announcer: coming up next, "q&a" with simon sebag montefiore. then, and 7:00, we open our phone lines and get your reaction to yesterday's shooting in orlando, florida. ♪ announcer: this week on "q&a," author simon sebag montefiore. he discusses his book, "the romanovs." about the dynasty that ruled russia for over 300 years. brian: simon sebag montefiore, the book is called the "romanovs: 1613-1918." i want to read your headline in the "london daily mail." you wrote this back in january. simon: [chuckles] i did not actually wrote that. that's the headline by the "daily mail" headline writer. would say, it is the most outrageous and most explicit correspondence ever written by a head of state. i have to say the correspondence is so outrageous that they edited "the daily mail." they rang me up. they said, we're a tabloid newspaper. we can't print this stuff. we're a family newspaper. brian: who was it? who was the head of state? simon: the head of state was tsar emperor alexander the ii. the emperor who liberated the serbs the slaves of russia. at

announcer: this week on q&a, author simon sebag montefiore. ,e discusses his book "romanovs." y thathe ruled russia for over 300 years. brian: simon sebag montefiore, the book is called the "romanovs." 1613-1918. i want to read your headline. in

brian: our guest has been simon sebag montefiore. his family is in this book on page 372 in this book, the romanovs. we thank you very much for joining us. simon: lovely to be here. thank you for having me. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] for free transcripts or to give us your comments about this &a.org., visit us at q >> if you like this interview, here are some others you might enjoy. margaret macmillan on her book about the 1914 assassination of archduke frantz ferdinand, leading to the outbreak of world war i. service on leon trotsky. appelbaum -- anne applebaum. >> on the next washington journal, we get your reaction to the mass shooting in orlando florida and share the latest developments in the investigation. call and by phone or leave a comment on facebook or twitter. washington journal is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. coming up next, prime minister's questi

brian: simon sebag montefiore, the book is called the "romanovs." want to read to you from the "london daily mail." you wrote this back in january. the red hot roman off romance. scandal of the marry tsar and his 16-year-old mistress, revealed in the rauveragiest love letters ever written by the head of state." simon: i didn't actually write that. that's the headline by the "daily mail". but i will say the correspondence is the most outrageous and most explicit correspondence ever written by a head of state. i have to say the correspondence is so outrageous that they added to the daily mail. they rang me up. they said we're a tabloid newspaper in england but we can't print all this stuff. we're a family newspaper. brian: who was it? who was the head of state? simon: well, the head of state was tsar emperor alexander ii. the emperor who liberated the serbs, the slaves of russia. and exactly at the same time 1861 as your president lincoln was about to liberate the slaves of america, the two men were in correspondence and both of them were assassinated

brian: our guest has been simon sebag montefiore. his family is in this book on page 372 in this book, the romanovs. we thank you very much for joining us. simon: lovely to be here. thank you for having me. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by ational captioning institute] >> for free transcripts or give us your comments visit us. programs are available as c-span odcasts. >> house coming back in in 10 minutes with six bills to debate including bills that would establish one federal website to request information through the freedom of information act and a measure that combats trafficking in human organs. during the votes, members plan to hold a moment of silence for the orlando mass shooting and our live coverage always here on c-span. press conference today, f.b.i. director comey refused to use the name of the killer who killed 49 people in the orlando nightclub. he says part of what motivates gunmen is fame. we'll watch as much of director comey as we can while we wait for the house. >>

announcer: coming up next, "q&a" with simon sebag montefiore.n, and 7:00, we open our phone lines and get your reaction to yesterday's shooting in orlando, florida.

sebag ht on q&a, simon montefiore discusses about the for ty that ruled russia over 400 years. >> all the children were wearing heir own bizarre bulletproof vest, a vest sewn with diamonds in case they needed to buy their way out. they spent months sewing these diamonds in. tragically these made their execution and agony much, much longer because the bullets bounced off diamonds, the hardest substance known to man. > tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. > monday night on "the communicators." kristen shelton discusses the unions recent 45-day strike against verizon. he also talks about the trade as well as itself interest on broadband expansion. he's joined by david shepherd son. some point go away. but we need to support them. people more and more and more want to have broadband capability and you know, all over the united states, it's a big fight. the f.c.c. is backing up giving companies to have rolled out broadband communities. my members do broadband. that's a big, big part of what we. do i think it's going to become a an even bigger part of what we do. >> watch "the communica