, publisher of public affairs books, one of the perseus groups imprints, public affairs books.com is the web site. >> what are you reading this summer? booktv wants to know. >> hi, i am susan collins, senator from maine. i have always been an avid reader. i usually have it both going

here in washington and one in maine as well. the book that i most recently finished reading is god rounds memoirs. he is my colleague, the senator from massachusetts. this truly is an extraordinary book. it is very well-written and moves right along and it gives me a lot of insight about scott brown and his very difficult childhood. it is absolutely amazing that he has accomplished as much as he has, given what an impoverished and difficult childhood that he had. anyone who loves sports will love this book, because in some ways it was coaches in basketball this saved scott brown. a book that i am i'm reading right now is michael connelly's the fifth witness. this is a series of books that

involves a lawyer who largely practices law out of the back of his car. his lincoln, so they are often known as the lincoln lawyer series. it is just great fun. it moves right along and it is a nice break from all my books to read before i go to bed. this summer i am going to read my first e-book and i realize probably everybody else has been reading e-books for years. that this is my first one and the one that i purchased, cutting for stone. is supposed to be a terrific book and i'm looking forward to reading it. it also has advantage that it can travel with me very easily. finally i am looking forward to summer to reading david or at's new book. is called the social animal. i think david rooks is absolutely brilliant and i am looking forward to learning more about his insights.

i understand from talking to him that he did a great deal of research on the brain, gathering together many many studies and i think it is going to be a very compelling book. >> tell us what you are reading this summer. send us a tweet at booktv. >> now watch her coverage from earlier today of the 2011 roosevelt rating festival. for the next seven hours we will have author presentations from the franklin d. roosevelt presidential library and museum in hyde park new york. here is a look at our schedule. coming up in a few minutes todd moye on the tuskegee airmen of world war ii. in about an hour weekly standard literary editor philip terzian presents his book "architects of power" subaid. and about two hours, we will take a break from her coverage from the franklin d. roosevelt presidential library and museum to show you an event from the atlantic history cent.