>> these are some to have current t selling nonfiction book withs according to the washington post. >> booktv asked, what are you reading this summer? >> i brought some books that i have recently realize that i thought people might really like, and the first one is by scott berg called "wilson." and it is a new biography of woodrow wilson and, 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 and progressive figure in american history who had his own contradictions. but i think it gives you some really new insights and new

appreciation for woodrow wilson, a very pivotal figure in the history of the american presidency and just a delightful read. and i absolutely recommend it. one of the best biographies i've read in a long time. another book is by a professor at the university of virginia and a former neighbor of mine, a wonderful scholar named elizabeth barron. she's writing a book called appomattox, and in this book she talks about how much of the problem in reconstruction and subsequently the resubstitution of jim crow and selling regaition in the south flowed -- segregation in the south. and certainly robert e. lee took advantage of that when he was actually indicted for war crimes and got grant to say, hey, at appomattox, the implication was that i wouldn't be indicted.

it's really 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 liked a lot, and i thought it was very well done, it's called "tip and the gipper," the story of the relationship of then-speaker tip o'neill, democrat, and president ronald reagan, republican. and it is the story of a time that now seems long, long ago. unfortunately. in which republicans and democrats actually could come together and make a difference for the country. and i think everybody who works up here on capitol hill ought to read this book and take it to heart, because a lot got done because of that relationship. they didn't always love each other, but they were willing to reach across the aisle to get things done. a wonderful book on the history here in congress on the adoption of the civil rights act of 1964 written by todd purdum, it's

called "an idea whose time has come." and if you really like sort of the internet of how legislation happens, this is almost an hour-by-hour recount of what was going on and who did what. and again, it makes one a little bit sad because in those days republicans were at the very forefront of protecting civil rights in america and had a lot to do with the passage of the 964 civil -- the 1964 civil rights act. unfortunately, most of those kinds of republicans aren't here anymore. it's a wonderful book, a great read and there are thoroughly researched. the sleepwalkers by christopher clark is pre-world war i, the period of time starting around -- well, it was from 1870 to the opening of world war i in 1914. and in many ways it contradicts the wonderful book "the guns of august" by barbara tuchman that somehow europe stumbled into world war i, it was an accident waiting to happen maybe. but this book says not so much.

this book says, actually, they were plotting, they were planning, and there were many, many, many wars and conflicts that preceded 1914 that absolutely were a prelude, an inevitable prelude to war and that the powers that lined up against each other were, in fact, not stumbling into something, they actually had alliances and designs, and it was malice afore thought. not that they wanted the kind of cataclysmic war that occurred, but the idea there was going to be conflict between germany and austria hungary and russia, europe or france was not a novel or unexpected thing. and it's really quite well done and a lot of history on the importanceover the balkans -- the importance of the balkans to what happened not just sir slave owe -- sarajevo and and the assassination of duke franz ferdinand, but that time period

the final book i want to recommend is torrance ken, goodwin's new brilliant book, the bully pulpit. it's, essentially, the relationship between theodore roosevelt and william howard taft, his successor, how two different men with two very different styles had a deep and profound friendship, and teddy could think of no one else to succeed him and sort of the tragic up folding of that relationship once taft became president and how it never quite got repaired. and you really kind of come to appreciate william howard taft maybe more than we think of in our understanding of history, but it's another brilliant every by doris cerches good wynn really bringing alive this period of history. and by the way, it eerily reflects our modern politics. so much of what you read here of what was happening in that time period in american history a

hundred years ago actually eerily echoes what we're doing today. and our politics, in the media and in the relationship between the executive and the congressional branch. so a great read and absolutely something, a must read for the summer. and 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 escapism, i read mystery novels. i tend to do serial, when i read mysteries, i do serial mystery reading so, in other words, i'll find an author i like, and i'll read everything he or she has written and then move on to the next author, and that's sort of my relaxing reading. but with i just love history -- but i just love history and biography, and i think social io important for those of us in public life to, you know, to read history and to understand it because i think it has a lot

of relevance to our sense of public policy and putting things in a historical context. >> representative connolly, thanks so much. >> my pleasure. >> what are you reading this summer? tell us what's on your summer reading list. tweet us @booktv, post it to our facebook page or send us an e-mail, booktv@cspan.org. >> steven pressfield talks about the six-day war between israel and its arab neighbors in "june 1967." he tells the history of the war through israeli soldiers who fought on the front lines. this 50-minute program is next on booktv. [applause] >> thank you, guys, for coming out on this hot night. what am i going to do? i'll just try to, you know, maybe do about 20 minutes, and then we'll talk, we'll just talk, you know? questions and stuff. and i'll kind of tell you about

how this book came to be written and then sort of a little bit what it's about since the six-day war is sort of obscure, i think, in most people's minds. let me tell you about my own self as a jew, my background as a jew. i found out -- [laughter] that i was jewish when i was 13 years old. and that is not as uncommon as it might be. but that was kind of a shock when, you know? when my dad laid that one on me. so i sort of decided at that point, this is like 1956. after about a week of kind of shell shock, i decided that i would get with the program. if i'm a jew, i'm going the get with it. so i decided that i would go to temple and learn the stuff. there was no temple in my hometown, so i hitchhiked to the next town where the clintons live, but the weird thing was that the real jews there at the temple rejected me was i was, like, this geek jew fromhe