sarah weinman, what is "wild"? >> guest: a really amazing memoir by a woman who had previously written a novel called "torch. toy toy and she disguised in retrospect how in her mid-20s, after a failed marriage and herma had died, there had been in drug issues, she decided, on essentially a whim, she would walk the pacific coast trail, which is well over a thousand miles, and she did so with minimal preparations and she described essentially how doing this long distance walk broke her apart and put her back together again. the big reason why the book was on the bestseller list for so long, even though there had been a great deal of -- i read it before publication, and certainly understood all the advance hype -- is that oprah win free started her new book club. she has the oprah winfrey network, and the magazine, so when she chose it as the first selection of her reconstituted book club, it still led to a great uptick in sales and mend -- meant that her other books, a book of advice columns, were re-issued and sold

sarah weinman of publishers marketplace and bob minzesheimer of "usa today," we appreciate your time oday on booktv. >> sarah kilborne recounts the crew of her great-great-grandfather, william skinner, a textile manufacture in the mid-19th century. the author recalls skinner's immigration from london and his career ascendancy from a worker and a silk mill to the owner of his own factory, the mill village, skinnerville. in 1870 for a dam burst near skinnerville and destroyed the town and forced william skinner to rebuild. this is about an hour. >> thank you, bill. and thank you for your support of "american phoenix." and thank you all for coming out tonight. and thank you and thank you, c-span, and booktv for being here. it's a real honor. and i'm thrilled to be able to share with you "american phoenix," -- "american phoenix: the remarkable story of william skinner, a man who turned disaster into destiny." so one question that every writer gets when people find out they have been writing a been writing about been writing about, whether you're at a cocktail party, in the supermarket or

we also sat down with sarah weinman of publisher or's marketplace to discuss the past year in the literary world. to watch that conversation and more, visit booktv.org. search 2012 year in books. >> you're watching c-span2. with politics and public affairs, weekdays featuring live coverage of the u.s. senate. on weeknights watch key public policy events and every weekend the latest nonfiction authors and books on booktv. you can see past programs and get our schedules at our web site, and you can join in the conversation on social media sites. ..

we also sat down with sarah weinman of publishers marketplace and bob mentioned shiner of "usa today" to discuss the past year and a little area -- literary world. to watch that conversation and more this at booktv.org and search 2012 year in books. >> amy greenberg recounts the mexican-american war in 1846. the author recounts president polk's decision to go to war and the roles that then congressman abraham lincoln and henry clay played in the national debate. this is about an hour. >> thanks, denise. i want to thank everybody who's been so nice to be here at the abraham lincoln presidential center. i've seen the benito juÁrez exhibit which i encourage all of you to go see when there isn't some very big event going on over there, like there is right now. it's a fantastic show, and really the relationship between juÁrez and lincoln is so really intriguing. what i want to talk to you guys about today is my most recent book, "a wicked war: polk, clay, lincoln, and the 1846 invasion of mexico." the title of "a wicked war" is taken from a quote from ulysses s. grant, from late in his lif