joining us now is benjamin bush. you may recognize him from hbo's the wire and generation kill.ned a memoir "dust to dust" which has broken up into the elements for its soil, water, metal, stone, ash. very ordinary materials but meaningful to the author and the foundation of what has been an extraordinary life. benjamin busch joins us now. nice to have you here. congratulations to the book. >> thank you. >> why did you write it? >> i was in a pivotal point in my life when i returned from war. i was a father, and i lost both of my parents within a year. i then began to question my place in the universe. this is a portrait of my perspective, this book. >> give us in brief what the transition in your perspective was as a result of the challenges that were thrown into wro your life. >> well, i think all of us are rooted in certain beliefs from our childhood, which are carried forever. it's a certain defiance which i like about childhood and the magic of that, which is we're not going to die, our parents are not going to die. there's something about our inas a rule -- invulnerability

in four hours and interview and call in program with benjamin bush. his book is just to dust:a memoir. 4 hours from now a panel on nonfiction, visions of the west and in five hours are final call in program for the saturday. steven ross is our guest. the book is hollywood left and right:how movie stars shake american politics. now we take you to newman hall on the usc campus for the first panel session

in four hours and interview and call in program with benjamin bush. his book is just to dust:a memoir. 4 hours from now a panel on nonfiction, visions of the west and in five hours are final call in program for the saturday. steven ross is our guest. the book is hollywood left and right:how movie stars shake american politics. now we take you to newman hall on the usc campus for the first panel session of this festival of the books, history, war and remembrance. here are the authors to our featured. hitlerland, adam hotchild to end all wars. the civil war awakening. .. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning everyone. if you could take your seat, we want to get started. while everyone is getting settled, i want to welcome you here to the festival of books. nice to see so many of you here interested in history. i do have a couple of housekeeping things i need to cover very briefly.hings i ne to that we ask that all siltstones be turned off, please as a courtesy to the other t people here and also to the panelists. there will be a signing afterter the

bush years ago. at that time, benjamin netanyau did not support it. contiguous a crucial wordsome there going to be a contiguous state? not something the prime minister said before, talked to sources in the palestine -- plo today, not something he discussed with them that could be significant if peace talks do again start, to have a contiguous -- to use that word contiguous a lot of weight in that particular word. we will hear what the prime minister has to say about the u.s. elections it is an important issue for him and what he has to say about iran important there how well does he know mitt romney? we will get answers to that plus, his on swegs a map and a new case of mad cow disease in the united states a lot of people wondering what it means and we have some answers. [ camera clicks ] ♪ it's hard to resist the craveable nature of a nature valley sweet & salty nut bar. for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager

bush years ago. at that time, benjamin netanyahu did not support it. contiguous a crucial word.s there going to be a contiguous state, not something that the prime minister said before. we talked to sources in the palestine -- the plo today and they said it's not something he had discussed with them. so that could be significant if peace talks do again start, to have a contiguous, to use that word contiguous. a lot of weight in that particular word. well, we're going to hear what the prime minister has to say about the u.s. elections. it's an important issue for him and what he has to say about iran important there. how well does he know mitt romney? we're going to get some answers to that. plus his obsession with the map. and a new case of mad cow disease in the united states. a lot of people are wondering what it means. and we have some answers. i'm an expert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them,

bush at that time. at that time, benjamin netanyahu did not support it. is there going to be a contiguous state? we talked to sources in the palestine -- the plo today. it's not something he had discussed with them. that could be significant in peace talks do again start, to use that contiguous. a lot of weight in the world. and we'll hear what he has to say about the presidential elections. plus, his obsession with the map. >>> and mad cow disease in the united states. a lot of people are wondering what it means. we have some answers. great shot. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco. how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother board

the answer is, the absence of benjamin mayberry prentiss' division and johnston having overrun that position at 9:00. between 9:00 when bush rod johnson and robert russell attack and 10:00, those five brigades that johnston releases to go north by west slam into sherman's left flank, collide into the remainder of mclernen's division in the rear and that's what turns sherman off this ridge and it turns him off it very fast. he's unable to hold his position. now that he has this huge mass of force in front of him and a respectively same sized force now maneuvering astride his left flank, sherman has tracked off shiloh church position like a walnut and his camps are entered after 10:00 and taken position of by the confederate forces. so we now have the two forward federal divisions within a time frame of five hours since the battle started with the first shots fired by those confederate pikts on the corinth road against powell's patrol, five hours have neutralized prentiss' sixth division and sherman's fifth division from their camps, have overrun those camps, broken the organizations up, caused extreme carnage and sent them

benjamin announced that the war on terrorism was -- finished. it was over. >> heather: what would be the reasoning behind that. >> gregg. >> the white house corrected that statement-- the distinction they draw, they say that george bushnst terrorism throughout world. the obama administration decided that it had to focus and focus like a laser on al qaeda, all of the affiliate and it is al qaeda-like groups and wanna bes. i have to say as someone who has covered terrorism for 30 years now, they have been remarkably successful. they have taken out osama bin laden and anwar al-awlaki, the head of the major organization that was going to be the successor to al qaeda in yemen. they have increased the drone attacks in pakistan and yemen. they are fighting al qaeda affiliates all over the world. they have taken out two-thirds -- you are giving that credit to the obama administration? >> this has been a 10-year campaign that has spread the gamut. it's george bush, but obama has taken the ball and rup with t. i think it will be very hard to crit sipeicize him on this particular aspect of counter terrorism. he is done a very good job. >> ellen? >> i agree that it will be very hard to criticize president obama on counter terror