. >> booktv sat down with menzie chinn to talk about his book "lost decades." this interview was recorded on the campus of the university of wisconsin-madison. it is 20 minutes. >> professor menzie chinn, your book, "lost decades," how big is the u.s. debt? who owns it? what do we mean by own? >> guest: well the u.s. debt is something like $14 trillion and about 7% of gdp. that is giving you a little perspective. it tells you it is an unprecedented amount in post-war history at least. who is is owed to? most of it is owed to other americans. sometimes you can think of that has we are borrowing from ourselves. a sizable junk is owed to foreigners and that would be the chinese and various oil exporters. >> host: how do you quantify debt? what is considered u.s. debt? >> guest: that is a complicated question. most of the numbers you hear are debt owed by the u.s. government. so that is actually the number i threw out. there is a lot of other debt including debt by households to banks, corporations to other corporations and to financial institutions. if i were to a

we have been talking to menzie chinn he is the

we have been talking to menzie chinn he is the coh-author of "lost decades." thank you. >> wednesday, booktv features books on drone warfare. scott shanes talks to us at 8:00. then mark moyer talks on strategic warfare. and william arkin on his book after that. drone warfare starting at 8 p.m. eastern on booktv in primetime on c-span2. here is a look at the best selling books according to the conservative book club. looking at the attempted assassination of ronald reagan is at the top. and then fox host in the book of thomas jefferson and the tripoli pirates. and then a book on the consulate team in benghazi. donald trump has two books on the list. a look at the conservative book club best-seller list continues with a pocket size addition of the u.s. constitution and rush lim bah's rush revers and had star stangled banner. and finally, violating the campaign finance laws and the look at that. and a look at the former life of george h. bush. many of these authors have or will be appearing on booktv. you can watch them on our website. >> on the next washington j

and later we talk to menzie chinn about "lost decades: the making of america's debt crisis and the long recovery" on america's debt crisis and afterwards. that is followed by after words with ben bernanke interviewed by sharon brown. >> and now on to tonight's guest. roger lowenstein has reported for "the wall street journal" for more than a decade including his stock market column and intrensic value column. he has written several books including origins of the crash, the end of wall street and tonight's topic of discussion: "america's bank" he let me know there is a great review of it coming out in the "washington post" tomorrow so we can read about that tomorrow. he has three children and lives with his wife in newton, massachusetts. please join me in welcoming roger lowenstein. [applause] >> debra, thanks very much. a wonderful introduction. i am glad i don't have to talk about dinosaurs. i don't know much about that. what i'm going to do is mostly talk to you and read you passages as well that i mope high pressure c hope conveys the drama of the story. this was my first history sto

and later we talk to menzie chinn about "lost decades: the making of america's debt crisis and the long recovery" on america's debt crisis and afterwards. that is followed by after words with ben bernanke interviewed by sharon brown. >> and now on to tonight's guest. roger lowenstein has reported for "the wall street journal" for more than a decade including his stock market