"american lion," jon meacham's best book. i like the way jon meacham writes. in fact, he wrote a book called "american gospel" that not as many people know about. it's a short little book, i think that's the name of it, about the role of religion in america. his jackson book won the pulitzer prize and its the best book. john pope, i've read his diaries. pulled, six-month, you must a data with the quilt 10, this was the 1850s i guess, 1840s. he wrote sometimes lengthy notes, probably 10 or 11 at night, something like center is used and showed up at 9 p.m. for immunity. that would be sam houston. it took me a long time but a red all the way through the i don't know any president who is written such detailed diaries. host with what is truly on your reading list? >> guest: i'm reading a book that robert norrell wrote. the biography of alexander lee. alex haley was the tennessean. he's in the news right now because this is the 40th anniversary of "roots" which people may have forgotten was the best watched television show ever. the last episode, about 85% of the am

. >> up next on the presidency, historians jon meacham, annette gordon reid and ron chernow talk about the process of writing a presidential biography. they've written about george washington, andrew jackson, ulysses s. grant, franklin roosevelt and george h.w. bush. this was part of a centennial symposium hosted by the george w. bush presidential center. it's just over an hour. >> thank you. okay, that's enough. laura and i want to welcome you, ken and his wife julie who's the new president of the boosh center and all of us who work here are thrilled you're here. i must confess i've got mixed emotions. one i'm thrilled to be a part of this, two i'm very disappointed that you're not here to give me the pulitzer for the book i wrote. [ laughter ] by the way, every good organization needs a pulitzer prize recipient on their staff. and here at the bush center we have one in bill mckenzie and we're fortunate that bill is a part of our team. [ applause ] thank you very much, kevin, for convincing us to join you in hosting this. it's very exciting for the bush center that you're here and all

and jon meacham joins us now. you still in maine? >> he's with the nashville cats. the comparison. you were, you were just, as we were leaving drawing comparisons and talking about just a change in mindset. that may reflect an unfortunately much more disturbing trend in our society. >> i think it does reflect a cultural shift, as well. you know, 25 years in the great sweep of history is not that much, right? 21 years is a generation in common parliament. so, in a generation we've gone from a man whose mother said i don't want tahearo hear about t great i am. he would come home and she'd say, how was the game and he would say, i hit a single. i didn't ask how you did, i asked how the team did. one reason president bush was occasionally challenged by the english language was he often heard as he was talking about himself on the political trail, he would hear his mother's voice saying, don't talk about yourself so much, george. so, he would get stumbled up. so, i think as i just did. so, what i think two things happened, really, from '88 to '92 that we're seeing play o

authors include jon meacham was written on president jackson and george h. w. bush and majority leader trent lott discussing his book on political polarization, crisis point. next to the conversation about liberia's president. choosing a hero, my journey into the rise of africa's first woman president. this was held at politics and prose bookstore in washington. >> thank you all for being so patient. i am that co-owner of politics and prose along with my wife and on behalf of the entire staff, thank you for coming out this afternoon. if you click administrative notes now would be a good time to turn off cell phones or something that might go beep. when we go to the q-and-a part of the session because we are recording this for the channel and c-span book tv is here. if you could step up to the microphone here so that it can be recorded and also heard by everybody else in the audience. for those of you that have been to the events before, we would like to ask you to fold up your chairs. well, don't do that today, because we have another event coming up. it isn't

jon meacham is a presidential historian, contributing editor at "times" and executive vice president and executive editor at random house. his book "american lion, andrew jackson in the white house," won the pulitzer prize in biography in 2009. most significant to this audience may be his just-published book "destiny in power, the american odyssey of george herbert walker bush." our moderator is the director of the lbj presidential library in u continue and author of four books on the presidency. he is an analyst for abc news on matters relating to our politics and the presidency and he's written for countless publications. thanks to each of you in attendance for making this a very, very special evening and special event today and tomorrow. please welcome our panelists to discuss presidential biographies, the challenges. >> thank you, ken. and congratulations on your appointment. ing it a pleasure to moderate this panel with this illustrious group. we'll start with presidential icons like washington, jefferson and lincoln. that's pretty well-trodden territory for biographers -- for w

notable authors include jon meacham has written biographies on thomas jefferson, andrew jackson and george h. w. bush and former senate majority leader trent lott discussing his book on political polarization, crisis point. go to booktv.org for the complete weekend schedule. >> now a special edition of booktv. every night in august the programs focus on a new subject. then we will hear about life in george carlin's house thank you so much for coming out here tonight. we love putting on events such as this one. we can't do it without your support for thank you for being here.it we are pleased to have with us stories i tell myself growing up with hunter s. thompson which he shares the story of his father, large,larger-than-life literarye and relationship that they got to know over the course of 41 years. the conversation tonight with best-selling author douglas brinkley franklin d. roosevelt and the land of america is on our shelve shoulders now. ladies and gentlemen please join us. [applause] we want to welcome our longtime friend, and robert thompson, where is he, is he here right now? he

offers include jon meacham has written biographies on presidents thomas jefferson, andrew jackson and george h. w. bush and the senate majority leader trent lott discussing his book on political polarization in a crisis point. go to booktv.org for the complete weekend schedule. >> next, duke university professor henry petroski talks about the road taken, the infrastructure. he spoke at the regulator bookshop in durham north carolina. >> in downtown durham north carolina we are happy to have you all here today. thank you for being here. we have henry petroski whose an acclaimed. the purpose of civil engineeri engineering. henry petroski has written many books both by engineers and laypeople alike some of which are pushing the limits engineering small things considered and many more into this is the first time that he is here with us at the regulator and i introduced a my boss who wanted me to mention we have a collapsed storm water drain. [applause] >> i want to talk about the infrastructure discussed in the book. it's about roads and bridges which i see as extensions but more generall

i think jon meacham is a great author who is very smart and bright and i love to read what he writes and this is a brand-new book but it's one i haven't read thi so that is onen my list. but i keep track of what books i read and again, not a book of fiction. the things that have to do with the work i do here and about people in the history of the country tha but hopefully our inspiring and give you insight and make a difference. but thwith the current politicst finished reading alter ego the story about the relationship between secretary clinton and president obama particularly as it relates to national security and state department kind of issues. the two rivals in a primary that come together in the same administration. so an opportunity to get a feel for what was going on in a place that i work for certainly don't have the insight behind the curtains for what goes on at the white house or the state department in this administration. another national security but just read this summer, michael hayden former national security director talking about the space of what we face with you

jon meacham is a presidential historian and executive vice president at random house. his book american lion, andrew jackson in the white house, won the prize in 2009. he just wrote a book on george herbert walker bush. our moderator is the director of the lbj presidential library in austin. he's an analyst for abc news on matters relating to politics in the presidency. thanks to each of you in attendance for making this a very special evening. please welcome our panelists. [applause] mark: it is a pleasure to moderate this panel. we will start with presidential icons like washington and jefferson and lincoln. that is well trodden territory for biographies. for george washington alone, there are 900 biographies. i will ask each of you, when you are tackling a mammoth subject like a george washington or thomas jefferson or an andrew jackson, where do you start? jon: i was misinformed. i didn't know there were other books. i have two tests. one is, do i feel there is a place in the scholarly and popular conversation for argument about that person. it is wonderful that we

jon very briefly at "newsweek" and you had a bust of george h.w. bush. mr. meacham: it was the only bust of george h.w. bush. e: what are the challenges of doing a biography of a living person? mr. meacham: distance, obviously. most, the overall fascinating aspect was i wondered how much i missed in books i have written where i have not known the person. i have never had dinner with thomas jefferson. i have never had dinner with andrew jackson. georget had dinner with bush. i would try to write what he was like as a literary matter and i would know what i was missing. and that raised the literary bar rather higher than i would have expected. so it seems to me, if you spend time with someone, you are able to judge what you have written and your conclusions by a different standard than what you have gotten out of the papers or the archives. and so, to me that was a surprise. i expected it to be somewhat easier frankly as a literary matter. go have lunch. write it up. how hard can that be? well, it turns out that is pretty hard. if you're literary skills are not firing

i also want to read about "destiny and power," which is the book by jon meacham on george h. w.bush. i would like to get that done this summer. and then every summer i tried to read a book that i've read before. last summer i read "to kill a mockingbird." the summer before that i read all the king kings men, which ie of my favorite books, and this summer i'm going to reread dickens tale of two cities. >> booktv wants to know what you reading this summer. tweet us your answer @booktv or you can post it on our facebook page. >> this is a booktv on c-span2, television for serious readers. here's our primetime lineup. >> that all happened tonight on c-span2's booktv. >> the federal governments long mobilization of the war on crime promoters a type of social control, one that signals the target restoration marginalized americans and the subsequent creation of new industries to support the regime of control are among the central characteristics of domestic policy in the late 20th century. the decision to policymakers and officials acting and closer goals or as part of a larger coaliti

and jon meacham. ou're a writer and like most of us and feel you really haven't accomplished enough, it'd probably be good to leave the room now, because jon has had an extraordinary career as a writer and as a public figure. he's written seven books, one a pulitzer for his biography of andrew jackson which is just an amazing book. i recently saw some discussion that was comparing donald trump to andrew jackson. i thought, clearly, this guy's not read jon's book. [laughter] they would never, never be making that connection. he just finished a biography of president bush, a man that i, like so many, just admire and love. it's really an extraordinary book. it captures not only a man, but an era. and if that wasn't intimidating enough, jon sort of writes on the side. he's actually done things like being editor of "newsweek," he teaches at vanderbilt, but for many of us his most significant achievement is he's married to this wonderful, brilliant woman from mississippi delta. so we can claim him. [laughter

i also want to read about destiny and power, which is the book by jon meacham on george h. w. bush.ould like to get that done this summer. and then every summer i tried to read a book that i've read before. last summer i read "to kill a mockingbird." the summer before that i read all the kings men which is one of my favorite books. and this summer i'm going to reread dickens, a tale of two cities. >> i have a bigger stack that i've got time i fear, provide i reading the wright brothers which is david mccallum's book. a wonderful american story of ingenuity and creativity. a library of congress does a great series for most of congress with a bring and authors and they talk of the interview them. they talk about their most recent books and had opportunity to see him talk about this book and then they give a speech, a copy of the book for those of us who come to the event. it's a wonderful story. >> first i'll tie you i think the best book i read last year was a book called poetry night at the ballpark by bill kauffman which had nothing to do with poetry but was about minor league base

with us on set, msnbc contributor mike barnicle and jon meacham and kasie hunt host of "politics nationzer prize winning columnist eugene robinson and publisher and journalist ray suarez. we need to hear a lot of voices today to make sense of what is going on. i have to tell you the last hour, meacham, has been hard to explain. >> the whole thing is hard to explain. you're trying to explain a vacuum that is being fill would the extremist ideology of the far, far right. i guess the alt-right we're supposed to call it now. >> alt-right. a moment where politics feels particularly frustrating because questions about our economic growth and our position in the world and we're having a campaign that is about extremist remarks and we're trying to deal with the health of the main stream. >> to say the least, i think, also scary. frightening. so, to that point, speaking of the alt-right. in a blistering speech, hillary clinton went after donald trump and accused him of stoking bigotry in america. she called his message to the black community in recent days, insulting. and said he doesn't have th

jon meacham is a presidential historian, contributing editor at "time" and executive vice president andxecutive editor at random house. his book "american lion, andrew jackson and the white house" won the pulitzer prize in biography in 2009. most significant to this audience may be his just published book, "destiny in power: the american odyssey of george herbert walker bush." and our moderator is the director of the lbj presidential library in austin and author of four books on the presidency. he's an analyst for abc news on matters relating to politics and the presidency and he's written for countless publications. thanks to each of you in attendance for making this a very, very special evening and a special event today and tomorrow and please welcome our panelists to discuss presidential biographies, the challenges then and now. thank you. captioning performed by vitac captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2008