it's the most watched show in cable television history in the nonfiction category and they pulled the plug on the star of the show. if they suspended him indefinitely they film in his house. what are they going to do -- blur out his face? >> it's already filmed. >> he's suspended indefinitely. >> what does that mean? >> we don't know. >> the series is shot with him in it. >> i think it means for the viewers who might have been offended by an article he gave to another media outlet, a&e is with you. we are understanding. we are taking steps. i think it is a politically correct move they hoped would protect them from backlash because of the comments he made. >> who set up the interview? >> a&e. >> do you ever feel -- there are always things in a polite society you can't say. but the list is so long. i cannot keep track of all the phrases i am not allowed to use. the unapproved thoughts or sanctioned. we have to lie all the time in america. >> what have you wanted to say? >> i'm afraid to say it on tv. there are so many obvious things in america you are not allowed to say. >> there is a

the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s when multiple awards recognizing as many as eight different categories of nonfictionved to present many awards, we have first the narrow many superb works down to a long list of 10, and then down to these five finalists. "book of ages" by jill lepore, published by alfred a. knopf. [applause] "hitler's furies" by wendy lower. [applause] "the unwinding" by george pack packer. the internal enemy by alan taylor published by norton and company. and "going clear." [applause] this year's national book award in nonfiction goes to george packer. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> this is an incredible honor. anyone who was at last nights reading knows that all of the nominees in this category did great work, and i feel very lucky to be given this award. thank you to my friend, john, alex, and the rest of farrar straus and giroux. you still do it the old-fashioned way which is still the best way. [applause] thank you to sarah of the wylie agency for your crucial intelligence and enthusiasm. thank you to daniel and david, and others at "the new yorker," for giving me just the right balance o

the order of the award categories well be this: young people literature, poetry, nonfiction, and thene's literature is e. lockhart. a finalist for the 2008 national book award in young people's literature for her novel "the disreputable history of banks" an honor book and received the award for best young adult novel. her most recent book, "real life boyfriend" the fourth book in the ruby oliver series, and gives me great pleasure to introduce eve lockhart. [applause] >> everyone in this room, you are here because once upon a time you fell in love with a book. if it happened at three, perhaps it was a snowy day. if at eight, perhaps harriet the spy. if at 14, perhaps "the outsider." in any case it was probably a children's book. the young people's literature category is a category of books that make readers for life. books that are read over and over, that are clutched to the chest and adored. i am proud to serve on the ypl committee with lisa, peter glassman, novelist and finalist deb, and cecil. we searched for books that resonated with us intellectually and emotionally, long after

, nonfiction category. and representing the commonwealth of virginia and university of virginia is alan taylor. first of all, congratulations. >> guest: thank you very much. >> host: on your nomination for "the internal enemy." where did you come up with that name? >> guest: well, this was the term that virginians of the early republic used to describe their slaves, particularly when they felt threatened by a foreign invasion as they did during the revolution. and be they would comment that they faced two great dangers, an external enemy and be an internal enemy. it was a very different way of thinking about slavery than we're used to encountering. we're used to thinking that southerners thought of slavery as a positive good. but in the early republic, we knew their slaves wanted to be free. so they feared there would be the day when they would rise up this rebellion and kill their mast pers to claim their freedom. >> host: now, in your subtitle you're very specific about the years you're covering. first of

yorker, the third new york err -- [laughter] staff writer to be nominated this year in the nonfiction category. thanks for joining us on booktv, and congratulations to you. >> guest: thanks a lot. >> host: and those are the five finalists in the nonfiction category, jill lepore, wendy lower, george packer, lawrpt wright, alan taylor. you get a hitting taste of each one of them here at the national book awards. [inaudible conversations] >> host: and somebody else we want to introduce you to this evening at the national book awards, it's the chairman of the national book foundation, david steinberger. what is the association with the nba? >> guest: right. so the mission is to encourage the reading of great books and increase the impact of books on the culture. and, of course, the biggest thing we do are the national book awards themselves, and this is the 64th national book awards. bigger and better than ever the this year. >> host: what's your day job? >> guest: the ceo of perseus book group be, an independent publisher. >> host: do you have think finalists tonight? >> guest: we don't, actually

, nonfiction category. and representing the commonwealth of virginia and university of virginia is alan taylor. first of all,

you're one of the finalists in the nonfiction category. is this the first time you've been nominated? >> guest: yes, it is. >> host: what do you think? >> guest: it's tremendous. it's an honor. the readings were last night, and we all listened to each other from across the four categories, and the quality was just incredibly high. everyone had about three or tour minutes, so you didn't have much time to get across the feel of your work, but it was incredibly impressive, and i felt honored to be in that company. >> host: which story did you tell from "the unwinding"? >> guest: i read a passage in which one of the main characters, dean price, is thinking about the landscape of his home, the piedmont region of north carolina, and what's happened to it recently. he has a kind of, he's sitting on his front porch at night with a glass of jack daniel's, and he's listening to these trucks go by and thoughs that some of them are filled with chickens headed down to slaughterhouses which happens in the dead of night, and he begins to think about wher

[inaudible conversations] >> host: and now joining us is another finalist in the nonfiction category. this is wendy lower who is a professor of history at claremont mckenna college in california. >> guest: correct. >> host: and the author of "hitler's furries." where did you get the idea of writing about women in the third like? >> guest: i got the idea in the around a kentuckys. i didn't go on a specific search for women, i actually went to europe and found some documentation on them, and that was the beginning of this book. that was in the summer of 1992, and i ended up over the course of, you know, 20 years or so collecting more documentation from all over europe and north america and all across washington, d.c., and, you know, i had enough material to actually complete this book project. so and biographies of women from from -- 13 biographies of women who responded in different ways. >> host: were you surprised at what you found. >> guest: yeah. especially getting into the wartime investigations of the killers, really shocked what they did and that they did it on their own without