mr. novak talks about his memoir "the prince of darkness" 50 years reporting in washington. the interview took place in 2007. robert novak died in 2009 due to complications from brain cancer. >>> this is the view of the u.s. capitol from robert novak's patio. did it give you inspiration for your new book? >> it always gave me inspiration, the capitol in this great city where i've been for over 50 years now. >> you look down pennsylvania avenue. how has it changed since you came here 50 years ago? >> oh, it's changed tremendously. just where we are now there was a department store, little stores, shops, two-story buildings and the great visionary who changed pennsylvania avenue was pat moynahan, who lived in this building just up there in the next apartment. under the pennsylvania avenue project. it's really much more like pierre la font, the designer of washington wanted it to be, instead of something that looked like a third rate provencal town. >> take a look at some buildings around here. what were they like when you first came here? >> they haven't changed on this side. o

mr. novak talked about his memoir, the "the prince of darkness,:50 years reporting in washington." robert novak died in 2009 due to come any occasions from brain cancer. history bookshelf airs three times each weekend on american history tv, including saturday at noon eastern. >>> when immigrants start to show up in significant numbers, which is somewhat the case in the 1820s and 1830s, but really very much is the case in the 1840s and afterwards, they're showing up into a political environment in which they're already qualified to vote as soon as they become citizens. just to give a sense of the kind of politics we're talking about, this is an image from "harper's weekly", 1858, just after election time and it shows a saloon and a polling place. if you wanted to vote -- you can see the doorway all the way in the back. you had to go in there to vote. >> this weekend on lectures in history, from money muncie, indiana, professor james conley explains immigration, voting and the roots of pluralism in the united states. tonight at 8:00 eastern, part of american history tv this weekend o