and michael scheuer joins us to preview his book. one of the things you write in your book is something i would like you to expand on. bin laden is not the caricature that we made of him. indeed, if i only had 10 qualities to enumerate in drafting a thumbnail biological ditch of them, they would be tell you, charismatic, patient, visionary, stubborn, egalitarian and most of all, realistic. >> yes, sir. i think he's very much an enemy who we need to respect. because of his capabilities. much like the allies felt about rommel during world war ii. they know they need to kill him but they had to be respectful of his ability to fight them. and i'm afraid what we have gotten from some others and most politicians is a caricature of bin laden as either a criminal or a thug or somehow a nihilist or a madman. and i don't think that's true. and i think it retards our ability to understand the enemy we face. >> what's the danger of that caricature in your view of? >> well, the danger is we underestimate capabilities of the man. bin laden runs an

michael scheuer joins us to preview his book. mr. scheuer one the things you write in your book is something i'd like you to expand on. bin laden is not the caricature that we made of him. if i had ten qualities in a sketch of him they, pie us, brave, visionary, stubborn, egalitarian, and most of all realistic. >> guest: yes, sir. i think he's very much an enemy who we need to respect because of his ables. much like the allies felt about oramel in world war ii. they knew we needed to kill him. what we have as a caricature of bin laden as either a criminal or thug or realist or a madman. i don't think that's true. i think it retards our ability to understand the enemy that we face. >> what's the danger of that caricature in jr. -- in your view? >> guest: the danger is we under estimate capabilities of the man. he runs an organization that's absolutely unique in the muslim world, for example, because it's multietheth -- multiethnic and multilinguistic. it's more like an organization than a terrorist group. we also -- the danger -- anoth

. >> michael scheuer's new book, osama bin laden, will be in bookstores in february, 2011. .. >> the apostle of nonviolence who urged indians to enlist in the first world war, the champion of i understandian in-- indian independence who never hated the british. it tells of his cam paibs against racial discrimination, tracks the battle for freedom, explored the evolution of ghandi's nonviolence quest and a passionate attention and one that persists around the world today. it was published with rave reviews in india in 2007 and last december it won the biannual award from the india -- excuse me, indian history congress that recognizes the most significant work in history in the previous two years. it is now being published in north america with many accolades. publisher's weekly wrote that this account is notable not just for the author's personal ties and passion, but for its considerable research and e norty of his undertaking. it was a star review saying although many studies of ghandi has been written, this is an invaluable research for scholars and those embarking on a beginning s

. >> host: michael scheuer's new book, osama bin laden, had been in bookstores in february 2011. >> booktv is on twitter. follow us for regular updates on our programming and news on nonfiction books and authors. twitter.com/booktv. >> former governor of virginia, george al l eleven, former s.t.a.r.t. from virginia, george allen. what can washington learn from sport? >> it can learn a great deal, and i learned a lot growing up on the sidelines and at training camp and playing sports myself. probably the overarching thing washington can learn from the world of sports is that in sport bees where someone's from doesn't matter. what matters is can you help the team win. it's a meritocracy where everyone has that equal opportunity to compete and you can seed. not guaranteed results, but equal opportunity which is what our country was built on. you would never see the way washington operates redistributing from the winners to those who are not winners. if it were up to washington, they'd take one of the steelers six super bowl trophies and say, oh, these poor detroit lions. they've never made it

. >> host: michael scheuer's book osama bin laden will be in bookstores of february 2011. >> david lynch when did the luck of the irish run run out? >> ran out about two years ago in the midst of the global financial crisis which really expose some failings of an irish economic and social model that has brought great change to our land over a quarter of a century. my story starts in 1984 when ireland was poor, stagnant, troubled in the country over the next 10 or 15 years rose to be the richest in europe. it has a cultural vibrancy that it has never had before and was a peach for the first time in generations and as any fatalistic irishman would expecf the rails in the country ended up in the housing and credit bubble that was even larger than the one we have had here in the united states and now faces difficult choices. companies like intel, microsoft gateway port into the country. they negotiated agreements and tripartite agreement to train the government labor and business community to make investments predictable, devalue the currency and 86 and again in 92 and it all ended up with t

. >> michael scheuer's new book, "osama bin laden" will be in bookstores in february of 2011. .. >> host: on another important book. this is the third one that you've done in the history of al qaeda and osama bin laden and i think it's fair to say that you establish yourself as the preeminent historian of the radical islamist movement and i think this book shows why because it's a concise, it's fair and i think it's really the best summary of what's happened since 9/11. let me start by asking you a very basic, yet hard to answer a question, which is what should we be calling the conflict about which you write? the subtitle says the enduring conflict, but what we call it? >> guest: well, max, thanks for the comments and i'm very happy to have such a well qualified author like yourself to have read the book and that we are having this discussion. what we should call it is an interesting question. i don't think we've come up with the language of this horrific problem. as i say in the book president obama had an interesting question when he came into office which is how to define the war on

. >> host: michael scheuer's new book, "osama bin laden," will be in bookstores in february 2011. >> booktv is on twitter. follow us for regular updates on our programming and news on nonfiction books and authors. twitter.com/booktv. >> host: well, ronald reagan would have been 100 years old in february of 2011, and one of the many books coming out on his legacy is written by his son, michael reagan, and it's called, "the new reagan revolution." mr. reagan, what's the thesis of your book? >> guest: well, the thesis of my book is really taken from his 1976 speech he gave in kansas city. it's the first time i ever saw my father lose. and he steps down from the podium and really gives one of the great speeches of his entire career, not written, off the top of his head. and he talks about bold colors, he talks about, you know, the rights that we have today, are we going to make the right decisions today so those people who live in the 300th year of this great country, are they going to have those same rights? it's all determined by the rights and the way that we vote, in fact, today. so