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C-SPAN Bookshelf

C-SPAN

The C-SPAN Bookshelf podcast feed makes it easy for you to listen to all of the C-SPAN podcast episodes about nonfiction books. Each week we gather episodes from the different C-SPAN podcasts that feature authors talking about history, biography, current events, and culture to make it easier to discover the episodes and listen. If you like nonfiction books, follow this podcast feed so you never miss an episode!

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  • 33 episodes
  • Avg 1 hr 5 min
  • English

Episodes 33

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  • Tuesday · 1 hr 11 min

    Booknotes+: Simon Sebag Montefiore, "The Cauldron"

    Simon Sebag Montefiore has written nine nonfiction books and three novels. His latest is called "The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East." The time period covered is from 1900 to the present. In Mr. Montefiore's acknowledgements, he writes: "Family is an important theme in this book, and my own has a slight link to the dynasties that ruled the Middle East. My forebearer Moses Montefiore first met Muhammad Ali the Great, ruler of Egypt, when he visited the Levant in 1827." Author Montefiore focuses on 19 different countries and many more kings, rulers, prime ministers, emperors, and sultans in his book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Monday · 1 hr 3 min

    Q&A Podcast: Kerry Kennedy, "Ethel"

    Lawyer and activist Kerry Kennedy, author of "Ethel," discusses her mother Ethel Kennedy's early life, marriage to Robert Kennedy, and involvement in human rights causes both at home and abroad. Kerry Kennedy also talks about the Kennedy family's long involvement in American politics and the assassination of her father by Sirhan Sirhan in 1968. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Sunday · 1 hr 1 min

    America’s Book Club: Elliot Ackerman & Admiral James Stavridis on War, Global Conflict, and Their Bestselling Thrillers

    Bestselling authors Elliot Ackerman, a Marine Corps veteran, and retired U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis join David M. Rubenstein to discuss their military thrillers, including 2034: A Novel of the Next World War and 2054: A Novel. They explore the future of warfare, emerging technologies, global security threats, and how their military experiences influence their writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Sunday · 1 hr 4 min

    AW: "Frenchman Flat: The Rise and Fall of Atomic Bombs"

    Jon Else explored the lives of the scientists who worked on the atomic bombs, including the health impacts they experienced. He was interviewed by UC Berkeley Journalism Professor, Mark Danner at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco in September. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • October 13 · 1 hr 41 min

    BN+: John Ryan, "America's Trial"

    Only nine men have been convicted, through military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, out of roughly 780 total detainees held there for some time since 2002. However, only 15 prisoners are currently housed at Gitmo. One of those is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who allegedly said he was the mastermind of 9/11. Mohammed has spent the last 20 years incarcerated and is said to go on trial in June 2028. John Ryan, founder of Lawdragon, has spent the past decade detailing the day-to-day activities at Guantanamo. His book is "America's Trial: Torture and the 9/11 Case on Guantanamo Bay." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • October 12 · 1 hr 3 min

    Q&A: Brad Ryan, "Grandma Joy and Me"

    Brad Ryan and his 96-year-old grandmother Joy recount their visits to all 63 U.S. National Parks. Completed over a 7-year period, the duo visited parks from Alaska to Florida, concluding with a visit to the National Park of American Samoa in 2023 when Joy Ryan was 93. In total they traveled over 100,000 miles together. Brad Ryan chronicled their adventures in real time on social media and now in a book titled "Grandma Joy and Me." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • October 6 · 1 hr 10 min

    BN+: Sam Roberts, "Are They Dead Yet?"

    The name of the book is "Are They Dead Yet?: The Art of the Obit." The author, Sam Roberts, is a 50-year veteran of New York journalism. He says in his book: "I've buried 1,600 or so people during my improbable decade writing obituaries for the New York Times." Reporters who do his kind of reporting are called obituarists. Sam Roberts, in his book's prologue, says he "learned more on the job about accuracy, context, and the distinction between cynicism and skepticism than I would have in any journalism school." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • October 5 · 1 hr 2 min

    Q&A: Mitch Daniels, "Impatience Is a Virtue"

    Purdue University President Mitch Daniels discusses his life in public service, including his time in Washington, DC, during the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations and his two-term governorship of Indiana. He also talks about his upbringing, his early years in Indiana politics, and his years as an executive at pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • October 4 · 1 hr 10 min

    AW: "Technology, Politics, and the Fight for the Soul of San Francisco" 

    The 21st century saga of San Francisco's rise and fall -- paralleled by the arrival of tech entrepreneurs who remade the city's culture, politics, and economy - as told by journalist Jonathan Weber. In 1990, he became the first "Silicon Valley" reporter for the Los Angeles Times and later coordinated Reuters' reporting on West Coast technology. He sat down with former New York Times Technology Reporter, John Markoff, at The Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California in San Francisco in June. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • September 29 · 1 hr 4 min

    BN+: Craig Whitlock, Washington Post Investigative Reporter

    On Saturday, August 8, on the front page of the Washington Post was this headline: "Some Vets Went Along with Scams of the G.I. Bill." Leading the team of Post reporters was Craig Whitlock. His co-author was Andrew Ba Tran. The dateline on the story was San Diego. The first paragraph of the story was: "At Blue Star Learning, a vocational school that defrauded taxpayers of $29 million in GI Bill funds, learning was not the point." Craig Whitlock, 28-year Washington Post veteran, was a gust on Booknotes+ in both 2021 and 2024, the first time for his book "The Afghanistan Papers" and the second about his book "Fat Leonard," about a Malaysian man now serving a 15-year prison sentence for defrauding the U.S. Navy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • September 28 · 1 hr 1 min

    Q&A: Zayd Ayers Dohrn, "Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young"

    Zayd Ayers Dohrn, author of "Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young," spent the first three years of his life on the run from the law with his fugitive parents, Weather Underground founders Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover once called his mother the "most dangerous woman in America." Zayd Ayers Dohrn talks about his parents' upbringing and revolutionary politics, the violence committed by the Weather Underground during the 1970s, and his life after his parents turned themselves in to federal authorities in 1980. His book has been nominated for the National Book Award this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • September 27 · 1 hr

    ABC: Scott Turow on Legal Thrillers, Writing & Artificial Intelligence

    Bestselling author and attorney Scott Turow joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss his career as a master of the legal thriller, his writing process, and the experiences that have inspired his novels. Turow also shares his concerns about artificial intelligence and its potential impact on writers, publishing, and the creative process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • September 22 · 1 hr 8 min

    BN+: Andrew Burstein, "Being Thomas Jefferson"

    Andrew Burstein recently retired as a professor of history at Louisiana State University. "Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History" is his 16th book about the early years of the United States. In the introduction, Prof. Burstein writes: "This book is about extraordinary drama that punctuated the life of a famous man who had an unusual need to control his environment." Andrew Burstein continues, noting that "as much as his creative imagination led to memorable achievements, the capaciousness of his intellect exacted a price. When enticed by nature's mysteries, his eyes were wide open to new possibilities. And when it came to the clash of egos in public venues, he was acutely sensitive to slights." Professor Burstein says Jefferson "was driven for public celebrity." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • September 21 · 1 hr 2 min

    Q&A: Andrea Mitchell, NBC Chief Washington Correspondent

    NBC News Chief Washington and Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell talks about some of the big stories and important people – including U.S. presidents and world leaders – she has covered during her nearly 50 years with the network. Mitchell also talks about her upbringing, her early years in radio and TV in Philadelphia, and her marriage to the late Alan Greenspan, who served as chair of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • September 20 · 1 hr 9 min

    AW: The American Way of Welfare 

    Chris Pope argued for policies that he believes would improve the current welfare system in the United States. The Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., hosted this event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • September 15 · 1 hr 12 min

    BN+: Jonathan Jordan, "Ike and Winston

    Jonathan Jordan devotes 544 pages and 57 chapters of his book "Ike and Winston" to telling the story of the friendship between Dwight David Eisenhower and Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. President Eisenhower lived to be 78 and died in 1969. Sir Winston died four years before that, in 1965, at age 90. Author Jonathan Jordan says: "Churchill could have had his pick of friendship, but he wanted Ike's. In the beginning, he courted Ike for what Ike could do for Britain. The Kansan held the trust of men like Franklin Roosevelt and George C. Marshall. This influence gave Ike the power to destroy or create, and Ike had the gambler's nerve to use that power. London needed a friend like that." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Showing 1–20 of 33 episodes