you to do so. gentlemen, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> you're watching book tv on c-span2, television for serious readers and here is a look at what's on prime time tonight. we kick off the evening at 7:00 eastern with eric, liberty and justice from recent book, if you can keep it, the forgotten promise of american liberty. at 8:15 on the one-year anniversary of same-sex marriage

in all 50 states, coming up at 9:15 melissa, influence of women and the tea party. historian pamela provides a history of guns in america. we finish up our prime time programming at 11:00 with the former state department official kayle whose book the mirror test takes a look at the war. it all happens tonight on c-span2 book tv. >> george gibson is the publishing director of blooms berry. >> worldwide publishers, the u.s. division of it, founded in 1998, the company was funded in 1986, after first harry potter

novel they opened in the united states. >> what kind of books do you publish? >> about 110 books a year. largely nonfiction, we do 20% is fiction but a lot of history and politics and current events and food-related books, populist science, those are the four areas and memoir as well. >> well, we want to catch up with you at the publishing convention to talk about some of the books that are coming out this fall and you have one coming out on lyndon johnson. >> a woman named joan melon. lbj accomplished a lot as a president but had a very dark side and the story told from a lens and only interacted with lyndon johnson on a couple of occasions.

amazing guy and the best way to describe is he in 1951 he walked into a small golf course owner in austin, texas and shot the man dead. he was arrested two hours later and he said to the arresting officers that the texas rangers, i work for lyndon, i have to get back to washington. within an hour lyndon johnson's personal lawyer john was defending him and exonerated and then got security clearance working for dh byrd which was a weapon's contractor in texas and had security clearance and they couldn't. and so there's a hidden story here behind the scene story of lbj through all great accomplishments had a dark story

we'll. >> where did ms. melon get this information? >> the day after kennedy was assassinated, that next day life magazine was set to release an article investigating lbj's dealings in texas and bobby baker, aid in washington. that article never saw the light of day. indeed, the senate intelligence committee was doing an investigation of lbj that too was stopped immediately. lbj was one of the luckiest man alive because of jfk's assassination. le had nothing to do with it. but he did benefit from it by becoming president and avoiding investigations, and that's what the book had as well. >> what's the term mean? >> deal with the devil.

the young man were dealing with the devil and making a bargain with the devil. they got something for it but they paid a steep price as well. >> a new book out on the american revolution, what are we going to learn? >> paul is the former head of the art department, historian and history of revolution through the lens of the five great painters of the area, gil gilbert stewart and fascinating group of men to begin with but you see revolution through completely different eyes when you study the paintings that they did which were so iconic at the time. they were very influential in guiding america's feelings towards britain or against britain. many paintings that arouse positive sentiments for england at the time and many that supported the colonist cause.

each had their own connection to the revolution. his whole family was involved. he was in favor of the american's cause but couldn't go too far in what he painted. he had to hold back in his own sentiments because he would have lost interest in the court if he had. fascinating individual stories that give a whole different look at the american revolution. >> what was your reaction when you first heard about that book? >> that i didn't -- i did not know that this aspect of the story. i wrote a lot of books about the revolution and revolutionary period but i never really read anything about those artists, i know that there have been biographies of all them but i didn't know the stories and reading the proposal of the

books, i was stunned by own stories and how amazing they were as individuals, five painters and the effect that they had with the american public at the time whether you were in favor of the revolution or not the painters had a huge impact. he was the equivalent of war photographer. he was doing portraits or george washington himself. he did painting of washington at the battle of princeton. and taking great risks as well and so, you know, these men had fascinating vibrant lives but they also tell the revolution in a different way. >> george gibson who recollects is carl anderson. >> carl anderson is the professor, head of african-american studies in atlanta, one of the really great african-american professes or in the country and at the height of

the ferguson riots in 2014, in june, july of 2014 he wrote in which she argued even though everybody understands why we are talking about black rage and deaths of michael brown and gardner, we really should be taking about white race, when blacks have made a social progress in america, they have been met with a concerted deliberate white opposition, whether in reconstruction, migration north, brown versus education, the war against drugs or the obama presidency. every time that blacks have made progress in this country, there has been a concerted white backlash in the courts and legislature. it has been coded as -- as protecting democracy or preventing fraud or some other buzz words for it buts is systemic racism and this is the first time that someone has

connected 150 years of history from 1865 to the present to show that the attitudes that were very much alive during reconstruction are sadly very much alive today. they're coded differently, worded differently but that systemic sense of racism and pushing down a minority is still very much in our culture, sad to say. >> when is that book coming out? >> may 31st, it's a little bit before the fall season but perhaps the most powerful that i have ever published. at the end i came up with an anker but a sense this is undeniable. we cannot deny that this is happening. >> a little bit off the beaten path. >> ross king is a historian of art and history. the skill is connecting great art with the history that stands

behind it and it's the story of water lily paintings that are in museums all over the world and he didn't start painting them until he was 15 year's old and his wife has died as he was painting here his son was in the army, and he was terrified for losing his son, the town where he lived was turned into a military hospital and, yet he produced extraordinary paintings at this old age. the great friend at the moment he want president of prime minister of france and became prime minister again. when he wasn't doing politics would go out to check up on monet who was depress i have to see how he was doing because he felt he was a treasure of france and he ultimately convinced monet to give paintings to the country after he