>> i focus on trying to stop wasting to go to in the past but to go out and figure it out and ham it up if it's 50% of their predicament 20%, 50% i think we spent a lot of money. my staff time can be better spent on to find the wrong, i can buy the bonds and help correct them. >> so if i ask you have the american people got their moneys worth speak with therefore money's worth? no. definitely not. there have been some good things done, a lot of good things done. a lot of hard-working people department of interior, a lot of these people, people from the

department of commerce a lot of people have devoted their lives in energy over there. but have we gotten the biggest bang for the buck? no. that's what we find all the time. poor planning, poor execution. >> john sopko on his role as inspector general and out american taxpayer dollars are spent on reconstruction in afghanistan tonight at eight on c-span's q&a. >> here's a look at some upcoming book fairs and festivals happening around the country.

is know about book fairs and festivals in your area and we will add them to our list. e-mail them at c-span tv.org. spent book tv asks what are you reading this summer? >> i brought some books that i've recently read that i thought people might really like. the first one is by scott berg called wilson. is a new biography of woodrow wilson. actually a very favorable and thoughtful volume. scott berg took 13 years of meticulous scholarship to write this book, and it shows.

it's one of the most thoughtful, balanced biographies of this very complex figure in american history to lead his own contradictions. what i think it gives you some really new insights and new appreciation for woodrow wilson, a very pivotal figure in history of american presidents. just a delightful read and i recommend it to come one of the best biographies i've read in a long time. another book is by professor at university of virginia, a former neighbor of mine, and wonderful scholar. should read the book called appomattox. and in this book she talks about how much of the problems that flow in reconstruction and subsequently the reinstitution of jim crow and segregation in the south flows in a sense from the perception of all that was given from appomattox.

certainly robert e. lee took a finish of that when he was indicted for war crimes and got grant to say hey, at appomattox the imitation was i wouldn't be indicted. it's a thoughtful sort of reappraisal of american post-civil war history and the meaning of appomattox, very thought-provoking and full of scholarship and research and i highly recommend it. chris matthews has written a book that i really like a lot and that that was labeled on and called tip and the gipper. is sort of a relationship between thin speaker tip o'neill and president ronald reagan, and it is the story of a time that now sings law long ago, unfortunately, in which republicans and democrats actually could come together and make a difference for the coach. i think everybody who works out in capital out to read the book and take it to heart because a lot got done because of that relationship they didn't always

love each other but they're willing to reach across the aisle and get things done. a wonderful book on the history here in congress of the adoption of the civil rights act of 1954 cents a can up with the 50th anniversary written by todd purdum called an idea whose time has come. if you really like the engine of the how legislation happened, this is almost and hour by hour recount of what was going on and who did what. and again, it makes one a little sad because in those days republicans were at the forefront of protecting civil rights in america and had a lot to do with the passage of the 1964 civil rights act. most of those kinds of republicans argue anymore but it's a wonderful book, a great read and very thoroughly researched. the sleepwalkers by christopher clark is really pre-world war i, the period of time starting around, well, from 1870 to the

opening of world war i in 1914. in many ways it contradicts the wonderful book the guns of august, the somehow europe stumbled into world war i. it was an accident waiting to happen. but this books is not so much. this books is actually they were plotting, planning, and where many wars and many conflicts that preceded 1914 that absolutely were a prelude and an ediblapple part of the war. the powers that light up against each other were, in fact, not stumbling into something. the action that alliances and designs. not that they wanted the kind of cataclysmic war that occurred, but the idea that it's going to be conflict between germany and austria hungry and russia, -- austria-hungary was not an unexpected thing. it was quite well done. a lot of history on the

importance of the balkans to what happened, not just sorry over and the assassination of duke ferdinand but lots of wars for bosnia's independence from the ottoman empire during the tiebreaker to final book of want to recommend is the bully pulpit. it's essentially the relationship between theodore roosevelt and william howard taft, his successor. two different men with two different styles had a very deep and profound friendship. and teddy could think of no one else to succeed in by william howard taft. and the tragedy unfolding of that relationship once taft became president, and how it never quite got repaired. you really kind of appreciate actually william howard taft more than maybe we think of in our understanding of history, but it's another brilliant

effort, really bringing alive history. and by the way, it barely reflects our modern politics. so much of what you read i in te time trade of american history 100 years ago actually nearly a ghost what we are doing today, in politics, indie media, and then in the relationship between executive and congressional branch. so a great read, and actually something, a must read for the summer. that's my list for now. >> tell me about your reading habits. >> i read a book a week. steady diet of history and biography, or public policy, and for just escape -ism i read mystery novels. i tend to do serial wanted you ministers, i do serial ministries reading so in other words, i will find an author i like and i will read everything he or she has written and then move onto the next author.

that's sort of my relaxing read, but i just love history. i think it's so important for those of us in public life to read history and to understand because i think it has a lot of relevance to our sense of public policy and put things in a historical context. >> thank you so much. >> my pleasure spend what are you reading this summer? tell us what is on your summer reading list. tweet us at booktv. post a -- posted to her facebook page or send us an e-mail. >> is a look at some books that are being published this week.

>> look for titles of these bookstores in the coming weeks.

spin deborah hicks sat down at duke university to discuss her book than 10. in the book she talks about her efforts to transmit her love of learning and literature to a group of poor girls in cincinnati, ohio. the 30 minute is part of booktv's college series. >> booktv is on the campus of duke university endure of north carolina where we're talking with professors and scholars about some of their books. joining us here is deborah hicks. her book, "the road out: a teacher's odyssey in poor america." deborah hicks, what do you do here at duke, first of all? >> i have a couple things that i do. i am part of a research social institute and that is a unit that is composed of people who are doing research in the social sciences, different disciplines. i do a lot of research and then

am also a special entrepreneur so i direct a nonprofit in the north carolina mountains called page, partnership for appalachian girls an education. they are i work with appalachian girls in middle school and help them get educational opportunity and access. i have a couple of different hats that they were at duke university, researcher and now a social entrepreneur. ..