we've been talking with the author, chris kyle on booktv. thank you mr. kyle. >> guest: thank you, sir. >> if you look at the budget for the war on drugs every year it is billions of dollars and so i was curious as to why that is and how does the war on drugs fit into the larger picture of american foreign policy? >> the war and trucks is something the u.s. has used with some justification, but to use that as justification for intervention activities across the globe. we generally associate the declaration of the war on drugs with president nixon in 1971, 1970 saying those words declaring the war on drugs. in one way to look at that time period, we could see the war on drugs is connected to the nixon administration. but if you go further back in u.s. history you realize nixon didn't start the war on drugs. the warren trucks has had stricter policies domestically and abroad for most of the 20th century. he expanded it he'll march day, this open skies domestically and abroad, which is the area i was interested in. although the book will it go both areas in

robert you're on booktv with chris kyle. >> caller: yes mr. kyle i just wanted to say thank you for all of your service. i joined in 1985 and i'm still currently in. i just -- i was away on tdy last week, and i seen your book and picked it up and i want to tell you, it's a fantastic book. i haven't been able to put it down and i think i have 20 pains left. thank you again for -- 20 pages left. thank you again for everything. >> guest: thank you, sir, and thank you for everything you have done and everything you continue to do for us. you are the reason this book is out there, to draw awareness to your sacrifices and hopefully the public will then lift you up and say, thank you, and show you things. in fact, the book the portions of the proceeds are going back to the families of the two guys i lot of mark lee and ryan jobe, and the other third of the money is going back to charities to help vets. so i am out here promoting this book and unfortunately this is not a happy-go-lucky book. that was some of the best moments of my life but also some of

we've been talking with the author, chris kyle on booktv. thank you mr. kyle. >> thank you sir. >> you're watching booktv television for serious readers. you can watch any program you see here online at booktv.org. >> next on booktv, historian nick bunker recounts the three years preceding the start of the revolutionary war. the author examines the growing fissures between britain and the colonists and the importance of the boston tea party as an impetus for war. this is about an hour. >> well, thank you very much indeed. now, normally when i give a talk of any description, and i've given quite a number in the last week while i've been in america, i usually have a little repertory of anecdotes with which i commence, and i had one prepared this evening. but strangely enough, something happened to me on the way here which meant that i decided to scrap it and talk about something else entirely. i took the subway to congress circle, and i walked up central park west towards the historical society, and as i was walking up the street, out of the corner of my ey

booktv on c-span. while serving in iraq from 2003 to 2009 u.s. navy s.e.a.l. sniper chris kyle accumulated more officially confirmed kills than any other sniper in u.s. military history. in his best-selling autobiography, "american sniper" now a major motion picture, mr. kyle described his early career as a professional rodeo rider. the challenges he had to overcome become a s.e.a.l. and experiences in iraq. chris kyle died on february 2 2013 at the age of 38. this program is from 2012. it's about an hour. >> host: chris kyle why did you decide to join the navy? >> guest: actually i grew up thinking the marines were the biggest baddest guys on the block in my eyes wanted to be one so i went to enlist and try to become a marine and a marine recruiter was out to lunch and then in the strip mall all of a sudden there you've got the army recruiter in the navy recruiter coming out to be snipers themselves and pick you up and get you to come to them. i talked to each one of them and the navy recruiter sold me on being a s.e.a.l.. >> host: at that moment you knew you wanted to be a s.

booktv" on c-span2. we did an interview a year or two back with chris kyle, the american sniper.movie is, of course opening this weekend. we are going to air that interview this weekend. so it, if you're interested in that. but we have 72 hours of programming coming up this weekend. in a couple of weeks, walter isaacson will be our guest. "american history tv," same thing, three days of american history coming up. so we appreciate you being with us this weekend. here, once again, is the book we're talking about. callers referenced this. the book is called, "the partisan divide: congress in crisis". enjoy your weekend. the president is live at new today with his press conference on c-span. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> on this friday, house and senate wrapping up the two_day policy retreat in hershey, pennsylvania. u.s. senate gaveled in this morning to consider amendments to a bill that would authorize construction