Mojave desert, about 42 Million People every year visit the city for its many casinos, shows and restaurants. With the help of our Cox Communications cable partners, for the next two hours well learn about the history of the city and tap into the literary scene here with local authors. We begin our special feature with its former mayor, Oscar Goodman. Mayor goodman, how did you become a lawyer for the mob . Oh. The refuted mob, of course. All by accident. Its the most amazing thing in the world. I came out to las vegas with my beautiful wife in 1964 and, basically, i would take anything after i passed the bar that would walk in the door. I had a motto in my office where theres a fee, theres a remedy. And carolyn was, believe it or not, one of the first card counters even they they didnt call them that at that time. And my dad sent us 25 a week for pleasure. We couldnt use it for rent, for gasoline, it had to be for pleasure. So we went out to a place called the charcoal room at the Hacienda Hotel which is now imploded. After dinner carolyn would take whatever we had left over and play blackjack. And i knew they werent building this Beautiful Hotels because people were winning. So i would stand behind her, and just like were talking although it looks like i do all the talking just like were conversing with each other, i spoke to the dealer. And he was a very nice guy. One day he called me up at my office, and he said, you know, oscar, im a little financial difficulty, im going to have to file bankruptcy. Would you do it for me in i didnt know bankruptcy from a speed bump at the time. But i learned how to fill out a bankruptcy petition. I did it by hand. And he was happy. I charged him 250. And i was happy. So a couple weeks later a phone call comes into the pit at hacienda, and its from a reputed mobster. And his brother had been arrested, and he wanted to know whos the best criminal lawyer in las vegas . Well, nothing changes over all the years. The fella who lifted up the phone cups it, and he said whos the best criminal lawyer in las vegas, and the guy i did the bankruptcy for said call oscar. And thats how it all started. And i represented the brother, and i could try the case a thousand times, and i would lose it 999 times, but i got lucky and i won it. And from that point whenever somebody got arrested who was connected with the allege mob, it was call oscar. What was it like trying that first case . I was scared to death. I didnt know how to pick a jury. I went to the judges clerk the morning of the trial, and i said to her, you know, i dont want a jury, because i didnt know how to pick one. I said this is a case that its a legal case for the judge to decide, not for a jury. She said ill ask the judge, and she comes back, and she said, mr. Goodman, the jurys been summoned in. Well, i got so nervous, i walked down the stairs of the federal courthouse, and i parked it all over the second step. And i went back to my office, and i said, okay, were all set to pick the jury and try the case, and the jury went out to deliberate after all the ed was in and the all the evidence was in and the closing argument. And my clients brother, the alleged mobster, while were walking back to my office which was two blocks away from the federal courthouse, says is it better if the jury takes a long time . I said, the longer they take, the better. We walk into my office, the phones ringing, the jury has a verdict. Well, you can imagine how i felt. We went back this, i think they felt so sorry for me that they came back with a not guilty. What were some of the after that first case, what were some of the crazier cases that you were given . Well, i became an expert, believe it or not, in, of all things, wiretap cases because the wiretap statute just went into effect, and i was involved with the first wiretap case down at the Miami International airport. A wiretap was set up of two fellas who were bookmakers, and they would call a brander here in bartender here in las vegas to get the line information from the sports books here and they were all indicted, and i was hired to represent this bartender. And we went down there, and i asked for a severance. Thats when you ask to have your case separated from the other defendants. He was an incidental figure. And finally after two weeks the judge said, mr. Goodman, go home, take your client with you. Youre right, i should give you a severance because they havent mentioned his name. So my client went home, but the other lawyer said why dont you stick around and help us with this wiretap case. So i stayed there, and they were all found guilty. But the word went out, oscar won the case because my client is back in las vegas on the severance. Had nothing at all to do with winning the case. But after that on december the 12th of 1970, 26 cities were raided of alleged bookmakers who they all said were mobsters, and i was hired in 19 out of the 26. And because i had more than one case, i had all my papers strewn around my office. And one of my clients said, look at this, oscar. I said, dont bother me, im working. He said, no, look at this. I said, dont bother or me. He said, youre going to want to see this. I said, okay. And i picked up two different authorizations for the wife t. A. R. P. , and the wiretap has to be authorized by either the attorney general himself or one of nine, and the signatures even though they bore the same name were different. So i filed some motions, and ultimately took the deposition of the attorney general of the United States in my law office, and he was smug. He really was smug. Smoking his pipe. He finally said, okay, youre right. We didnt authorize this properly, and i want all 19 won all 19 of the cases, therefore, i was the wire persian for the United States. How familiar were you with the mob before coming to las vegas . And that is the only contact i had with anything that resembled crime. Of the 19 was there any case that you said no . Most of them. When i became the mayor this has to be so confident. And active years of practicing criminal law. This is a cakewalk. If i lost the case with the kind of clients i had, i never saw my client again. I hope i didnt make many mistakes. Instead of having a wet bed, i slept like a baby as the mayor. Host in the midst of you defending these alleged mobsters guest all right. Host that they were being targeted by the federal government . Guest yes. In my opinion. And i hadnt been actively practicing law but for a lot of reasons, not actively in the court room. Many federal prosecutors, the state wasnt that bad but federal prosecutors play the game where the ends justify the means. They would do anything to get them and i cant think of a case where everybody goes he is always saying the same thing where i didnt catch an fbi agent or irs agent in ally and tried to govern in my cases. I rarely allow the client to take the witness stand unless they insisted they wanted to do it. I didnt want them to do it because i could talk better than they could. They werent pros and i did this has a professional. I think the government overstepped its bounds. The way i defended my case with making sure they adhere to the constitution. In particular the prohibition against unreasonable searches and seniors and did not engage in prosecutorial misconduct. Just about every case i had they violated those provisions. Give us an example of a case you thought was particularly egregious. These big shots i represent there was a fellow who was a big shot. I will give you his name because he became a friend of mine. A reputed heroin dealer named manny baker. Manny was an africanamerican fellow who was a stereo typical, if you were going to talk about an africanamerican and try to characterize him and make them into a caricature he was that, but he was a very decent person aside from allegations and manny went down, and giving money to this fellow. And by the curb by the cadillac, ultimately was arrested and a hearing in federal court, there were three, and the exclusionary role. The first guy gets on the stand, raises his hand and says the truth and the whole truth and nothing like the truth. He went up to manny in the car, and roll down the window, he said sir, a little tail here. He said manny rolled down the window, manny complied, and this is in the manny i knew and when you get out of the car, give us the key here is, and open up the truck. Look at this bag in the trunk. I said manny, you are black belt. That cop was a redfaced cracker. The judge couldnt believe the cop. But they are lying a. Let me do my job. Next guy gets a. I swear to god to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me god. Word for word for word. Manny is saying to me they are lying. I said i cant do two thing that once, cant listen to you say they are lying and listen to the witness testified. But they are lying. I said take it easy. Next one. Same thing. They are lying, they are lying. The people of america tell you that. What are you talking about. The pilot and flight attendants come in a plane and get into a van and go to the motel. They saw the whole thing. I said what are you talking about . I know they saw the whole thing. Timeout, judge. Dont waste our time. I said no. I may have something important here. Give me a couple days to investigate. I will start again tomorrow morning. You cant get a little bit and go for more because of a little bit. Went back to my office and said to one of my associates, we know the flight number, we know the airline, find out who the pilot was and he found it out, in san francisco, i said would you mind coming down and tell the judge what you saw that day . I will buy you dinner. You do that, i will buy you dinner. Comes into court, put him under oath, same guy, he says i was there and saw this, 3 redneck cops. Opened up the door, sitting next to you, mister baker is his name, picked him up by the scrub of his neck, put cuffed behind his back, put it on their head, started kicking him, went in and cook the key, you are under arrest. It was like miami vice. Maybe that is the most egregious story in the book. Defending these people what makes you want to get into politics . I have done everything. I tried all these cases and it got to a point i wasnt liking myself. I would see how much i could charge and i said i am not about this. This is and why i became a lawyer, this is not why i represent people, not to make money, i did it because i believed in what i was doing. I made money in the process. I said to my wife i got to do something different. I am not liking what im doing. We were on a cruise in the caribbean in 1998 and i said to my wife and four children, i will do something different, what do you have in mind . I am going to run for mayor. We have a very democratic family and took a vote on anything that affects one another. That is a lot of money for a lawyer. As the mayor you made 40,000 and they were going to take a hit. We had the vote. The four children voted numfour0 against me. There were no Outstanding College loans. There is no way you can win. You have more baggage out of the airport. And sports folks around here are not allowed to put out a line on politics but sports folks in london made 171 underdog and i was fortunate enough to win and i tell you a funny story, the day after the election i go to my office, two messages in particular, one at 5 00, president clinton congratulating me being elected of the fastestgrowing city of the United States, at 5 00, at 5 05 manny baker the reputed heroin dealer congratulated me on being elected. Were you concerned, was your reputation with the alleged mob, did that come up at all in the election ordering your term . I have a little bit of a temper. He had a little cartoons, Holding Money back, holding hypodermic needles, holding guns. That was supposed to be me representing all of them. I represented these alleged mobsters, somehow i was doing something bad. I thought i was defending everything good about the country and it all came together when i went to the cumberland area that has sun city for affluent older folks. I would knock on the doors and have a campaign and i went to one door early on and this was the complete lesson. There was a woman who answered the door, has a bathrobe on at 3 00 in the afternoon, has her hair in curlers and she says guess who is out here . The mafia lawyer. I got milk and cookies for you. They were good too. That said it all to me. What were your platforms . I didnt know where city hall was. It was tough to have a platform. I wanted to be honest guy who would do his best and make sure, the same way i protected my clients. Everything comes into focus. And the mayor you see little tuft of grass coming up. In a state of malaise. My whole night point was easy. It created a renaissance, downwn las vegas vitality. One problem, didnt know how. A friend of mine was not a friend of the time but was very vocal opponent of my running, he came up to me, can i help you . I will let bygones be bygones. He was president of a major real estate firm. Give me a one on one baby course on how to develop downtown and he brought out the ceo of a major west Coast Development firm in baltimore. They did the seaports in new york and these were firstclass developers and spend an hour with me and after i poured my heart out to him what i wanted to see happen was you cant do it. What do you mean . You dont have what you need. I said what are you talking about . He said you need land. I looked out my window. That piece. He said land. I said we have that piece. He said no, land. I went home that night distraught. I had a busy life as a lawyer. The phone wasnt ringing when i was the mayor but a light bulb went on. There was a piece of land. An old Railroad Site and i called up the ceo of Union Pacific railroad the next day and said sir, i want to buy your Railroad Site, he said not for sale. Called him again, not for sale. I said everything is for sale, everything has a price. He said there are 61 acres in that site that we dont own. It is owned by Lehman Brothers and i went to new york and said you got to buy 61 acres and they quoted me a 30 million price. The city didnt have the money but i knew that would be the future of las vegas if i could acquire that without eminent domain. I was fortunate to be able to trade land in an affluent part of the city for 61 acres downtown. Then let johnny by the door and started to develop all the wonderful things we now have. The downtown casinos, this mayor is serious and they began to fix up their place. One place downtown i would not have gone into for fear of getting a lung disease. Everybody has fixed up their places. Look at the restaurant here. This was a broken down place. I wouldnt come here for fear of getting blood on my shoes and now look at it. Host as any decca did you ever think of running for another guest running for the county line. Host no lacerations . Guest this is what happened. I spent the time in washington, washington is a very funny city. I was so proud of myself as i was doing cspan every night. They named a drink after me. I was a big shot in washington. There he is, Oscar Goodman the lawyer. I came home and said sweetheart, i am the cats me out. You got to come back with me. I will show you a town like you have never seen a town before. The capital is going to get on their knees. Six weeks after i left, it was oscar who . That turned me off of washington. I need a little adulation. I like to be the rockstar. Carson city there is not enough to keep me happy for more than a couple weeks so i passed on money for governor and we had an experience because people were telling me to run for this, run for that. I am a nonpartisan and i will see whether or not a pretty funny political year. We took a poll and it shows i would have carried Clarke County where las vegas is and then you win the states and reality set in. I said i dont want to be anything but what i am, ambassador for the Convention Authority for tourism. Chairman of a permanent post committee. Get woken up every morning by my wife who comes to my side of the bed to get the juices flowing, got two shoulders to the front door, they have a martini for me. Im have floated by 12 00 every day. What is better than that . You are watching booktv on cspan2. This weekend we are visiting las vegas, nevada to talk with local authors and tour the citys literary sites with the help of our local cable partner Cox Communications. Next we discuss son, sin and suburbia, with author geoff schumacher. When people think about las vegas they typically think about the las vegas strip, the big casinos, the show, gambling, restaurants, they might think about downtown las vegas where we have the older casinos and fremont street with the spectacle of the promenade. That is what i think people immediately think of, someone who lives here, someone who writes about las vegas i dont necessarily think of that first. I think about the people, the 2 Million People who live here, the neighborhoods where i live, where my friends and relatives live. So much more nuanced and complicated story than a typical person from outside town imagines. Las vegas has been growing and 1905 when it was founded as a railroad town. Certain decades when things accelerated and one of those was the 1940s. During world war ii, saw the arrival of a huge magnesium production plan grew thousands of workers to las vegas and at the same time the development of an Army Airfield which became an air force base, thousands and thousands of people descending on this valley quadrupling the population in a matter of years coinciding with that was development of the casino business on a larger scale. Tourists and las vegas, the 40s were huge, the 50s you saw the rise of the iconic casinos on the las vegas strip. That coincided with the rise in atomic testing 60 miles north of las vegas so a lot of scientists and others who needed to work at the atomic testing site came to live in las vegas. Tourists came to las vegas to witness these spectacles, aboveground atomic explosions was the 40s and 50s were a pivotal time for las vegas and its growth. Las vegas face a lot of challenges it grew so quickly. What was transportation. Another was education, building enough schools to accommodate all these kids. Transportation for example, the building of the airport. We relate on getting caught up, the development of Mccarran Airport was open and already talking about expanding expanding expanding. In the 50s you saw the need to develop roads and the infrastructure for the spreading of the city. We were always behind the curve. Las vegas never quite kept up with the growth. That is the nature of all fastgrowing cities in the west but las vegas had an extreme case. On the positive side, keeping up with growth in las vegas means lots of jobs. Lots of people needed. People work in a casino, we need them to work on construction, different businesses around the community. You see people coming here for opportunity. When they get here often times in the past, there has been school overcrowding. Restaurants were crowded. The roads were insufficient living on gravel roads. And enough tax dollars. And raising taxes, raising property taxes, sales taxes. And trying to keep up with its growth. It never really let up. A lot of people had been around for a long time who would like to keep that small town feel in the earlier days, and las vegas has been in growth mode. And a sincere attempt to control or manage in las vegas. We are opportunists, constantly looking for the next opportunity whether it is developing subdivisions or commercial areas for casinos. And this insatiable demand for housing. And no parks, there one big construction site. In the past, las vegas suffered in slowdown and growth. And other challenges that come up. And in 2008, in las vegas, the Real Estate Market collapsed here so dramatically and the National Recession and wall street crisis and just hammered las vegas tourism. At that point between 2007 and 2012 or 13, las vegas is in sorry shape. We see a lot of homes, high Unemployment Rate and a lot of vacant buildings, not just houses but commercial buildings. A lot of time to recover from that, by squatters, were being evicted. We saw more Homeless People on the street. And the construction industry, is 50 . An amazing number for a town, people were grown literally rich working Blue Collar Construction work. It was a very severe recession that had las vegas as hard or harder than anyplace in the country. The positive side, and the growth is returning. By 2016, things are looking bright. This is a community that has many more facets. And in this book, the crux of the whole enterprise here, the point of this book is for people who were local. If you are not local, understand this is a more complex and interesting place, it was on fremont street or las vegas blvd. A literary tour of las vegas, nevada, with the help of cox communication. With joshua wolf, the director of the Black Mountain Institute City of Asylum Program which offers a safe haven to write is facing censorship, imprisonment or assassination in their home countries. Fool up noun things for me. In the city, a writer, grew up in tehran. I am a writer, i wanted to be a writer. After a few when i take part in literary growth. To writing. It came from a Remarkable Program at harvard called scholars at risk. Struggling around the world, lead them to needing a fellowship of asylum. It is in peril in las vegas a place in the suite of offices, and that brings along or a place in peril for doing this work but a program with remarkable lineage, going back, Salman Rushdie was under at that time, he issued a call to become asylum. Knowing his position of relative privilege and attention on him which is protected by him and financially put him in a totally different category from writers in similar situations but in prison, at that time, Nobel Laureate playwright, poet, fiction writer at unlv. He and the folks, the city of asylum, many places in the world where freedom of expression, and expectation of an official line. The historical truth from the heart, what the writer sees and feels and believes and it cant be varnished, cant be contained. Some ideology, it will be it will be water on a flame. Looking at it the other way. Literary writers are naturally drawn to speak honestly of their experience and that makes them doesnt make them the favorite people of leaders in repressive regimes. My problem for writing was my novel is antiwar. Because my novel is about the war in iraq. I am not a soldier. My novel is my experience, my awful experience and the government didnt lie in my novel. Censorship is a big problem in europe. I can understand censorship. In my story, in my novel, in my life. I want to resist the war, or anything. I remember all the time i was because tehran is a big city. A lot of problems. Got to a point he saw he was not able to do his work living as he was and fled. Found himself in a situation of what is next, where do we go . How do i make a life for myself. And made a lot of work with that. s work was published outside of iran but not into english. He came to us with these great needs. And to offer funding, very aggressive support. The bigger question, to a place where they were independent and they have a life of a writer and scholar, working to articulate how to get him connected to publishers, agents, the community of readers, literature, from a particular interest in iranian culture, some conversation in this community about what you call it. When you call it, when you call and asylum o, some fellows dont want to be identified that way. To their home country. Than to get to a place where he is able to teach and write and have a son in school, will be a source of great cheer to all of us. Really allowed him. I was a teacher. It lives in tehran. And my friend. All of them it takes time, fighting your real life. A few years. Fortunately here, i am in a good situation and i can read and write. It is awful. A good chance for me. You are watching booktv on cspan2. This weekend we are in las vegas, nevada with the help of our local cable partner Cox Communications was next we learn about atomic testing carried out by the Us Government in the nevada desert with andrew kirk, author of the graphic novel doom town, the people and landscape of atomic testing. Nevada, usa. This is the valley where the giant mushrooms rose. Four atomic bombs have been exploded on these few hundred square miles of desert than on any other spot on the globe. Atomic testing is a huge part of the history of life in nevada. In 1951, when nevada was chosen to host atomic weapons testing las vegas was a small city of 60,000 and it immediately grew by almost double when thousands and ultimately tens of thousands and eventually hundreds of thousands of people came to work on atomic weapons testing, worked in support of this vast nuclear military infrastructure that was being conducted in the nevada advisor to. For average people who lived here, going up onto the mountains to look down into the valleys where they were doing this and actually watching atomic bombs go off was a part of life. The name of the book is doom town, the people and landscapes of atomic testing. It is a history of the global era of atmospheric atomic testing, told as a graphic sequential narrative. The title of the book doom town comes from the places that were built during the height of Atmospheric Nuclear testing. The Atomic Energy commission actually built will be realized town to the desert with typical suburban homes, roads, lightbulbs, stores, refrigerators full of food, mannequins dressed in clothes from jcpenney and they created a whole landscape that they would then explode and atomic weapon nearby and see what would the effect be. It was a critical phase of atomic testing. It was widely broadcast to the American Public at the message was very clear. In a nuclear war civilians were the target but this term boomtown doom town has a double meaning because to a certain extent las vegas, nevada, st. George, utah, cedar city, utah, the cities and towns, have been decided that they would become doom towns too, people who were going to really experience nuclear war. There with a known doom towns and a lesserknown doom towns, just real places with real people who were the unwitting participants in mock nuclear warfare. The history of atomic testing is a huge story and it is complicated and truly a global story and it began with the Manhattan Project which is a collaboration of expatriates, scientists the nazi regime, people from Great Britain and the United States collaborating on a hugely complicated science experiment to see if they could enrich uranium to create the core of an atomic bomb, then invent and build an atomic bomb and ultimately deliver something to the military that can be used in world war ii. That is the beginning of the story. The book follows the ark of atomic history through the atmospheric era which is obviously short. It starts in 1945 with the bombs in hiroshima and nagasaki. Crossroads followed the end of world war ii which was conducted in the pacific. You go from 1945, 1946 and the end of the war, 1951 nevada was chosen to be the continental test site known as the nevada proving grounds. The selection of nevada as the site to host the bulk of atomic testing is one of the stories explored in detail in the book. I think something people might not understand the depth of how this was testing. These were scientific experiments. They didnt really know what was going to happen. They were often outcomes that were unexpected and the shots might be bigger than they thought, usually bigger than they thought, the wind is unpredictable in the desert, the clout of radiation from the atomic explosion right go in the complete opposite direction than anticipated and people could be affected by this in a variety of ways. There was a level of uncertainty. They knew they were being exposed to radiation. The Atomic Energy commission, there were no atomic worker protocols in the 30s or 40s, these things had to be invented. The negative impacts were the unknowns with the effect of this would be. And the activity grew through the 1950s. They were aware of potential negative Health Effects from distant from where this was happening and especially the people in utah who are directly downwind from the test site began to witness things. The dying of sheep. The dying of livestock and ultimately starting in the mid50s into the late 50s clusters of childhood leukemia that seemed inexplicable that were not like things they had ever seen before. A preponderance of circumstantial evidence started to mount which changed the tide of opinion. That tied didnt change completely because this was always an activity where people, even people who were aware of the risks understood or believed they were doing something for a greater good. Then we move through to the limited test been in 1963 when testing above ground, images of atomic bombs blowing up with people watching them comes to an end, but an era of underground testing goes into the 1990s, finish up with a little bit of that underground era which is also the era of growing local and global protests. Looking at the genesis of the protests, the reasons various groups protested, changing opinions in america and elsewhere about the necessity and safety of testing atomic weapons in places where people might be affected by that. Ten years ago i was part of a team of scholars at my university creating an oral history of the experience of atomic testing. Atomic testing in this region is not wellknown to younger generations. It is a subject of global importance but not wellknown outside of here. There is a huge literature on the history of atomic weapons development, atomic weapons policy, atomic weapons and the cold war. Some amazing books, Pulitzer Prize winning books. One of the things we noticed, a team of scholars and i, the stories of the ordinary people who experienced this, hundreds of thousands of them really didnt have a place in those more familiar narratives about this era. We wanted to create an archive of lived experience all the way from general and nobel prizewinning scientists who did this whose names are familiar and people down to janitors and miners and people who lived in and around these testing zones, ordinary workers who spend lives and careers Building Nuclear weapons and testing them out in the Mojave Desert and other interesting locations around the globe. One of the things that fascinated me was time and again when researchers went out to interview people, to create a verbal and ultimately written record of their personal experience of a significant historic event, people would produce material objects. Sometimes it would be scrapbooks, certificates or patches they received because of their participation but even more fascinating, people would produce sculptures they made of equipment they used, stainedglass windows they made of the Mojave Desert or a scene that has special significance to them, drawings and paintings and all kinds of visual representations of their experience. What we gathered after doing this hundreds of times was during a period of extreme secrecy when people write or talk about what they did, they sought out other ways to remember their experience and one way to do that was through art. I was fascinated with the visual culture of atomic history and i thought about various ways you could convey this history and its visual richness to readers and one of the ways i thought to do that was to have a book that included examples of the stuff which is rare and hardtofind, exists in the bathrooms of museums and archives, and bring it to light and show this aspect of this experience and it gives you a sense of the degree of secrecy and level of concern and what it might have been like to spend your life working in an environment like that where you felt compelled to make a stained glass window to remember your lifes work by. I started to think maybe a way to convey the story was to enlist the help of a more contemporary artist who was conveying the same atomic history through his own art. The artist they collaborated with on this book, Christian Purcell is a classical artist based in the united kingdom, i was captivated by his work. In his depictions of mushroom clouds or pictures about Nuclear Technology or military technology, always the people who were involved. He was doing with art what i tried to do with history, really write the people back into a story that has predominantly been told as a story of big science, big military, big and crazy technology, all of which are important and interesting but what about the people . We thought we could collaborate, try to work toward telling this story both with traditional narrative and a sequential visual narrative. Like a traditional graphic novel, this book is framed by a traditional introduction with footnotes and contextualizing information about the cold war, nuclear history, to give readers of what follows a little more grounding, complicated story, and following the graphic portion of the book, the selection of curated documents or histories, material artifacts, enabling me to tell the story. What we are looking at and the wall behind me is a selection of individual pages from the graphic history lined up in sequential chronological order, telling the history of atomic weapons testing in its various locations through visuals only. I love this panel. What christian did is a great example of how we organize this book. What it represents is the moment when the United States decided to evacuate bikini islanders and use their home islands to test Nuclear Weapons. This is very early in the history of Nuclear Weapons testing. There was a lot that was not known about how this process would go. Before the historic record, to create a log of experience, the natives being told, there leader, king judah emphatically stating to refuse what the us military said, that this was an island among tens of thousands of islands that didnt really matter and these people were happy to leave. He said no to the contrary, this is our home, this is where our ancestors were buried, this place is unique but we are going to leave but not because we like it. I thought he captured the mood of the scenes very well. All based with a high degree of accuracy how this happened historically. This is another series both interesting in subject matter and speaks to the way the book was created. One of our core sources for the creation of the narrative were oral histories and this is a sequence that was developed from oral remanence reminiscences of the experience of being a military serviceman who had been assigned to witness a nuclear test and what that experience was like, what they found interesting or unusual about it, it is a poignant memoir that formed the basis of a series of pages and one of the things i found fascinating about the story is the soldiers confronting this amazing Nuclear Technology obviously the result of a huge effort to create it but at the end of the test they ran a Geiger Counter over them and one of the participants explained used a balloon that looked like it came from Sears Roebuck to sweep him off and send them home. Their home military vase they were given polygraph test, lie detector tests and asked a series of questions about what their experience was. It wasnt because there were concerns these people were going to Say Something that was classified. It was actually because the experiments themselves, having soldiers dig a foxhole, watch an atomic explosion go off at very close proximity and run toward the mushroom cloud, was a psychological experiment, to see which soldiers, confronted with the otherworldliness of an atomic explosion, be careful scramble their brains as one of them said. The finished pages of the book take the art we have seen and put it into a page scale colorized and includes the historic information and dialogue. Just like the documentary photographs as basis of visual representations of history in the book, as a historian i wanted dialogue and descriptions of the history to be concise but completely accurate and based on primary source documents, oral history recollections so when people are talking in this graphic history, unlike a graphic novel, what they are saying is what they actually said. People either wrote these things, they were transcripts of meetings, they were recollections from oral histories or they are descriptions of the history that are gleaned from secondary literature archives and primary documents. This has always been a topic Everyone Needs to know about. It is a topic of global significance which everyone has been affected by Nuclear Technology, energy weapons. It has shaped the modern world and created consequences we have to live with for a long time. It is a special imperative to tell this story now because we have several new generations of people who dont remember the cold war at all personally. They may understand that was an important era of history, they may know the way the cold war has affected our lives today, but they dont understand the details of the context of what happened with the creation of nuclear bombs, the creation of nuclear energy, the decisionmaking process that led to the world we live in today. You are watching booktv on cspan2. This weekend we are in las vegas, nevada. With the help of local cable partner Cox Communications. Next we visit the Writers Block bookstore in downtown las vegas. Coowner drew cohen discusses the literary scene and why his is the only independent bookstore in the city. A lot of people were excited for us to open and we are supportive but a lot of people were understandably a little bit skeptical that we would succeed. A lot of things come and go in vegas. Who would be willing to go out of their way to shop at an independent bookstore. Writers block opened november, 2014, right at the tail end. So weve been open for about a year and a half at this point. The Writers Block is the only independent seller of new books in las vegas, period, and also the only one in southern nevada. We felt there was a need here that wasnt being met by existing booksellers. We had a mutual acquaintance, familiar with what tony shea was doing in downtown las vegas. So tony shea is the ceo of zap positive,. Com, the shoe company. And he sold zap toes to amazon. I dont know the exact year. And part of what he did afterwards was he relocated, he retained sort of an operating ownership over zappos, so he still runs the show there. So he moved from henderson, nevada, which is a sort of suburb of las vegas to downtown vegas and allocated a bunch of his own capital to revitalizing this corridor here. He was sort of joining a momentum that was building to make downtown is sector for native las vegas that wouldnt focus as much as the tourist industry that the strip focuses on, but also on the needs of the local population. Writers block was opened by myself and my husband scott. So scott actually has more of the literary background than i do. He ran a literary notforprofit in new york. He was the cofounder and executive director of 826 nyc which is a, part of a National Network of notforprofits that offer free creative writing classes for students 518. We were told they were interested in opening something similar where they would offer literacy education for students in the area. Vegas ranks between 49 and 50 most of the times in education rankings for public schools. And the Creative Writing Program here had sort of been gutted, again, for public schools, so theres not a whole lot of quality literary examples. We felt there wasnt the literary needs of the city werent being met in terms of having a good independent bookstore. Theres a lot of really great, like, big readers here, and theres a population of excellent writers. This city has a little bit more literary vibrancy than i think people are aware of. So it was an exciting place to come for that reason too. Like, in new york especially new york, but i think in a lot of other large American Cities the literary scene is, its very large, and its very entrenched. And here its a little bit more theres a certain openness to it, i think. Because the city itself is still very young. I think one of the big differences between the literary scene here and in new york is that the literary scene in vegas is far more accessible and transparent. Like, in new york i think its because there isnt like a singular, like, monolithic literary scene in new york. Theres many of them operating on top of each other, side by side, like, all over the place. Theres just a lot of, like, little spheres of literary activity. And a lot of them are quite exclusive, because theres so much of publishing is located in new york. Whereas in vegas, there arent as many literary circles here. But as a consequence, the ones that are here tend to be a little bit more accessible to just about anybody. Is so one of the things i like, for example, about the Black Mountain institute at unlv is that those events are all open to the public, and just about anybody can go. And my customers who come here, their day jobs might be in an office, or they might work in hospitality, but privately theyre big readers, and they can go ahead and go to one of these events, and it isnt closed a off to them. Its something theyve heard about, for example, i feel like in new york its harder. Our first year of business, first year and a half of business has been great. Its been really reassuring. Were pretty much where we expected to be. Like, we created a business plan, as one does, with projections, as one does. And those projections, as they usually are, were, you know, one part, like, informed estimations and one part guess work because you dont ever really know. But we just tried to put something together that seemed reasonable. We, you know, anticipated we would sell a number of books that would be reasonable for, like, any business, and so far so good. And thats been really a huge relief to us just business wise. And i just, in terms of seeing people come out of the woodwork to shop for books, but also talk about books and recommend books. Its been really wonderful. I think the literary scene here is somewhat small just because it is a somewhat small city, and i feel like weve been able to witness that Literary Community come together to some extent. And thats been great. I feel like a lot of people in the city may have felt like they were kind of lone agents reading on their own. And id like to think we played a little bit of a part in, like, allowing people to come together a bit over their love of reading. Youre watching booktv on cspan2. This weekend were visiting las vegas, nevada, to talk with local authors and tour the citys literary sites with the help of our local cable partner, Cox Communications. Next, we hear from author gregg jones about the vietnam wars battle of khe sanh. In the northwest corner of South Vietnam nestled among 4,000foothigh mountains, steep ravines and thick jungle foliage, rests the small valley of khe sanh. At time in history, it is calm and peaceful. But from january 21st to march 31st, 1968, it was the scene of one of the most bitterlyfought and highlypublicized battles of the vietnam war. The importance of khe sanh in vietnam war, i would argue, is significant. That has been a subject of some debate among historians, because it was not a decisive battle. But it came at a critical moment of the war, it came in 1968. The Antiwar Movement in the United States was really gathering force. Lyndon johnson was under pressure within his administration. At the same time, lbj was going to be facing reelection in 1968. And he was trying to reassure the American People that there was light at the end of tunnel, that the war was starting to wine down, that wind down, that america was gaining the upper hand. And so suddenly, you have this situation unfolding in khe sanh, this remote marine combat base tucked into the far northwest corner of South Vietnam. Some similarities to the french situation in 1954. And then you have tet offensive happened with all of these attacks in cities up and down South Vietnam. And so the combined effect of khe sanh was more a psychological impact on the American People. Khe sanh, there was a marine combat base, and it was tucked into the far northwest corner of South Vietnam. So it was about 15 miles or so beneath the Demilitarized Zone separating South Vietnam and North Vietnam. It was about seven or eight miles from the border with lao. And just across the border in laos, the ohio chi min trail ho chi minh trail was running from North Vietnam, down through laos and various infiltration routes along the South Vietnamese border. Keep in mind in 1967 there had been a steady increase in american casualties. So the u. S. Had first brought in significant Ground Forces in 1965. So thered been an escalation in 36, and then in 66, and then in 67 u. S. Casualties were reaching newer and more alarming levels. So you had had, at khe sanh, in fact, in 1967, in the spring of 67, the marines had discovered that north Vietnamese Army forces were invested in some high ground, some very prominent terrain surrounding the marine combat base. And so there had been serious combat, this was known as the hill fights. It was more it was at khe sanh, but khe sanh wasnt really as prominently mentioned during this period. But there were significant marine casualties during the hill fights in the spring of 1967. And so things had been quiet around khe sanh through the summer and fall of 67, but then there had been evidence that the north seat vietnamese were infiltrating a significant number of troops, they were coming into, coming across the Demilitarized Zone which is only about 15 or 20 miles north of cay zahn and also coming khe sanh and also coming down the ho chi minh trail in laos. So this had the makingsing of a showdown makings of a showdown. And the intentions of the North Vietnamese simply werent clear. The marines had 5,000 men based at khe sanh at the combat base and at the hill outposts arranged around there. And then there were a few hundred assorted army units, special forces at the combat base. They had their own compound called Forward Operating base three, fob3. Some army forces, special forces at a camp about five miles southwest of the combat base. And so all total it was about 5,000 American Forces and approximately a thousand indigenous forces scattered around the combat base, khe sanh village and the special forces camp. The north Vietnamese Army had been infiltrating forces into South Vietnam, into the khe sanh area for several weeks in late 1967, early 1968, and finally they were ready around january 20th. There had been heavy contact between u. S. Marines on january 20th during the day and then on the night of january 20th 21st, North Vietnamese began to unroll their plan against khe sanh. On the morning of the 21st, about 0500 in the morning, the base received heavy mortar rocket and artillery fire. Element simultaneously, village 61 came under attack from the bottom, and that no sooner got started, then down here in khe sanh village, the unit came under attack by about a battalion. So we had three things going at once, and naturally my concern was with all of these forces which are on me, as you can well imagine, i began to become concerned that they might start closing the base. However, it didnt take really really take long to really upset me after this whole thing is boiling to a pot that the ammo dump went completely up. There were rounds flying all over the place. Even though american excellence had made it intelligence had made it clear that there was significant infiltration of North Vietnamese forces, that they were up to something, they were moving south of the dmz, they were moving into the khe sanh area, the marines were in a very awkward and somewhat unfamiliar position. They were being asked by general westmoreland, who was army, to hold this static position, Khe Sanh Combat base, and these hill outposts. So the marines had been trained to be an offensive force, an aggressive force, amphibious, and so suddenly they were being asked to perform a very different and very unfamiliar and, to some extent, a role they did not like. And so the marines were not dug in as heavily, had not bunkered as heavily as they should have. And so once the North Vietnamese attackings began, the shelling began, there were casualties in those first few days that probably would not have occurred if the marines had been more heavily bunkered and ready to fight that kind of war. Immediately after that, those first rounds of attacks on january 21st on hill 861, the shelling at Khe Sanh Combat base, an attack on khe sanh village which was the district seat, the americans started trying to strengthen their defenses. The expectation was they were going to be facing a human wave attack. And so there was great concern that they were going to be fighting for their lives and in a massive attack against North Vietnamese regulars. So they started digging trenches, digging much deeper, better bunkers. One of the problems was they did not have adequate bunkering material. And so they had sand sandbags, but they did not have, for example, the types of heavy pillars or metal sheets or things that could have resulted in much more secure bunkers. And so the marines, resourceful ones that they are, theyre used to really getting the bottom of the barrel when et comes to when it comes to pentagon budgets, they scrounged and did what they could. And so they were using metal runway matting, they were using logs, sandbags, anything they could get their hands on. Because to dig, to get deeper was to live. After the initial attack january 20th 21st, 1968, there were wheels turning in vietnam, wheels turning in the white house. Lyndon johnson was very concerned that the United States might be facing its own 1954 french defeat at a remote outpost in far northern vietnam that resulted in the french pulling out of vietnam and vietnam, essentially, becoming the responsibility of the United States. And so johnson was living in mortal fear that he was going to be facing his own screen bean few. He started following events to an on to accessive degree that he would pad down at night in his robe and slippers and go down to the white house situation room to get the latest reports from khe sanh, from vietnam to see what was going on, to see if thered been any dire developments in the preceding hours. And so the question became in vietnam among the american high command and in the white house do we stay or do we pull out, do we make a stand at khe sanh and risk a crushing defeat, or do we stand and fight . By that point route nine, the land route, had already been cut several months earlier. So khe sanh was entirely dependent on aerial resupply. It was entirely dependent on transport aircraft and helicopters. The hill outposts could only be resupplied by helicopters, and keep in mind that this was the worst time of the year weather wise in khe sanh. There was fog and rain, and so it was very, very dangerous flying conditions. And then the North Vietnamese had very accurately zoned in on the landing zones, on the hill outposts and on the runway at khe sanh. Anytime an aircraft came in, they were almost immediately within 30 seconds going to be facing mortar rounds, rocketpropelled grenades, rockets and others. So it became very dangerous, and the question was could khe sanh be kept alive, could this lifeline hold, this aerial lifeline, or were they going to not be able to get ammunition, not be able to get their wounded out, not be able to get medical supplies and food. And so for the first three weeks or so, it was an incredibly tense and uncertain situation. There was even consideration given that general westmoreland and president johnson were considering using tactical Nuclear Weapons, if required, to defend khe sanh and to prevent from that happening. So it was a harrowing few weeks for the American Military commanders and for the Johnson Administration in washington. And so, but johnson had firmly made the decision. He had counseled with general westmoreland, with general buzz wheeler, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the joint chiefs, and had asked them directly do you think we should stay or go, and the response had been we should stay. And so the decision was made to fight it out at khe sanh. The turning point came around february 23rd when something known as the super gaggle was organized. And this was targeted at resupplying the hill outposts. And this was this massive orchestra of air assets. And so what they would do is they would bring in Fighter Aircraft and bomb and strafe and napalm, try to hit all of the known nva gun artillery, mortar, rocket positions. And then helicopters would come in and do the same thing. They were dropping gas, tear gas and things like that and smoke as well. And then the resupply choppers would come in. And so that greatly eased the resupply crisis, again, around february 23rd or so. So at that point it was a little more than a month into the siege, and in that first month things very much were up in the air and were very dicey. And there was a great question whether or not resupply could be maintained and whether or not the massive human wave attack was going to overrun the base. The battle of khe sanh, or the siege of khe sanh, ground on over three months. And so finally then on april 1st, what was known as operate pegasus, the overland relief from the coast, so army air cav and marine units started pushing up from the coast. The siege was declared officially lifted around april 7th and april 8th. That is somewhat misleading, and the casualties and its a difficult number to pin down, so i should start by saying the official number is just shockingly low. I believe its Something Like 265 killed and several hundred wounded. There were on the american side, im speaking now. So there were at least a thousand americans killed. And if you factor in air accidents, transport, helicopters, those sorts of things, then i think the number of k. I. A. Were clearly to over a thousand. And the number of wounded were in the range of 3,000 to possibly 4 or 5,000 on the american side of the equation. The North Vietnamese, the communist losses were significant, but its very difficult to put a number on those. I would easily believe that 10,000 men were killed on the North Vietnamese side. The fighting and dying that went on in the rest of april, may, june until early july, 1968, when the americans abandoned Khe Sanh Combat base and pulled out, that there were an equal or possibly larger number of casualties in that forgotten period. And i use that term because it really was overlooked that the high command had declared the siege over. The reporters, the journalists, the the crews the tv crews had gone elsewhere. And so the men who were at khe sanh were fighting and dying really on their own, out of the pot light in that period spotlight in that period between april and july of 1968. So the americans abandoned the base in july,ing and so at that point Khe Sanh Combat base was no more. I think that khe sanh must be seen in the larger reality that vietnam was which was a very unpopular war, a very divisive war on the home front. And so khe sanh and tet are seen through that prism of ideology and where you stood on that great divide as to whether or not america should have been in vietnam or should not have been in vietnam. When they came home and this war had so divided the population, and it was so bitter, and it was so unpopular that they were subject to protests, some were span spat on, they were reviled and condemned and rejected. And i just, after this long journey of trying to understand what vietnam was and what it was all about, i just strongly felt that this was wrong, that what had been done to the returning veterans i understand the motivations of those who opposed the war. I think a strong case can be made that we were on the wrong side of history in vietnam at that point in time. But the fact that this rejection and all of this anger was poured onto returning veterans really bothered me. And so i hoped by capturing a piece of their experience, by capturing this dramatic moment in 1968 and writing last stand at khe sanh that i could at least help people understand what they went through, what it was like and why they deserve our respect and not this rejection. Some have asked what the gallantry of these marines and airmen accomplished. Why did we choose to pay the price to defend those very hills . I believe that our initiative toward talks with North Vietnam was greatly strengthened by what these men did at khe sanh, for they vividly common demonstrated to the enemy the utter futility of his attempts to win a military victory in the south. Brave men such as the 26 marines will carry on to fight for freedom in vietnam. And soon, god willing, they will come home. We would like nothing more than to see that day. But until they do, we shall express at moments such as these on behalf of all our American People our great gratitude for the protection that theyve given us and our great appreciation for their selfless bravery. During booktvs recent visit to las vegas, we toured the private book collection of Beverly Rogers and discussed 19th century printing practices with her. From librarians and booksellers to minutiae about paper and topography, and i love it all. I ended up getting into the field of victorian novelists, victorian literature, the publishing practices of the victorian era, and i ended up finally because its difficult to get a focus [laughter] finally focusing on collecting books that represent the publishing practices of the victorian era. And that includes more ways of publishing than we have today. What i have in here is kind of a handful of railway editions which are fun, colorful as you can see. This is the first time in english, the history of English Literature where the picture on the cover actually depicted something going on in the story. Prior to that or prior to this process where these books were sold at railway stations, people at the time there was a growing middle class readership, growing class of people who would ride the train to work. They had more leisure time. Prior to the books coming out in this form which is really sort of a precursor to the paperback, the covers of the books purpose was to promote the publisher. So all of chapman and halls books looked alike, all of blackwoods books looked alike. And they were colorful, they would be in different colors, but the design of the book jacket would be okay, heres one. All the books that came out by that publisher pretty much look like that. Except for the color would be changed. After i finished school, i went back to the books about books that i had purchased, and i had read most of them, but i thought id to go through and read a few here and there. And i discovered a book called an inquiry into the nature of certain 19th century pamphlets which is a reallife detective story about two booksellers and bibliophiles discovering a 19th century forger. The printing on the front is not even centered. Some of them dont even have printing on the front. These are forgeries. There is a man named thomas j. Wise who was known as the 19th century creative forger. He would take a poem, a tract, something out of an anthology, something from a magazine, a speech and create a pamphlet of it, predate the date of its first real appearance and claim that it was a long lost pamphlet privately printed by the author, and it would claim the place of first edition. He then, summarizing, planted some of them at auction to establish a little historical prove nance based on who bought them, established price and so forth. And from there he would then actually either give them or sell them to friends and, you know, other book collectors, people that he kept in contact with. He successfully did this. He did have a partner that was a later discovery, but he successfully did this creative forging with the material of 23 or 4 popular victorian poets over a period of more than 20 years. Thats a long time. [laughter] in 1934 there were two bookseller bibliophiles who had known for years that there had been rumors circulating that there were too many of these privatelyprinted pamphlets at auction. So they decided to, first of all, gather as much circumstantial evidence as they could and try to figure out what happened. And they looked at things like were any of the pamphlets inscribed, were the pamphlets even open in some cases . Whats the condition of them . What did they sell for . Just all the things surrounding physical pamphlet. And then they decided to do something that no one had ever done for bib lo graphical purposes prior to that which is chemically test the paper. They chose Elizabeth Barrett brownings sonnets from the portuguese because it was it had been the highest priced. There were a lot of them on the market. And it was the most popular, and everyone would recognize it. So they wanted to choose what they called their star piece to test. And they discovered that the pamphlet called is simply sonnet s redding, 1847, was on paper that could not have been available before 1868. Paper was made of 100 rag in 1847. So they then went back also and tested the typographical fonts and discovered that those were also not available at the time. I see myself as a rescuer [laughter] of the material object which is as much an artifact historically as a dinosaur bone is ark logically. The reason its ark logically. The reason its important to collect books is to preserve the history. The book represents, the material book represents not just the text embodied within it, but all the production that went into it and the manufacturing of it and the sales and distribution and the arguments back and forth between the author and the publisher. The material book, you can learn so much from as well as what you may learn from the text. During booktvs recent visit to las vegas, nevada, we spoke with Michael Green about the life of las vegas attorney ralph denton and his work in the civil rights movement. The first time i met ralph denton was at an engagement party. And las vegas and nevada function on six degrees of kevin bacon. Everybody knows somebody who knows somebody else. And a very dear friend of mine named Mary Lou Foley whose father and grandfather were federal judges, was getting married, and i ended up at a table with ralph and his wife sarah and linda and bob fess. He also was an attorney, she is an advertising executive here. And the whole evening was stores. They had all stories. They had all known each other forever, and i was working on my ph. D. In history. It wasnt on nevada, but id grown up here, id done a lot of nevada history, so i knew the names they were talking about. And just to sit and listen to the yarns, which makes it sound lightening they werent true like they werent true, but i think they were, it was just very fun and special, and we became very good friends. When ralph was a kid in the depression, nevada was going with the rest of the country kind of into the fdr coalition. It was becoming a very democratic state. So in the sense that he was a democrat, that was pretty good timing for him. But north dakota had the tradition, and nevada had the tradition, and it holds to some extent today, that you didnt vote so much for the party, you voted for the person. So he was friendly with republicans, and there were some republicans he confessed to having voted for in his lifetime. When he was 7 years old, pat mccarron was elected to the senate. It was 1932. And the other u. S. Senator from nevada was pitman. And if you think about it, here is pittman who was the president pro tem of the senate, he was also the chair of the Foreign Relations committee. Mccarron comes into the senate, goes on major committees, ends up chairing the judiciary committee. Now, mccarron goes on to be, in some ways, a reprehensible figure in a lot of peoples minds for the legislation he introduced and the positions he took. And ralph wouldnt argue with that. The thing that was incredible to think about was you had one of the most powerful senators in the country, pittman, then one of the most powerful senators, mccarron, and theyd be sitting in this little boys living room campaigning for office. And so when you think about what nevada was like, thats kind of lost with 2. 7 Million People. But the personal touch itself is not. Ralph didnt really have a great interest in running for office. But in 1958 his best friend, grant sawyer, was running for governor. And really thought, you know, i should find out ralph thought, you know, i object find out what its like. The last gold mining rush of the century was there in the 1900s. There isnt enough for them to do. He did it and he ran and he won, and he said he ran a dirty campaign, so did his opponent, and he had fun. But he realized after about six months this town needs someone here, and so he quit. He was appointed to the the Clark County Commission which is a very powerful body in nevada then and now because the strip is not in the city of las vegas. Its in clark county. The city limits end where the strip begins. And sawyer appointed him, and ralph thought, well, all right, ill do this. But the mark of the man i think he was, he realized he kept having to conflict himself out, you might say, because clients would come before him. And there were other people on the commission who were friends with everybody who were even doing business them, literally, in the commission meetings. And ralph didnt think he should do that, so he got out. But he ran twice for the house of representatives. And until 1982 nevada had only one member of the house. Because the states population was to small. Today we have four which isnt that big either, but the congressman at the time was a very popular, longserving democrat named walter bearing. And bearing had turned against john kennedy and the new front tier and was now frontier and was now, essentially, a rightwing republican running as a democrat. Is so for a decade, democrats kept running against him in the primary, and thered be just enough to get him through, and then the republicans would step back in the general election because he pretty much was on their side anyway. It wasnt until there were enough people in las vegas to defeat him that he was defeated. Ralph ran against him in 54 and 66, came closer to anybody til bering was defeated. And in campaign he 64 he campaigns on bea half of a National Park for nevada, and he was defeated. In 66 the issues were kind of similar, and at time we had already gotten deep into vietnam. And to his dying day, ralph felt he didnt stand up strongly enough against the vietnam war in that election. Although he made clear he thought there was something wrong here. But in both cases a hardfought campaign. And he ended up basically going bankrupt running for congress. Which when you think of the money in politics today, makes no sense. But thats the way a campaign was run then. And ralph told the story when he ran for d. A. In esmeralda county, you campaigned by going into bars, buying drinks, and somebody made a nasty comment, and ralph said, well, you dont vote the way you drink anyway. If you want to compare running for congress in nevada in the 60s in particular though theres an element of this this today with what we have now, when ralph ran for congress, he went to see moe dalizt who was in charge of two of the Biggest Hotels on the strip, and you would go to him to get money. Thats the way it is. And ralph walked in, and there were half a dozen other candidates sitting waiting for appointments, and he thought, no. This isnt right. Well, he ended up going over to the sands. And when we think of the sands, we think of the rat pack and sinatra. And there was a guy who ran the casino, carl cohen. And cohen later became famous for punching out sinatra. Sinatra came into the coffee shop and said a few nasty things, apparently, and cohen flattened him. Heres this guy whos supposedly a gangster, supposedly a mobster, and they talked a little bit, and cohen said just a minute. And he goes into the cage and pulls out a thousand dollars and said, here you go. Which today would get you in trouble with every regulatory issue in the world. And then cohen said whats your position on civil rights . Ralph said, oh, well, and they talked. Cohen said, ralph, a thousand isnt good enough, and went back and gave him two thousand more. Well, thats one way it was different. Another way it was different is ralph used the line in his oral history talking about being around mccarron in nevada. He was just packed to them. Well, he was. Youd call him by first name, hey, pat, hey, harry. Partly because candidates and elected officials are everywhere. Ralphs political involvement was mostly helping other people. And he was pretty close to being the campaign manager, id say, for grant sawyer who was elected governor in 1958. They were Close Friends forever. And sawyer was probably the most transformative governor in nevadas history. He supported civil rights when a lot of people wouldnt. He pushed very hard for stricter gaming control, and it got to the point where his regulators pretty much forced Frank Sinatra out, they forced out some mob people, and ralph told the story sawyer was hosting john kennedy on a visit to nevada, and kennedy said Something Like can i do anything for Frank Sinatra who was in trouble with regulators, and sawyer said, no, theres nothing we can do. Well, he worked with sawyer, but in the 70s there was a very popular governor, mike ocallahan, who was reportedly going to run for the senate. A seat was vacant. And sawyer sat ralph down and said you should run for governor. Theres a groundswell for you. And they showed him these clippings about how popular ralph was around the state. And ocallahan was going to run for the senate, it was certain. So really filed and then, of course, ocallahan didnt run for the senate, so ralph unfiled. Now, where that story gets even more interesting is, first, ralph couldnt resist. He called the editors who were supporting him, and sawyer had called all of them on his behalf. Second, at the time the republican candidate for the senate seat was paul waxall who becomes nationally known as Ronald Reagans best friend, running his campaigns. And he had coffee with ralph the day he filed, and he said how are you getting back to las vegas . Well, im flying. Be careful, ocallahan might call out the National Guard on you, because he was actually filing, and this is the other point, because there were people around who werent sure that the wouldbe democratic candidate for governor was ready to run. He was the lieutenant governor, a young fellow named harry reid. Well, reid ended up running for the senate and at that time losing, going on to win two terms later. And as both sawyer and denton said, we misjudged him. Is and we were big supporters of his all along. But ralph was happy being behind the scenes. So when sawyer ran for governor, theyre hosting parties for him, theyre going door to door for him. Ralph told the story they were up in lincoln county, ralphs old stomping grounds, and these people come along and theyre shaking hands, then the people get in their car, and it turns out they have illinois plates. Ralph said, my god, were trying to get votes from people who cant even vote for you. And, you know, the fun of a campaign. He enjoyed that. He chaired the kennedyjohnson campaign here in 1960. He was active in Eugene Mccarthys campaign in 68 and a lot of local campaigns where if they didnt give money, they gave time. And back then when money mattered less in politics, though it always mattered, time really mattered, and ralph and his family ghei it. Ralph died gave it. Ralph died in 2012, and if you want to know the way to die, ralph was diagnosed with a terminal illness, and people would just come visit, and hed sit and visit. He was with it til the end. And it was like a daily salon. In a way thats part of his legacy, knowing how to live and how to die. And he understood life is short. He had 86 years, so for him it was long but not long enough. But in the state of nevada if you think of people he influenced, people who held high office, people who worked for people who held office, the title of this book is a liberal conscience. And i meant it in a couple of ways when i chose that title, and i did choose it. And one was that he was a a conscience for liberalminded nevadans. Not just liberal left, but liberalmainedded. He also had a liberalconscience. He valued friendship and loyalty, and thats important in life. And those are things where he had an influence. I do not know that grant sawyer becomes the governor who transformed civil rights and gaming in nevada without ralphs help. He might have, but ralph contributed. And standing up for your beliefs, he would do that. And were sitting in boulder city, and ralph wanted to keep his work life and his home life separate, but boulder city is a town of about 15,000 or so. Gambling is not legal. There are limits on growth. The people here want a small town. Ralph, in living here, helped to do that. He helped with those laws. And so his community is his legacy, and his community is also his state and his country. For more information on booktvs recent visit to las vegas and many other destinations on our cities tour, go to cspan. Org citiestour. Cspan, created by americas Cable Television companies and brought to you as a Public Service by your cable or satellite provider. Heres a look at some of the current best selling nonfiction books at powells bookstore in portland, oregon of these authors have or will be appearing on booktv. Watch them on our web site, booktv. Org. Host George Gibson is the publishing director of bloomsbury. What is bloomsbury, mr. Gibson . Guest its a division, if you will, of bloomsbury plc, a worldwide publisher, so were the u. S. Acquisition founded in 1998 after the publication of the first halfly potter novel, they opened a business in the United States, and im the publisher of the Adult Division here. Host what kind of books do you publish . Guest we publish about 110 books a year, largely nonfiction. We do, id say, 20 of the list is fiction, but a lot of history and politics and Current Events and foodrelated books, popular science. Those are the core areas that we publish in. Some memoir as well. Host well, we want to catch up with you here at the publishing convention to talk about some of the books that are coming out this fall, and youve got one coming up on Lyndon Johnson. Guest we do. Its called faustian bargains, and its really the story of the dark side of Lyndon Johnson. Lbj accomplished an enormous amount as a president , but he had a very dark side, and this story is told through the lens of a man completely unknown to history named mac wallace who only interacted with Lyndon Johnson on a couple of occasions. But his life and his life story tells a great deal about the dark side of lbj and the deals that he made with cronies in texas to which mac wallace was very much involved and aware of. Mac wallace is an amazing guy, and the best way to describe this is he, in 1951, he walked into a small golf course owner in austin, texas, and shot the man dead. He was arrested two hours later, and he said to the arresting officers that the, the texas rangers, i work for lyndon, i have to get back to washington. Within an hour, Lyndon Johnsons personal lawyer was defending him, and he was exonerated. And then got top security clearance working for d. H. Byrd who was a weapons contractor in texas and had top security clearance for the next 12 years which the office of Naval Intelligence tried to rescind x they couldnt. And so theres a hidden story here, behind the scenes story of lbj who had a very dark side. Host so where did ms. Melon get this information . Guest i mean, its really interesting. On the day before excuse me, the day after john kennedy was assassinated and Lyndon Johnson became president , that next day life magazine was set to release an article in thing lbjs investigating lbjs dealings in texas with bobby baker, his aide in washington. That article never saw the light of day. And, indeed, the Senate Intelligence committee was doing an investigation of lbj also. That too was stopped immediately. You could say lbj was one of the luckiest men alive, because jfks assassination put him in the white house which is one of the reasons people have argued he was responsible for jfks death, which he was not. He had nothing to do with it. But he did benefit from it by becoming president and also avoiding these investigations. Host what does the term faustian mean . Guest well, a deal with the devil. So that she argues that the young men who, like mac wallace, who came into lbjs orbit were, or in fact, dealing with the devil and making a bargain with the devil. They got something for it, but they paid a steep price for it as well. Host a new book out on the american revolution, what are we going to learn . Guest paul is the former head of the Art Department at mount holyoke, and theres through the its through the lens of the five great painters of the era, gilbert stuart, John Singleton copley and benjamin west. And they are a Fascinating Group of men to begin with, but you see the revolution through completely different eyes when you study the paintings that they did which were so iconic at the time. They were very influential in guiding americas feelings at the time towards britain or against britain, as a matter of fact. I mean, there were plenty of paintings that aroused positive sentiment for england at the time and many that supported the colonists cause. But each of the artists had their own connection to the revolution. Charles wilson pale was at valley important, he did portraits, he fought in the battle of princeton. John trumble, a great artist, was very involved with the army. His whole family was involved with the continental army. Benjamin west was in london the whole time, he was the Court Painter to george iii, so he couldnt go too far in what he painted. He had to hold back in his own sentiments, because he would lost his position in the court. Fascinating individual stories that give a wholly different look at the american revolution. Host what was your reaction when you first heard about that book . Guest that i didnt i did not know aspect of the story. Ive read a lot of books about the revolution and about the revolutionary period, but id never really read about any of those artists. Id never read any biographies, so i didnt know their stories. And in reading the proposal for the book, i was stunned by the vibrancy of their own stories, how amazing they were as individuals, those five painters. And the effect that they had on the American Public at the time. Whether you were in favor of the revolution or not, these pinters had a huge painters had a huge impact. Peel was, in effect, a war photographer. He was the equivalent of a war photographer today. He was doing portraits of the people involved whether common soldiers or George Washington himself, recording scenes. He did a painting of washington at battle of princeton. He was the war photographer of his time. And taking great risks as well. And so, you know, these men had fascinating, vibrant lives, and they come alive in this book, but they also tell the revolution in a different way. Host who is Carol Anderson . Guest Carol Anderson is a professor the head of the africanamerican studies and History Department at Emory University in atlanta, one of the really great africanamerican professors in the country. And at the height of the ferguson riots in 2014, in july of 2014, she wrote an oped for the Washington Post called white range in which she argued even though everybody understands why were talking about black rage and the deaths of people like Michael Brown and eric garner, we really should be talking about white rage because at every point since the civil war ended when blacks have made appreciable social progress in america, they have been met with white opposition whether it was in the reconstruction, the migration northward or the war against drugs, then the obama presidency, every time that blacks have made progress in this country there has been a concerted white backlash against them in the courts and in the legislatures. It has been coded as protecting democracy or preventing fraud or some other buzzwords for it, but it is systemic racism. And this is the first time that someone has connected 150 years of history from 1865 to the present to show that the attitudes that were very much alive during reconstruction are, sadly, very much alive today. They are coded differently, theyre worded differently, but that systemic sense of racism and of pushing down, you know, a minority is still very much in our culture, sad to say. Host and when is that book coming out . Guest a little bit before the fall season, but it is perhaps the most powerful book that i have ever published. At the end of it, i came away with, first of all, an anger, but also a sense that this is undeniable. We cannot deny that this is happening. Host and finally, a little bit off the beaten path maybe for bloomsbury and for booktv, but mad enchantment. Guest so ross king is an historian of art and history. His skill is at connecting great art with the history that stands behind it. And this is the story of claude monet and the water lily paintings, famous paintings in museums all over the world. He didnt start painting them until he was 75 years old, and his wife had died. World war i was approaching. This was 1913, 1914. His son was in the army, and he was terrified for losing his son. The town where he lived was turned into a military hospital. And yet he produced these extraordinary paintings at the old age. His great friend was the well, at the moment he wasnt the president of france, but he had been excuse me, the Prime Minister of france, and he became the Prime Minister again. And when he wasnt doing his politics, he would go out to check up on monet who was notably depressive to see how he was doing. Because he felt that monet was a treasure of france, and he ultimately consequenced monet to give convinced monet to give a lot of his paintings to the country after he died. They are in paris, famous paintings, giant paintings of the water lilies. Its this fascinating friendship that is at the center of this book. Host and thats just a quick preview of some of the books coming out by bloomsbury. Youre watching booktv on cspan2. Youre watching booktv on c pan 2, ting cspan2, television for serious readers or. Heres a look at whats on prime time tonight. We kick off the evening at 7 30 p. M. Eastern with the son of the late author and journalist hunter s. Thompson who remembers life with his father. Then at 8 30, former state Department Official anya manuel talks about the growing influence of china and india. Michael peach, ceo of the publisher hachette book group, talks about his publishing career at 9 30 p. M. Eastern. And at 10 on booktvs after words program, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell discusses his memoir, the long game, with senator lamar alexander. We finish up at 11 with neil bass come who recalls the nazis race to build a nuclear bomb and the allies efforts to destroy their planned Nuclear Facility in norway. That all happens tonight on cspan2s booktv. Joining us from bridge one, Pedestrian Crossing bridge that separates United States from mexico, is alfredo, the author of midnight in mexico, a reporters journey through a countrys descent into darkness. You wrote this book about the ongoing drug wars, Drug Trafficking that divides your two countries. Is it still midnight in mexico, mr. Corchado . Guest well, good morning, greta. I spent i think most of yesterday traveling along the u. S. mexico border, the texas border, and i continually ask myself that question. I arrived in laredo late last night, it was near midnight, and i kind of looked to the mexican side of the border and said is it still midnight . Compared to when the book came out in 2013, there was a lot