that if that's what the research did not lead. understand, i'm not wanting the research to lead where it led because i knew i was risking millions of dollars of income. and i'm not like you know mr. altruistic, just give it away type of thing. >> that is a little bit about "the boy crisis", why boys are struggling and what we can do about it with warren farrell co-author, john gray , this is booktv on c-span2. >> on our live author call-in program, in-depth historian lee edwards shared his thoughts on the current state of the conservative movement and reflected on its past. wesley things were exciting. people are a little bit -- we're fighting too much. we are arguing too much. disputing too much.

like hatfield and mccoy. and i say, that's great! because it means these are signs of vitality. of life, not of a movement that is cracking up or that on its last leg. people are fighting and debating and arguing so strenuously because something of value is concerned here. that is the conservative movement which is still a major actor in american politics. at the same time, we have an opportunity to accept change. i think that's part of what it means to be a conservative today. not to be so resistant that we don't allow anything to happen. it was so that change is inevitable. also i am looking for, the right kind of leadership, recommend debate and discussion. i welcome all is going on right

now. the various strands and strains of conservatism, that's good. coming out of that will be bigger and better anything more relevant conservative movement in the years ahead. >> and want to read you a quote - barry would just go actually crazy if he were watching this today. he would be yelling at the television, he would think it is embarrassing, situation we have with donald trump. it is not the republican part of the country we knew 25 or 30 years ago. that was susan goldwater, march 21, 2016. >> right. well, i think there's something to be said for that. at the same time, -- was a practical politician or just a man of principle which he was the countries of the conservative. he was also a practical person. and he would've said wait a

minute now, 63 million people voted for this guy, why? and what is he doing? i think he would begin, supreme court nominations, deregulation, tax cuts, strong military, national defense being built up, being concerned about trade that is not just free but fair. i think barry goldwater would've imported all of those things. i am pretty sure he would have. at the same time he probably would have said something like well, why didn't trump's mother wash his mouth out with soap? and make them understand that we do not need a potty mouth. except goldwater would not have used the word potty. >> had digital become known as a conservative historian or historian of the conservative? >> well, i don't think i am.

i think this doing of the conservative movement is george nash. he were a marvelous book many years ago now called intellectual history of the conservative movement since 1945. that is the bible. that is what we refer to when we want to know what happened, up until the 70s. george nash is a marvelous, careful aim staking, brilliant historian. i count him as the historian, the conservative movement. it so happens that i've written some books and i've written some biographies and maybe i am coming up sort of maybe fifth or sixth maybe i'm making my way up in this race. i did not start out to be historian. i started out years ago with what i say was to be a novelist. that did not work out so well.

i wrote three very bad novels which never got published. thankfully! because it would have been an embarrassment. and then i got into political writing. which is where was for 20/25 years. one day i said i am burned out. i've had it with worrying about campaigns, all of that. want to go to the academy and to teach and write. so went back to school, got a phd, began teaching, that's what i've been the last 20 or 30 years. i guess i've also picked up a little bit from churchill. all of the one line of his someone says what is history going to say about you, mr. churchill? he said, i know because i'm going to write it. i think what i'm trying to do, in a small way with my work is to paint a picture of the conservative movement. sometimes from the inside,

sometimes a little from the outside. so people 20, 30, 50 years from now will be able to refer to my books and understand the conservative movement better and in more depth. >> one of the books you are is reading the right books a guide for the conservative. what are some of the books contained there? >> they were hundred nine books. some of my favorite books are in there. conscience of the conservative, my own biography, goldwater, which i think is a pretty good book. bill buckley has one, we have road to serfdom. we have eight or nine different categories, we took these 109 books and put them into various statesmanship, economic, politics, history and so forth. what we did was to take a book,

like say the road to serfdom. and then to boil it down to pager page and 1/2, to try to get people to see what it is, perhaps to spark interest in it and make them pick up the whole book. and read it. actually, that little book, it's only 125 pages, something like that. it is one of the hardest things ever written because i had to read a book and then condense it down into three or 400 words. and that really is not easy! i mean, that takes an amount of concentration and focus of debt. i couldn't do it for more than a couple books than anyone day. it took us a while. >> to watch the rest of lee