C-SPAN Bookshelf

Publishing industry analyst Brenna Connor discussed sales trends and bestsellers in the first quarter of 2024, as well as predictions for the remainder of the year. About Books also reported on the latest publishing news and new releases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Early in his newest of over 30 books, Joseph Epstein, our guest this week, writes: "I feel extremely lucky in all these realms in which I had no real choice: parents, epoch, country, and throw in religion, city, and social class." The 87-year-old Epstein, a longtime essayist for the Wall Street Journal, has written his autobiography called "Never Say You've Had a Lucky Life: Especially If You've Had a Lucky Life." He has spent 20 years as editor of The American Scholar and 30 years teaching in the English department at Northwestern University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Filmmakers Zachary Treitz and Christian Hansen discuss their 4-part Netflix docuseries "American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders," about the events surrounding the death of freelance journalist Danny Casolaro (cas-uh-LARE-oh) in 1991. At the time of his death, officially ruled a suicide, Mr. Casolaro was working on a story about a series of crimes – including drug running, money laundering, and murder – that he argued were connected to a cabal of ex-government officials associated with the Reagan administration and the CIA. He referred to this group as "the Octopus." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Princeton University professor Eddie Glaude spoke about his views on Black politics & how the Black community moves forward in America's democracy. He was interviewed by Harvard University History, Race, & Public Policy Professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Drudge started his website called "The Drudge Report" in 1995. In those early days, he had just 1,000 e-mail subscribers. Within a short time that number jumped to hundreds of thousands. Up until the mid-2000s, Mr. Drudge was very visible, appearing on television and hosting his own radio show. After that, without notice, he disappeared from public view. Chris Moody, our guest this week, just finished hosting an 8-part podcast series called "Finding Matt Drudge." We asked him to tell us what he found. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In "The Lies of the Land," Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) history professor Steven Conn argues that the reality of rural America today is vastly different from the way it is often portrayed by politicians and the media. He says rural Americans have not been left behind or been overlooked and are just as connected to the forces of American modernity – militarization, industrialization, corporatization, and suburbanization – as people living in the rest of the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Newsweek’s Batya Ungar-Sargon talks with working class Americans about their lives & policies they believe could help get them to the middle class. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Columnist Danny Heitman discussed the importance of rereading classical literature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The book is called "The Real Hoosiers". The author is Pennsylvania-based Jack McCallum. He was a senior writer at Sports Illustrated for 30 years. "The Real Hoosiers" is a book about parts of Indiana, race, and basketball. To tell the story, McCallum focuses on the life of "The Big O," well-known basketball success Oscar Robertson, who is now 85 years old. Oscar Robertson started his career at Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis. Author McCallum says his is a story of a city, a state, and a country struggling to come to terms with race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Times of London U.S. editor David Charter, author of "Royal Audience," discusses the special relationship that Queen Elizabeth II had with the United States and U.S. presidents over her 70-year reign as Britain's Head of State. Queen Elizabeth, who became queen in 1952 and passed away in 2022, had met and had varying degrees of personal relationships with 13 of the 14 U.S. presidents during her reign going back to Harry Truman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices