like in the case of cleopatra. it is known, but in that moment you realize you do not actually know that much. >> the four books you have written are what? what year? >> what a good question. 1994. the next book was about -- another non household name. that was really a portrait of a marriage. the third book was about ben franklin and his years in france. it was very difficult to research, but a thorough pleasure. and now, "cleopatra." >> a lot of your stories, said the nine states. is there reason for that? the road about his time in paris. -- you wrote about his time in paris. >> he was washed up in new york as a russian exile, from germany, to france to the u.s. with ben franklin, there is this unknown piece of his life and a very unknown franklin. in paris during the american result -- during the american revolution. this is a man speaking a language she does not speak particularly well. i thought i was somehow playing with day original idea in some way. i'm not sure the answer would be, cleopatra could be anyw

it was the case with cleopatra. a name that is recognizable but you stop to think, i do not know that much. i could not go on for more than three sentences on this subject. >> what year? >> 1994. the next book was about vera nabokov, the wife of the writer. that was a portion of a marriage. the third book was about ben franklin, which was a pleasure to be difficult to research, but a pleasure. and then cleopatra. >> there is one trend. all these people come from outside of united states. >> it could be my part. i was very aware. >> you wrote about his time in paris. >> when you take a person out of context you see them better. i became most aware of that with the nabokov. it is russian exiles leave for germany, france, and the u.s. he recast himself as an american. there is this unknown piece of himself -- of ben franklin. in paris, during the american revolution. this is a man speaking a language he does not speak well of a diplomatic reason. i thought it was as if i were playing with a more regional version of fra

. >> i am cleopatra, princess, goddess, qoon of -- queen of equipment. >> it's very important, also how we read the story and where did it happen. >> i love being in the parade. what do you think? >> it's fun to read. >> school should be fun. it's a learning place. we want to make sure they're here handbooks are part of that. if they can grass -- grasp the story, the characters and even with nonfiction if they can understand why the sun is shining, why the water is flowing, why our earthquake sometimes splits and shakes. >> pete's mom asks him what did you do at school today? ed pete say -- and pete says. >> books are fun. reporting for abc2 news. >>> pete's looking lean these days, isn't he, kelly. awesome stuff. 50 at bwi. we've got humidity near 100%. visibility cut to 30% of normal. yeah. it was one gray scenario out there today, dim and dismal and misty. drizzle coming down heavy and steady. check out the practice field. wet weather scenario as they went out to practice. maryland's most powerful radar, showers beginning to drift towards cockeysville. going to get more steady drizzl

come on and nobody knows anything about cleopatra and a biography of abraham lincoln and, you know, obama's biography has invented characters it's a process you have to take the fact and then write a certain way. i choose to write it in a very cinematically. so, for instance i will interview that roberts and the ot

you see a biography of cleopatra. nobody knows anything about cleopatra, and he sayeth leibowitz abraham lincoln and you see you know, obama's biography has invented characters. it's a process. you have to take the facts and then write it in a certain way. i choose to ride it in a very cinematic way so for instance i will interview thad roberts and i will interview the other kid who was there, this guy gordon who is was later in the book. i know there was a conversation that took place 10 years ago between these people and i know it was said but i don't know the exact words so one journalism talks about moon rocks but to me that as of warring and weak way of telling that seemed. i know they talked about moon rocks and i know what they did with the moon rocks so i described what they did with the moon rocks. there were some journalists who loved it and some who don't. it will be a controversy forever in terms of certain journalists will never like it. with a social network, mark zuckerberg came out and said it's not tr

you see a a biography of cleopatra.ome on, nobody knows anything about cleopatra. >> did you see a biography of abraham lincoln and, you know, obama's biography has invented characters. it is a process. you have to take the facts and write it in a certain way. i choose to write it in a cinematic way. so for instance, i will interview thad roberts, the other kid there, the sky court in his later the book. i know what was said, but i doubt on the exact words. so when journalists may say they talked about routes, but to me that's a very boring and weak way of telling that scene. i know they talked about rocks and i know what they describe what they did with moon rocks and there is some journalists who have been some who don't enable via controversy forever in terms of certain journalists will never like it. but the social network, mark zuckerberg came out and said it's not true and collimated jackie collins of silicon valley, which has loved actually. >> that's great. but he never pointed out anything that wasn't true. and

stars who had an affair and were later married twice. >> mainly what you got with cleopatra was thisn production and a budget of $44 million. but what made a scandal in old hollywood may not be sosa laborious today. >> this, after all, say hollywood insiders is the era of lindsay lohan and a new scandal every week. back in the day, you had to be a big star to have a scandal. today, you have to have a scandal to become a big star. >> but hollywood has proven to be the gift that keeps on giving, a town where scandal and star go hand in hand. for "today," miguel alverair. >>> joining us with more on their special issue, from vanity fair magazine is david fran. good morning. >> good morning. >> it's sad to say perhaps that there are so many to choose from. how did you get the list down to the top ten? >> when vanity fair was launched in 1983, our editor decided these are the ones that stand the test of time, liz and dick, the stories of o.j. simpson, some of the ones that you've seen, especially the natalie wood case. >> what's interesting as we look over the years, notoriety often eleva

lot of people don't realize, martin, is that marilyn monroe actually campaigned to be in the movie"cleopatrashoot in 1958 and you can see in the poster we're also sending, this is marilyn in that outfit and she was campaigning to be cleopatra which elizabeth taylor won the part. >> it is obvious she wasn't wearing anything under that. that doesn't hide very much. >> you can go from hollywood royalty to royalty for the next halloween party. >> good lord, that is revealing. >> we estimate this one for $200,000 to $300,000. it is a beautiful outfit. >> this is my most favorite area of what you've brought in today. one is a letter written by marilyn when she was just norma jean. >> 1945. she was at the factory in los angeles. she was 19 years of age just after her birthday. she wrote back to her family in west virginia, her foster mother and a beautiful letter talking about being discovered by richard conover the photographer and him encouraging her to pursue a career as a model. as we know, she did then join the blue book model agency and we are selling those photographs as well from the first

she only did it to get "cleopatra" part of the deal.dea of the boudoir sensibility of satin and lace. the sale of lingerie shot up after that film. >> sarah jessica parker, her own red carpets are stunning in a variety of ways. >> sarah jessica is fashion's enthusiast. she adoerz fashion. she is really the greatest thing that happened to world fashion. that whole show "sex & the city" did so much to boost it, the pink cotton candy chanel dress or the wedding dress, taking a chance and having a blast doing it. >> she relishes it. let's talk about jennifer lopez and how can we forget the green plunging neckline. >> ask matt, he can't forget it either. >> matt wore it, but everyone noticed it but no one copied it. >> that's not a dress you can pull off unless you have jennifer lopez's body. the most iconic famous red carpet dress of all-time. it shocked everybody, basically the best thing that ever stand to doublestick tape as well and she looked completely innocent wearing it. that's the amazing thing. >> what, this dress? kate middleton

. >> "cleopatra" author has advice for would-be authors. spent time as an editor at simon and schuster. >> editors are very desperate for a new book to publish an exciting new author. there should be hope for what is yet to be done. >> more on sunday night on "q &a." >> every weekend, the people and events that document the american story. this weekend, white house curator william allman on decorative find out rarely -- fine arts rarely seen outside the white house. and from the civil war, an author on historical fiction. from the film vault, the goldwater for president committee follows barry goldwater as the five-term senator campaigns in new hampshire in 1964. look for the complete weekend schedule at c-span.org/history. >> "washington journal" continues -- host: uri dadush from the carnegie endowment for international peace. the headlines coming out of the geodesic 20 specifically dealt with countries and "the wall street journal" talked about greece as well as " the new york times." what would you say is the message that came out of th

i don't think we could have predicted that it would be "macbeth", cleopatra. king lear. the astonishing outpouring of genius. tragic genius. tragic comedy. i think that "hamlet" is the pivot point. there's a kind of volcanic eruntion of language in hamlet, though we had already written about 20 or so plays, there are suddenly 600 words not only that he had never used before, but that had never been used before in any printed text that survived from the english language that is astonishing. something erupting from him. and then -- >> did he invent the language? >> he did largely invent the language. i mean, he invented it -- he's very cunning at telling you what the words actually mean. when lady macbeth says that blood on her hands -- she's imagining her hands is going to make -- the next line is making the green one red. that is to say it means making something red, but shakespeare if he's introducing a very fancy 50 cent word will usually will give you a five cent explanation afterwards so you're not completely lost in the plays. i couldn't off the top of my head recit

biogra as sure as any biography of s cleopatra. you sit down and read aed how my biography of cleopatra her dad how many years ago. we know nothing about it.e's n the bill the story in is nothing wrong with that.author note >> the authors note in the front of sex on the moon that mr. measure puts in his book. somerset county, new jersey. bkv yuan book tv on c-span2 talkingh with the metric.>> callekay. >> hello.ed on t >> i will go and turn on tv in and their your. m you really surprised me.exactly. that did not realize you were. now i do. regarding your comment and your the odds on the stock exchange,y it counted thinking. think i'm very curious what you think about and it may be you are wrt thinking about writing something about group on. if you were to bet on your pondw which buy it would be? gr >> you know, held the honest.ana i don't know all lot of them ever on the internet. to m when it first came on and youout were talking about it, i thought it personally was ridiculous. bk at that this is a coupon book. buy everyone canit

there's a biography of cleopatra. come on, nobody knows anything about her. you see biography of lincoln and obama's biography has invented characters. i mean, it's a process. you know, you have to take the facts and then write it in a certain way. i choose to write it in a very sinmatic way. for instance, i interview thad roberts, the other kid who is there, gordon. i know there's a conversation that took place ten years ago between these people, i know what was said, but not the exact words. one journalist say they talked about moon rocks, but that's boring. i know they talked about it, i know what they did with the rocks, so i describe what they did. there's some who love it and others who don't, and, you know, it'll be a controversy forever in terms of certain people never liking it. with social network and accidental billionaires, mark said it's not true, it's not true, and called me the jackie collins of silicon valley, which i loved actually, that's great, but, you know, he never pointed out anything that was not true. he never said this is not true or

these go back to stories and what i recently read cleopatra that was affirmed.i do think though that with the advent of reality television and talking heads and with this two-minute commercials that can make war heroes into cowards like we saw in the presidential election. if you spend enough money, church can be suspended or disbelief. i'm really proud that we have great writers and in fact if there was any way to, i would be voting as a panel panel member and i to hold can this because i don't know how you got ahold of john betts i sent you an. i said let's give john the lifetime achievement award because he can't take any of these books and so the contributions they made for the cause of justice. >> i see time also going to place a hypothetical if that's okay. here you are being non-syncretic and i'm going to place a hypothetical but i think that it's in fact the case that fiction and the enormity of the kinds of things that john writes about seem like they can't possibly be true are in fact true, and that looks that look like this can't possibly happen. i ha

nobody knows anything about cleopatra and you see above our kofi of abraham lincoln and obama's has invented process. you have to take the facts and write in a certain way. i choose to write in a cinematic way. for in instance i will interview a conversation that took place ten years ago between these people and i know what was said but i don't know the exact words so one journalist might say they talked about moon rocks but to me that is a week way of telling the scene. i know they talked about moon rocks and i know what they did with them so i describe what they did with the moon rocks and there are some journalists who love it and some who don't and there will be a controversy forever in terms of certain journalists will never like it with a social network and accidental billionaires' mark zuckerberg came out and said it's not true then he called me the jackie collins of silicon valley. [laughter] which is great but he never pointed out to anything that isn't true. he never said this isn't true and this isn't true, he just said he didn't read the book and i don't know where you go with th

. >> a cleopatra author has advice for riders. and spent time as a senior editor -- she won a pulitzer prize and spent time as a senior editor. >> there should be enormous hope for what is yet to be done. >> more sunday night on c-span's "q & a." >> next, we will hear from senators joe lieberman, susan collins, and scott brown. the measure involves keeping -- >> -- and secure its financial health into the future. we are introducing this legislation today and planned to market it out before the government will affairs committee meeting next wednesday. five years ago, senator collins and harper left congress in the adoption of postal reform legislation. they have been the real leaders in this area who have devoted a lot of work trying to rescue the postal service. this year, senator brown and i have joined them in proposing this legislation which really is an effort to rescue the u.s. postal service, which needs a fundamental restructuring of the way it meets its obligations to its customers, including individual and business mailer

. >> cleopatra author stacy schiff has advice for would-be writers. given that she won a pulitzer prize and was a senior editor at simon and schuster, or advice is pretty good. >> every young writer should remember that publishers out there are desperate for good new books to published. there should be enormous hope for what is yet to be done. >> more on sunday night on c- span's "q&a". >>, went to a waterfront park in the georgetown neighborhood of washington, d.c. to encourage congressional support for the part of his jobs plan to repair the nation's infrastructure. he spoke near the key bridge which crosses the potomac river connecting the district of columbia with virginia. this is 20 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. [applause] >> hello, everybody. all right. thank you so much, everybody. please, have a seat on this beautiful day. it is good to see all these construction workers out. of all the industries hammered by the economic downturn, construction has been among the hardest hit. since the housing bubble bu

. >> a cleopatra author has advice for riders. she won a pulitzer prize and spent time as a senior editor. >> i think every young writer out there should remember that publishers are desperate for new books to be published. there should be a glimmer of hope for what is yet to be done. >> more sunday night on c-span. >> next, virginia attorney general ken cuccinelli testifies on why he believes a regulation known as maximum achievable control technology reduces job growth and increases energy costs. held by the house oversight committee, this is 2 hours. >> this meeting will come to order. the oversight committee exists to secure two fundamental principles. americans have a right to know that the money washington takes from them is well spent, and second, americans deserve an effective government that works for them. our duty on the committee is to protect these rights. our responsibility is to hold government accountable to taxpayers because taxpayers have a right to know what they get from their government. we will work tirelessl