susan weinberg, where should we start? >> hi, peter, thank you. it's always so great to see you at bookexpo. and we can start with a book that is just coming out now called the philanthropy of george soros: building open societies. this is a book about george soros' work. he has given away billions and billions of dollars through his open society foundation which is based on his principles and putting his philosophy to work in the real world. it coffers his -- it covers his programs from around the world, and it includes an essay from george where he lays out his principles and what animates his giving. it's really turned out to be his major business at this part of his life. >> right next to that, susan, is "poor economics." >> "poor economics" is one of the most exciting big idea book we've had in a while. the authors are the founders of the mit poverty lab, and they have really pioneered the idea of let's do some on the ground work, experiments, observations to learn what really works in development, where we should put our effort, where we sho

the publisher of public affairs books is susan weinberg who will talk about the new book coming out by public affairs and the future books coming out by publicaffairs. where should we starsoros. building open societies. horror of economics is one of the most exciting big ideas we had in a while. they are the founders of the mit poverty labs and they have pioneered the idea of let's do some on the ground work experiments, observations to learn what really works in development. where we should put our effort. where we should put our money and today our award winning economist whose work is getting a lot of attention. when i read the proposal i felt this is the most important work on poverty i have read since we published professor eunice on micro finance and social business and we felt we had to have this book tour. >> does that book include the concept of microlending? >> this does have some about microfinancing and lending and the research on the ground they have done but it has lots of other techniques too. it looks at how poor people really lived and what they will spend their money

. >> we've been talking with susan weinberg, publisher of public affairs books, one of the perseus group's imprints. public affairs books.com is the web site. >> what are you reading this summer? booktv wants to know. .. the author and historian reveals many british citizens fought on both sides of the civil war for a host of personal and political reasons. she talked about this lesson on influence in the war of secession with pulitzer prize-winning eric foner. >> host: very happy to be speaking with amanda foreman, the author of the new book, "a world on fire". gained a great deal of attention, a fascinating book. we're going to have a nice conversation about britain, the american civil war, and writing about a civil war history. hello. >> hello. >> maybe we can just begin by asking you -- somebody said there are about 50,000 books on the american civil war out there of one kind or another. why did you -- when and why did you come to the conclusion that you have something new to say about it? you know, how did you get into the book and get interested in it and what did you write it? >> my