energy that came, that was brought to american policy to this period was american standard, not very institutionalize and that is often particularly characteristic of american maximum is them, building new institutions that are better suited to the problem at hand meaning more better suited to american direction and that has tended to be because the united states figures that is going to make those tools reusable. can president obama cope with all the crises he has got at hand? i certainly hope so. this is a period for the administration, and expected after the mopping up of bush

worse in iraq and afghanistan to be able to pursue a less ambitious foreign-policy agenda where the world would be easier to manage with less resources. and rather challenging assignment, this happens. and cleaned up the mess that was brought in to deal with. they often find that is where the real debate began. that is the phase we are in right now. as i said in talking about the presidential campaign this debate is only beginning to, the debate about what the american role should be after this interlude after this retrenchment whether it is more

retrenchment or modified retrenchment or seriously renewed activism we haven't decided that yet. i hate to say this to somebody from afghanistan, there's a certain patience to wait until the american policymaking sorts itself out. this is also characteristic of the united states. we want to do things on our own time according to the electoral calendar, if you are expecting an early resolution in this debate you might be disappointed. it is good for those of us who are following it. it will keep us in business for the next several years. >> please join me in thanking professor stephen sestanovich.

[applause] >> we have a handful of books here and i think professor stephen sestanovich will sign them for you so i invite you to let him do that. >> thank you so much. [inaudible conversations] >> you are watching booktv on c-span2 with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. booktv, television for serious readers. >> here is a look at some books that were published this week. the former deputy director of operations at the central

intelligence agency recounts his 32 years of service in good hunting and american spymasters story. in sally ride:america's first woman in space journalist lynn shirt details the life and career of the first female astronaut. journalist meld bernstein argues the juvenile prison system does nothing to rehabilitate young offenders and needs to be returned in burning down the house:the end of juvenile prison. in america:imagine a world without her, analyzes the sociopolitical climate in the u.s.. civil rights scholar charles cobb describes the role guns played in the form of self protection in the 1960s in this non-violent stuff will get you killed:how guns made the civil rights movement possible. in big money, $2.5 billion, one suspicious vehicle and a pimp on the trail of the ultra rich hijacking american politics, can vogel, a reporter for political report on the impact citizens

united decision has had on politics and democracy. look for these titles in bookstores this coming week and watch for the authors in the near future on booktv and on booktv.org. >> booktv asks what i you reading this summer? >> i have to say i am a book fan, spendable time in the library and recently found a couple great books i recommended. this is a story about an italian about $0.18, and in egypt he brings out all of the artifacts, historic artifacts from egypt.

and brings back the skills and british museum. another thing you have seen, you have seen the movie the monument man, if you have seen the movie, see saving italy. this is by robert edcells, this is a story of saving the art treasures in italy, the monuments to movie focuses on the northern europe and what took place in italy is absolutely incredible, saving some of the great art treasures throughout italy. the final chapter of this was interesting to find what had happened with mr. heller, dean heller, one of the principals in saving italian art and he ended up he was a painter, he was also a professor before he got into

the service to save art. could have been knocked over with a federal when i found that one of his most famous works is in the reception room of love u.s. senate. he painted one of the portraits, there are five portraits there, afterwards, robert heller did taft, just finished, you can see i have all the oil -- i was visiting italy. a great book about the construction of one of the incredible monuments and a couple others i recommend you have got time. conquering gotham if you're into transportation infrastructure, the story of building the station in new york and getting the tunnel from new jersey into man hadn't. an incredible thing, we have thousands of infrastructure projects, this is an awesome one by jill john's, and the last train to paradise is about

bringing the train into florida, by a florida artist, a professor who has done burning washington, in my office i have one of the engravings from 1819 of the capital he used in the book so washington burning or less standard for last train to paradise. finally, going to the library of congress series on presidents and last one was on wilson. i look forward this summer some of these days to finish this volume, pretty excited about that. >> what are you reading this summer? tell us what is on your summer reading list, tweet us on booktv, posted to our face book page or send an e-mail, booktv@c-span.org. >> booktv covers hundreds of author programs all year long

and here's a look at the events we will be attending this week. look for these programs to air on the near future on c-span2. on wednesday we will be covering michael waldman, president of the brennan center for justice in new york university law school talking about his book the second amendment:a biography, speaking at the national constitution center in philadelphia. thursday night booktv will be in colombia, and missouri at the daniel boone regional library hosted a talk by travel writer william moon discussing his writing and best selling book blue highways. the same night, covering civil war historian teams oaks on his book the scorpion sting:antislavery and the coming of the civil war and the new york historical society. on sunday, june 8th, the center for african american history, art and history in south carolina, to record south carolina congressman james cliburn talking about his memoir. that is