and how the military does -- if only they could bottle it, they could make an awful lot of money. because there's just some kind of magical process. at the end of these, at the end of a couple of years, these kids will go out, and they defend our country. they're the defenders of our freedoms. they do it pretty well. >> host: you had said often that you did not join the military because of your eyesight. >> guest: yeah. my -- i used to -- my glasses used to be bulletproof. i just went to johns hopkins and got my eyeballs lazed, and so now i can actually see fairly well. the bad news is i have to wear these to read now. >> host: but if you had joined the military, what branch would you have signed up to? >> guest: i took army rotc in college. i wanted to be a tanker. if you have to fight, you might as well do it sitting down with a five-inch gun. it's just safer that way. >> host: and could you see yourself writing anything else besides the cia and military

stories -- >> >> guest: well, i'm not danielle steele. i don't do romances. so i write the kind of books i like to read. >> you can watch tom clancy's "in depth" interview online at booktv.org. >> this fall booktv is marking our 15th anniversary, and this weekend we look back at 2003. living history, a look at life in the white house by hillary clinton, was a bestseller that year as well as michael moore's book "dude, where's my country? also that year al's franken "lies and the lying liars who tell them" and who's looking out for you by bill o'reilly. al franken and bill o'reilly had a heated exchange at the 2003 bookexpo america. >> i call bill, and you were really nice, you called me back. and you said, yeah, what is it, al? [laughter] and it was very warm. [laughter] and i said i saw you on c-span, you said you -- inside edition won two pea

bodies, well, we did. i said, well, you really should talk to the peabody people, because they don't think you did. you remember this? he says, okay, it was a poke. i say a poke? he said, yeah. it's a very -- just as prestigious as the peabody. i said so there are two most prestigious awards in journalism? he said, al, it's very, very prestigious. i said, okay, don't you think it's odd that you got it wrong about a journalism award? [laughter] and he says, al, if you want to go after me, go ahead. so i say, okay. [laughter] so i call "the washington post." i call roy grove at the washington post, and i tell him the whole thing, and he calls, calls bill, and bill says al has a jihad against me or something. now, bill -- see, i sort of expected bill to go, gee, al,

thanks. [applause] >> okay, i'll finish for now. i could go on all day. >> i know you could. >> and i know -- >> you just about have. you just about have. >> you tell him, bill. >> we were supposed to be on here for 15 minutes. this idiot goes 35. all he's got in six and a half years that i misspoke, that i labeled a polk award a peabody. he writes it in his book -- >> no, no, no, no! >> shut up! you had your 35 minutes -- >> this isn't your show, bill. >> this is what he does, all right? this is what he does. >> take control, pat, come on. >> i think, wait a minute, i think i need a whistle and a striped shirt. >> wait a minute. i'm not going -- >> maybe i went on long -- >> you, please, control him? [laughter] this guy accuses me of being a liar, ladies and gentlemen, on national television because i misspoke and labeled a peabody a polk. i didn't mention we won four

national headliners. this is what this guy does. he demonizes, all right? and then other people pick it up. now, if it's important to you that i misspoke -- >> you didn't just misspeak. >> that's fine, okay? this is what he does. he's vicious, and that is with a capital v, person who is blinded by ideology, and that's all i'll say about that. >> okay. >> al franken and bill o'reilly whose books were bestsellers in 2003. visit our web site to watch all the programs that have aired on booktv over the last 15 years, and keep watching throughout the fall as we look back at our first years on c-span2. >> and now on booktv from the 13th annual national book festival on the national mall here in washington, d.c., pulitzer prize-winning historian rick atkinson presents his book "the guns at last light: the war in western europe 1944-1945."u >> and now to our author and our

speaker, rick atkinson. rick served as a reporter, foreign correspondent and senior editor of "the washington post" for 25 years. it's my personal misfortune that i arrived too late at the post to work with him. he is rightly regarded as one ot the most distinguished journalists of our time.egar his talents as a writer and a reporter and his unparalleled expertise in military affairs were a gift to the post and to our readers. yet with his latest book, rickn reminds us again that his gifts continue, only in different form, as an historian. "the guns at last light: the war in western europe, 1944-1945,"st is the final installment in his" trilogy about world war ii. he dedicated nearly 15 years of his life to these three remarkable volumes. life to thee remarkable volumes. los angeles times has