more complete way around the company, right, and that was really the c context which i wrote. >> watch the rest of the program at booktv.org, hot seat into the searching box at the top of the page. >> and you're watching book tv on c-span2. well, if you are of a certain age, you have one of these on your shelves, your dictionary and probably looked up words throughout your lifetime but if you're a little bit younger, chances are, you've done it digitally. well, marry french is trying to change that. she is the founder and director of something called the dictionary project. mary french, what are you trying to do? >> we want everyone to have -- able to have a dictionary to enjoy the benefits of enjoying a dictionary and we try to give them out when they're in the third grade so they get into the

habit of looking at words and understand the meaning and the multiple meanings and appreciate your rich language. >> so what is the importance to you of having this fiscal book rather than just typing it in your phone? >> it's another tool for leashing and i've been doing this for 25 years, book ipads and iphones and the technology that we are using today, technology is what drives the words in the dictionary where it comes from and how we communicate and you have to be able to use different tools in order to access information, so it's just another tool and at the young age of 8 or 9, primarily age that we distribute dictionaries to children in

school, they're more apt to learn from a book than computer, an electronic device. they will learn both ways but i think that it's more accessible to them wherever they go, the book itself, plus they own it. it benefits them in many different ways and has a lot of information in it. >> what's the importance of the third grade in this case? >> well, we -- when i started this i was running and i tried everything and i really found that their grade was the optimal age because at that point they're learning to read and then reading to learn. so if you can encourage children and give them this tool, they have such have saidment in term

of expanding their education in terms of school career. >> where did the idea of the dictionary come from? when she was working as a crossing guard in savannah, the martin luther king exit off of 95 she saw that children weren't bringing books back and forth to school and she asked them why because they weren't allowed to take books from home and she bought everybody a dictionary and told them to use it because

they didn't want their opportunity lives to be diminished because they didn't have a large vocabulary and wrote mind is a terrible thing to waste. i met her and i actually -- some actually clean their house. she died in 2000 from breast cancer. so she has had a huge impact on people and it was a great idea to make sure that everybody has a dictionary. >> so since 1995 when you founded the dictionary project with arnold french, how many dictionaries have gone out to children? >> over 33,700,000. >> how do you get them out

there? >> civic organizations. this project started out with writing grants and then i spoke to different organizations about this idea because they were intrigued with the idea of dictionaries and, of course, literacy so they took on the literacy project, most organizations, they have to have a literacy program as part of their charter every year that they implement and this was an easy program to do and it's really -- you get the best thing for your buck. you can reach the most people for the amount of money that it cost and it has a very long-term impact. most of these people and i've been doing this for 25 years,

the children of the third grade, they've gone through college already who initially received dictionaries and people, to see if they are still using dictionaries or people think they are worthwhile. those children say they have their dictionary and they know where it is, not 100% of them. when you ask them, they appreciate the gift and they still use it. for 2 or $3 it had an amazing impact on them, on their lives. >> you have several different versions of the dictionaries you sent out but the front one has this, this dictionary belongs to and you can write your name right in there. why are there 8 different versions, go green is one i have here, a student's dictionary, dictionary and thesaurus.

a student's dictionary an animal. why so many versions? >> we want to have options for people. when i first started this and i swas writing grants, i was handing out books that i found at the dollar store and a lot of the teachers didn't like it because the -- it didn't have words they were looking for in it and some had sample sentences and they thought the simple sentences were too violent and we started looking at other options so i asked merriam-webster and i created my own books and the go green dictionary. the memory of my brother who died years ago and the animal

gazateer is my favorite. we need to do more to protect the animals in our world and so i created that book to help children understand animals and there's a lot of numbers in that particular book and that was created by some students who were available in -- i think 14 and 16 and their father wanted them to have a summer job and -- >> well, one of the things in the animal gazetteer, you have each state listed, i open this up to indiana and you have the population and the stats about the state but at the bottom it's zoo locations and children zoo is listed there at the top. can anyone contribute to the dictionary project? >> yes. >> how do they do so? >> we have a website

dictionaryproject.org and they can call our office and we answer the phone and in any way that you want to contribute or participate, you have thousands of people who volunteer and we are proud of the great work that they do in the community and they do many things and this is one thing that they do and very grateful for all that they're doing. >> can anybody get the dictionary? >> absolutely. we get phone calls every day and i get letters but i send them letter, dictionaries and when i read the letter they ask for a a specific type of dictionary that they're looking for.

i have grandmother that wants to giver it to their children. anyone who wants a dictionary we will make sure they get one. >> thanks for your time, thanks for joining us on book tv. >> my pleasure, peter. >> in a virtual event host bid the competitive enterprise institute in washington, d.c., financial analyst steve explains why he believes corporate america has been changed by progressive ideology. >> i've worked at the nexus of politics and financial markets for my entire professional career, for almost 25 years now. i have always known that the idea that wall street is owned by republicans and owned by conservatives is a myth. my own experiences in the financial services taught me that but over the last several

years, it's become more obvious to me that it's been a very significant push to the left to the industry more generally and speaking with friends, clients and other people in the business, it became clear that they too saw the push to the left and they were frustrated by it. roughly 2 years ago i had a conversation with justin danhoff at the national center for public research and justin shared with me the work that he does in fighting back against activist shareholders. it was an interesting and enlightening discussion. i was not aware of just how

early left-wing politics had invaded what was once upo a time free and fair capital markets. so i was very intrigued by the issue and bothered by it. i shared that information with my clients i believe that we even put together a conference call to share the information directly to our clients and a lot of them and again these are sophisticated asset managers, people who have been in the business for a long time and they were very surprised at how thoroughly left-wing politics has captured financial markets. so from that point on, i made it my personal mission to expose this. at some point in this discussion, i would imagine we will get around to the question of what do we do now and the first part of the answer to that question is raise awareness. and that's been my job in this battle against the

politicization of capital markets. to raise awareness and so that's what set me down the track and that's what pushed me to write the book. >> you can watch the rest of the program online at booktv.org, search for steven soukup at the top of the passenger. >> and you have been watching book tv, watch fiction authors discuss their books, television for serious readers and watch them all online any time at booktv.org and you can find us on twitter, facebook and youtube at book tv. ♪ ♪ >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government funded by the television companies and more including charter communication. >> broadband is a force for empowerment, that's why charter has invested millions, building

infrastructure, upgrading technology and empowering opportunity in communities big and small. charter is connecting us. ♪ ♪ >> charter communications supports c-span as a public service along with the other television providers giving you a front-row seat to democracy. ♪ ♪ ♪ .. .. i served as associate deputy attorney general for my portfolio focusing on cyber issues about half my portfolio was active investigations, prosecutions, those of cyber criminals as well as nation state actors and the other half related to