C-SPAN Bookshelf

The title of Dartmouth history professor Matthew Delmont's latest book is "Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad." Prof. Delmont, our guest this week, writes in his introduction that: "Nearly everything about the war – the start and end dates, geography, vital military roles, home front, and international implications – looks different form the African American perspective." He points out that ultimately, over one million Black men and women served in World War II.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

YouTuber Max Miller discussed his cookbook which explores history through recipes. About Books also reported on the latest publishing industry news and current non-fiction books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chapman University professor Luke Nichter is the author of the book "The Year That Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968." Professor Nichter is also the creator of nixontapes.org, the "only website dedicated solely to the scholarly production and dissemination of digitized Nixon tape audio and transcripts." Nichter's book focuses on the 1968 presidential race and the contentious battle between Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, and George Wallace.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge discusses her book "Generations," about the differences between the six generations – The Silents, Baby Boomers, Gen. X, Millennials, Gen. Y and "The Polars" – currently living in the United States. She argues that technological advances shape generations more than anything else and talks about the impact this will have on the country in the future.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Craig Nelson, in his book "V Is For Victory," reports on the number of casualties from World War II. He writes that, according to the U.S. Department of Defense, the military casualties were 1,870,000 (405,000 killed and 673,115 wounded). Then, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were over 8.9 million American war industry worker casualties (75,400 dead and over 8.8 million wounded) between 1942 and 1945. Author Craig Nelson, our guest this week, further says: "Across history, the 'arsenal of democracy' has come to mean this miracle of American manufacturing. When Roosevelt used the term, however, he meant the miracle of the American people."      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest is Shahan Mufti's, who's new book, American Caliph, recounts an event that's been lost to history-- the March 9th, 1977 Hanafi Muslim siege in Washington, D.C. That day, three buildings in Washington, D.C. were seized by 12 Hanafi Movement gunmen and were held for two days.The group took 149 hostages, killed a young radio reporter named Maurice Williams, and shot then-councilman and future Washington D.C. mayor Marion Barry. Mr. Mufti describes the background of the group's leader, Hamas Abdul Khaalis, the blood feud between him and the Nation of Islam, a movie about the prophet Muhammed that fueled the hostage-taking, and the tense negotiations that ultimately ended the siege. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York Times books reporter Elizabeth Harris discusses the review website Goodreads and how the platform can help and hurt sales, especially for lesser-known authors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Metropol Hotel is located near the Bolshoi Theatre in downtown Moscow. When it opened in 1901 it was the symbol of Russia's growing prosperity. After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, it was often used by Lenin to give speeches at so-called party congresses. During World War II, the Metropol became a home and office for almost all foreign journalists allowed to work in the U.S.S.R. British journalist Alan Philps, our guest this week, has written a book about those days titled "The Red Hotel: Moscow 1941, the Metropol Hotel, and the Untold Story of Stalin's Propaganda War."    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By advancing his judicial philosophies of "originalism" and "textualism," Antonin Scalia became one of the 20th century's most influential justices. This week, James Rosen talks about Book One of his two-part biography of Antonin Scalia, titled "Scalia: Rise to Greatness, 1936-1986," Rosen who is Newsmax's Chief White House Correspondent examines Justice Scalia's life prior to the Supreme Court. We talk about Nino Scalia's early years, the importance of his Catholic faith, his first years as a corporate lawyer, his teaching career at the University of Chicago and UVA, his time in government during the Nixon and Ford administrations, and his appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam Andrzejewski is the founder of OpenTheBooks.com and lives in Hinsdale, Illinois. OpenTheBooks.com says it is "the largest private repository of U.S. public sector spending." The mission is to post "every dime, online, in real time." In their 2022 annual report on government spending, Alexander Fraser, a 19th century Scottish professor of history is quoted saying: "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. Democracy will continue to exist until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury." Mr. Andrzejewski is our guest this week on the Booknotes+ podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices