judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, rough waters. the commander of the united states navy in the pacific discusses rising tensions with china and an uncertain future in the region. then, a winter surge. the white house warns of increased infections from covid, rsv, and the flu that are straining hospitals. and, the state of america. a new poll shows americans want congressional cooperation but expect gridlock. >> it speaks to the frustration that people are feeling in the process, because they really would like this to get done and like the system to run smoother. judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by the kendeda fund, committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org. carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org, and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: a gigantic winter storm system that has moved across the u.s. is now reaching the atlantic coast, after blitzing the south with tornadoes. the scattershot storms there killed tee people in louisiana. roby chavez reports from new orleans. roby: just days ago, this pile of debris was a home. on wednesday, the woman who lived there lost her life to a tornado. >> the car was in front of this mobile home. roby: in killona, louisiana, many people living in trailers, still recovering from hurricane ida last year, had their lives flipped upside dn once again. they described the moment the storm struck.

>> the awesomeness of it, the fierceness, the force of it, just in a matter of seconds can just change your whole life. roby: and what they saw when they woke up today. >> it looked like a bomb went off actually. roby: louisiana's governor toured the state today to see the damage. >> if you're in one of those families, who 10 days before christmas, you just lost a loved one, or someone was hospitalized or you just lost your home, then this weather event was as bad as it could get. roby: he said that as many as 10 to 15 different tornadoes formed in 24 hours, from the hardest hit town of killona to new orleans. the twisters ran parallel to highways and ripped through buildings, leaving destruction in their wake. this used to be a rare sight around new orlea, but it's the second time this year that the city has seen cyclones. >> get inside, get inside. roby: the unusual storm system

that created them in the south produced an arctic blast in the midwest, burying towns and cities in deep snow. in nebraska, the blizzard shut part of an interstate this week, forcing trucks off the road. from montana to new england, the coast-to-coast storms expected to continue sweeping the country. >> the severe weather in the midwest will likely hit new england tonight, bringing rain and icy roads, just in time for holiday travel. in new orleans, for the pbs newshour, i'm roby chavez. judy: storm clouds of a fferent sort overtook wall street today. stocks dropped sharply on fears that the federal reserve will keep raising interest rates to break inflation, even it causes a recession. the dow jones industrial average lost 764 points to close at 33,202, that's down 2.25%. the nasdaq fell 360 points, more

than 3%, and the s&p 500 dropped 2.5%. the federal government will resume making free covid tests available to all u.s. households. the white house announced today that each home may order up to 4 at-home tests online, at no cost. that policy had been suspended for three months, but cases have risen sharply since thanksgiving. so, officials will now draw on the stockpile. >> we knew there would be a moment later in the year when covid cases would rise again. so we kept, we preserved the tests, so we could have them on hand for exactly this moment. and if we don't get more funding, we won't be able to send more tests out to the american people. judy: so far, congress has not agreed to provide new funding for free tests. meanwhile, china's government counseled calm today as infections there surge. the foreign ministry pointed to what it called "institutional advantages" to help the nation

cope. the spike in cases has triggered long lines at covid testing centers and fever clinics in beijing and elsewhere. and there've been runs on various medicines. in ukraine, government officials warned today that russia's goal is now a long-term conflict to wear down ukraine's forces. the war is already in its 10th month. in kyiv today, the defense ministry said there is no sign that moscow is deterred by its recent losses. >> we in the world should not relax, because the ultimate goal of the russian federation is to conquer all of ukraine. and then, if they reach this goal, they will move on to other countries. the world should understand this. judy: in washington today, pentagon officials said the u.s. military will use the winter months to expand combat training for ukraine's troops. and back in this country, harvard university has named its first black president.

claudine day is currently a dean at the school. she will be the only black president currently leading an ivy league school. she will also be the second woman told the top post at harvard. still to come on the newshour, president biden pledges more support and investment at a summit of african nations. two literary critics give their takes on the best books are -- of 2022. a new musical explores neil diamond's life and career. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour, from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: the u.s. government labels the people's republic of china, or p.r.c., as one of its major -- greatest challenges, even more so now, as beijing flexes its military prowess with an unprecedented buildup. the u.s. military command responsible for china, north korea, the entire pacific, and

all the way to the border with india, is known as the indo pacific command. nick schifrin traveled to hawaii to meet its commander. >> i never saw a threat as a single nation. nick: the admiral is in the middle of the pacific ocean, and his command covers half the world's population. we're about a stone's throw from pearl harbor. are you concerned that we're at the most dangerous point since world war ii? >> i do see the current strategic environment as, as really dangerous, the most dangerous time i've seen in 38 years. this is based on, a, the largest military buildup that we're seeing in history, both conventional and nuclear. number two, the unprovoked, illegitimate war in the ukraine, 63 missile launches out of the dprk, unprecedented, the most in history, to include a potential nuclear capability and a desire to have nuclear capability.

and then you add one additional piece, and that is a no limits policy articulated by the leaders of russia and the prc. nick: no limits cooperation. >> no limits to their cooperation. that's concerning. that's a different world. this is about two incompatible visions for the future, right? free and open and a legacy of liberty. or you look at an authoritarian, closed, opaque, and a tradition of tyranny. that's the choices that have that nations might have to make in the future. nick: chinese fishing boats, warships, and aircraft regularly harass other countries in the region. how do you think you're already competing with china? >> i think what you articulated is behavior that we see often. the inability to operate in accordance with the rule-based order, the coercion of allies, partners, and friends that are in the region.

economic, militarily, and then, to your point, whether it be fishing vessels or other capabilities. right? these behaviors destabilize the region. nick: xi jinping has never renounced using violence to unify with taiwan. and he specifically said by 2027, when the people's liberation army, the pla, turns 100, that it will have, quote, "enhanced capacity to safeguard china's interests." do you believe that by 2027, china will have the capacity to invade taiwan if it wants? >> president xi jinping has tasked his military department to deliver the capabilities that he might need, suld he decide to take a choice of force by 2027. he's said it in open space. so i believe that they will execute the orders of their president. nick: secretary blinken put it this way.

he said, "beijing has plans to pursue unification on a much faster timeline." again, does that give you a sense of urgency? >> we have a sense of urgency in everything we do. and we do that because of those actions that we see executed in the region. we see concern from the failure to adhere to agreements that applies to hong kong. we certainly have concern based on lethal actions on the line of actual control with india. we have to have a sense of urgency in order to deter any follow-on actions. and, oh, by the way, we at indopacom need to move faster. we, the u.s. government, need to go further. -- move faster. nick: in response to speaker pelosi's visit to taiwan in august, we saw chinese missiles fly over the island for the first timebracketing the island, and we saw the chinese navy operate on the eastern side of taiwan. china at the time said it was creating a new status quo or wanted to create a new status quo. do you think it has? >> i think the intent r the

prc is to always move forward in a way that would help them achieve their end state of unification of taiwan. that is certainly their strategic objective. what i would say is our actions and efforts will continue to ensure that we can meet responsibilities under the taiwan relations act, in order to enable any peaceful resolution, as agreed to by people on both sides of the straits, free of crcion and force. right. the itical portion of this is the free of coercion and force. and what i think we saw was the threat of force and coercion. nick: the 1979 taiwan relations act mandates the u.s. government provide taiwan weapons to maintain a quote "sufficient self-defense capability." the act is ambiguous about how the u.s. would respond to a chinese invasion, but president biden has reduced that ambiguity. president biden has said on

multiple occasions that the united states would come to taiwan's defense. are you ready today to come to taiwan's defense? >> the united states military force in the pacific is ready for all continncies. nick: do you think you will be more or less ready to respond in five or 10 years, given the steps you're taking, but also the steps that beijing's taking? >> nick, we'll be ready. we will be ready. there is no caveat, or more or less. you're either ready or you're not. and in the future, the united states will be ready. nick: including on taiwan. >> the united states will be ready for any contingency that the military is told to execute. nick: do you think taiwan is taking the steps it needs to defend itself? >> in the wake of this illegitimate and illegal war that the russians have waged on ukraine, i think what it did is it highlighted to people around the world that the potential exists for, you know, action by adversaries, especially when you talk about authoritarian

governments that one person can decide whether to invade or not. so what i believe is that the people on taiwan have seen that. i think they should learn from that and take the actions that are going to be required to defend themselves. nick: what are the lessons do you think that taiwan should take from ukraine? >> what i tell you is what i learned, and that is the actions and responsibilities under the taiwan relations act, we probably need to go a little faster. nick: what does that mean? >> that certainly means that the capabilities and the training that are required to defend the island, we should certainly ensure they are received. so the defense industrial base should be ab to deliver those capabilities that the taiwans have purchased. nick: american weapons bought by taiwan, including artillery d stinger missiles, have been delayed because of.s.

production limits. the u.s. is pushing taiwan to purchase smaller weapons that could help repel a chinese invasion, instead of big-ticket systems that taiwan used to prefer. china has increased its nuclear capacity. and according to the department of defense, it will yield about 1500 nuclear weapons by 2030. how does that make you -- what you do militarily more difficult? >> what's going on in the prc to accelerate and deliver that capability and capacity in the time that you just articulated, that's a nuclear buildup. and all the nations are concerned about it, as they should be. >> what we've got behind us is the b-2. nick: a few minutes from aquilino's office, he shows me a visiting b-2 bomber and the u.s.'s most advanced fighter jets. aqulino wants to have a dialogue with his chinese counterpart, but he won't pick up the phone. >> it's very important for me to be able to have communications with my counterpart. if there were ever an event for he and i to beble to talk and potentially de-escalate and keep

anything from turning into a real problem, that's certainly benefial. i've been working towards having that event now for almost a year and a half. we have yet to be able to schedule it. it was never scheduled, so it was never cut off. nick: but you've been trying to schedule it, and they haven't replied. >> we haven't been able to set it up. they haven't accepted the request yet. nick: this year, china's neighbor, north korea, officially called the democratic people's republic of korea, or dprk, has launched an unprecedented number of tests. it says it has nuclear weapons that can reach the continental u.s. >> so it certainly destabilizes and threatens not only the united states but our allies and partners. when you think about south korea and japan. that capability, either conventional or nuclear, is concerning. no that said, the united states, south korea, and japan have come together to both operate together, to do trilateral response options, to

ensure all of our homelands are protected, and to deter any future actions. so it's concerning that the provocative action by the dprk continues and no sign of slowing down. nick: admiral aquilino, thank you very -- admiral, thank you very much. >> thanks, nick. ♪ judy: the white house is warning of a surge of illness this holiday season, as the country deals with the simultaneous uptick of three highly contagious respiratory viruses. hospitals across the country are filling to near capacity and stressing healthcare workers. william brangham has our report on this alarming rise. william: just before anksgiving, elly rivera's two-month-old daughter sloane got sick.

she was congested, started coughing. after a few days, it got worse. sloane was really struggling to breathe, so rivera rushed her to a nearby hospital in las vegas. so you go to the emergency room and then what happens? elly: as soon as that nurse was able to look at sloane, it was like a blur, and they start tearing off her onesie, trying to find a vein for an i.v. there's an oxygen mask. they're probing and, you know, doing all the things that they need to do to make to get her vitals and her temperature and all that. it was i feel like there was probably six or seven people working it on her at once. william: my goodness. just such a horrible feeling to sit there watching your kid go through that. elly: you try as a parent to hold it together, but i st it. william: doctors said sloane had a common cold, but she also had respiratory syncytial virus,

known as rsv, and while most people recover from rsv in a week or so, it can be more severe for the elderly and for infants. elly: so once that was determined, they went from a just standard kind of oxygen mask to something called the high flow, which, from my understanding, is the step before cpap or intubation. william: across the country, hospitalare grappling with an eaier-than-usual peak in rsv infections. 's a common virus most people are exposed to by the time they are two years old, but due to the isolation of the pandemic, many kids have had no normal exposure, and so cases are now surging. so you take rsv, add on a particularly bad flu season, plus covid, it's creating what some public health experts are calling a "tri-demic." this season, the cdc has recorded more than 13 million cases of influenza, and an estimated 7300 people have already died, and 120,000 hospitalized from the flu, the highest numbers in a decade. and in the last two weeks, covid

cases and hospitalizations have risen 25% nationwide, all of which is leaving hospitals, once again, overwhelmed. >> various layers of backup that we typically have in place during our normal respiratory season months, which is usually kind of january or february, that we're having to kind of roll that all out a couple of months early. william: dr. per gesteland is a pediatric hospitalist at intermountain primary children's hospital in salt lake city, utah. the majority of his patients have rsv, but flu is taking a heavy toll as well. >> our hospital is designed to have about 287 beds. we've been popping up around 95% to 105% of occupancy of those beds. that means, at times, we have to double bunk patients. we create beds out of thin air. we take one smallish room, put a curtain in the middle, roll in some portable monitors, and next thing you know, you've got two beds. william: right now, nearly 80%

of hospital beds across the u.s. are occupied, so to ease the flow of new patients, some areas are urging people to mask back up. in new york, the city's health commissioner has advised mask wearing in all indoor and crowded settgs. inalifornia, rates of rsv are the highest they've been in years, and an uptick in covid and influenza is pushing frontline workers to the brink. >> pediatricians, we're talking about, this is kind of our, you know, summer of 2020 when covid was really hitting and all of the adult hospitals were asking the pediatricians to come in and work in the icu's. william: dr. tami hendriksz is a pediatrician in vallejo, california. >> and it's not like you just get one virus and you're done. you can stack them, and we see that, we see kids who have rsv, flu, and covid, plus strep on top of it. it is really scary. william: unlike covid and flew,

there is no vaccine for rsv. it means decades of high hospitalizations have led to an increased demand for the medication that leads to increased illnesses. this leads to the urgent need to increase production of the antibiotic amoxicillin, and the shortage of over-the-counter fever and pain medication for kids, like acetominophen and ibuprofen. she owns a pharmacy in las vegas. >> we get patients who are calling, looking for flu medication, which is not available. william: for rivera, who is a mother of three, it is a lot to manage. after a week spent in the pediatric icu, sloane was released. how is she doing now? elly at soone as we left the hospital, she was 100% better. you see every other situation, because there are so many patients in the hospital that are around. it is very tough.

i can understand how a lot of people can really suffer a lot of traumatic stress from experiencing this. william: let's take a moment to focus on what people can do to protect themselves during this surge. for that, i am joined by caitlin, an epidemiologist with the university of texas, and she writes the your local epidemiologist newsletter on sub stack. great to have you back on the newshour. we have these three respiratory viruses circulating in the world right now. i know that they are on different trajectories, but when you look at the data, what is your crystal ball tell you about the winter? is it going to get worse? what do you see? dr. gerdts: that is the billion dollar question. we don't really know. flu and rsv are incredibly early . pically they peak in january,

and thanksgiving and hanukkah, it is perplexing, because during l of those holidays, we are opening of our socianetworks. we may see several instead of one big large hump. so we don't know. we are approaching a lot, and we hope it is over soon. william: always a fan of humility. when you look at our society, who is most at risk fr these three viruses? >> there are really three groups i am concerned about, one is those over 65, they are at risk for severe disease from all three, from flu, rsv, covid-19, also very concerned about immunocompromised. i'm also concerned about those under five. rsv is incredibly dangerous, flu can be as well as covid-19 can be as well. and so all three of those groups really need to take extra

precaution, and not only them but the people around those groups have to do that as well. william: tell me a little bit more about those precautions. what should people be doing to best protect themselves? >> i think people may be sick of what i'm about to say. i mean, it is masks. masks work. they work against covid, they work against flu, we think that they work against rsv. they work just even if you are the only one wearing them, especially if it is stated, a tight fit. the next on the line is antigen testing. we got great news today that the usps program is offering free antigen tests again, so i highly recommend doing that the few days and the morning of an event. i think one of the most important things is, yeah, ventilation, but stay home if you are sick. i know it is not fun during the holidays, it is super lonely,

but it is honestly the best thing you could do for your family as well as your community , so those hospitalization numbers go down. william: what about the issue of vaccines? we know there's not one for rsv, but there is a very good flu shot out there, and the new covid bivalent booster that is out there -- we just recently got some data about how effective that is. so if someone comes to you and says, should i get the flu shot, should i get that bivalent booster, should i do both? what do you tell people? >> i say yes. [laughs] william: yes to all? >> the best time i have gotten those -- to have gotten those is two or three weeks ago, but today is the second best time here we are getting great data that it is actually a good match this year. we are super happy about it. and like you said, we are getting real word data -- real-world data almost in real time about our boosters, and i could not be any happier about the data we are seeing.

the fall boosters increase your protection against infection and hospitalization. they broaden our protections, so our anti-bodies are more able to see different parts of the virus, because omicron is changing. we also hope there's a longer duration. unfortunately, with that surge, we are at the mercy of time. go get that flu shot. it will help. william: all right, katelyn jetelina, author of your local epidemiologist. it is a great newsletter. i want everyone to read it. thank you souch for being here. katelyn: thanks for having me. judy: a three-day summit on the afghan continent concluded -- african continent concluded

today. it included significant involvement by the united states. here to update us is our white house correspondent, laura lopez. laura, hello. we have heard president biden speak often as he hosts these leaders from across the continent about the global battle between democracies and autocracies and you invited to this summit are a number of leaders who were clearly considered autocrats. laura: president biden the last three days has been focused on saying the u.s. is very committed to africa, it is a lasting relationship, and they are not going to just not be around in a number of years, that it is not going to be sporadic he had to say it -- to african leaders in washington, d.c. today. pres. biden: the united states is all in on africa and all in with africa. african voices, african leadership, african innovation.

all are critical to addressing the most pressing global challenges. laura: what does "all in on africa" mean, judy? it is a number of new priorities they have laid out out of this summit, and the priorities out of this summit include a $55 billion investment over three years, increased u.s.-africa trade, and they also supported u.n. africa reform to increase representation, and what that means is basically backing african memberships to the g20 and giving him a seat at the united nations security council. i talked to a number of former state officials today, and they said they all agreed that it was good for the administration, for the u.s. to hold this summit, that it was worthwhile in and of itself, but they felt as though it could just be a feel-good momentor the united states, and they were not very impressed with a number of the investments

made. a senior national security council official i spoke with today disagreed with that. they said they feel the summit has been a big success, and they argued a number of the investments made our new investments as well as they will be working with congress to get approval on they also pointed to this new special representative, former ambassador johnny carson, who is going to be focused specifically on trying to carry out everything that comes out of the summit, implementing it then with africa. judy: this is a serious thing for them. so we know, laura, this president, president biden, also speaks about the global bilateral between democracies and autocracy, yet the white house invited to the summit a number of leaders that are considered autocrats, accused of war crimes. laura: that is right, judy. the president, as you know, has consistently, essentially since

he ran for office, has talked about threats to democracy at home and abroad. he talked about that again today when he addressed those african leaders. here is what he said. the work of democracy is never guaranteed, but that is why democracy is the best tool we have to address the wide ranging challenges we all face. and that belief is shared by ricans and americans alike. laura: president biden also said that does not mean that the united states always gets it right, and a former obama administration official today who focused on africa policy when they were inhe administration told me they do feel as though democracy got a short shrift because of the fact that the u.s. invited a number of countries that are known, that have been accused of human rights violations. one of those is ethiopia.

the ethiopian prime minister was here this week. if the opac and one of the most brutal conflicts across the world, where some 500,000 people have been killed and again, he has been accused by human rights atrocities. there is also the egypti president, who is an authoritarian leader. he has led a massive crackdown on a lot of his critics. i asked the administration about this today. i asked for the senior official that i spoke to why he decided to invite leaders from these countries, and they said, why not have conversations with people whose human rights records we are concerned about and tk to them about changes they could essentially make? they also argued that these countries are currently in good standing with the african union, and they said that any of the meetings that were held with these countries across the three-day summit, they could guarantee that they raise issues about democracy, and they talked to them about human rights

violations. judy: interesting. when they had a summit of latin american summit, they did not invite leaders who are autocrats. moving on, we know a shadow looming over china, they invest a lot of money. what if the administration saying about this? laura: on paper, some of the admin attrition officials have admitted that there is some catch up to play. china regularly holds summits with africa, about every three years. they invest in african trade about four times more than the united states, and they distributed billions of dollars in infrastructure lending to africa. even though summit administration officials admitted this week that it might look like the u.s. is playing catch up, the senior official i spoke to today said there is still a record for the u.s. to build on and the relationships with africa, and the u.s. is not necessarily trying to compete

with other countries. they also stressed that the president is really showing that he is going to follow up with everything that has come out of this pre-day summit, the investments they have laid out, because he said today, the president did, that he is going to go to africa next year, along with the first lady, along with first lady kamala harris as well as a number of cabinet officials. judy: we will be watching. eight years since there has been a summit like this in washington. laura lopez, thank you. laura: thank y. ♪ judy: we are just three weeks away from the start of a split congress, with republicans controlling the house of representatives and democrats controlling the senate. lisa desjardins takes stock of at voters want to see from this new congress and how they view the two parties. lisa: judy, divided electorate weighed in on the future of

democracy, compromise among lawmakers, and more in our latest pbs newshour, npr, and marist poll. here with me to talk about all the findings is lee miringoff. he is the director of the marist college institute for public opinion, and he runs this poll. lee, let's jump right into it. following the election and ahead of the january 6 select committee's final report, we asked americans what they think about any threat to democracy, and a large number, 83%, said yes, they do believe there is a threat to democracy, a serious one right now. we also asked them which political party poses a greater threat. and look at that, a statistical tie with some 48% saying republicans and 45% saying democrats. lee, how unusual are those numbers, and what do they tell you? lee: lisa, they reflect the

times we live in. they see it as a serious threat. that has grown from a previous poll. we have a lot of people who are very concerned. what is interesting and somewhat surprising in this is the comparability of the two parties, the fact that both democrats and republicans are seen fairly equally as culpable in all of this. i think a lot of that has to do with if you are a democrat, you think the republicans are too extreme. if you are a republica you think the democrats have gotten too extreme. you have your concerns about democracy from both camps. obviously they democrat folks concerned about, you know, january 6, and what happened at the capitol, and on the republican side, it echoes former president trump's rigged elections and labels that people are putting on more progressive democrats. lisa: it sounds like concern is rising but so is blamed for the other guys. we also ask what americans think about lawmakers in general.

we are just a few weeks ahead of the new congress, and some 58% of those who responded that they have no confidence that the two parties can work together. look at that number in green at the bottom, just 9% saying they have a lot of nfidence that the parties can work together. we also asked, should the parties be looking together? look at that. 74% of those we talked to said yes. compromise is more important than standing on principle. those are big numbers also. what do they say to you about us? those numbers have changed, have they not? lee: yeah, and it speaks to the frustration people are feeling in the process because they really would like things to get done and would like the system to run smoother. that 74% is the highest we have had in a decade in terms of people wanting bipartisan compromise, so people are frustrated. that is not news, but it sure shows in these numbers. what is interesting, talking about the last congress, we saw

that 24% think that they did more than previous congress have accomplished. what i find interesting about that is 24% isn't a huge number, but it is the highest since 1998 , so people have actually noticed that congress is accomplishing things. they would like more in the direction of working together, but they are totally not convinced that that is likely to occur, and who can blame them, given the back and forth every day we are seeing in our politics coming out of the capitol? lisa: that brings us to who americans want to lead them. let's look at president biden's current approval numbers. we show 48% approval, 48% disapproval in this poll. that is actually a slight improvement for him. we also asked who do people want as a 2024 presidential nominees? 35% of democrats and democratic-leaning independents said president biden. 45% for those meeting republican

-- leaning republican said former president trump. what does that tell you about the mindset? neither one of these men has a majority of those who lean their way? lee: you have two frontrunners. neither of whom is commanding their strengths within each of their parties, and i think, you know, it speaks to this plurality that both of them have and raises the question of where are we going to get the leadership, going back to the congress? people want things to move forward and they want that to happen at the national level and clearly, in these numbers, that may not be occurring. i should mention also that when you look at numbers like that, what this speaks to is, where is everyone else going to go? where are the democrats going to go if president biden does not run? where are the republicans going to go? how many republica ultimately do get in, if donald trump does continue his candidacy, which he indicates that he will? a crowded field, he does better. remember 2016. if it is just one or two people running against him for the republican nation, these numbers suggest he would have a much tougher battle. lisa: americans are clearly

looking for leadership, but they may not have found the person or people that they believe can bring it to them yet. lee, director of the marist college institute for public opinion, thank you so much. lee: my plsure. ♪ judy: the year in books. we take a look now at some of the best writing of 2022. jeffrey brown leads the way for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: it's always one of our favorite discussions of the year, even if we can only get to a handful of top books. we'll do our best. joined this year by gilbert cruz, books editor of "the new yo times," and maureen corrigan, book critic of npr. nice to talk to both of you. gilbert, let's start with fiction. how about two or three picks? gilbert: sure. i will mention two books that we recently put on our top 10 books of the year list.

the first is "trust" by hernan diaz. this is a novel that tells the rise of a financier in new york city in the early 20th century. but it tells it from four different perspectives. it is historical fiction, but it's also literary fiction. it's something that i honestly did not know anything about going into it. i picked it up off the shelf this summer, and i think in the first five or six pages i was just totally taken by it. this is one of my favorite books of the year. jeffrey: ok, how about a second pick? gilbert: sure. another of my favorite books of the year is "the candy house" by jennifer egan. so jennifer egan wrote the pulitzer prizeinning novel "a visit from the goon squad." this came out in 2010. and "the candy house" is a sequel, a follow up, i think she calls it a sibling novel. you find some of the same characters, but it sort of takes

them in a completely different direction. it presupposes that there is a technology that has been invented called own your unconscious. so it's sort of a social novel in that it is grappling with what it means to be hooked into technology and social media. it is fine, it's relevant. 's endlessly inventive. it's fantastic. jeffrey: i'm glad you picked that one. and i hope our viewers will remember my talk with jennifer egan earlier this year for that book. so maureen corrigan, two fiction. maureen: ok, claire keegan's "foster," this is a novella. it was originally published in 2010 in the new yorker. it's been out in great britain for years. it's the first time it's been published in this country. jeffrey: she's irish writer, right? maureen: she's an irish writer. she's telling the story of a young girl who's shipped off to relatives she doesn't know to live for a summer on a farm. keegan raises the question of whether this is a kindness or not, to introduce a child who has been deprived to a different way of living and different relationships, when she's going to be shipped back to her parents at the end of the

summer. so that is one. the other book that knocked me out was a debut by jonathan escoffery called "if i survive you." it's about a jamaican-american family. the parents come to florida to to escape political violence and to try to give their two young sons another kind of life. they keep getting knocked down. the 2008 recession. hurricane andrew. racism. escoffery is a terrific writer. he's funny. he's witty. he's sharp. his characters are more than just sort of ideas. they're fully realized human beings. and the "you" his characters are trying to survive is america. jeffrey: all right. let's turn to nonfiction, gilbert, want to pick, give us a couple? gilbert: i sure do. the first is a book called "stay ue" by a gentleman called hua

hsu. hua is a writer for the new yorker magazine. and "stay true" is a memoir. it's a memoir of growing up as a child of taiwanese immigrants in california. but it's also the memoir of going to berkeley in the mid-1990's. he becomes friends with the son of japanese-american immigrants, a boy named ken, who he first thinks is sort of this very simple frat boy, but then grows to learn it's much more complicated than he first suspected. it's a book about grief. it's a book about youth and nostalgia. there's so much that is packed into such a small, such -- such a small amount of pages. it's quite wonderful. the second is called "an immense world." edong is a writer for the atlantic magazine. some might know him for his wonderful sties over the past three years on coronavirus. but this is a book about animals and specifically about the ways that animals perceive the world and how those perceptions are different from the way that humans see the world. and whether you like animals or not, it was just endlessly

fascinating. jeffrey: ok, maureen, nonfiction. maureen: ada calhoun, also a poet. fabulous. ada calhoun is writing about her father, peter schjeldahl, who was an art critic for "the new york times." jeffrey: yeah, very prominent. maureen: very prominent, but kind of an elusive, emotionally elusive father. ada goes down to the basement of the east village apartment house where her parents lived for decades. she comes upon these cassette tapes that her father made when he was trying to write a frank o'hara. d she decides she's going to use these tapes to try to complete what he never completed. he never wrote this biography. also a poet is literary criticism. it's biography of both her father and frank o'hara. and it's also a daughter's memoir and a love letter to new york cit so it's fabulous. the other book i that has stayed

with me is bthe medical historian lindsay fitzharris, and it's called "the face maker." it's out the pioneering plastic surgery work of harold gillies, a doctor during world war i, who's faced with this catastrophe of all of these men who've had their faces shattered by the new technology of warfare during world war i. there are no textbooks, there are no guides. he's trying to put these men's faces back together again and to give them their lives. jeffrey: gilbert, you know, i know in your position you get lots and lots of books sent your way. i'm just -- i'm wondering, do you see any themes jumping out at you or subject matter that speaks to our moment, whether it's the pandemic, the politics of our time? anything hitting you? gilbert: one book that came out this year that was particularly well-received, book called "lucy

by the sea," by the author elizabeth strout. and this was a novel starring a character that she's written about several times before, lucy barton. and in this novel, lucy experiences the pandemic. she is an older woman who has to leave new york to go up to maine to join her husband in a cabin, so they can sort of get away from what they imagine is is a very dangerous place to be at the moment. it's a little too close for some people at the moment. i found it extremely readable, and i imagine we're going to continue to see books like that over the course of the next many years. jeffrey: maureen, you get a lot of books coming your way. what do you see? maureen: i do. the pandemic novel and nonfiction. i see the pandemic entering in ways that i don't expect. something like alexandra horowitz's "the year of the puppy." alexandra horowitz is the head of the canine cognition lab at barnard, and she's written a lot

of nonfiction about the way dogs think. kind of connecting with what gilbert said about ed yong's nonfiction book. she and her family adopted a puppy during the pandemic. and so it's partly that personal story. so many people adopted dogs and cats during the pandemic, but also this attempt, yes, to get into the mind of a creature who we love but who is not us. so i think we'reoing to keep seeing those pandemic stories. jeffrey: all right. just some of the best books of 2022. maureen corrigan, gilbert cruz, thank you both very much. gilbert: thank you. maureen: thank you. ♪ judy: the playlist is personal for the team distilling the life of and legacy of neil diamond in the newly-opened broadway musical "a beautiful noise." without diamond, we would not have "sweet caroline." the monkees wouldn't have had number one hits like "i'm a believer." and there would be no song about

"coming to america." diamond's decades-long march through the music charts is portrayed in the musical which first ran in boston this summer. that is where special correspondent jared bowen of gbh got an early look, for canvas, our series on arts and culture series. ♪ jared: for the team distilling neil diamond's life on stage, the playlist is personal. linda powell: my gateway drugs for neil diamond really were theatrical in a way, because it was seeing the movie "the jazz singer." >> ♪ i couldn't at all tonight ♪ michael mayer: america and brooklyn roads and shiloh. shiloh i think they speak to his heritage and to his childhood. >> ♪ coming to america ♪ michael mayer: we understand what it is to be the son of immigrants fleeing in terror in

europe and cominto america and seizing that opportunity and then finding yourself in brooklyn and lonely and creating an imaginary friend named shiloh, who is your constant companion. >> ♪ you child with dreams dream every dream on ur own ♪ jared: and for actor will swenson who is playing the superstar singer and songwriter, his diamond pick? >> ♪ i am myself to no one else ♪ will: it seems like maybe he learned early that like honesty is the currency that people respond to. he was never afraid to put himself out there personally. jared: we spoke with the team as the show was deep into rehearsals. will: it's kind of a story of a man coming to grips with who he is today and the challenges he has today and grappling with the

decisions that he made in the past and wishing he could change them. jared: the 81-year-old diamond retired from performing in 2018 after being diagnosed with parkinson's disease. it was only when he stepped off the stage, says director michael mayer, when diamond, who has been part of the process every step of the way, was ready to tell his life story. michael: he is probably truer to the human he was before he became a star. we reveal in the show the showman of neil, the jewish elvis, if you will, that is a character that he put on. it was a way for him to take someone who is innately shy and quiet and kind of a loner. that's how he could stand on a stadium stage and sing to 80,000 people. jared: mayer, the tony-winning director of shows like spring awakening, the green day musical american idiot, and hedwig and the angry inch, has shaped the show as a memory play, not simply a night of

diamond's greatest hits. michael: we're not doing the and then i wrote, and then i wrote and then i wrote. it's a much more emotional and abstract exploration. jared: teased out by way of a therapist, played by linda powell, helping an older neil diamond reflect on his younger days. now, decades into her own acting career, it's a concept with which she deeply identifies. linda: it starts from an older person looking back at their life and looking back at the experiences they went through and trying to figure out , how did that make me who i am? why did i do that, that way? and i'm not that person anymore. who am i? will: i relate to it endlessly. jared: actor will swenson plays the younger neil diamond, who began writing songs at 16, whose hits date back to the 1960's, and who's ultimately sold more than 100 million records. will: he was just being played on a loop in our house. growing up, one of my earliest

memories is of a hot, august night eight-track tape in my dad's van in like 1976. i think. jared: so with diamond virtually in his dna, swenson says he had an out-of-body experience the first time, during rehearsals, he had to perform diamond in front of diamond. will: i was just strumming my guitar, thinking, "keep it together, keep it together." and i went about five feet too far downstage. and then one of the ensemble members bashed into me, and i was like, "oh, terrible way to start." so, yeah, i don't remember a lot of it. as a positive, i don't think i'll ever be more nervous in my life, ever. jared: clearly, he's become more comfortable, joining diamond who made a rare appearance singing "sweet caroline" at a red sox game earlier this month. >> ♪ hands reaching out ♪ jared: swenson says parkinson's disease may have curtailed diamond's career, but his spirit rages on. will: he reminds me of my dad a ton. they're the same age roughly. and he's great.

sharp as a tack. and is still so invested in the music and the sound. he's been singing along with us, and we feel really privileged to get to be in the room while he's singing "sweet caroline" with us. it's amazing. >> ♪ sweet caroline ♪ jared: for the pbs newshour, i'm jared bowen, in boston. judy: that is definitely one to see if we possibly can. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumerllular.tv. >> the landscape has changed and not for the last time.

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