brian fagan writes about the oceans, and jim sterba writes about nature wars. this is book tv on c-span2. live coverage from l.a. >> historian from montana, and it was a little bit wintry when i left but it's nice to be here for this beautiful southern california day, as usual. joined here today by three writers who come to us originally from as far away as and no from as far aim detroit. away as new york on one side and santa barbara on the other side of the continent they bring us story that overlap in some interesting ways that will be fun to explore here. particularly on the idea of exploration and expanding boundaries, including the boundaries of the sea, the rockie mountains and even you're own backyard. and as we'll see there's consequences for this very human pursuit. some intended and maybe some not so much. and what i found interesting going through the biographies of these three individuals is they all three reported from all parts of the globe, working at field archaeologists, war correspondents and voices for the environment. so they bring much bro

gabba listening to authors george black, brian fagan. coming in about a half-hour or so, another panel, this one on violence and we will be covering that live as well. but live here on the campus of usc we're pleased to be joined on set by luis rodriquez. his most recent book is, it calls you back a man odyssey through love addiction revolutions and heating. it was a national book critics circle award finalist. mr. rodriguez, in your title, what does it refer to? >> it is mostly made you representative to where i grew up in the streets, addiction, it keeps calling you back. and it is a struggle to overcome it, astral to find some dignity and grace thrift, this girl to become a father, which is a really big part of my story, how my kids save my life, but at the same time was still too fractured a broken to really be a good father. i had to learn. sobering up. being a father to all my kids. it is really the struggle of knowing that the madness will always be there and knowing how to carry your character and -- >> your first book, always ru