we wrap up our sunday primetime lineup at 11:30 with an interview with senator lamar alexander. he talks about the books that have influenced his life and career. that all happens tonight on c-span2's book tv. >> somebody asked you for a recommendation for a book about tennessee or tennessee history, what would you recommend? ... readers. here's our primetime lineup: tonight, starting at 7:00, carol anderson describes the >> guest: i am reading a book that robert barwell road, a biography of alex haley. alex haley was in tennessee. he's in the news right now because this is the 40th anniversary, which people may have forgotten was the best watch television show ever, the last episode of hers about 85% of the american television said watched some part of the 1977. alex here they spoke about slavery really told it in such an terms that had been presented for. that has been with the movie. it just jolted the country and it filled up the library is with americans searching for their family histories. robert norrell is a university of tennessee professor who wrote a book about his tw

. >> senator lamar alexander, someone asked you for a recommendation for a book about tennessee or tennessee history, what would you recommend. >> guest: i would recommend alec stewart, by john griese. alec stewart was a cooper, it's a barrel maker. he lived up maker. he lived up in hancock county which is one of our remote counties and john rice irwin is the creator of appalachia and he interviewed alex stored about his life. he was a a remarkable man. he can make anything. he could pull teeth, he he could catch a squirrel, skillet, fright, eat it. he was so interesting that he was invited to washington to be part of the smithsonian folk festival on time. if you want to get a sense of how some mountain people lived and totally off the land, alec stewart, john reiser. >> a lot of things politicians from tennessee, that jane's couple of presidents andrew jackson, what about biographies of them. well i will mention two. american john beauchamp's best book, i like i like the way john beauchamp writes, in fact he wrote a book called american gospel that not many people know about, it's a short b

. >> host: senator lamar alexander, former university president. we appreciate your time on booktv. >> guest: thank you. >> it now, the book is about what happened in the bottom of national security and there have been people who have proposed national security, but i wanted to see what goes on inside the courtroom because that is where the issues of guilt and innocence, that is where the issues of the power of the log are most clearly shown and demonstrated. it is actually fascinating to watch the difficulty is that courts have a national security cases. >> we asked members of congress what they are reading this summer. >> i read about 100 books a year and i've been in a book report on everyone of them since i got out of graduate school. and it's a nice reference for going back and finding some other reading occasionally. one of the things i'm doing now is re-reading some of the mastering books that i have read before. there is an named cj bott who writes for nominal stuff about joe pickett in wyoming who winds up solving them out to any mysteries

. >> host: senator lamar alexander, former governor governor and university president. we appreciate your time a book tv. >> guest: thank you. >> you're watching the tv on c-span2 with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. book tv, television for serious readers. >> there's a look at upcoming book fairs and festivals happening around the country. saturday august 20 second, book tv is live at the second annual mississippi festival held at the state capital in jackson. featuring former trent lott and john meacham. coming up on september eighteenth, as the brooklyn book festival held in downtown brooklyn new york. later in the month the annual baltimore book festival will take place at the city's inner harbor. on saturday september 20. saturday september 24, for the 16th year in a row, book tv will be live with other talks and call-in segments from the national book festival hosted by the library of congress at the washington convention center. for more information on fairs and festivals and to watch previous festival coverage click the book for your staff our we

i have lamar alexander bring me a book about the senate sitting right over there on the table. he said he thought it was the best book about how the senate operates that he had read. so we do share from time to time books that we think are important and helpful. >> host: whetted senator alexander bring that to you question her >> guest: i can't remember. we were talking about looks and i can't remember exactly what i was talking about, but he said you need to read this book and then he brought it to me. >> host: senator shaheen, are the books that you go back to time and again a day novels, historical books? >> guest: less now than i used to when i was growing up, there are books that i used to reread frequently that because time is more challenging today, it is harder to do that. one of the things that i like is having had the opportunity to read to my children and some of the books that i read to them and that might read children have been interested in are some of my favorite books. books like charlotte's web, e. b. white book stuart little, those are wonderful books. her pa

on the book tv with senator mitch mcconnell who talks about his life and politics with senator lamar alexander . >> this is a book about a shy boy who grew up in alabama, overcame polio, was inspired by henry clay at the university of louisville to become a senator, did and then set out to become the majority leader of the united states senate and did but mitch, i have a confession to make. when i was asked to do this your was what i thought. how can anyone get mitch mcconnell to talk for an hour? because in your own book you point out that you only the press when it's to your advantage.

then we have an interview with senator lamar alexander who talks about the books that have influenced his life and career, all tonight on c-span 2's booktv. [inaudible conversations] >> all right, welcome to thee 32nd null chicago tribune printers row lit fest. i want to thank our sponsors. the theme for this year's festival is "what is your story" and we encouraging you to share your stories from the weekend on twitter, instagram and facebook, using the #prlf16. you can keep the spirit of the lit fest going all year round by downloading the printers row app and you can find the premium book contents, free and discounted books and complete printers row lit fest skill. today you get a free ebook and five dollars any lit fest merchandise. today's program is being broadcast live on c-span 2's booktv. we'll leave ten minutes for q & a session so if you have any questions, please line up at the microphone to your right and ask the question in the microphone so the home viewing audience can hear the question. and before we begin, please silence your phones and turn off any camera flashes. w

when lamar alexander and patty murray rewrite no child left behind seven years after it expired nobody could figure out how to do it, but they rewrote it. we got a lot of educational portions of the bill. that was part and we got it done. a lot of things happened that don't get attention but there are things that we have to get better. i do feel called to do things that are hard and where there's some brokenness that needs be fixed -- i think there are a lot of opportunities for me to be part an improvement of this place. >> senator tim kaine, thank you for your time. >> you bet. really glad we could do this. >> tomorrow, for schedule candidate hillary clinton and tim kaine speak at a campaign rally in florida you international university in miami. our coverage begins at noon eastern on c-span. >> the democratic national committee unveiled the convention's podium that will be the center of attention next week during the convention at the wells fargo center in philadelphia. it stands on a circular stage in front of a giant visual wall. was thethe unveiling ceo of the convention and the

when you have lamar alexander, bill boling former lieutenant governor of virginia, john mccain, sayings a great tonight, pat toomey who hasn't endorsed, these are people who haven't endorsed donald trump, saying what a wonderful bern tim kaine is. i haven't seen hillary clinton look as comfortable in any public setting as saturday when she announced tim kaine. she has a partner in tim kaine with which she can be comfortable, he's dependable, unflamboyant, he's got her back and he won't embarrass her. i think in that sense it's a choice for the long run, not the short run. it's not just to win an election. i could see them as a partner if, in fact, she does win in november. >> so, david brooks, how does tim kaine change anything in this very explosive contest between hillary clinton and donald trump? >> yeah, i think he might be a key to some sort of actual electoral majority, or at least a step in that direction. listen, since we last met, we've seen some of the polls out of the republican convention. the polls are obviously volatile at this time of the year, but nonetheless there was

i give credit to lamar alexander who was the chairman and patty murray ranking member on that. very good process. took aboutre we seven years to try to do this. years end of the seventh works founded a committee that we agreed on about 80% of the stuff after hashing it through. that's what we did. >> you writing a new book that's coming out next year. >> yes. it?he topic, title was is >> i'm not going give the title. topic. it's going to be about my from -- it'sing not unlike this interview in a way. because it will talk about where from, why it all made for me to ran. what it's like to run. number one question you get often asked, why s&l and how did that job came about? how did you end up there? up.om and i did stand we were a team. doing comedy store in l.a. and other places. agent, we started out there 1973. said wouldard us, you guys write for tv? yes, of course. trying to get paid to eat. that kind of thing. said, put a package together package thatlike a commercialrody, parodies, sketch and a funny film. that's what we put together. we knew that at the time, they show th

on the book tv with senator mitch mcconnell who talks about his life and politics with senator lamar alexander . >> this is a book about a shy boy who grew up in alabama, overcame polio, was inspired by henry clay at the university of louisville to become a senator, did and then set out to become the majority leader of the united states senate and did but mitch, i have a confession to make. when i was asked to do this your was what i thought. how can anyone get mitch mcconnell to talk for an hour? because in your own book you point out that you only the press when it's to your advantage. you talk about a time when bill gates came in to see you and the two of you just sat there and people are uncomfortable waiting for one of you to speak and your account someone once told resident george w. bush that you were excited over certain boat and he said really? how can you tell so why so few words? >> guest: i'm not afraid of talking but i found i learned a lot more by listening so frequently i start out listening and think about what i want to say before i do it. i think it's fair to say that i'm in

we wrap up our sunday primetime lineup at 11:30 with an interview with senator lamar alexander. he talks about the books that have influenced his life and career. that all happens tonight on c-span2's book tv. >> somebody asked you for a recommendation for a book about tennessee or tennessee history, what would you recommend? ...

then we have an interview with senator lamar alexander who talks about the books that have influenced his life and career,

lamar alexander, jill manchin, mark warner from virginia and others. again it was a great panel.to help us understand their perspective is former governors and what can we do to have better relationships with the congress as we work together to develop policy. in that same vein we would like to continue the opportunity in the spirit of working together with our colleagues and partners on the federal side of the equation so we have invited to leaders in the congress on the republican and the democrat side to come and speak to us today. those two are senator chuck grassley here from iowa senior senator and democratic leader nancy pelosi and we appreciate them both taking time to come and visit with us today. we will hear from senator grassley today and we will hear from democratic leader pelosi to borrow. we have worked with our staff and we have a series of questions we are going to ask after they have made a presentation. it's the same questions we will ask them both to get their perspectives on the republican and democratic side of the house as we foster better relationships. to

lamar alexander, joe manchin. let's see, mark warner from virginia. and others.gain, that was a great panel to help us understand their perspective as former governors and what we can do to have better relationships with the congress as we work together to develop policy. and in that same vain, we'd like to continue the opportunity in the spirit of working together with our colleagues and partners in the federal side of the equation. leaders in ited two the congress on the republican and democrat side to come and speak to us today. those two are senator chuck grassley here from iowa. senior senator. and democratic leader nancy pelosi. and we appreciate them both taking time to come and visit with us today. we'll hear from senator grassley today, and we'll hear from democratic leader pelosi tomorrow. we worked with their staffs. we have a series of questions we're going to ask after they made a presentation. the same question we'll ask both and get the perspective of the democratic and republican sides of the aisle as we help foster better relationships. so to int

on the book tv with senator mitch mcconnell who talks about his life and politics with senator lamar alexander . >> this is a book about a shy boy who grew up in alabama, overcame polio, was inspired