a great read. well, well wherein -- well written and brings that piece of hoyt back to life. and really makes it very human. it's not cold hoyt. these are real human beings we can relate to who lost their lives sadly on the lusitania. great story. >> the husband truss jed -- the illustrious jed is how typists tellly really was responsible for destroying napoleon's army. a lot of people thought it was the cold or the russian army. owl of those things didn't help but the real killer was typists. the sanitary conditions of the day simply didn't allow them to protect themselves against this bacterium, and it was devastating. really devastating. napoleon lost more than 90% of his army in the invasion of russia and a lesson, by the way

that obviously a century later century and a half later adolph hitler did not attend to, to his regret. a friend of mind, elizabeth warren grew up across the street from me. an historian now at the university of virginia. and she wrote a great book on appomattox and it's a revisionist history and my n my view a correct one about really the outcome -- how robert e. lee and she south used and misused the agreement in appomattox to foster sort of resegregation resuppression of black americans after the union won the civil war and slavery was supposed to be over. they essentially invoked the free spirit of appomattox as meaning none of them should be prosecuted for war crimes. robert e. lee had been indicted after the war and he invoked

appomattox and insistled the u.s. grant -- invoke the agreement they had to protect report e. lee. robert e. lee to his death was rep probate on issues in the south. this is a penetrating and compelling re-assessment of how appomattox and what the meaning of appomattox was interpreted by the south and ultimately by the north-did damage to the next 90 years in terms of race in america. this book, thomas cromwell, is a reappraisal of a very controversial and historic figure during the reign of henry viii. those who are fans of sane thomas moore who was ultimately bee headed because he would not

agree to the remarriage of henry 8th to ann bolin who eventually lost her head. he was instrumental in getting the divorce and she separation of the church of england from the church of rome, and for thomas moore's demise as well. ultimately, eye drone include thomas cromwell lost his head as well. but it's a maybe more sympathetic portrayal of a very skilled statesman a very skilled manager who managed the kingdom of england for henry 8th but also responsible for the destruction of the monasteries, the breakup of church hold examination property and ultimately the severance of the relationship between england and the church of rome. great read and coincidentally comes out as people are watching will hall on public radio about

thomas cromwell. this the sing e best biography i ever read of napoleon by andrew roberts in one volume. it's a stupendous read and very accessible read about who napoleon was and his triumphs and failures. he won almost all of his battles but unfortunately the ones he lost were pretty dispositive. he was a brilliant statesman a brilliant manager brilliant general, but who kind of, toward the end i think maybe because of hubris kind of lost sight of this own techniques, his own lessons learned and ultimately they were turned against him. this is a great read and a real re-appraisal re-assessment of the importance of napoleon, even down to modern history. great read. must read. scott burg wrote this biography

on woodrow wilson, a bit of re-appraisal wilson had this mix of incredible progressive record in the white house especially in his first term. statesman during world war i. but also certain lay retrograde attitude toward race relations in america but it's a great balance and ultimately one appreciates sort of that progressive movement that woodrow wilson most certainly took advantage of to the benefit of america in my view. great single volume biography of woodrow wilson. this book "13 days in september" by lawrence wright. i love this book but it humanizes diplomats and talks be in camp david accords and the 13 days anwar sadat and prime minister begin of israel and jimmy carter spent together, not always harmoniously, at camp david, and how the process worked another.

personalities, history fears anxieties, stresses, mistrusts the role of jimmy carter. jimmy carter put a lot on the table, including his own reputation and it worked. and the camp david accord to this day remains the only lasting peace accord in the middle east, and jimmy carter deserves a lot of credit, as do the other participants as well. if you want to see how at human levels diplomacy actually works, great great book. ought to be read by every graduate school that studies international studies. another biography wall tear isaacson on benjamin franklin and american life. a wonderful biography. i mean, benjamin franklin comes through the pains as a very contemporary man. we would relate to hem easily bailed on the portrayal in this book. on balance this is a great man great vision. lived a long live.

had many episodes to that life. as a political figure in pennsylvania as a political figure on behalf of the colonies in europe, as political figure back with the declaration of independence. back to europe representing now the confederacy of america during the revolutionary war. then comes back and actually serves as a key figure in the constitutional convention, helping to save the day really, for that constitutional convention and arguing for it and what was a very close thing in the approval of the constitutional convention in the 13 states. benjamin franklin, bigger than life figure, quintessential american. home-spun, shrewd, smart entrepreneurial. represents so much of the american character. this is a wonderful biography. finally, "dying every day." i have a love of ancient roman

history and it's all about the roman poet, seneca, who was the artist in residence at the court of nero, and sort of the odd juxtapositions between this man, seneca and this tyrant, nero, and how he tried to survive in that time period, while being on the other hand a very senior adviser to nero, and it was a very tricky business. so it's a great piece of roman history about a very controversial and not easy relationship and a very easy and great read if you like ancient roman history as i do. so that's my summer reading for now. and i hope to be back next year with an equal number of recommendations. >> booktv wants to know what your reading this summer. tweet us your answer,@book tv or posted on thundershower facebook page facebook.com/book tv.

>> on sunday, july 5th booktv is live with best selling author peter schweizer on in-depth, our live monthly call in show. he is the author of nine books which take critical looks as governments and politics. he is the founder of the government accountability institute and a senior editor at large for bright bart news. his most recent best seller is "clinton cash" where he looks at the money made be bill and hillary clinton since leaving the white house. other recent titles include "extortion" in which he argues presidents and congressmen sew lit i sit donation in exchange for political failure and wrote" architects of ruin" claiming liberal politicians cautioned the 2008 financial crisis. he cans how members of congress used their positions to financially benefit themselves in "throw them all out." his previous books covered topics such as liberal

hypocrisy, profiles of the bush family and reagan's fight against communism. peter schweizer live on booktv on sunday, july 5th on depth -- "in depth." you can participate by sending comments or questions to facebook.com/booktv, on twitter,@booktv, or call in. >> now on booktv, mart feign ford looks at the impact of technology on jobs and the economy. >> martin ford is an author and a silicon valley entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in commuter design and software development. he is a frequent keynote speaker and guest on a radio and television on matters of technology. he is discussing their latest "the rise of the robots: technology and