last but by no means least is samara klar. did i say it right? she coached me how to pronounce her name. assistant professor at the university of arizona and the college i graduated from. it was a time of great excitement and being in the political science department was exciting. samara klar is assistant professor and one of our three panelists today. a little about the books. "people get ready: the fight against a jobless economy ad a citizenless democracy" is written not only by john nichols but robert chesney. it talks about where we are, the economy of our country is going, big money in politics is taking us, the potential we have, unemployment at staggering levels if we don't take steps to change the way the system works. ari berman's book "give us the ballot: the modern struggle for voting rights in america," i love john's book and ari berman's too but this when i found particularly important. it is about what happened before and after the voting rights act was enacted in 1965 when lbj was president. it is a history i had never heard befor

[applause] >> professor klar, how was the discussion on the panel? >> wish it had been longer. >> what caught your ear? >> how engaged the audience is and the future of the elections now. a lot of people are worried about loosing a grip. >> you talk about voters going under cut. what do you mean? >> the fast majority of independents prefer one of the two. we have known this in political skiens for a long time. we find wanting to call one independent comes from the negative stigma associated with the party. americans who prefer democrats and rbs are ashamed to be associated with their party and tell neighbors and friends they are independent. and they are not willing to to do any activities that might stray from partnership and this hurts the candidates they secretly support. it is a big problem. >> host: the last question the woman said when are the parties going to realize it is their problem not ours. >> guest: we have reached what, i think, could be a turning point. we have more independents than democrats or republicans and more than we have had

i love john's book and i love samara klar as well.nd i love what happened after, before and after the votingas rights act was enacted back in 1965 when lbj was president. it is a history that i had never really heard or learned before. it's one of the most incredible people that you could ever meet. and this includes the importance of their work and also what hase been happening to the voter act since 1965 and that is an important issue for us knowing that we have states across the country where these votingou rights will be enacted. so i want to welcome you all and i want to pose the first question to you to our panelists. so thank you. independent politics. the subtitle is how americans fe disdain for parties leads to political inaction. "independent politics: how american disdain for parties leads to political inaction." there is a wide range of views. and what that means for the view of the the political discourse and political action in oure country.scribe and the embarrassment as she described the people have to be. described as

. >> host: professor samara klar how was the discussion on the panel text. >> guest: be audience is engaged and how concerned they are. a lot of people are worried. >> host: in independent politics to talk about voters going undercover. what you mean by that? >> guest: we find that the vast majority of independents regarding for one of the two major parties. what we find is the motivation to call oneself independent coming from a negative stigma associated with the party so the democrats and republicans are ashamed to be associated with their parties that they tell their friends they are independent. these people are not willing to do in activities that mike destroy their party.his of so it is a big problem for both parties. >> host: in the last question the woman said when will the party realized that it's their problem and not ours?? >> guest: we think it could be a turning point for the parties. there are now more independents, we have more independents than we have ever had in the history of polling so the parties should come around very soon to realize they are the ones. they are the b

my name is samara klar, i would like to thank dean j.p. jones for supporting this terrific event. thank you to c-span booktv and to cox communication for sponsoring this venue. i will begin by just reminding everyone that this presentation will last one hour, and we'll have questions at the end for probably the last 20 minutes of the hour. so, please, hold your questions if you can until the end of the presentation. immediately following the session, the authors will be autographing books in the university of arizona bookstore tent, that's booth number 153. that is sponsored by the university of arizona bookstore. and felipe fernandez-armesto will be autographing his books at 4 p.m. because you are enjoying the festival, we hope you are a member of the friend of the festival program. your tax deductible donation allows us to offer festival programming free of charge to the public and to support this critical literacy program in the community. become a friend in person today by visiting the student union south ballroom or by going to our web site. out of respect for the authors and