here is one of the rhymes, if you take mark twain at his work. it provides a lot of value as we look back at world war i. this is the year i look back at the most. you find startling similarities between imperial germany. so, again, here is a wonderful starting point to look at the earth we see around us. second, this is a globalized world. it's the second age of globalization leading into the first world war, this was the area where you had people like stanford's president david star jordan who gave a wonderful speech in 1913. it's appealing stuff. you can find it on the internet. he makes a case that world war i can never happen. we're talking about book signings today, he sold a ton of copies of a book called "the tragedy of great power politics." he basically proposes, in fact, he's wrongly accused of predicting into war. he said statesmen, nations should have learned the lesson that you cannot advance national interests by resorting to arms. why? because we're all economically interdependent. it makes no sense to go to war against your tradi

i'm sure you remember that old saying. >> mark twain said it as well as it could be said, that's rightd you saw that on the kavanaugh business for sure. and that's why saying it's going to take a lot to get these folks to break. but i think she above everyone has to most to worry about from her general election electorate in maine. >> not totally sure she's going to run again. i think that's still an open question and that'll be interesting to watch as well. >> she's got to be one of the most phony moderates around. >> well, sometimes she's voting against her party, but most of the time she's voting with them. and she did this last time around bigly, i think. >> bigly, you heard it hear first. >>> i'm going to fit in a break but friday night politics and very special insights. my thanks to both of you. >>> coming up, theories of the russia probe ranging from trump's involvement may be just a coincidence all the way up to it top, that there was a kind of russian double agent action inside the united states. there's some very interesting work on this. we're going to dig into it and where

you take mark twain at his word. this provides a lot of value as we look back atworld war i, in fact my various writings about china's navy, this is the air that i look back at the most. you find startling similarities between the imperial germany as it had stages that are coming out of the 1870s in china today. so again, here's a wonderful starting point to look at the era we see around us. secondly, this is also a globalized world. where we are in now is the second age of globalization. leading into the first world war, this was the heir in which you had people like stanford president david starr jordan who said, he gave a wonderful speech in 1913 that is really appealing stuff. you can find it on the internet. he said, "there will not be a great war of europe, it cannot happen. europeans are indebted to previous wars they should've learned the lesson that were does not advance causes." you also have, and we were talking about book signings here today, this guy sold a zillion copies, he sold a zillion copies of a b

if you take mark twain at his word. this provides value as we look back to world war 1 and the growth of china and its maritime strategy and this is the era that i look back at the most. you find startling similarities from imperial germany as the stages are in the 1870s and china today. here's a wonderful starting point to look at the air that we see around us. this is a globalized world. what we are in now is the second age of globalization, but leading into the first world war, this was the era in which you had people like stanford presidents david star jordan who gave a wonderful speech in 1913 and it's really appealing stuff. you can find it on the internet. he said there will not be a great war of europe. it cannot happen. europeans are indented from previous wars and they should have learned the lessons that war does not advance national interests and so on and so forth and he makes a resounding case that world war i can never happen. in fact, we're talking about book signings here today and these guys sold a zil

heard anyone question why would russia produce for the state of scale why would an american produce mark twain but i know i know a lot of book lovers who are puzzled by why norway such as say such or put together a country with a prolific and very dark. list as yourselves you have an answer to that. no not really. sure. if your nationality is. is that important i think we more to do with the extent i think we share a cultural references cultural even cultural background because culture has become such an important part of well i would cultural so you know i remember when i was travelling when i was running nineteen i would spend all my money going to. south america and i would meet people that it was actually a bit hard to communicate with. because we didn't shared through references i find nowadays it's meeting young people anywhere in the world we have read the same books listen. it is a music scenes in movies yes but your books i think are also very in the region i mean there are lots of at least your graphical references you write them about your own community and i think any great book is

heard anyone question why would russia produce for the state of scale why would an american produce mark twain but i know i know a lot of book lovers who are puzzled by why norway such as say such or put together a country with a prolific and very dark crime novelist as yourself do you have an answer to that. no not really. sure if your nationality is. is that important no longer i think that we more to do with the extent i think we share a cultural references cultural even cultural background because culture has become such an important part of our cultural background so you know i remember when i was travelling when i was around nineteen i would spend all my money going to. and south america and i would meet people that it was actually a bit hard to communicate with. because we didn't shared through references i find nowadays it's meeting young people anywhere in the world we have read the same books listen to the same music scene the same movies yes but the your books i think are also very in the region i mean there are lots of graphical references you write them about your own community an

anyone question why i would rush to produce for the state of scale why would an american produce mark twain but i know what i know a lot of book lovers who are puzzled by why norway is such a safe side together country with a prolific and very dark crime novelist as yourself do you have an answer to that. no no really and i'm assured if your nationality is. is that important no longer i think that we. do we're doing with the extent i think we share a cultural references cultural even cultural background because popular culture has become such an important part of well our cultural background so you know i i remember.

heard anyone question why would russia produce for the state of scale why would an american produce mark twain but i know i know a lot of book lovers who are puzzled by why norway is such a safe side together country with a prolific and very dark crime novelist as yourself do you have an answer to that. no not really. sure. if your nationality. is that important thing we more than do or the extent i think we share a cold true references cultural even cultural background because culture has become such an important part of our cultural background so. i remember when i was travelling when i was wrong nineteen i would spend all my money going to. and south america. and i would meet people that it was actually be hard to communicate with. because we didn't shared cultural references i find nowadays it's meeting young people anywhere in the world we have read the same books listen to the same music scene the same movies yes but they have books i think are also.

so, they say that -- well, mark twain sass that war is a way of teaching people geography, and was certainly true in that case. the scientists got out their maps and figured out that the absolute best place to get rubber was the amazon. 505,000 rubber soldiers -- 50,000 rubber soldiers were recruited, volunteers but as you have to say where people are very poor, what degree of free will goes into being a volunteer for anything, and these 50,000 rubber soldiers harvested rubber in the amazon. 30,000 of them died. 30,000 died from malaria, jaguars, piranhas. you can imagine. they were not accustomed to the amazon, the people -- the men who made relationships with local women or indigenous women actually survived much more likely ---they were more likely to survive because local people knew but the medicine and that sort of thing. so, these are all important resources that we needed, and basically we wanted to defly to the enemy. but geography was also very important. if you -- probably going to do this backward but if you look at a map, brazil come us out with a big hump into the atlantic. her

mark twain capture its this longing in his memoir, life in the mississippi when he odd mitts that even though he and thing friendses hat one permanent after biggs to be steamboatsmen, now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, god would permits us to be pirates. historians can certainly poke holes in fictional representation officers pirates, especially to the depict them as unmajorly attractive, rakish, rapscallions, having a grand old time looking for love,s as a ven tour and treasure. this realities eggs noing leak the musings of animation names reporter in 1892 who complained it. nothing be a source of regrets every true lover of the picturesque that pirates nor more and piracy has lost its popularities. what tremendous fellows they must have been. what heroes dandies, witts were to the boundment they immensely superior to land briggans who are mere mick compared with black beard and captain kid. while real pirates were intriguing and compelling characters, they most definitely were not tremendous fellows. to they were sea born criminals who were neither endearing n

the pieces of favorite authors some of them i'm sure are familiar to you like george orwell and mark twain and others may not be a couple of the articles about the experience in india and in 1984 about spending a day on the campaign trail with nelson mandela when he was running for president in the first free election several of these are more recently going back to africa to see what that part of the world looks like from more than 100 years ago. so some of the other things in the book i will and on a positive note by reading at a very short piece it is appropriate to read and that is the appropriate thing to read here with the wonderful temple of books. so let me just read you a piece. for the first time some american school and college students have been issued electronic books instead of textbooks. and to be published and in this society that relatively few people read books for pleasure to begin with and then to encounter books with the books as students there are many reasons to love the old-fashioned paperwork with that crackle of the new hardcover for the first time that sense of a

mark twain captured this longing in "life on the mississippi" when he admitted that even though he and his friends had one permanent ambition, to be steamboatmen, now and then we had hope that if we lived and were good, god would permit us to be pirates. historians can certainly poke holes in fictional representations of pirates, especially those that depict them as a naturally attractive, rakish yet good-natured rapscallion having a good time looking for love, adventure and treasure on the waves. the reality is nothing like the breathless musings of a "new york times" reporter in 1892 who complained it cannot be a source of regret to every true lover of the picturesque that pirates are no more and piracy has lost its popularity. what tremendous fellows they must have been. what heroes, dandies, were to be found among them. they were immensely superior to land brigains. while real pirates were intriguing and compelling characters, they most definitely were not tremendous fellows. instead, they were seaborne criminals, neither endearing nor heroic. "black flags, blue waters" cuts throug

was just in hartford, connecticut a couple weeks ago so i feeling i have been wallowing the great mark twain around. he maintains that history rhymes and never repeats itself but it rhymes. a wonderful joke, isn't it? think about all the content in there. not 1918, but at the same time you do hear certain rhymes from then and now. history provides us with a starting point. andon't have to start over reinvent the wheel as we look strategicarticular problems. history provides that balance that helps us do things more wisely. here of course is general mattis, our secretary of defense documentshe strategic that the united states and its are set to face a return to great power competition. after what has been a great strategic holiday ever since the cold war ended in 1991. we have faced no serious challenger's since then and i think this is one reason that we find ourselves falling into bad habits that urgently need to be corrected. if we are like -- if we would like to be competitive with china, the russian navy, iran, whoever it may be. did about the world leading up is a world that looks like

as mark twain said in the letter i'm writing this very long letter because i didn't have enough time to write you a short one. >> i know going back to the choice of which books did you get pressure from your daughters or wife from workman publishing to include books because everybody has their opinion, and did you feel that? >> james: well i write in the introduction to the book that once people know you're writing a book called "1,000 books to read before you die" you can never enjoy a dinner party in quite the same way again. because everyone has their own words to put in but i didn't feel too much pressure. it was enthusiasm from everybody for books they love. so that was part of the fun of the process and for me, really part of the fun of the whole project is to promote those discussions, among readers, and among book sellers and librarians. we are just traveling around various stores and libraries across the country promoting the book, and that was a lot of fun to talk with audiences like this. and bookstores have would often have displays of the book with books from within the

and then of course, the mark twain prize [ light laughter ]: >> jimu're not giving gifts anymore. >>'s done. no more. [ laughter ] i'm not doing it. i gave like -- i gave my father achanukkah present, 'cause i don't know if mywas clear enough, but i'm jewish. [ laughter ] let me get a profile shot. we got a profile shot of this one. >> jimmy: yeah, there you go. that's great. >> yeah. >> jimmy: happy ha ykkah. >> tha so much. [ laughter ] thank you. honestly, thank you so much, honestly. >> jimmy: yeah, you're welcome. >> but i gave my dad a chia pet in high school, like thinking would be funny. like, my dad would have like a, you know, a high school stoner's sense of humor. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: what would he do with that thing? >> he hated it. >> jimmy: of course. >> and he was like, "what, you're giving me something else to take care of?" [ laughter ] so, since then, no more gifts.ft and no more for weddings. i don't give people gifts for weddings. >> jimmy: dude, come on now. >> no. >> jimmy: tha 's taken to a fferent level. >> why not? i show up. i'll dance with your aunt to ja

mark twain, most of the 19th century presidents. it was a surprise. the astounding medal for outstanding teaching at the juvenile doing would say. ladies and gentlemen, patricia o'toole. [applause] i'm never happier,. >> when i was about six. i was walking on main street and i saw this what i was thought was a store. this is quite exciting to me. i went in and the librarian, i looked around and i had never seen so many books. i looked around and wondered, how you could buy them. hockey you could figure which one you wanted to buy. this woman sitting at a desk explained to me that you didn't have to buy them. you could borrow them. i said, how do you do that? thinking it was something that only grown-ups could do. she said, you could have a library card and take them out for two weeks. i couldn't believe this. it was absolutely magical. i could still remember, it would have been 1953 or something like that. i remember standing there, watching her pull out my library card, number one 221. she's going to change her mind in the middle of this transaction.

. >> building off of that as mark , twain said the two most important days of your life is number one when you are born and number two when you figure out why. the progressive policies are such a place where people don't have the opportunity to figure out why. because that amount of overreach and lack of limited government creates a mindset and dependency -- i almost look at this from a humanitarian perspective, because when you do not have limited government, you are taking certain segments of our government saying we know better than you. if i could get in the weeds a little bit deeper and talk about in thecally, it is mandatory spending components. if you go back to the 1960's, but our budget in a chart. we had about 27%, 28% that we call mandatory spending. the other is discretionary. is educationfive and defense were you can flex the budget. we are closing now at almost 70% of mandatory spending. the manpowerhave or the willpower to curb it that, it is a national security issue. until we have the ability to say give congress control of the mandatory side, not the discretionary si

>> building off of that, i think it was mark twain who said the two most important days of your life are number one when you were born and number two when you figure out why. in the progressive policies, they are such a place that many people never get that second ability or opportunity to figure out why. that amount of overreach and lack of limited government creates a victimization mindset and a dependency. i almost look at this more from a humanitarian perspective as i do a political one. when you do not have limited government, you are taking certain segments of our population and saying that we know better than you. we have a history of realizing that is not actually the case. if i can get into the weeds a little bit deeper, it is in the mandatory spending components. if you go back to the 1960s and you put our budgets in a pie chart, we had about 27%-28%, that is mandatory spending. it is education, defense, all these items were he had the ability to deflect the budget. now your closing in on 70% mandatory spending. it is international debt and entitlements. if we did not have

i love what mark twain once said that section must be plausible, truth needn't be. so i look for an implausible truth. something that actually happened. then my question is how much can we know. because you can know everything about that implausible truth and it's a job for a narrative historian. so i'm looking for an implausible truth about which we can now interesting things, but we can't know everything because the historical record has fallen silent for the voices of the protagonists at the time there were not recorded. the unheard voices from the past. and then i know it's a job for me. >> host: how many levels does not take to get to one of your books? how many levels of imagination, research? >> guest: it starts with overhearing something or a notation on a map or an artifact, a belt buckle dug up on the porch of my house. it can be anything that gives me the initial idea appeared that happened and that's incredible. and then i have to find out who's going to tell me the story. who is going to be willing to rise up out of the grave and start talking to me. wh

i know i love mark twain's quote, when you're confronted with a difficult decision, do what's right. you'll surprise a few but you'll amaze the rest. george bush, herbert walker bush was an amazing man, someone who's life will indellably be in my heart and memory. for all the things he did for me and my children and grandchildren and all of you as americans, to his son 43, he was a great chip off the old block. he's probably as good as his dad but nobody will ever be nicer than his dad. george herbert walker bush, george w. bush, the entire bush family, barbara bush, i sent my simp net and support to -- my sympathy and support, i thank you for the sacrifice you made for our country, your husband and your family. i'll try to always as close as i can -- i'll never make it but i'll do as much as i can to be as good or try to be as good as george h.w. bush was. i hope when i die and the papers report on that if there is any they'll be as kind to me as they've been to george bush. what they've done with george bush is told the truth, not told about any failures where there might have been

i love mark twain's coat, when you're confronted with a difficult decision, do what's right. you'll surprise a few but amaze the rest. george herbert walker bush was an amazing man. someone whose life will be in my heart and memory and what he did for me and my children and grand children and all things he's done for you and all of us as americans. to his son 43. he was a great chip off the old block, probably as good as his dad but nobody will be nicer than his dad. george herbert walker bush, george w. bush, the entire bush family, barbara bush, i send my sympathy and support for you in this time of trial. i thank you for the sacrifice you've made for your country and for your husband and family and in my pleasure to be i'll be as close as i can afterward never make it but do as close as i can to be as good or try to be as good as george h.w. bush was and i hope when i die and the papers report on that if there are any they'll be kind to what they did with george bush is they told the truth and not talked about failures where there might have been a few but talked about his

senate was so blatant that mark twain called him, and i quote, as rotten a human being as can be found anywhere under the flag. today i'm concerned the guys of the copper kings have returned. it is being ushered in in part by policies from this administration, because back in july, the treasury department and the i.r.s. took an unprecedented step and eliminated requirements for certain tax-exempt organizations to report their identities of major donors to the i.r.s. i will say one thing about the senator from wisconsin's remarka administration's view on this was that they opposed it because it would constrain the i.r.s. in enforcing their tax laws. the policy that this administration did through the treasury, through the i.r.s. created another safe haven for this country's wealthiest donors to hide in the shadows while they pull the levers of power in our democracy, and just like ordinary americans, took control of our government, at the end of the day where senate seats are openly for sale back in the days of the copper king, they acted. we have to act today. today's vote will overtur