this is evan osnos with his first book, "age of ambition." congratulations. >> thank you. >> what is your book about? >> my book is about china which is wher were i lived for eight . sometimes this is the distillation of that period and the people i came to know and the very extraordinary time in china's development. i was fortunate. >> you were with the "chicago tribune" at the time? >> i was there for the first couple years with him and i was hired by "the new yorker" magazine and i worked for "the new yorker," i've been there now for six years. >> do you miss china's? >> i do actually. i've been back in the u.s. for a year and the thing that you lose when you come home, as great as that is, is the sense of wonder and curiosity that entergy when you walk out your front door. this is the thing about china is you go out to run an errand and something has happened and he becomes part of your story, it becomes part of china's story and that is thrilling. >> a lot of books are written about china, our relationship, current status. what made your

earlier this year, he discussed the book on "q&a." ♪ ♪ >> this weekend, our guest is evan osnos.discusses his new book, "age of ambition: chasing fortune, truth, and faith in the new china". >> in your new book, under the ottomans come you start out by saying that none of my grand parents to see this book, but they are responsible for its conception. can you tell us more? >> guest: my grandparents on my father's side came from pole poland great they were polish jews who left at the beginning of world war ii. on my mother's side, my mother's father was an american that matt sent to hungary and was in fact keep down and accused of being a spy, which he wasn't. and in some ways, these stories, the experiences being ejected from poland or hungary, formed a kind of backdrop in our family story about life under authoritarianism and it was not an explicit part of our conversation. but i think that it always -- i was always interested in what it felt like to live in a country in which there were fundamental constraints on what you could care about and what your values were. and so when t

its author, evan osnos, spent years there reporting for the "new yorker" magazine. jeffrey brown talked with him this weekend at the miami book fair. >> brown: this was, i know, the culmination of many years of your work in china for the "new yorker." what were you trying to come to terms with after those years there? >> trying to get my arms around it. >> brown: yeah. this is the challenge on china. it is this vast story. it's this epical story in a sense that you do sense, when you're there, that one-fifth of humanity is going through a transformation and how do you capture it and do it justice, that's the challenge. >> brown: you had a sense of it when you were there because these were the years of -- >> you simply can't escape it. it's the overwhelming impression you have when you're living there that you feel like you're living through history. i've lived in other places. it wasn't just the fact i was abroad that gave me the impression. people around you's lives go through rapid changes. >> brown: what's an example? i met a woman out of graduate school, and she

>> author evan osnos was recognized for his non-fiction work "age of ambition: chasing fortune, truth, and faith in the new china" and earlier this year he discussed the book on q&a. >> this week on q&a our guest is journalist and author who discusses his new book, "age of ambition: chasing fortune, truth, and faith in the new chin china". >> host: evan osnos in your new book, under the acknowledgments, you start out by saying none of my grand parents lived to see the book but they are responsible for its conception. tell us more. >> well, my grandparents on my father's side came from poland and my mother's father was a diplomat sent to hungary and kicked out accused of being a spy but he wasn't. but the experience of being ejected from poland and hungry founded a backdrop for the life under authority. it wasn't explicit parts of the conversation but i was interested in what it felt like to live in a country in which there were constraints on what you could care about and what your values were like and when there was a moment in my life where you could do that china fascinated me. >>

the five finalists include roz chant, john lahr, evan osnos, also edward o. wilson , and finally anand gopal who was with the "wall street journal" for many years. he covered the afghanistan war. those are the five finalists we hope to talk to each of them. we will carry the entire ceremony. the host for tonight is daniel handler. you will see him throughout the evening. there are two other awards given, the medal for distinguished contribution to american letters being given to ursula le guin, dispossessed is one of her books, left-handed darkness is another one. finally, outstanding service to the literary community, president and ceo of a group called first books. books. so this is book tv coverage of the red carpet of the national book awards in new york city. after after this you will see the actual award ceremonies. >> nice to see you. >> good. >> yes. >> and on the red carpet right now is roz chant. having her picture taken. hopefully we we will be able to talk to her in just a minute. joining us now here on the red carpet is david steinberger. chairma

this year's national book award for nonfiction goes to evan osnos for age of ambition. ♪ ♪ i have tod i didn't have a hunch before we left the hotel by wife said maybe you should just have a hunch for a second. i think some people here may know that i am from a family of the book. my parents are here, peter and susan. [applause] my father is the founder of public affairs and if you go into the writing business and your name is osnos you feel like what george w. bush must feel like. and i have to tell you it is such a fabulous sensation to be up here tonight. and i can't think the judges enough. i'm astonished and i'm humbled by the honorees in the category and i have to say especially to mr. chass whose work is beautiful and wonderful. [applause] they signed onto this room before it was a fully cooked idea to jonathan and for everything that you've done for the book into my agent we started talking about the book when we were 19-years-old and sophomores in college and i think that we are off to a good start. at the new yorker which has been my professional home for the last six years

. >> author evan osnos was recognized for his non-fiction work "age of ambition: chasing fortune, truth, and faith in the new china" and earlier this year he discussed the book on q&a.

followed by an encore presentation and q&a with evan osnos who was recently named the winner of thisyear's national book award for nonfiction. >> former national security adviser steven hadley and former deputy secretary of state strobe talbott were part of the discussion today on u.s.-russia relations. topics include russia's energy goals its relations with them in international community and the ambitions of russian president vladimir putin. on the aspen institute, this is an hour and 40 minutes. [inaudible conversations] >> welcome everybody. ambassadors really good to see you. it's good to see all of you. i'm walter isaacson the present of a espinace is in one of the great joys of being present at the aspen institute is occasionally get invited to sit in with the aspen strategy group with my friends drove and angela and steve and of course run by nick burns. the crisis with russia every day takes another step but these are the people best adept at dealing with it. in fact the group was started 30 years ago with really the crisis in russia in mind. with that i would like to turn i