C-SPAN Bookshelf

Travel writer Rick Steves talks about his 1978 journey along the "Hippie Trail" and the 60,000-word journal he kept of the trip which he recently published as a book. During the 3,000-mile trek, the then 23-year-old Steves and a friend visited Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal. He talks about the people he met along the way, the challenges of travelling in foreign countries in the 1970s, and the lifelong impact the trip had on him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senator James Lankford (R-OK) speaks about his faith, the challenges the country faces, and what he believes needs to happen to improve the country. He's interviewed by Wall Street Journal congressional reporter Siobhan Hughes.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Overy is a British historian who has spent most of his professional life writing books about war, primarily World War II. Professor Overy's current work is called "Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan." Liner notes on the cover of the book say: "With the development of the B-29 Super Fortress in the summer of 1944, strategic bombing, a central component of the Allied war effort against Germany, arrived in the Pacific theater. In 1945 Japan experienced the three most deadly bombing attacks of the war." Professor Richard Overy is 77 and lives in Great Britain and Italy. He has written close to 30 books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and musician Lee Hawkins, author of "I Am Nobody's Slave," talks about the impact that slavery and Jim Crow have had on his family through multiple generations. Mr. Hawkins examines the relationship between the past violence experienced by family members, often at the hands of white people, and the way his parents raised and severely disciplined him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York Times investigative journalist David Enrich argues that the rich & powerful are using free speech laws to suppress dissent. He's interviewed by author and George Washington Law School professor Mary Anne Franks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a follow on to Stuart Banner's history of the Supreme Court, this week's Booknotes+ podcast features a 2002 interview with Dennis Hutchinson, a University of Chicago law professor emeritus. The subject matter: the forgotten memoir of John Knox, a law clerk to former justice James McReynolds, a native of Kentucky. Knox's year was the term beginning October 1936. In history, it is very rare that a law clerk at the Supreme Court has published an insider's view of the court or of a justice. Professor Hutchinson gives the background on where he found the memoir, which hadn't been published before. Justice McReynolds, as you will hear, was, according to historians, arguably one of the most disagreeable justices ever to sit on the bench. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and writer George Will, whose nationally syndicated column has been running since 1974, discusses his life and career in the opinion business. Mr. Will talks about the impact of his work on U.S. politics over the past 50 years, conservatism in the age of Donald Trump, his love of baseball, and other topics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer Paul Blustein made the case for why he believes the dollar will remain the world's dominant currency. He was interviewed by author and Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Zongyuan Zoe Liu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

UCLA law professor Stuart Banner's book, "The Most Powerful Court in the World," is a history of the United States Supreme Court from the founding era to the present. In his introduction, Stuart Banner writes that: "Today, critics on the left accuse the justices of deciding cases on political rather than legal grounds. This book shows that the Court's critics have always leveled this criticism at decisions they did not like. These attacks have usually come from the left because the court has usually been a conservative institution." Author Stuart Banner has a law degree from Stanford and clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in 1991. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Activist and professor Loretta Ross, author of "Calling In," discusses the excesses of cancel culture and the need for a more inclusive way to hold people accountable in the age of social media. Prof. Ross, who was sexually abused as a child, also talks about her past work with convicted rapists and white supremacists. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices