back to this program. -- please welcome wole soyinka back to the program. he is now a president -- a professor in residence, and he is the author of a new text, "of africa." >> thank you very much. tavis: you were tired of this nonsense that africans are inferior in a variety of ways. are we beyond that? >> i think it is an exaggeration to say that is why i wrote it. and number of reasons. it was to express my astonishment. it was totally mine blowing. i just mention that as one of the in ciliary -- one of the ancillary. i find a lot of crises tend to generate from east to west and cristian and islam. and there are what i call the invisible religions. lessons to teach the world. tavis: how do this to stand in their version religions play themselves out? >> yes, a very good question. look at somalia. look at more tanya. -- and more tanya -- look at another country. we would have thought africa is immune. in many ways, african religions, the world views, the perceptions have managed. the extremism in parts of the world, costing billions of lives, literally, i

moving on to a question in the front row here. >> hello, professor wole soyinka. as a second-generation consumer of this culture, i find myself represented -- >> i'm sorry, i lost most of that -- >> being a consumer of the year of a culture, raised in nigeria, but here, my mom was a student of yours. but since then, we, the children come have only consumed it in the form of fiction. yet, you actually made a statement where as long as we continue to fictionalize the events and experiences of africans, we are doomed to repeat the kind of repetitions that perpetuate the scene. can you comment a little bit on how we, as this young generation can reconnect to the essence of our culture that allows us to carry on and regain something that we have lost. >> the question you have to ask yourself is what religion do you feel attached? if you are christian, if you are christian, then stay christian. if you go muslim, you know, you have the right in the united states to pursue that. i know of a number of people from the caribbean and the americas, who had me over to his home

wole soyinka. [applause] >> you're watching tv on c-span 2 under at the national press club for its annual authors night and we are joined by michael gordon of "the new york times." endgame is his most recent book. >> it took me three years. it's the first comprehensive history of the war in iraq and what makes it unique is that incorporate not only use of american policymakers, but i talk to iraqi leadership. administer maliki, president talabani, rivals, adversaries so that the iraqi account as well as what's happening on the battlefield. i basically covered the war in iraq for "the new york times" for the whole conflict. i tried to put it all together in one book. >> why did you call it "the endgame"? >> well, because it's about the endgame of american military involvement and i spent the last third of the book cover and the obama administration. it's not been well covered by the media in terms of what his policy was in iraq. i actually learned a lot doing it. during the campaign, president obam

join me next time the conversation with wole soyinka. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminating hunger and we have work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: president obama said today there would be no deal to avert an economic plunge unless republicans agree to increase taxes on the wealthiest americans. good evening. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, kwame holman has the latest on wast

up next nigerian nobel prize women journalists wole soyinka talks about history of africa and the challenges facing the continent today. this is about one hour and 10 minutes. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you. thank you and good evening. .. it was continuing conversation in which i have been engaged in most of my life. if you want examples. if you want immediate instances of the kind of encounters that led inevitably to putting down notes on the subject matter of the book, which tries to cover quite a bit of range. let's just take the religious side. with newly -- i saw on the wall a poster, titled -- announcing a lecture and the title is "the greatest show on earth." and above i saw, and the god illusion. now, very strange to think that in certain parts of the world today, for daring to put up such a poster, much less admitting to be in the author of such a book, the god dilution, -- delusion, you might be stoned to death or put to death for blasphemy. the second incident. i was speaking to a young lady, and she was telling me about her experience. she'd obviously -- was lamenti

tonight, a conversation with a nobel laureate and notable african author and poet, wole soyinka, the first african- american to win the nobel prize for literature, out with a new peace, "of africa." it is amounting to a manifesto of africa can navigate its way through a successful 21st century. we are