captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, the meeting that wasn't. after president trump cancels a secr summit with taliban and afghan leaders, where does america stand in the effort to end its longest war? thenbrexit on the brink. chaos envelops the british government as its tions for muaving the european union grow ier. o us amy walter and tamara keith are hereamine the closely watched special election in umh carolina, and president p's latest republican challenger. and margaret atwood, author of the acclaimed novel "the handmaid's tale," returns to her sequel, "the testas."the new >> if i had thought, let's write a sequel to "the handm tale" of this kind in 2000, or

let's say in 1999, i would've said, why bother? we're not going there. surely people are moving away from that. but in the moment in which we now exist, that's not true anymore. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's "pbs nouewshr." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

>> consumer cellular. >> financial services firm fymond james.he >>illiam and flora hewlett eaundation. for more than 50, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made adsshile by the corporation for public bsting. atd by contributions to your pbs n from viewers like you. thank you.

>> woodruff: president trump now says that peace talks with the taliban are dead. his pronouncement today came crter he disclosed he was canceling a weekend meeting with taliban and afghan leaders at camp david. he blamed a taliban g that killed a u.s. service member st thursday. we will gesome analysis after north korea offered today to restart nuclear talks with the united stes this month. the talks stalled after president trump and north korea's kim jong un held a failed summit in hanoi last acbruary. mr. trump d this afternoon, outside the white house. >> have a very good relationship with chairman kim, kim jong un, and it just came out, i just saw it as i'm coming out here, it just came out that they would like to meet, we'll see what happens, but i always say having meetings is a good ufing not a bad thing.

>> woo kim jong un is widely believed to be seeking from u.s. sanctions.and reef israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu claimed today that iran had a secret nuclear weapons site. he said it had been in abadeh, in central iran, but was destroyed by the iranians after g ing discovered. iran's foreign minister javad zarif dismsed the israeli claim. he said "the possessor of real nukes cries wolf." the deadly storm "dorian" is no longer a hurrica, but thousands are still struggling in its wake. e storm lashed at nova scoti and newfoundland yesterday, before moving into the north atlantic. meanwhile, search teams in the bahamas recovered more bodies, as the death toll there reached at least 45. we'll hear more about the bahamas, later in the prram. in russia, voters have handed a victory to opponents of president vladimir putin's party.

results from sunday's voting show the opposition won nearly half of the moscow city council's seats. opposition leader alexei navalny had urged support for the anti- kremlin candidates with the best chance of winning. ated ): in general we can say that the "tactical vote" worked in the country and, for the first time, it wked much better than we had expected. this was an experiment, and in those cities and regions where it was implemented for the first time, it worked very, very well. >> woodruff: putin's party won several governorships, but also suffered defeats in several other city elections. thousands of high school and college students in hong kon formed human chains today to support democratic reforms. they held hands outside their schools. it was a show of solidarity after violent weekend clashes between protesters and police. on sunday, marchers the u.s. to impose sanctions on hong kong and mainland china.

bac in this country, the u.s. coast guard rescued three of four crew members trapped inside a south korean cargo ship off georgia's coast. the massive vessel was carrying more than 4,000 new vehicles when it overturned and burned early sunday, closing the port st brunswick. ipday, a coa guard helicopter landed on the side, and rescuers rappelled down and drilled a hole in the hull. they found the cr members alive and safe. 20 other crew members re rescued yesterday. 50 states and u.s. territories have opened an anti-trust investigation into google. the bipartisanroup announced today they are looking into alleged monopolistic behavior. texas attorney general ken paxton was among those speaking outside e u.s. supreme court. >> this is a company that pects ofs all vertising on the internet and they dominate the buyers side

the sellers side, the auctio side and even the video side with youtube. >> woodruff: facebook is facing a similar investigation by a separate group of states. three u.s. house committees-- artelligence, oversight and g reign affairs- all investigatether president trump and top aides pressed ukraine for re-election help. at issue is whether they pushed kiev to probe hunter biden's connectionto a ukrainian gas impany. his fathformer vice president joe bin, now a democratic presidential candidate. a federal judge in california has re-issued a nationwide injunction against barring most migrants from seeking asylum at the u.s./mexico border. ape trump administration rule ies to those who pass through a third country. an appeals court restricted the judge's previous injunction. today, he re-instated his initial ruling.

the white house called it "a gift to human smugglers and traffickers." and, on wall street th jones industrial average gained 38 pnts to close at 26,835. 0 e nasdaq fell 15 points, and the s&p ipped a fraction. still to come on the "newshour," nearly 18 years after the invasion, how close is the u.s. in ending its military involvemenfghanistan? dealing with the magnitude of suffering in the bahamas as the beope of hurricane dorian's destruction comes clear. the brexit breakdown-- u-k leaders scramble to figure out rost how they'll be leaving the euan union. and much more. >> woodruff: the fallout continued today from the collapse of the white house plan

to invite the leaders of the taliban and president of afghanistan to camp davi president trump's twin surprise- taliban to the u.s., but was canceling the talks, echoed in shington and kabul. and that's where special t.rrespondent jane ferguson is tonit. >> reporter: leaving they,hite house toresident trump had ominous words about the taliban peace talks. >> they're d.d. they're de as far as i'm concerned, they're dead. >> reporter: he spoke after canceling separate meetings with afghan president ashraf ghani and taliban leaders planned for this weekend at the camp david presidential retreat. lawmakers of both parties blasted thpresident for even inviting the taliban to camp anniversary of the september 11th terror attacks. democratic senator robert menendez of new jersey. >> i think it was ill conceive in the first place. no's another example of the trump administration's foreign policy, which is a high-wire

act. >> reporter: liz cheney of wyoming-- the third ranking republican in the house-- tweeted, "no member of the taliban should set foot there. ev." the meeting would have come after nearly a year of talks. u.s officials-- led by afghan native and former ambassador zalmayhalilzad-- and the o liban had closed in on a peace deald the 18-year american war in afghanistan. as part of that tentative deal, the u.s. would remove 5,000 troops in return for a taliban pledge to reduce violence and prevent the terror groups like isis and al-qaeda from operating there would also be follow up talks between the taliban and afghanovernment. reen, in three tweets saturday night,dent trump announced the camp david talks with the mliban, and said he had "cancelled tting and called off peace negotiations." he blamed a taliban ck last thursday that killed a u.s. soldier-- an attack he said proved the taliban were

negoating in bad faith. secretary of state mike pompeo on sunday defended the president. >> when the taliban tried to conducting terror attacks inside of the country, president trhtp made the recision to say that's not going to work. >> reporter: in kabul, afghan presidential spokean sediq seddiqi welcomed thedown of the deal. the afghan government says it has been shut out of the talks completely, and their criticism io the propod deal had strained rel with the trump administration. t >> we strongly believe tat shift in policy is a reflection of the concerns that we have raised towards that peace deal, and there is a true and genuine understanding in the white house of any conquences of any bad peace deal or peace process. >> reporter: mr. trump announced from the start of nenctiations that he was determined to pull th >> i would have done the

negotiations differently. >> reporter: dr. hamdullah mohib is president ashraf ghani's national security advisor. >> showing your card right at the outset doesn't make for good negotiations. and i think perhaps that's why their position has hardened over the last nine months since these >> reporter: the violence across afghanistan in recent weeks has been staggering as both sides red each other on the negotiations. the taliban have killed zens of afghan civilians in suicide attacks on the capital kabul and launched offensives in several provincial capitals as well as killing four u.s. soldiers in the last two weeks. in turn, afghan and coalition forces have pounded the taliba a wi strikes and special forces operations. if there is no deal, and the taliban continue to refuse to talk to the kabul government, then the bloodshed in afghanistan will continue. but the taliban have ae.eady

said they won't recognize your government, if they still refuse to talk to you then what's the plan? more war? a if they do not accept that and th still a major threat to the security of us and partners so they will face the consequences. and we have the will. >> reporter: the taliban have reacted angrily, releasing a statement saying "this will harm america more than anyone else." it's not clear if this deal is completely off the table, or the current collapse of the talks can be repaired. nt deal at all comes with one cert that the u.s.' nengest war will get longer. for the pbhour, i'm jane ferguson in kabul, afghanistan. >> woodruff: we takeper look at why the talks collapsed and on where this goes from here with laurel miller. she was present obama's special reesentative for afghanistan and pakistan. roe's now at the international crisis, a global non- welcome back to the

"newshour". we hear president trump say today the peace talks are dead. you believe that's the case? >> they don't have to be dead. it's a question of whether the u.s. has the will to restart the talks. some of the statements that have been made by secretary pompeo, in pticular, have indicated some openness to restarting the talks, and the liban has likewise. it's hard to know how to interpret president trump's latest statements that sound more definitive given he ha changed his mind on similar issues in the past. just a couple of days after we thout the meetings were on. >> that's right. >> woodruff: what's your understanding of what exacly caused this thing to go off the rail? the presints blaming taliban attacks that killed an american rvicemember infghanistan. but americans haan been killed regularly over many months, and many pple we've talked to say

they think there's there's much more here. >> there's no logic, you can say, to that explanation. the attacks, the ramping up of violence that was described in one earlier piece has been going hroughout these negotiations almost a year now. last year, afghastan was the deadliest conflict in the world. this has been a trajectory over a long period of ime, and many americans have been killed before now. so the id that one particular attack, tragic as it maye, b was the unique reason for canceling these last-minute, thwn-together event in camp david doesn't sound very credible. what's moret likely is t the taliban didn't want to show up because it was their understanding that the deal had been ccluded, that it had been negotiated with ambassador khalilzad. ty would they want to come to camp dav reopen the deal? >> woodruff: they had been in

these discussions with ambassador khalilzad and they thought this would be something that's open. >> at a minimum, they thought the meetingould an invitation to presidenti ghan's questioned as to what was the intention of this meeting given the investigations takenn so far have been ly been on a narrow issue beeen the u.s. d the taliban. >> woodruff: let's talk about what was in the agreementhe wed jane fergen vered 5,000 troops out of te 13,000 in the coalition, a follow-up with taliban talks with the afghan govnment, what do we know more about what was in this deal? >> not a lot more. the administration and others, the very, very few peoplalwho have act seen the text o tf the agreement haveen extraordinarily tight-lipped about it. we know about the first phase of drawdown, the 5,000 over 135

days that you referred to, veryl little detbout what the rest of the drawdown of american forces would look like.no we there would be a commitment to starting afghan talks, and that there would be some kind of assurances from the taliban that they'd break with al quaida and prevent afghanistan from ever again being used as a b launchi for terrorism. >> woodruff: but at this among these parties involved? >> very little, but you never negotiate pce on the basis of trust. you negotiate on te baisof intest and of trying to identify common interests, and tie reasons that gave birth to these negots nearly a year ago still exist. e afghan wais a bloody stalate, the u.s. is not going t defeat the taliban, the afghan governm not showing signs of being able to defeat the taliban, and the u.s.e was looking for a way out with as much grace and potential

stability left behind as possible. >> woodruff: is it your understanding that the key figures in the trump administration believed that if the taliban signed on to any agreementhat they were going to abide by it? my question is do they truly believe that the tall wanbahn was ready to split fromid al q to stop attacking the afghan government and so on? ve you don't have to b that they're ready in order to enter into an agreement like this you have to have mechanisms for verifying, for implementing the agreement, and then provisions that enable you to pull out the agreement if they don't abide by it. but you can never know wheth that intention is real in advance of actually testing it through negotiation and implementation. >> reporter: is there one party on whom we c say responsibility for this thing falling apart lies? >> i think the united states. i mean, that's not to say that there haven't been difficulties in t negotiations, or that the taliban hasn't been stubbornly

instent on its posion, but there'buno evidence so far that there was any last-minute change oftion on their part. there's only evidence that there was this last-minute initiative uo hold the camp david meeting. >> woodruff: be, as you said earlier, theyid had agreedr thought they had tentative agreements with ambassador khalilzad. where do we o from her laurel miller? >> you know, there's no go alternative to trying to negotiate a peace agreement in emafghanistan, that rns true today as a few days before this. it's obviously going to be hard to restart the talks if the parties want to because credibily has been damag and, already, minimal trust has been further lo. >> woodruff: and, at this point, president ghani -- (coughing) sorry. go ahead. sorry about your cough. but president ghani of afghanistan was luctant to

accept these talks, but then he agreed to come, and i the t guess on friday, he changed his mind about coming, so there's a factor there. >> yes, it's not clear whether -- >> woodruff: i'm sorry about that. >> it's not clr whether or notwi he's comin a refuels to talk as much as the cancellation. >> woodruff: soy about that, laurel miller. it happens to all of us. it's happened to me. thank mu very muchwe'll have you on again to talk about this. >> thank you very much. >> woodruff: rescue workers searched for bodies in the bahamas today and thousands of residents evacuated to shelters. the abaco islands were devastated by hurricane dorian. relief operations are unrway, but it's been a slow a difficult process. am nawaz gets a report fro the islands.

>> reporter: jy, it's been a week since dorian struck the abaco islands and part of the grand bahama. it's been slow going to get enough food, water and supplies to these places. as much 90% of all the laildings and structures on the abaco isnds appear to have been destroyed. areas like marsh harbour, where there were many haitian immigrants, may not be habitable for any real length of time. there' in getting supplies to people in need and there's been talk of possible strains between the local government and some relief groups. today, government officials were asked about why some flights aren't getting to the hard hit islands. priority is given to those entities that made contact with newnema. it is to coordinate. we are not preve

from getting in, but it has to be phone done in an orderly fashion. we don't want disaster upon disaster. >> reporter: unicef began delivering water supplies this weekend, after a plane landed with.5 tons of supplies. naqib safi is an emergency specialist for unicef. was in marsh harbour yesterday. and he joins me from nassau by skype. naquib safi, welcome to the "newshour"t you were j in marsh harbour. some of thhardest hit areas are there. nell me what you saw and heard on the gr >> devastation. almost all infrastructure, howte this was aff ard the airport, when we rived, we saw a long queue of children, women and of the families who were evacuating. we drove almost for five to seven hours in differentlk locations, we to people. we saw destruction, we saw

desperation, and, when we talked to individuals and diffe wnt grou were taking shelter in churches, school and, in one case, in the complex, they were all stressed and desperate for help. >> reporter: there have been dozens of accounts of people fleeing, evacuating. when it comes to basic needs, water and food, are those tting through to people who need them anif they aren't, why not? of these areas, at least in nine specific centers that i can refer to, food and water was provided through either private donation, government, and whoever was, u know, working and providing assistance. what iheaveeen, were food available. of course, it's noot knownr

concern at the given moment. >> reporter: we heard from the bohemian management officials. there have been criticisms that s ere have been difficultf some of the organizations working with the bahamian officials on the ground. is it more difficult to work with this government than others? >> there are realistic challenges on the ground, especially in the crisis of this scale agnnd mtude, which was unexpected and bigger than initially thought. the stress,those who are dealing with it, they are part of the affecd population, and there are occasion that we see some level of sstruction that' actually a normal nature of this crisis. i have been to many crises around the world and i don't see ionthing different in addit actually here. the government are relocating

sources an they are giving an extensive level of commitmend rection to facilitate other access to the peope in naquib, briefly, it's been one week since the hurricane struck. do you see that the people on the islands, the people of the bahamas will get the aid that they need or will leaving be th best option for many of them abght now? >> io, which>> mostly has been affected, i think, 90, 95% of the population has already reft. mber, the percentages should be taken into context because we are still figuring out- we, the government and their partners -- to see what are the exact number of people staying. need a significant level ofwould iovestment of rabilitatof water system, power supplies, infrastructu, et cetera, and,

most importantly, from our perspective, a sense of normalcy and education fochildren. so i don't think it will happen at least in the very near future because it will require a sifght level of investmenand infrastructure effort. >> reporter: naquib safi joining us from nassau. thank you very much for your time. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the "newshour," break down what congress is up to now that it's back in session. a conversation with margaret atwood on the sequel to her acclaimed and controversial best-seller, "the hamaid's tale." plus, remembering the life and legacy of pioneering disabilities rights activist, itrca bristo. the h parliament was as blur of activity today. et lawmakers rushed to get work

done before they are fto bisband until mid-october. they approved that requires prime minister boris johnson to delay brexit. now just aer six weeksy if he doesn't have a deal. they were also voting on his ef srt to forcep election next month. his critics say it is a ploy to rtevent further anti-brexit machinations. special correspondent malcol brabent has this update: >> reporter: boris johnson began his day in dublin with his irish counterpart leo varadkar. brexit issues, therne of the key between northern ireland, which is part of the united kingdom, and the republic of ireland in the south, which is part of the e.u. >> i want to get a deal. alke you, i've looked carefully at no i've assessed its consequences both for our cntry and yours, d yes of course we could do

it. e u.k. could certainly g through it, but be in no doubt that outcome would be a failure of statecraft for which we would all be responsible. ha reporter: johnsonants an alternative to wt's known as "the irish back stopn a mechanism degned to prevent a hard border between the republic and the north. the government in london opposes u because it claims it could keep t. tied indefinitely to the e.u. >> in the absence of agreed alternative arrangements, no r:ckstop is no deal for us. >> repors he returned to westminster, johnson's hands werefficially tied by the final approval of a lagned to stop the government leaving the e.u. without a deal. cabinet members have suggested the prime minister mayo circumvent that new law. the bill's author, hilary benn, has threatened a legal challenge if that happens. >> if the government tries not to do what the bill, which will

become an act on monday, says very clearly they have to do, then it provides time to go into court. >> reporter: lawmaker mmy sheppard's scottish national party is fighting to thwart johnson. >> there really is a case of the asylum here.ing taken over the i mean, the people that seem to be running the strategy in number 10 downing street are not playing by the nmales. >> reporter: at the institute of government, historian catherine haddon said the current state of britispolitics is the most iaotic in centuries. parliamethe creator of law, so for them to even be talking about the idea of, you know, not obing the law or trying to find ways to disrupt the intention that law is an incredible situation that finding ourselves in. one of the loudest voices of the brexit campaign will soon be silent. house of commons speaker john bercow promised to step down on october 31, the date britain is

scheduled to leave the e.u. the reality is he jumped before he was pushed. his departure llows that of pensions secretary amber rudd yestday. she accused the prime minister of an assault on decency and democracy. meanwhile more and more e.u. member states are warning that a no deal brexit is looking more likely. >> ( translated ): the british parliament has decid that it wants to prevent a no-deal, and p remain ready for discussion nciple. we must also make an orderly exit possible, which is preferle, but for this to happen we finally need a decision and proposals from london. st reporter: as parliament began its ebates before being closedown by the prime minister, rival factions outside tried to make their voices heard. >> i am very afraid. this smacks of 1930's germany. tler closed down the parliament. is is what boris is doing. >> in god's name, will the traitor m.p.'s go! >> this is it, do die. we're leaving on the 31st of

october. >> reporter: with parliament shuttered for the next five weeks, boris johnson is not i going to be distracted by bruising daily fights in the chamber. despite his lack of a parliamentary majo remains in charge of the country and can now concentrate on trying to persuade the eurean union to give him a brexit deal. but at the same time his government is preparing fornt stashing out of the e.u. on october ithout an agreement. the uncertainty hobbling britain is no nearer being resolved. for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolm brabant in london. >> woodruff: labor day is hind us, schools have started and the political calendar is ramping lisa desjardins fills in the picture. the first hot spotingrolina is president trump for a campaign rally tonight ahead of a special congressional election.

and congress is also back, with democrats in the house shedding the spotlight on gun violence and impeachment. that's plenty for our weekly "politics mond" round-up with amy walter of the "cook political report" and host of public radio's "politics with amy walter" and tamara keith of "npr" and co-host of the "npr politics podcast." it's election day tomorrow, just hee inspection, t north carolina -- special election, the north carolina 9th congressional district. fiscal conservative running against dan mccready, a marine investment and former manager, running as more of a moderate. why are people paying such tention to this race and what does it tell you? >> the people, the parties a outside groups are spending a lot of money, ove mr $10 atllion utside groups have spent in this race for one congress seat. it's because it's symbolic. this is a district that the

democrat party lost gnar low roy, vote fraud allegations, thrown out, a do-over election with a different republican, bul it's about is donald for republicans andng of a force republican -- in republican' he was, districts a say, in 2016? the president there trying to urge republicans to turn out in district that gave him 54%, but recent polls from thatho districtthat the president's approval rating there is now dn to 47%. i the ra within single digits. if the democrat were to win here, if dan mccady werto rine here, it would send a pretty big shock wave that nots onlydistrict that the president pretty handily carried endangered, it would also say to the democrat, you better put north carolina in play and, trump you can't count on winning north carolina again. th would be a very big upset. >> this is a partially suburban district around charlotte. >> right, partially suburban.

it has a mix of rural and suburban and it is a decent test case of a trump district andpe what h there. in a lot of ways, even though this is the last vote of 2018, it is the first vf e o2020, and lot of people are treating that way, including the president, who, as you said, is there holding a rally tonight. although, he, you know, doesn't want to put too mufch o his political sway on the line or, you know w he doesnt to w, he'shat, you kn putting a lot into this, he is putting a lot into this. the most valuable thing that a candidate and a president has is the president's time, and he is dedicating his time by going g wn there, holding this rally and hopinat he can, you know, declare victory in less than 48 hours. >> the other interesting thing about this district, if aat demohould win, it would be one of the most republican t.stricts held by a democ we know bmocrats won a lot of

seats in 2018, they netted 40 seats, but mostly districts trump narrowly on or lost. there arent . districts he won by 54 or 53% that democrats hold, so this would be one of the most republican. >> moving the line. yeah. someone else trying to move the line, mafo srd who announlsd he is o a capt. for. let's take a listen to what he sd, why he'oing this. >> those people were core to thc repu party and what it used to stand for. they haven't been talked to here lately, and the president said those concerns you have with regard to spendinot we're n going to worry about them, the economy is great, but i believe they're still there. >> reporter: he's talking publicans unhappy with the direction of the party, think this is not the party they recognize. he's a com ficature, he's amy, is there a possibility of republicans who don't like trump breaking with from him and going

with someone like mark sanford? 't look like a possibility of trump losing the candidates running now getting much of the vote, especially true in south carolina where the republican party canceled the primary there and four other states where the primary has been canceled on the republican side. >> reporter: just in the past few days. >> in the past few days. in 2004 when george w. bush was running for reelection, about ten states canceled their republican primary, so this isn't all thatew. the really interesting thing about san fard is he's running on this fiscal conservatism, the debt is too big, the deficit is too high, this is something we hearrepublicans talk abou all the time during the obamae administration. if you look at what prioricy repus put on the issue of debt and deficit, it peaked at 82% in the middle of the trump -- i'm sorry -- the obama administration. since then, it's been going back down. so if you look at the arc of

concern with debt and deficit, really high when the mocrats are in office, pretty enlow wh georggeorge w. bush is in offic, pretty low when donald trump is in office. >> bill wells and joe walndh a mark sanford are all entering this knowing they basically have no chance of winning the nomination a less of a chance becoming the united states. but that's not their only goal. sanford is saying i want to have a conversation. he doesn't feel the republicaad internal debate about who they are since president trump became president. mark sanford tried to have tt debade bathe when he was in congress and started criticizing president trump. hipresident trump endorses primary opponent and that person to lose ingehe ral election to a democrat, which was a pretty big surprise in that direc district. e ese candidates are hoping to

athave a conversion or damage the incumbent. and incumbent presidents who have had primary challenges in the past, there is a history there of them going on and being denied a sond term. but it is hard to say these three are at the same several as ted kennedy or a ronald reagan or a pat buchanan in 1992. >> so congress is also back. i feel like we need to take a deep breath. i think thins will start moving quickly. it started today with house democrats holding conference on guns. this is issue number one for them and they invited to that news conference the mayor of dayton at the u.s. capitol today. you've done a great job helping us underand we don't know where the president is on guns. but talking about congress, many are trying to coalesce around background checks, perhaps laws that give congress more

power in crisis situations. tiese are very popular in polls with the american people. >> thestand a great chae in the house of representatives alere democrats are in power and they'vady passed bills that do these things essentiall but on the senate side, it's much more difficult. majority leader mitch mcconnell has said that he is not going to put up something for a vote that the president won't sign, and they don't yet know what the president will sign. >> this is one of the issues that, again, if you're loing at this, you're president trump, you know suburban women are going to be very imntrn this election. this would be an issue to take and to support to win tse voters back, but this is a president who's always been about his base and keeping them happy. >> still a lot to watch. a y walter, tamith, thank you. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: a dystopian vision that is capturing the public's

d'attention-- margaret atw "the handmaid's tale" is now a cultural touchstone for readers and viewers. her much anticipated sequel "the testamts" is out tomorrow. and is already on the short-list for this year's "booker prize" and green-lit for a series on hulu. jeffrey brown sat down with atwood recently in toronto for a preview. it is part of our ongoing series on arts and culture, "canvas who is fault was it? >> rl reporter: in a harrowing scene in the tv series," the handmaid's tale", young thmen are being forcibly "re- educated" for r subservient roles in a united states that has become a fundamentalist theocracy. one of them, played by actress elizabeth moss, is suddenly struck. the perpetrator, in a surprise cameo appearance: none other than celebrated author margaret atwood. >> we had to shoot it four times because she kepthaaying, "hit me er" and i said, "no, i don't

want to injure the leading lady." "come on and give me whack." >> reporter: it was atwood who otarted all this in 1984, when she wrher classic novel of a near-future takeover of the u.s. by religious zealots who force e rtile women intoexual serv child-bearers. you will bear children for them. >> brown: th new nation is called gilead. >> reporter: the new nation is called "gilead." what did you think you were doing then, at that time? >> i thought i was g in trouble. >> reporter: you thought you were getting in trouble because of the story? >> well, it answered the , estion, if the united states were to become totalitarian, what kind of totalitarianism would it become? >> reporter: atwood, now 79 and author of more than 60 books, is canadian, but tracesart of her ancestry to early american puritans. "the handmaid's tale" struck a deep and lasting chord for millions of readers the world over. we talked this summer in her toronto neighborhood. you've got to be amazed by what

.the handmaid's tale" has grown into as phenomen (>laughso)t of control. well, i can't do anything about it. come back! >> reporter: not a chance. the story has been made into a 1990 film, an opera and ballet, a graphic novel and, reaching millions more, the emmy award- winning hit hulu series, which has completed its third season. atwood served as a consultant. and with her blessinthe series moved well beyond her original ending. now atwood has written her own sequel, "the testaments," in part a response to her reader's continued interest. at it was a lot of unanswered questions ither they kept asking or they kept making up answers to. there's a lot of things left hanging at the end of "the handmaid's tale," ch as what happens to the central characr.

>> reporter: so you decided to address that? >> investigate it, yeah. >> reporter: the new set some 15 years after the evious endi, is told through three testimonies: two young women and an older one, aunt lydia, familiar to viewers of thefa series as the most powerful bman in gilead. playann dowd, she's gone along with evil and, for the young handmaid's, become their principal enforcer. but atwood had her own questions: >> is she really evil? is she totally evil? the question is: how do people end up in those positions? and remember, when i was born, which was 1939, so anybody born i was a war child. so i've always been pretty interested in those totalitarianisms, how people bought into them, how people rose in them, you know, how they >> reporter: you'ryshierarchy. looking to these historical analogies? >> the series as well as the book and as well as testaments, follow one axiom,

and that is: you can't putat anything in that doesn't have a precedent in human history. so, yes, i'm always looking. >> reporter: it has to have happened sehow or sometime? >> well, in these books, yes, because i didn't want anybody saying "you're just weird." somebody asked me on twitter recently, "how do you come up with this ( bleep )?" the answer is "it's not me who comes up with it, it's the human race over the past 4,000 years"" ep reporter: and that leads to the other ason for the sequel: the times we're living in today, where atwood and others again see women's rights under threat. >> if i had thought, let's write a sequel to "the handmaid's hile" of this kind in 2000, t's say in 1999, i would've said, "why bother?" 're not going there. surely people are moving away from that, but in the moment in which we now exist, that's not h true anymore. >> reporter: in 1999 you would've said "why bother," buas in 2016, 201ou're writing this...

time to bother! bother, it's you can't ignorehe fact that there are a number of regimes that have come into power that havehese kinds of ideas in mind. they all have one thing in common. mothe thing they have in cis they all want to roll back women's rights. >> donald trump is not a gileadean leader figure. there are some other people kicunking aon the u.s. political scene that would be thch more ke one of those figures, but he is not that kind of figure. >> reporter: gilead is a theocracy. >> we are probably pretty close to it in some ates. >> reporter: you wrote that readers bombarded you over the years with questions, right? is it a ueminist novel? is it a warning? you're going to be asked the same things of this sequel. >> yes. >> reporter: in what sense would you say it is a feminist novel? wo it makes women front and

center and it puts reproductive rights front and center, but it does not say all women are angelic beings who would never ever do anything wrong, because as we know from having been in grade four, that's ne. >> reporter: in what sense is it a prediction? >> don't go there. don't make those choices. don't go there. >> reporter: atwood'maids have become part of the protests. culture, popping up in and the frenzy around the new book is intense, unusual for any novelist this side of j. rowling and another "harry potterbook. >> see you in september. >> reporter: it includes a live event in which atwood and various guests will take part than 1,000 theaters around the world. and atod herself, an celebrity, has been glammed up for magazine and other features. you are in rare air for a novelist, for a writer. >> i'm in rare air for an old

g tty writer. it's a good that i'm old, because if this happened to younr people, it would probably ruin their life. where do you go from here except wn? >> reporter: are you enjoying it? >> of course i'm enjoying it. i would be lying to say otherwise. you saw thpictures of me with hair extensions. who wouldn't enjoy that? ( laughter ) >> reporter: for the pbs toronto., i'm jeffrey brown in >> woodruff: finally tonight, we remember a woman who helped changed the law and the lives of tens of millions of people with disabilities. marca bristo may not have been a iusehold name, but her work seepednto many u.s. households. paralyzed from the waist down

after a diving accident when she was 23, bristo became a long time disability rights activist n om her home se in chicago. she worked on improving access and rights-- no matt how small or how large the issue. bristo fought against discrimination, helped create a better model for independent living, and led strikes and crlped file lawsuits that led to thtion of bus lifts in chicago. she was a pivotal voice in the shaping and passage of the 1990 americans with disabilities act. bristo died yesterday of cancer daat the age of 66. former u.s. senator tom harkin of iowa knew her well and worked with her when he helped write the americans with disabilities act. senator harkin, thank eiu so much for here, and we're sorry for your loss. we know how close you were to marca bristo. you have worked fo decades in

the disabilities movement. >> woodruff: how should we see marca bristo? >> i think she will enshrined in the future as one of the great disabilities -- civil rights movement for persons with disabilities. when you think about the civil rits movement for african-americans, you think of malcolm x and martin luther king and john lewis. i think when people in the future look back at the disability rights civil rights movement, they will think of, of course, justin dart and george h.w. bush that signed the law but also of marca bristo who really made it happen. >> woodraduff: as i ment you were pivotal in writing and putting together the americans with disabilities act. you worked on it. a lot of people were involved in that. it was a late 1980s into 1990 when preside george h.w. bush signed it to law. what did marca bristo do that others weren't doing at that

time? >> just -- she was justin dart's protojay. >> woodruff: he, of e, was one of the -- >> one of the real advocates of the americans with disabilities act. he in hiwheelchair went tll 50 states. but then he got ahold of this young woman from chicago, marca bristo, andort of got her g to getting young people involved. young people who may have been born with a disability or, like herself, had been injun an incident, and she got them stimulated to about themselves not in terms of someone that just had to take what was given to them, but to start getting people to demand better access to all forms of living in america. she was a foot solder in that effort. >> woodruff: i met her at a ln acceing i vent i ln chicago. that was an organization she

helped to found all around pushing for independent living for people with disabs.ilit what do you think drove her? what pushed her to do what she did? >> she wrote about this once a d oke about it often, and i've often talked about the fact, after she had her diving accident when she was 23, as you mentione she thought, hoam i going to cope? how do i have to change my life? well, she ran into judy han, another advocate for disability rits and others in the movement who said you don't have to change, they've got to ngange, society needs to ce. they need to change the way they keild the wallings, the way they doorways, the way they have bus lifts. you're still the same pson. they've got to change how they're doing. so that sort of gr t heinking that, yes, society has built in all these barriers to people with disabilities. if we break down the barriers,

people with disabilitiecan do anything. >> woodruff: she woungdn't accept the idea tha anything was closed to someone with a be able to. >> marca bristo did not want to be paternaized. she did not want to have people pattg her on the head and saying, now, you go off and we'll he you. she said, take the barriers down, i can help myself. , woodruff: she was tough. oh, she was toue was very tough, but had a heart of gold. she was just one of the most unique persons i've ever known in my letime. >> woodruff: well, she certainly left ark man lives, as we said, of millions and millions of ameriascans. >> she mentor to so many young women. she was also a feminist, so she got young women with disabilies to think o themselves in a different light. she was just a wonderful mentor to so many young people. >> woodruff: former senator tom harkin who worked with marca bristo, thank you for helping us remember her.re >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: thank you. >>

oodruff: we close with our service personnel inoamerican combat during u.s. military operations overseas. we add them as their deaths are phmade official and photog become available. here now, are 16 more. ♪ ♪

e honor each and every one of them. that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us on-line and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major fding for the pbs wshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> consumer cellular. oa and by the alfred p. sln foundation. supporti science, technology, and impred economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur

foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peac world. more information at macfound.oe >> and with going support of these institutions >> this prssram was made le by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributio to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsor newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.or >> you're watching pbyo [ theme music plays s ]

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -today on "cook's countr" bryan makes bridget a california favorite -- smoked fish cos... adam reviews chimney starters... and christie makes julia a streamlined recipe for grilled steak fajitas. that's all right here on "cook's country."