Larson an account of the worst year of the war after he becomes Prime Minister may 10 of 1940 really the day of the german invasion and then basically what it was like to stand alone against germany in june of 41 or the russians are in a war and obviously by december of 41 the United States is in a war but its an extraordinary book. Its a wonderful. About a guy that i consider literally the greatest person in the 20th century and the supreme ordeal. And then ive also been reading, i just picked up the greatest story by the name of gene edward smith, great dr. For her. I have read is either phase grant and eisenhower. Eisenhower is by far the best eisenhower biography ever written and thereve been some good ones but he died in 2019 so right now i just got into what may have been his best book on fdr something called which americans historians chooses the best book of the year so its been around for a while and one of those books thats been sitting on my bookshelf and i just have not gotten to it. Its a six or 700 page. But we lost smith last year about a year ago in september actually so almost precisely a year ago. I happened to think about that and pulled out the book and ordered his last book which ive not read yet on liberation of paris which was published in 2019. Ive kind have been doing that. Earlier this summer i got by accident on a binge of biographies and eric larson also wrote a great biography of a guy named william dodd who was 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 germany as they were consolidating power in the first evidence of what was going to be truly a dark period in World History was becoming evident. Then i read at the same time of look called in the cauldron which is the american, tale of the American Ambassador a guy named joseph grew. He was our ambassador for 10 years from 1931 to 41. All of his ultimately fruitless efforts to head off for the between the United States and japan and of course what it was like being in japan during the grip of a fascist military regime and took the country to ruin. There was bad and then one last thing one of my favorite political scientists of all time i usually. Historians but this is the different kind of a political scientist. He just died this year but was very famous for writing histories on congress and studies of congress from the district level up rather than the washington level. He would travel into the districts of various congressmen and senators for state senators obviously and i had read a couple of his books but i just happened to read his obit. I have read a couple of his books, challenge of congressional representation which i think was his last book published back in 2013 and another book called congressional travels. Again just a granular view of congress but i know a lot of the members that he writes about and its just fascinating in its reminder of how often what somebody does in washington is really a reflection of who they represent and what their interests are and what their understanding of the world is and what kind of lose that sometimes when they study politicians. We forget that they have another part of them which is shaping what they do in washington d. C. A lot of reading this summer. Congressman there seems to be a theme among the history books that you are reading and that is world war ii. Well it just happened to be there. Not by deliberate design. Like everyone else im always fascinated by it and i have read other books too. The andean world of george washington. That fascinated me as well. Theres no question the world war ii as the conflict and shaper of the 20th century and really the post world war ii era. Obviously you have to understand the war leading up to it and understand the time in which we live and really the rise the United States was a great power before the Second World War but it came a superpower after that so understanding what the country went through and how it changed who we are and how we think and how we act locally can really be an indispensable grounding that you have to have if you want to be effective in the current time. Is eric larson one of those writers that if you pick up a book you he read it . Hes an absolutely superb writer and sometimes its almost like reading a novel. Descriptions and yet its all footnoted but he has a real talent and again seizing on something to look at it more closely. We have had a lot of really fine biographies like Winston Churchill and the most recent one is probably the best that another book i have in my oak shelf and i cant remember the authors name now but its on churchill in the 1920s a single pivotal year when he was working as colonial secretary and helped to reshape the middle east in ways that echo right down to the boundaries of countries. I like what he does. I like how he does things and i like how he writes them. He is always worth reading. New york times correspondent carl holtz came up with a book about congress a year or two back. When the book comes out about congress do you almost automatically pick it up . I do. I happen to know carl very well and he is one of the smartest reporters out there. Confirmation bias which is the Supreme Court wars that we have seen in recent years is a brilliant book. It helps to understand the struggles that shaped capitol hill. Not any better guy than carl holtz. I just finished Jonathan Carls book. Hes a White House Correspondent for abc news but a front row on the trump show is an interesting. I know carl and ive not podcast once or twice. For him to write a book thats knowledgeable and professional and you want to hear what they have to save it as again they are talking to a lot of people that in many ways you cant talk to or dont have the occasion to talk to and they bring a lot of insight into the clinical field and into congress. How much sharing of book ideas do you do . Quite a bit. I do a Favorite Book of the month published regularly on our web site and we have a lot of inquiries about that. I also throw a party for republican appropriators every year at christmas and its a really nice affair basically 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 and i know they have a particular interest or what have ui will send them a book. I remember years ago adamson singer from illinois was a young man one of the brightest guys in congress. He was elected in the class of 2010 and his hair was very short almost like a crew cut. He still in the reserves and still flies and he reminded me of a picture i had seen of don rumsfeld at about the same age. Square square jaw and a goodlooking guy. I just bought rumsfeld out of bag of thorium and sent it to him. I said you were from illinois and hes from illinois. You have a crew cut and he is a crew. You two should get to know each other. It struck me as something that might interest him and particularly hes one of our very thoughtful thinkers on both sides of the Island NationalSecurity Issues and military matters in combat zones. The guy knows what is talking about i thought hed be very interested in a guy like rumsfeld who has also served and has been both the youngest youngest and the oldest secretary of defense in american history. A big admirer of his. I think salute cannon biography of him time and chance on board. Itll be be interesting to get rumsfeld sort of close up look at president ford. Sue and tom call republican of oklahoma as always thanks for joining us on book tv. Guest thanks peter i enjoyed it thanks man. You can watch this at all are what are you reading interviews on booktv. Org using the search bar at the top of the page. s you are watching book tv on cspan2. Every weekend with the latest nonfiction books and authors. Cspan2, created by americas Cable Television company as a public service. Andro