it is all in the new book "michelle obama:a life" by peter slevin. welcome to "press pass." congratulations on the book. >> much obliged. >> let's start with a question i get asked about the obamas. does michelle obama like being first lady? >> that was not a life she would have chosen. she really had a very independent identity in chicago, in civic life and professional life. it is very clear they had some tough conversations. >> they talk about. >> they talk about -- >> they talk about the marital problems around the turn of the century. >> they talked about their lives. they have been public about some of the challenges they faced. in 2006 the very end of 2006 the team was ready to go ready to try to get barack obama elected. and they wanted to make sure that michelle was on board. >> what got her on board? >> she believes in him. she felt that this man could be a terrific president. she knew as his partner that this was something he needed to try to do. she thought about it. she's a listmaker. she said i took myself down every dark road i could imagine, and she said we c

it's a new biography of the first lady, "michelle obama: a life" by peter slevin, a veteran political reporter formerly with the washington post. recently, he sat down with gwen ifill at "busboys and poets," a restaurant and bookstore chain in the washington, d.c. area. >> ifill: peter slevin, thank you for joining us. >> it's a pleasure to be here, thanks. >> ifill: nu this book, you say that at one point michelle obama described herself as a statistical anomaly. as you were putting together this history, the this history, the story of her life what did you find out? >> what i found is that michele michelle obama came from a working class family on the south side of chicago. she lived in a small apartment had not gone to college and the odds were stacked against her. she found her way to a magnet school and then on up to harvard. >> ifill: she had some advantages, but pretty middle-class existence without a lot of money. >> she really did. she had a stay-at-home mother, something she points out a lot. she was extremely close to her father who worked at the city water plant. he did sh

joining me now is the author peter slevin thanks for being here tonight, peter. >> great for being hereely first lady in american history. why is that? >> she calls herself a statistical anomaly. she's always saying you know i'm not supposed to be here. when you think where she came from on the south side of chicago, when you think about her grandparents who came north in the great migration, three of them, how unlikely it was for her to get through princeton and harvard, it is a remarkable story. >> you know, the book got very personal. you write about her growing up on a largely segregated chicago south side, as you say, and then attending ivy league university. how did those experiences, though, shape her to who she is today? >> you know i think if you look at what michelle obama is doing and saying now, the way she talks about inequality the way she talks about unfairness you can trace that right back to her upbringing, the stories she heard growing up the life she's lived, and the history that she's lived. and i think you can see her drawing those connections, in the way she says y

joining me is peter slevin author of "michelle obama: a life."were writing this. it's an unauthorized biography, which means you didn't directly interview the first lady. but can a white man write it and get it right? >> we're going to find out. it's for other people to say. it was something i thought about every day. it posed challenges, of course, but i've been a reporter for a long time. i set out to do on this book what i have done before which is to listen and challenge my assumptions. >> listening, in this case is fascinating. one of the figures who emerges most powerfulfully in the text beyond the first lady herself is her mother. tell me a little bit about how she shapes the daughter who becomes the woman that is our first lady. >> she is just one of the most fascinating characters in the book. they are very different. they grew up at a different time. michelle obama has ambitions and opportunities that her mother never had. think of her mother growing up being born on the south side of chicago in 1937. she went to segregated schools. she

and on c-span 2's "book tv" this weekend, saturday night at 10:00 on "after words," author peter slevin looks at the life of our first lady michelle obama, from childhood through the white house. and sunday on in depth, our conversation with documentary film maker and writer jon ronson who's written many books including "so you've been publicly shame, "the men who stare at goats," and "the psychopath test: a journey through the madness industry." we'll be taking your phone calls, e-mail facebook comments and tweets. get the complete schedule at c-span.org. >>> sunday night on c-span's "q & a, "washington post" national security reporter walter pinkus on the situation in the middle east and his opinion on the 2003 invasion of iraq. >> i think one of the things about the bush administration and paul wolfowitz, who never claimed to be an expert on the middle east or on iraq, and proved it, and history's proved it is that we look at things from our own point of view and get deceived by it. you can go back to vietnam is a great example of the first time we sort of did it openly, but we have

and on c-span 2's "book tv" this weekend, saturday night at 10:00 on "after words," author peter slevinooks at the life of our first lady michelle obama, from childhood through the whit

and saturday night at 10:00 author peter slevin looks at the life of our first lady, michelle obama. sunday at new, our live three-hour conversation with john bronson, who has written many books. join the conversation, who will also be taking your phone calls e-mails, facebook comments, and tweets. get the full schedule at c-span.org. >> the new congressional directory is a handy guide to the 114th congress, with color photos of every senator and house members to plus bio and contact information. also, district maps, a full capitol hill, and a look at congressional committees, federal agencies, and state governors. order your copy today. it is $13.95 through the c-span online store at c-span.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are back this morning. congressman john mica joining us this morning, to talk about capital airspace. many of our viewers are familiar with the story of the gyrocopter, the pilot being able to land on the ground of the capital. as the airspace around the capital safe? guest: no. [laughter] and there are new challenges. it is possible that we could