I just finished the splendid and the vial by erik larson, wonderful account of churchill and his family in the worst year of the war after he becomes Prime Minister may 10th of 1940, literally the day of the german invasion of france and then basically what it was like to stand alone against nazi germany until june of 41, russians are in the war and by december of 41 the United States is in the war. It is a wonderful read about a guy that i consider the greatest person of the Twentieth Century and the supreme ordeal of a long and brilliant career. I have also been reading, i picked up a great historian by the name of jean edward smith, great biographer. I read his biography grand and eisenhower, by far the best eisenhower biography of a written. He died in 2019. Right now, just got into his book on fdr, the parkland prize which american historians choose as the best book of the year in 2007. It has been around a while. One of those books had been sitting on my bookshelf and i have not gotten to it. It is a 700 page read. We lost smith about a year ago, september actually. Almost precisely a year ago. I happened to think about that, pulled out the book and ordered his last book which i have not read on the liberation of paris published in 2019. Kind of been doing that. Earlier this summer i got by accident a binge of biographies of ambassadors and eric larson also rose a great biography of william dodd the American Ambassador in germany in the 1930s and his family which was quite an eclectic and eccentric group, and their experience of being in nazi germany as hitler was consolidating power in the first evidence of what was going to be truly a dark period in World History was becoming evident and i read the same time a book by a guy named luke paper called in the cauldron, a tale of the American Ambassador in tokyo, joseph bruno. For 10 years, ambassador from 194141. All of his ultimately fruitless efforts to head off war between the United States and japan and what it was like being in japan during the grip of a fascist and military regime guiding the country to ruin. Doing a lot of that and one last thing. One of my favorite political scientist of all time, i usually read a different kind of political scientist just died this year but was famous for writing history or studies of congress from the district level up, and the states of senators obviously and i read a couple of his books. I havent read enough of this guy, a couple of books challenging congressional representation which was his last book published in 2013 and an earlier book called congressional traps but just a granular view of congress. Host congressmen, there seems to be a theme among the history books you are reading and thats world war ii. Guest well, it just happened to be there. No deliberate design. Like anybody else im always fascinated by it, and thereve been other books, too. Colin galloway, the indian world of George Washington that really fascinated me as well. But no question world war ii is seminal conflict and shaper of the 20th century, and really the postworld war ii era. Obviously you have to understand the war leading into it, but came out of it to understand the time in which we live. And really the rise of the United States as a great power before the Second World War but it became the superpower after that. So understanding the cauldron of the country went through and how they change who we are, how we think, act globally, i think its really kind of an indispensable grounding you have if you want to be effective in the current time. Host is erik larson one of those writers or historians that if he writes a book you read it . Guest yes. He is an absolutely superb writer. And vivid and sometimes its almost like reading a novel, the descriptions and you know all footnoted but he has a real talent. And again, seizing on something to look at it more closely. Weve had a lot of really fine biographies of winston churchill. Robert andrews most recent one is probably the best, but this idea of lets take out a year, i have my bookshelf, i cant remember the authors name now but its the same thing. Its actually on churchill in the 1920s single pivotal year when he was working as colonial secretary and helped reshape the middle east in ways that echo right down to the boundaries of countries. I like what he does. I like how he writes and hes always worth reading whatever the topic is. Host the New York Times correspondent carl hulse came up with a book about congress a year or two back. When the book comes out about congress the almost automatically get out . Guest i do. I happen to know carl very well and he is one of the smartest reporters out there. Confirmation bias which is sort of on the Supreme Court wars that weve seen in recent years is a brilliant look. If you want to understand some of the struggles that shaped capitol hill, not any better guy than carl hulse. Also just finished a book by jonathan karl. Its not congress per se because hes a white house correspondent. Of course for abc news. But front row at the trump show is an interesting read, and i know karl. Ive been interviewed by him, appeared on a podcast once or twice. So someone like that writes a book that i think is really knowledgeable and professional and you want to hear what they have to say because again, they are talking to a lot of people in many cases that you cant talk to you or dont have the occasion to talk to, and they bring a lot of insights into the political field and into congress. Host how much sharing of book ideas do you do in congress . Guest quite a bit. We keep a i do a sort of Favorite Book of the month that we publish regularly on our website, and we get a lot of inquiries about that. I also threw a party for republican appropriators every year at christmas, a really nice affair, usually dinner at the willard. But they always get a Christmas Present and its almost always a book. And quite often if im in a conversation with somebody, i know they have a particular interest or what have you, i will send them a book. I remember years ago Adam Kenzinger from illinois was a young member. Hes one of our brightest guys in congress and a young veteran and was elected in the class of 2010. His hair back then was very short, almost like a crew cut. He is still in the reserves, still flies, and he reminded me of a picture i had seen of don rumsfeld at about the same age, square jaw, goodlooking guy. So i just bought rumsfeld autobiography and sent over to him. You are from illinois, he is from illinois. You got a crew cut, hes got a crew cut. You guys should get to know one another. So occasionally i will just send a book to somebody because it struck me as somebody might interest them and particularly again adam is one of a really thoughtful thinkers in congress on both sides of the aisle on National Security issues and military matters. Again, he deployed to combat zone so hes a guy who knows what hes talking about and i thought he would be interested in a guy like rumsfeld who had also served and have been both the youngest and oldest secretary of defense in american history. Host i dont know if you saw this but mr. Rumsfeld wrote his most recent book is on his years in the ford white house. Guest i havent. Ill have to get that. I just finished chris whipple, the gatekeepers, on the chiefs of staff of the white house and, of course, he figures very prominently. I will be interested in having a more thorough view. I actually have a picture of ford that i keep in my office. Him on a number of occasions and on a number of occasions and was a big admirer of his. James cannon part of him, time and chance on gerald ford. It will be interesting to get rumsfeld close up look at president ford. Host tom cole, republican of oklahoma, as always thanks to joining us on booktv. Houston is not in session today due to the veterans day holiday but senators will be meeting tomorrow morning at 11 eastern to contribute additional confirmations. They will be considering President Trumps District Court nominee for the Southern District of florida. The senate has been from 222 federal judges under President Trump so far and nominee ilene cannon of florida would be the first woman to join the court during the trump administration. Watch live coverage of that debate here on cspan2. Cspan2. Weeknights this month were featuring booktv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan2. This year marks the 20th anniversary of booktvs monthly author in if you program in depth and tonight highlights from past shows including our interviews with david mccullough, shelby foote, toni morrison, tom wolf, cornel west and many others. That begins at eight eastern. Enjoy booktv this week and every weekend on cspan2. Cspans podcast the weekly looks at Electoral College with the vote in the president ial election still being counted. We look into the challenges facing the Electoral College and potential reforms. Our guests are manager of election law before at the heritage foundation, and Brooklyn Law School assistant professor of law. Find cspans the weekly where ever you get podcasts. You are watching cspan2, your unfiltered view of government. Read about americas cabletelevision company as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Good evening and welcome to tonight live online author event with greenlight bookstore. I am chelsea from green light and were thrilled to host tonight event with perri klass presenting her new book a good time to be born. She will be talking with andrew solomon, so youre in for an excellent time. Before we start i just want to say a huge thanks to perri, andrew and the team at norton for making this