we begin this evening with tom brocaw. his new book is called the time of our drives, a conversation about america. >> i spent a lot of time in montana. there are those who are federal judges or physicians or bankers, i hear from the cowboys in the street and the fishing goes and other people, i think there's a real anxiety in the country about the general direction of this nation and our society. >> charlie: we conclude this evening with calvintrillin his new book is called quite enough of calvin trillin. >> some people are funny. i don't think it's true you can't teach people to write because writing's ju thinking and you can teach people to write down their ideas. but you can't teach people to be funny. there was a professor who kept sending in these pieces. he's brilliant, absolutely brilliant. >> charlie: and they weren't funny. >> no. they were always sort of satire. you sort of felt a crane lifting this switch rue from one place to the other. there's definitely a new correlation of intelligence. >> charlie: brokaw a