david mccullough? >> guest: it's a very important question, and we will never really understand the impact of television on all of us. but it's here to stay. it's part of our life, and i for one think that the first amendment is among the most important bedrock foundations of our old way of life and system. and i think that the journalists who have been covering this presidency, the election, that led to the presidency, journalist both in print and on television and on the electronic means of communication have with some exceptions kept up a superb job and are doing a superb job, and far more credit than they do. they are brave. they are professional, and we have to remember that having that kind of coverage is essential to our way of life. >> host: this is david mccullough his most recent book, "the american spirit: who we are and what we stand for." his next book is on the northwest territory, the northwest ordinance. >> guest: thank you. >> the truth is that the times succeed in so many fronts. and

david mcculloug mccullough. [applause] he is here for his sixth national book festival appearance, and we hope you will continue to make this a habit. he will be followed by diana.. [applause] she is the author of the wildly successful outlander series. she is here for her fourth festival. next is jd vance. it has struck a chord in the national conversation about poverty in america. thomas freedman verily needs introduction. he is an internationally recognized writer on the middle east, for affairs, and the environment. michael lewis is famous for his book about finance such as wire poker, but he is equally famous for his books about topics of diverse as adoption and baseball. the screen adaptations of the blindside and moneyball, among others, have been enormously popular. miss condoleezza rice. [applause] was the secretary of state for the united states and she is now on the faculty of stanford university, traveling from california to be here with us today. finally, mr. david. he is back for record-setting eig

at the end of that long 992-page biography, david mccullough quotes eric sevareid, the wonderful cbs commentator, and he says, "i might have disagreed with president truman on the atomic bomb, or in terms of korea. i might have disagreed with him on -- but harry truman was character, character." we might want to be at that place where we disagree with someone's particular policies or decisions or opinions, but if we can see them and value their character, that is what it is all about. i think you win the right to be heard -- it is not that you have a title, ceo, pastor -- you win the right to be heard by character. david: i'm reminded of another story. i was covering a moderate republican woman from columbus, ohio. i was interviewing her in her office, i think, and she held up this pamphlet, and it was a flyer she had sent up against her opponent, and it was a diaper, and she said, "this is what i sent out." she was not upset by the stuff hit at her. when you are in a close race, you lose control of your campaign and the national parties come in and take over your campaign. she was n

working with the wide range of authors including president carter, reagan, nixon, kissi nger, david mccullough, a tennessee williams and among the of many, laurence olivier. he could do a whole program on him. the author of several books including the latest "alone" which is why we are here tonight came before i begin if you have an electronic device please turn off the now please join me to welcome the well -- the wonderful michael korda. [applause] >> good evening. i want to make sure that i am not the one the cell phone rings. [laughter] i am so used to speaking here that i find myself constantly looking up at the screen that something will happen. why dunkirk now i am sure you are wondering as i do? i saw christopher nolan is stunning film at 3:00 in the afternoon on a weekday. expecting the theater to be empty. instead it was packed. in fact, was lucky to have arrived it earlier than intended. by the time the pitcher started every seat was taken down to the front row. not a sound from the audience during the picture. no popcorn or coughing and nobody got to go to the bathroom and the audi

last night, at the first event , i had a conversation with david mccullough who just finished up next door and said we really need lincoln now. he said we need them all. [applause] the library of congress building, one of the most magnificent buildings in the country, did not used to be such a distinguished address. it used to be the location of a row of boarding houses facing the capital inhabitedou by congressman. one of those was abraham lincoln. he missed on thatt site on the fourth one in. he was the party of lincoln and he lived in a boarding house with wigs, but it was also known as abolition house. about the political life of abraham lincoln. o this volume i've entitled "wrestling with his angel," taking it from the strip jacob from the bible, of jacob wrestling through a long night. with an angel, or himself and emerging don as somebody else having resolved himself and assuming a new identity. he takes a new name, the name he takes is israel. and something like that happened with lincoln but it happened in his wilderness years. years lasting from 1849 to 1856, and he assumed

rane of authors including presidents carter, reagan, nixon, charles de gaulle, henry kissinger, david mccullough, tennessee williams and last but not least, among the many, laurence olivier. which he could do a full program on laurence olivier. he is the author of several books including his latest turtle, dunkirk, defeat into victory which is why we're all here tonight. before i begin i would like to ask if you have a cell phone or electronic paper, device, please turn it off and now, please join me in welcoming the wonderful, michael. [applause] >> good evening. i want to make sure that i am not the one whose cell phone rings. [laughter] i am so used to speaking here when it proceeded to fill that i find myself constantly looking up at the screen expecting that something will happen there but nothing is. why dunkirk now i'm sure you are wondering, as i do. i saw christopher nolan's stunning film, dunkirk, at three in the afternoon on a weekday in new york, a small town between [inaudible] expecting the theater to be empty. instead it was packed and in fact, i was lucky to have arrived earlier

chernow: it was interesting, this project was started by ken burns and david mccullough during the campaigneeche an extraordinary at the stanford commencement, and he said as a historian, i guess documentary film maker, he said ordinarily we try to be completely nonpartisan, and we liberal to have followers and conservator -- conservative followers. in my statement, i was picking up things i have noticed were absent in trump's words. kindness, sympathy and compassion. there was much too much of an emphasis i thought of money and power and strength. felt, it is not something i think any of us did lightly. as i said with a show, we want to show to be the show, we want people to be historians for everyone. but it was an unusual situation. with trump. hands, the october 15 "new york times" book review, and there you are leaving the whole thing, written by william jefferson clinton. how did that happen? mr. chernow: the interesting thing is, i met bill clinton a few years ago, when i was just starting work on grant, and he is a great reader of history. he said to me, who are you working on? i sa

. >> david mccullough, whose most recent book is called the american spirit: who we and are what we stand for. 202-748-8200. east and central time zones and want to talk to mr. mccull los angeles

one is a bronze bust of winston churchill which was a gift from david mccullough for whom i edit for decades and a very kiir friend, and the other is my father's academy award for "the thief of baghdad." i look at those every once in a while and say, well, if they did what they did, i could surely do something. >> rose: just tell me about the family and how they evolve. >> they evolved because my uncle alex, my father's elder brother, he had three brothers, born as jews in the austria hungarian empire in a small hungarian farming village. my father made his way to budapest, changed his name to korda and became a film critic at age 17 and directed his first motion picture age 21. he drew his brothers into his orbit, as it were, because my uncle went on to become a very famous director. he did among other films "cry the beloved country," the four feathers, jungle book, and my father came an academy-award-winning art director and the three brothers together, when they made movies with the three of them working on it were a formidable team. >> rose: you wasn't to hungary at the time of t

. >> host: this is david mccullough his most recent book, "the american spirit: who we are and what we stand for." his next book is on the northwest territory, the northwest ordinance. >> guest: thank you. >> the truth is that the times succeed in so many fronts. and the central reason is that meit is home outstanding journalists. that stand out among them is tom friedman. [applause] now, , you may notice in your program this purports to be tom friedman. [laughing] tom ace young but it still looks like he's accelerating in reverse in that photo. tom has spent his life getting out into the world doing the research and speaking to people and every station of life, in every walk of life, and around the planet. the result is something quite different from the cynicism and snark and aggression we encounters often today in today's media universe. what we get instead is a pair of rarities, insight and wisdom. they are the products of real reporting and serious reflection. a themselves, all too rare. those qualities can be found in his previous best-selling books and youes can find them again

david mccullough is one. certainly walter isaacson is now developing a touch with his readership that he puts out there. >> we checked out the books and books bestsellers list prior to sitting down with you here. some of the books that are on their, walter isaacson's "leonardo da vinci," chris matthews's book on rfk is a bestseller. did you read what happened? >> you are embarrassing me but i did not. i didn't want to relive what happened personally. i felt i knew what happened. it is -- i have read excerpts from it. it is an honest portrayal in terms of what happened during the election. >> host: another bestseller has been donna brazile's book hacked. >> she was here a few weeks ago, she was in conversation, quite an interesting -- >> host: and obama administration official. >> guest: a republican, she is an anti-trump cnn reporter, not reportable commentator, very outspoken and they became friends on the set of cnn and clearly donna is telling her side of the story and has a lot of raw emotion that is stil

and later when i read david mccullough's parents book, a section about washburn i think it is who wasassador to france during the war and the siege and in the horrors of the community. i really put those two men together. if you have not read it, it is a wonderful book. and a great story. just want to thank c-span for continually putting on this show. thank you very much. >> thank you for your comments, thank you for watching. are you retired and from what? >> i was just a working guy. i did a lot of things. i sold cars and did not have anything, an important career but i was like -- i did world war ii. when i was four years old, during the war, we lived near the air force base and they had when i found out later was a group of p 47 is there. i had my own private air show. as they did their maneuvers over our barn. >> that's great! >> it was just incredible. looking straight up, a big wow! >> that is great. i would choke up to, i do also when i talk about the pilots. we got to know a number of them doing the book. and there are still a fair number of them around. actually in seattle w