brian: our guest has been david mccullough. this is a book called "the wri ght brothers." david: thank you, brian. it is good to be back with you. ♪ [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] announcer: four transcripts of the program, it is also available as c-span podcast. announcer: canadian astronaut chris hatfield spent three tours on the international space station and wrote several books on the experience, including "you were here: around the world," and also michael hill, a researcher for david mccullough, and the latest book called "dead weight, the latest crossing of the lusitania." watch these at c-span.org. announcer: the u.s. capitol, the u.s. senate earlier today failing to move forward on the soon-to-be ex firing provisions of the usa patriot act back in 2001. after 9/11, the collection of american phone records will ex buyer at midnight. we will take a look at the observatory in washington, the master clock ti

brian: how do you know in david mccullough is mad? angry? irritated? [laughter] michael: you don't. david: i don't get mad. i get frustrated sometimes, and i get impatient and i think your capacity for patients diminishes with age because, you know, time is running out. you don't want to waste any time. but i am so glad he made a point about the archivists and the librarians and the immense help they are. every single person that i give credit to in the acknowledgments in my book is somebody who has done something a very great value for my work. i think that one of the more obvious lessons of history is almost nothing of any consequence is accomplished in isolation, i the individual. it is a joint effort. certainly this kind of scholarship is always a joint effort. i have had a librarian or an archivist say to me, remember would you were in here one year ago and you were looking -- but i found it. sometimes, it can be very exciting material. brian: the wright brothers. when you cited to learn what they were like, what you find? what would they be like if they were sitting here talkin

experience, including "you were here: around the world," and also michael hill, a researcher for david mccullough, and the latest book called "dead weight, the latest crossing of the lusitania." watch these at c-span.org. announcer: the u.s. capitol, the u.s. senate earlier today failing to move forward on the soon-to-be ex firing provisions of the usa patriot act back in 2001. after 9/11, the collection of american phone records will ex buyer at midnight. we will take a look at the observatory in washington, the master clock ticking down. this is until midnight, in just a couple of seconds.

i read the questions myself. >> one of the questions you asked david mccullough was who were his favorite presidential biographers. >> yes. how can you not ask that? do you not going to ask that of david taveras. >> david mccullough puts on a book every couple years. is it an automatic review in the new york times? >> there are some authors were pretty automatic because even if we don't necessarily think for example that the latest thriller by x big name is necessarily is best but know that our readers will want to know. it is worthy of review not necessarily because of the quality. i think everything he writes is pretty terrific but we know it will be of interest. that review might not be positive but it is worthy of attention. >> have you have her -- have you had an issue were all the reviews were negative for all the reviews were positive? >> well, the reviews come in our regular ongoing basis and then we schedule in. we don't generally schedule them based on positive or negative. there are a lot of factors that go in. the most obvious is the date of publication. we are a newspaper. it

he is, without argument and you can argue david mccullough if you want to, the finest narrative nonfiction writer alive. [applause] he is also a terrific human being, and you unfortunately have to listen to larson and kogan. this is the first time we've ever had a conversation that did not involve cocktails. >> thats is true, that is true. >> so we may not be as wildly fun as we normally are, but we hope to be fun. [laughter]sa erik, right now the lucetania you describe as a floating village in steel.ng i'm not going to concentrate much on the book. t my editor, jerry kern, is a huge fan of the book. he has specific questions. i'm goingdi to talk more about int a sense the process. sense. you are now in what you call the dark country of no ideas. >> that is a term i didn't come up with. my good friend and publicist came up with it when i am looking for a period to describe my next book. when i finish a book i have no other idea on my plate and start from scratch. it is a long-ish process taking about a year before starting the next project during which i am unpleasant and snappish and piss

. >> coming up next, q&a with author david mccullough discussing his book on the wright brothers. followed at 7:00 a.m. by "washington journal." ♪ brian: this week on "q&a," our guest is pulitzer prize winner david mccullough. out with his new book, "the wright brothers." he talks about the personal stories of wilbur and orville wright, the roles their family played as the brothers experienced failures and successes, and the time in which they lived as the race to achieve flight was at its peak. brian: i recently picked up the washington post and saw a review of your book, and she says the magical account of their early adventures, the wright brothers -- enhanced by correspondences written records, and his deep understanding of the country shows us two boys from a remarkable family taught the world to fly. did you expect that from her? david: it is as if the pope blessed the book. to have her write that review meant more than i can say. brian: have you met her? david: i have met her but i don't know her. i did an interview with her mother. she was wonderful. delightful to talk to.

topping the list, david mccullough recount thing birth of flight in o'the wright brothers" followed by "tidying up." david brooks latest book comes in third in roy the record to character" looking at the lives of ten historical figures as examples how to achieve discuss. next o'dead wake "recounting the sinking of the lusitania. and "with" an examination end of life care in being mortal. a look at indy bound's best sellers list continues with h is for hawk by el lend mcdonnell until and j.k. rowling followed by john -- discusses sexual assaults at the university of montana in missoula in ninth oliver sacks recounteds his life in "on the move," and wrapping up the best sellers. tom brokaw discusses this personal battle with cancer in "a lucky life interrupted." that's a look at current nonfiction best sellers according to indy bound. >> from our recent visit to new york city, booktv interviews adam bellow, editorial director of broadside books. he tacks about some authors he has worked with the past as well as titles soon to be released by broadside. >> one thing we like to do at booktv

and "the wright brothers" by david mccullough. betty: not light reading.ie: steve schwarzman is on the list online and he mentioned "outliers" by malcolm gladwell. a little lighter reading. majored in history at harvard, mark: summer reading for the heavy hitters. betty: i will say goodbye. mark: we will meet the ceo of boxed. ♪ mark: breaking news this hour. you are looking at the live shot from the floor of the united states house of representatives lawmakers are voting out on the trade adjustment authority. they believe that is the best means to kill the fast-track authority. they have launched the last di tch effort to scuttle the president's program. we saw nancy pelosi speaking earlier. she urged her colleagues to avoid -- to vote against this red and the democrat from corey gaines said the taa is he had needed to facilitate the whole deal. they can stop this whole train revisit the most egregious provisions of fast-track. welcome back to bloomberg market day. let's go straight to your top headlines at this hour. setting aside another $63 million to

brian: a couple weeks ago, david mccullough was here and he talks about charles sumner going to france, you talk about it in your book, but you will get another voice in here and we will see your reaction. >> sumner graduated from harvard , went to harvard law school, practiced law and decided, i don't know enough. my education is not sufficient. i want to learn more. i will go to paris. he borrowed $3000, closed up his law office and went to the sorbonne. attending lectures and everything. he writes about what he is listening to, who he is meeting and what he is learning, but there is one entry with the speaker was tedious and he found himself looking around the lecture hall, mind wondering and he noticed that the other students several thousand in this lecture hall, that the other students treated the black students just as though they were like everybody else. he wrote in the diary maybe how we treat black people at home is the result of what we have been taught and not part of the natural order of things. brian: did you read the diary? mr. puleo: i did and it is a great quote. not

next up, our brian: this week, our guest is pulitzer prize winner david mccullough. out with his new book, "the wright brothers." he talks about the personal stories of wilbur and orville wright, the roles their family played as the brothers experienced failures and successes, and the time in which they lived, as the race to achieve flight was at its peak. i recently picked up the washington post and saw a review

in second, david mccullough, two-time winner of the pulitzer prize recounts the birth of flight in, the wright brothers. bill o'reilly with david fisher come in third with the companion book to the fox news series legend and lives which examines lives of the american people in the midwest. up next fox news contributor and former white house press secretary dana perino shares stories from her years in the white house and her time in television in, and the good news is. our look at the chicago tribune best-seller list continues with american wife from taya kyle, widow of "american sniper" author chris kyle. she along with jim defelice recount her life after her husband's death. up next, in the road to character, "new york times" columnist david brooks looks at the lives of 10 historical figures as examples for how to achieve success. also on the list, ashley vance profiles the inventor and cofounder of tesla motors and paypal in, "elon musk." wrapping up this week's best-sellers tom brokaw long-time host of the "nbc nightly news" program discusses his personal battle with cancer in a luck

he is, without argument and you can argue david mccullough if you want to, the finest narrative nonfictionwriter alive. [applause] he is also a terrific human being, and you unfortunately have to listen to larson and kogan. this is the first time we've ever had a conversation that did not involve cocktails. >> thats is true, that is true. >> so we may not be as wildly fun as we normally are, but we hope to be fun. [laughter]sa erik, right now the lucetania you describe as a

topping the list, david mccullough, two time winner of the pulitzer prize recounting the birth of flight in the right brothers. that is a look at some of the current nonfiction bestsellers according to indy bound. >> it all just, if you ask me why i was doing this, in my late 20s, would always be the same, it might be funny. things have changed. i was looking for it might be funny. i thought it might be funny to sneak into a building thought it moon honey, democracy and when the islamic state. he was calling himself osama bin laden -- ha we called him up, must have thought he was dead, really successful. and the democracy is okay and on the first day the first thing we did was watch the lion king the only way he can relax, they call me the why and, great warrior, a great fighter. then he needed to get a collection box, went to the local wholesale warehouse and the only collection box in stock would be a giant novelty plastic coca-cola bottles. i said isn't it funny you are collecting money to overthrow the west, palpable symbols? he was like yes did two engage them. taking him to show fo

brian: he's the same one that david mccullough uses. evan: yes. mike and i were at the library i spent a couple months out at the library listening to tapes and the archivist there helped me. there is a mountain of material. the one thing that scholars, or rather journalists, need to know, is that if you walk cold into a presidential library, forget it. you cannot even read the finding aid. you need to spend a couple of years reading the secondary stuff and talking to people before you even darken the door of a presidential library. but then, if you befriend the archivist, they will point you in the right direction. brian: which book that you read did you find the most useful? evan: the haldeman diaries are quite useful. those are 40% to maybe half of the actual diaries. the actual diaries you can get on a cd. the haldeman diaries are great. he is a great observer of the "p" as they called him. the president was known as "the p." he was gentle and tender about nixon in a way. he can also make fun of him a little bit. william safire, one of the spe

topping the list, david mccullough recount thing birth of flight in o'the wright brothers" followed by"tidying up." david brooks latest book comes in third in roy the record to character" looking at the lives of ten historical figures as examples how to achieve discuss. next o'dead wake "recounting the sinking of the lusitania. and "with" an examination end of

in second, david mccullough, two-time winner of the pulitzer prize recounts the birth of flight in, the wright brothers. bill o'reilly with david fisher come in third with the companion book to the fox news series legend and lives which examines lives of the american people in the midwest. up next fox news contributor and former white house press secretary dana perino shares stories from her years in the white house and her time in television in, and the good news is. our look at the chicago tribune best-seller list continues with american wife from taya kyle, widow of "american sniper" author chris kyle. she along with jim defelice recount her life after her husband's death. up next, in the road to character, "new york times" columnist david brooks looks at the lives of 10 historical figures as examples for how to achieve success. also on the list, ashley vance profiles the inventor and cofounder of tesla motors and paypal in, "elon musk." wrapping up this week's best-sellers tom brokaw long-time host of the "nbc nightly news" program discusses his personal battle with cancer in a luck

number one this week is "the right brothers" by david mccullough.e featured many of these books on booktv, which you can see every weekend on c-span two. also, a new book out on ronald reagan. the title is "reagan, the life." as we said this week, the house will be focusing on trade issues. speaker of the house john boehner saying that they will be a majority of republicans likely to support the trade bill. not the case for democrats. he can watch the debate on tpp fast-track authority on c-span. pat from ohio talked about this issue in his remarks. [video clip] >> trade means new market and new customers. did you know that we have a trade surplus with the 20 nations that we have a trade agreement with? or that manufacturing jobs tied to trade a 16% more. or, employment in ohio declined, but employment in trade improved. people say that trade gets them through tough times, allowing them to hire and expand. president obama can negotiate trade agreements on his own, and in secret, he does not have to make you or i informed. it does not make sense. it

if you didn't read the book "the brooklyn bridge" you should read it by david mccullough. it's an incredible book. we don't want to lose the brooklyn bridge. in ohio, the john ro ebing suspension bridge. the oklahoma, the bridge over crooked oak creek. in oregon, the columbia river crossing. the pennsylvania the benjamin franklin bridge. the rhode island, the viaduct in providence. in south carolina, the i-85 bridge in greenville. in texas the i-45 bridge over white oak bayou. in utah, the i-15 bridge over s.r. 93 in davis county. in washington, the evergreen point floating bridge. in wisconsin the us-41 bridge over a river. now, pi just have to -- i just have to ask my friends on both sides of the aisle. if the roof over your house is about to cave in with your children inside and you know about it, wouldn't you find a way to pay for that repair or would you let it collapse on your kids? the answer is obvious. of course we're going to fix the bridge in our house. you have to keep the infrastructure in good repair. though the roof is caving in on our roads and bridges and

topping the list, david mccullough, two time winner of the pulitzer prize recounts the birth of flight in the right brothers. that is this week's top ten nonfiction bestsellers according to the new york times. this is booktv on c-span2 and we wa