europeans were amazed by catherwood's written descriptions of ancient maya cities. architecture, sculpture and painting -- all the arts that embellish life had flourished in this overgrown forest. who built this city ? in the ruined cities of egypt, the stranger knows the story of the people whose vestiges are around him. america, say the historians, was peopled by savages. but savages never reared these structures, never carved these stones. we asked the indians who made them ? and their answer was "quien sabe ?" -- who knows ? during the next century, other explorers revealed the amazing variety of new-world civilizations. a great city, teotihuacan, dominated the basin of mexico. atop a hill in the valley of oaxaca, sits monte alban, the royal center of a mighty kingdom. and in the forests and jungles of guatemala, maya city states once reigned over thousands of square miles. this is mesoamerica. at about a.d. 700, three great civilizations had emerged here. the realms of the maya. the power of the great city of teotihuacan. the zapotec kingdom of monte alban. for

these craft items were all made by specialists who worked at the ancient maya city of copan. between a.d. 400 and 800, this magnificent city flourished as one of the major centers of maya art and culture. copan was built in a broad mountain valley on the western border of honduras. at its height, the economic system of the copan kingdom supported a population of some 27,000 people. a tiny percentage of them were the nobility, the elite of maya society. they were the ones for whom the fine objects were made. to better understand the economy of copan, archaeologists must discover who made these beautiful objects and how the elites acquired them. no one knew the answers until it was discovered that a catastrophe had occurred here a thousand years ago. [ rumbling ] for the maya, the earthquake was a calamity. but for archaeologist dolph widmer, it was an opportunity. when the roof collapsed, it did something wonderful. it collected for us, in place, in the place that they were originally used, a whole series of artifacts and tools. and these were found right here in this room. thi

the maya left behind dozens of cities, marked by tall pyramids and imposing statues. these remnants offer a portrait of the maya elite. but archaeologist payson sheets was seeking a broader picture. man: we want to deal with the common people, the people who are doing the farming, who are making the pottery, who are doing the work for supporting society. and it's about time we know something about them, how they lived. were they really exploited ? were they living lives of desperation, just barely eking out an existence under the oppressive machinery of an exploitative government ? or were their lives fairly rich ? did they have things of beauty in their houses ? how did they live ? did they have a variety of foods stored in their houses ? were they scrinched into scuzzy little spaces, or did they have some open areas and a comfortable life ? that's what we're working on. keach: sometimes an archaeologist's search is helped by accident. in el salvador, a bulldozer digging a foundation for a grain silo stumbled upon an old house. could this be the evidence that sheets w

mozart program says graduates to find a job he is from our craft stores to accomplish city got a history of costa maya region will supply context and with nickel and gold said the head of the local executive authority the so called gold bearing body has been developed and tomatoes for over a decade that they will. this is the door with a twenty five million cubic meters of overburdened and ten million tonnes of ore had been extracted to two thousand to normal normal day. in eighteen kilograms to a bar containing seventy percent of gold is created here every month twenty kilograms of this well medal for your are produced in the district on stage to new investment projects on gold extraction are to be implemented soon that will double its total production. the district which according to geologists is also rich in nickel is now ready to start commercial production. there is a project and it is necessary to solve some technological problems. he took noble to buy five hundred million dollars for needy for the construction of the first phase of nickel ore extraction. according to the initial plan a new one

joel berg, executive director of the new york city coalition against hunger. mayawith us, republican consultant, katon dawson. so congressman, let me ask you this, why is it politically, strategically beneficial for any of your colleagues to lead the charge against food stamps? >> well, you've got to put it in perspective. this is the same team that closed the government for 16 days, that cost the economy, by some economist measures, $24 billion. this was a self-inflicted wound. so they put this pain on the public and then they're causing more pain by not continuing the recovery money, the $5 billion, that is so desperately needed. this past week, i went to two of the centers in the district that i represent, and when you see the faces of the children and the adults, many people are working, but they're on minimum wage. they need this supplement for their families. many of them are looking for jobs. economists tell us, for every job opening, there are three people waiting in line, and one in seven people in america are on food stamps. and to me it's unconscionable

maya lin record for an arms old lady. the grainy gone. dalits of another old will carry these neighbors because they're scared because they beat the laws that the city of chicago is not a deal cannot actually protect them the proposed line designed to get tough on crime. but experts say mandatory minimum sentence is simply don't work there is no reliable evidence that mandatory sentences will deter crime zero reliable evidence critics of mandatory minimum sentences for similar measures in the warrant around us. mandatory minimum policies were enacted in nineteen eighty is america's prison population swelled up dramatically. chicago's cook county jail is a prime example of every ten thousand inmates and the cook county jail making it the largest in the united states population reached its highest in sixty years and it keeps on growing our prison system is the most crowded under resourced isn't all that country. we got up forty nine thousand people in a system built for thirty two thousand with jails and prisons across the country filling up top level political leaders are re examining mandatory minimum was because the oftentimes generate been fairly

city. these year's awards are being hosted of "morning joe." coming up in a minute you'll hear from maya. they sponsor the national book awards. all evening booktv will be live tweeting and updating with the winners. if you would like to follow along@booktv is our twitter handle and facebook.com/booktv is our facebook page. after these two awards are given out, there will be a break for dinner. you will see young people's literature, poetry, non-fiction, and fiction awards give out. now live coverage of the national book awards. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats as we begin the medal ceremony. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] ladies and gentlemen, -- [inaudible] ♪ ♪ >>> good evening. how is everyone tonight? beautiful! i'm mika, co-host of "morning joe." and i'm deeply honored to be here tonight. i'm also very excited to say this to you on uninterrupted: welcome to the 64th national book awards. i got through it! it's the oscars of