we have good overseas partners with the question we need to ask is are we going into a place in the world we believe in and people are willing to work with us? if we answer no to either of those questions we shouldn't do it. we shouldn't do nationbuilding everywhere at all times. >> host: where have we done it successfully? >> guest: germany is the example most people bring out. after world war zero mag, japan is another one. most are not that successful and shouldn't told that is a standard. best we can hope for is what we had in reconstruction after the civil war, the early 20th century we go into part of our own country or another society that has undergone major transformation and contribute to place a little better but it is always a muddy process, never short and always involve setbacks. >> host: what about a case like

iraq where the us spurred the change in society hands has gone into reconstruction? >> guest: the traditional military part of the operation ended the very quickly. americans were unprepared. there was a case to be made we could have done a good job in iraq and maybe we started to do the job by 2007-2008 but we going without proper planning and prepared for what we were doing. the job in nish÷÷÷÷ afghanistan. the only place in iraq, two major nationbuilding operations, and move on to another. >> what about afghanistan accused >> i argue in the book and i believe this firmly that in late 2001-2000 to the people of

afghanistan had a history in the 60s and 70s. nation any of us want to live in but a functioning nationstate, wanted to go back to the negotiation process and we took our eyes off the ball, diver resources to iraq and we will rue that decision. >> host: any place else in the world the us is nationbuilding? >> we are in libya, we served a long serving dictator, qaddafi, for decades, we have been working closely along with our allies, a traditional counsel made of various rebel forces so we are part of this process. >> then we are involved in nationbuilding doesn't mean military occupation, we are part of this process and if

nationbuilding failed in libya our military operation will have been a failure because if a new qaddafi arrives we have wasted ÷ our time and access. if we can contribute to a more participatory and peaceful society that will lead to our benefit and the people of the region how can we not do nationbuilding? be change marklive inshow.com provides a list of books he deems required reading. here are some he recommends. ben shapiro's novel true allegiance looking at america's downturn in the war in afghanistan the wall street journal columnist and author kimberly straddles is the political left is using scare tactics to silence conservative speech in the intimidation game and in liars radio talkshow host glenn beck talks about how year makes america fall with false promises and lies by politicians during campaigns. wall street journal reporter jay reports on military, ÷ financial battles of the iran

wars. mark live in recommends the investigation into the clinton foundation, clinton cash as well as john locke's the war on guns which analyzes and attempts to debunk anti-gun studies. another recommendation is stolen sovereignty in which daniel ÷÷÷÷ horowitz says the overreach of the judicial branch is silencing free speech. more books recommended by mark levin, american into god by david pratt who advocates a conservative fiscal policy is beneficial to all americans. lieutenant general michael flynn's the field of fight and fly over nation by radio talkshow host dana lash in which she argues the us is dividing into two regions, coastal america and fly over america. the list of book recommendations is available at mark11show.com.

>> i came to the united states when i was 4 years old and my first memory was being taken away from my parents and give it away to another family, the only way to leave the refugee camp and that always stayed with me. even though i don't remember the war it has been imprinted on me like an invisible brand stamped between my shoulder blades. my parents face four decades of war and feminine terrible things and even though they rarely spoke about the fourth of the memory through actions and feelings included everyone else in the refugee community i grew up in.÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷ as an american boy growing up i was cognizant of the fact the vietnam war was very important to the vietnamese-american refugee community and the american community as a whole but americans only saw one side of the story. apocalypse now which is 10 years old, much too young of an age guard me for life. my personal life is interesting the novel is my revenge,

my attempt to also tell the history of the vietnam war from a perspective most americans never heard it before which is how their own allies, friends, south vietnamese experienced it÷ my narrator is a communist spy giving us the communist perspective on it and when he arrived in the united states, he is giving us the viewpoint of how the vietnamese the american culture which is not necessarily in a positive light so there is a satirical dimension of the novel as well. as i get white people to think about what white culture looks like to people from outside the country. the topic has been hard to exhaust for me which is why i had to write another nonfiction book about it, vietnam and the memory of war which is a larger context of 100 years of american

warfare since 1898, puerto rico, hawaii, vietnam war, iraq and afghanistan as an extension of a century long american campaign turn÷÷÷÷÷÷ why i needed to to nonfiction. >> contextual question, whether your experience writing the novel to reform your sense of the vietnam war. >> definitely because i wrote the novel to criticize everybody so there is something for everybody, criticizes communists, americans, the theme of the novel is sympathy. the easiest thing to do in war or conflict is cannon house ÷÷÷÷ office building only with our own side. the virtue and flaw sympathizes with everybody which makes him a great spy and leads to downfall

as well and that is what i learned from writing the novel. if there's any hope forward for peace and reconciliation and things like that it requires expansion of sympathy and empathy beyond our own closed communities to a larger human community. >> you can watch this and other programs on booktv.org.÷÷÷÷÷÷ >> here's a look at upcoming book fairs and festivals happening around the country. wednesday, november 16th we are in new york for the 2016 national book awards. then friday, november 18th, the national press club's annual book fair authors night in washington dc. later month live from the miami book fair on november 19th and 20th including author discussions and call in program÷ featuring senator bernie sanders, dana perino and national book award finalist colson whitehead.

for more information, booktv will be covering come and watch previous festival coverage click the book fairs tab on our website booktv.org. [inaudible conversations] >> booktv is back live at the texas book festival in austin. secret service agent clint hill, booktv on c-span2, television for serious readers.÷÷÷÷÷÷ [inaudible conversations]

>> after this session.