eugene's literary culture. next, a former tell and angeles the. [inaudible] >> to notify for worked on the series of radio and television programs but is best known as the cohost of the 700 club from 1983 to make 1987. in her book she talks about her time the rest of her life story. >> it was not a book about me. it was a book about my father. my father who is polish, polish war hero and olympic medalist would tell us the stories of his heroism and when i was a little girl he would say one day i will tell my story and one day, you

will write it. eventually and posthumously i discover some tapes that my father made about his life. i was taking the tapes and transcribing them. and i was connected the dots on his story and writing the story of his life as i had promised. eventually the circumstances changed that drove me to realize is not writing a book about him. it was a book about me. i my responses to him about in general. >> where did you grow up and how is your childhood and family? >> we grew up in northern michigan. my father was a sculpture his skull did for churches with some institutions. here's a great artist.

he was a ski instructor in the winter. we traveled a lot. in the winter we had to be a place where he could teach as a ski instructor. i one point we had a patch of land in the words surrounded by birch trees. but we had no money so we are living in a circus tent that was donated by a traveling circus. the church gave it to this band of polish gypsies living in the woods. so we were living in this tent it was a huge big top tent. my father didn't believe in chopping down trees and he said trees are permanent the tent is temporary. so i had trees going in the middle of the tent which were the four pillars of our bed.

we lived there until our dad could build our cabin in the woods with our mom working in detroit sending us are checks. was a fascinating childhood. we ate over bonfires that night. that was our cooking stove. we had better soon, do you have anything else my father could get with the bow and arrow. was a primitive, wonderful way to grow up as a little girl. >> how did that road trip from michigan to alaska come about? >> at the age of 16 i was raped by a boyfriend. but i couldn't tell my parents. i specially cannot tell my father. i felt so guilty and traumatized by that event. i ended up hiding my pregnancy.

the mother eventually new. we kept it from my father. one day my mother and father were out. there is a big snowstorm. i was home alone. i was in tenth grade. and i had the baby alone in the house. when my parents came home my father of course was shocked. he disowned me, told me i was not allowed to finish school and i was thrown out of the house. so my mother, in order to protect me took my 4-year-old brother my baby son myself, got a driveaway car, car that it and

airmen in alaska wanted to get the car from detroit, got us in this car, no snow tires, a faulty heater when we decided to go to alaska. it was because the airmen needed the car in alaska and we are going to deliver it to him. little did we know we're driving through the snow storm of the century. so we joe 4400 miles through a devastating storm, temperatures that were 60 below zero and possibly more. you cannot turn the car out because the engine would freeze. no other people on the road. it was only about 25 years old at the time. there was a treacherous road. no guardrails no signs, few gas stations little lodging.

we drove through that and my mother just kept driving. it was one of the most treacherous things we've ever done going under glaciers that were melting, over mountaintops that look like teepees. it was quite the journey. >> was going through your mind during those times? >> i was traumatized quite frankly. i really didn't have a solid thoughts in my head. i was frightened i was unsure of myself as following the direction of my mother who said this is what were going to do and i just followed. she adopted my son as her own and so my son had now become my

brother and i just took her lead. my mother had a way of saying look forward don't look back. don't even think about it. that was the way i survived. by not reflecting too much on what had happened in the past. she just kept telling me that i could finish school and go to college. i still had a life ahead of me. those due to the strength of my mother. so my father and god could almost replace each other. as a little girl i started thinking of my father is this huge god my life. and later in college i was looking for some connection to the divine. was struggling with looking for some redemption even though is

not my fault i was right my father maybe think got one sliced tried all sorts of religions. finally i met the man who led me to jesus over margarita in san diego. this is when i was a tv host and radio news journalist in san diego. so now i was a born again christian. felt great. while i was working in san diego some assent to tape to pat robertson at the 700 club and i got a letter from them asking if i like to be the news director at a bureau in jerusalem. i jumped at the chance. i was now steeped in religion

and tv evangelism. i really wasn't quite prepared for what i found. >> when did you officially join the 700 club? >> i really didn't join the 700 club. they joined me. i thought i was going to jerusalem. their cohost on the 700 club at the time had a nervous breakdown, they did not tell me that they just said we just lost her cohost could you sit in for two days, thursday and friday of the 700 club with pat robertson and ben and co- cohost and will get your ticket to jerusalem on monday. i had never seen the show. so i didn't have much information when i sat down on the set. monday go in to pick up my

ticket to jerusalem. i'm still living in a hotel. i'm thinking i'm going. i walk into the human resources department their memos all over the wall in a cubicle door saying please welcome jim danuta as a new cohost of the 700 club. i didn't get to jerusalem. it was a big learning curve because within a matter of weeks, not even months is now being asked by churches and christian organizations to preach. i know how to talk, but preaching was a different story. not only that, is asked to heal, the laying on of hands there is a belief that you could pray and lay on hands in the name of jesus someone could be healed and there is a power in their

prayer i was astonished at how hungry people were. i was surprised at how a lot of the people and viewers who watch the 700 club were willing to take the word of someone on television above and beyond their own sense of faith. television has a tremendous power over people. so somehow we have become the intermediary to the lord because we are on television. behind the scenes other things were taking place. pat was decided to run for president. there was the presidential chat. there are some transactions in africa going on with gold mines and diamond mines and the irs

was getting involved in the money distribution with nonprofit organization and political ambitions and super pacs and all of this business was going on. it was throwing the showing me and the producers off balance a bit. it got to be very uncomfortable. in this pat is running for president, he finds out from a reporter that my brother is really my son. pat confronts me about it. he is afraid that the news is going to hurt his political campaign and that his cohost has this past. so he compels me to tell my son that he is actually my son and that was pretty uncomfortable. i'm not sure he was ready for that information.

just to save a man's political career and to destroy the family unit and invade that privacy was very uncomfortable. my son took it pretty well, but it was another reason like mi in the right place? should i be doing this? is all of this as all touristic as i had hoped? so i decided i was going to leave. i was in florida making that decision that i would probably leave the 700 club and go back to san diego and pick up my career there. i was confronted unexpectedly by three elders from cbn who pounded into me that i was not supposed to leave. that jesus wanted me there. i was supposed to stay on and

that my purpose was set. for three days they were praying over me and showing me typical scriptures about why jesus wanted me to stay. until i succumbed. i said okay. i will stay. two days later back at cbn from florida, i have fired in the parking lot until that my services will no longer be needed because pat son would take my place. pat is now officially off because he's running for president in the primaries. i was standing there wondering which jesus was talking to me. the jesus of the beach in fort myers or the jesus of the parking lot. that put me into a tailspin for many many months. so in order to save my own soul

in my own sanity, i decided to throw the baby out with the bathwater, religion, god, jesus, everything, and start over. i went for a 2200-mile bicycle ride to clear my head. >> headed that translate to how you found tapes of your father and how you discovered more about him to just now that you felt free. >> i met and married my husband robin. i have to take a little backtrack on that question. at the point of being totally empty and having nothing was one of the most powerful feelings i ever had. emptiness was not something to fear but something to rejoice

in. i could only be filled out. when your cup is empty nature hates a vacuum. it was common. i felt energized by it. it was during this time when i met my husband through a newspaper at that i wrote. we met, fell in love, and within 12 days he asked me to marry him. that was 23 years ago. so, now i have met the love of my life who managed and planted a vineyard on his family farm. one day he said, what is one of your dreams? and i said one day i want to go to poland and do research on the book i'm writing about my father.

and he said there's no such thing as one day. let's make it happen. he took me to poland. there i discovered all of my father's stories were lies. he was not a big war hero. he did not escape from -- he did not win olympic medals for skiing. it was all a lie. this book i have been writing was 350 pages of falsehood. i realized i was now having to change the story. the story was my reaction to all of this. as i started rewriting the story i was writing my own. >> what would you want to take away from this book?

>> there is an art to forgiveness. even though you feel you have been betrayed not to carry the stone in your backpack. it will bring you down. forgiveness is a big part of life. i learned to forgive my father. i learn to forgive the god of the parking. forgiveness is important. another thing is, do not be afraid of emptiness. to not be afraid of losing anything. don't ever think your stock. if you feel stuck in life, there so much life waiting for you out there. don't be afraid to let go of the things that are not working for you and to grapple, even if there is nothing to hold onto. hold onto the faith that potential is waiting for you.

you will be fulfilled. so, if you're has no place in the ups and downs of life. it is an adventure. >> this has been a wonderful conversation. thank you for allowing us to cover you. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. it spread to today by your cable or satellite provider. >> march 7, 2014 we're fine with president obama, then president obama to selma, alabama. i asked a question about post- racial versus post- obama era. and he said i would not equate my election with moments like

the emancipation proclamation the passing of the civil rights act of 1964. those are massive changes in legal status that represented fundamental brakes and america's tragic history. and where the pillars of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendment. those were represent a formal discrimination the country. nothing will compare to that. moving forward our work is to build on that and fine-tune it where we see discrimination still occurring. increasingly our work has to do with dealing with the legacy of a divided society. closing the opportunity gaps, the opportunity caps that inevitably have been passed on from generation to generation because the gaps are so wide. that evolved know one piece of legislation but requires a host of other efforts. means investing in early

childhood education. making sure everyone has health insurance and that type of work that were doing means getting more african-americans in stem education. so there's not going to be one silver bowl but rather a sustained effort on a variety that will take us on the next leg to a more just society. wow. that was on her way to selma, alabama for the 50th anniversary of blood he sunday. those words ring true today. who are we? this book goes into the heart of the matter. when you talk about race and piggybacking what president obama said isn't it strange to say, then president obama. is to spend ten or 11 days. the bottom line is that we still

have a society that is divided. going to think about and go back to my children's favorite song where we are united divided states. when it comes to matters of race, african-americans have the highest number of negatives in every category. issues of policing are important. it's one of the pieces i start in this book. traditionally in the american black community there is a coming-of-age truth for young black men called the talk. something like fathers give their sons. it's meant to be a lifetime tool that might help the boys strategically navigate interactions with law enforcement with the goal of avoiding altercations. it can spell life or death for black males.

i know it sounds 1950s and 60s, but now more than ever it that's the reality. the essence of the talk is a dad telling his son that bad policing results in death. it is more than a soulful truth. it is an unavoidable fact in our community. >> you can watch this and other programs online at book tv.work. >> you're watching book to be a on c-span2. here's our primetime lineup. 7:00 p.m. eastern hillary clinton talks about her forthcoming book. . . book expo in new york

city. former secretary of state and democratic presidential nominee, hillary clinton will discuss her forthcoming book. if in the meeting rooms and so that's much more appreciative that you are here with us this evening. i am president and chief executive officer of simon and schuster and it is my great pleasure and honor to introduce hillary clinton. [applause]