With the bicycle shop in one of the brothers was just fascinated by flight and he studied birds and then translated that to how to build an airplane and they went to to kitty hawk, North Carolina because that is where they thought the wind patterns would be best. It is wonderful story. Also about not just about that family and their relationships, but also about america at that time as we were looking at what had happened to manufacturing in the Industrial Revolution and the innovation that was going on in country at the time. Does it surprise you that the sister to a bed of shortchanged in this . Well thats pretty typical, but it was nice to hear the really Important Role that she play. Im still, im not finished with the book. Im only. Im only about a quarter of the way through. I am looking forward to see more the story he talked about in the conversation. What kind of books are you drawn to. Guest it depends on what i am doing at the time. I always try to have something serious that i can read that im interested in and then something fun. So i really like mysteries. Im a big fan of Mary Higgins Clark when i have i have a weekender on a flight someplace and i have some extended time and i just want to escape. Its fun fun to read Mary Higgins Clark. I like agatha christie. Then reading, i find history, historical novels are fascinating to me. Biographies and history, one of history, one of my favorites recently has been the book read novus which is about the a man who was the First Western investor in russia and Eastern Europe after the fall of the soviet union. We had some legislation to address a really horrible human rights abuses in russia of this young attorney named sir gay magnet ski who worked with the author of the book and had been a whistleblower on people he thought were defrauding the russian government. Bill got so outraged about what was happening to him because he was imprisoned and tortured. Ultimately ultimately he died, but during that period and afterwards he tried to get attention to his case and we ultimately passed legislation here that ben cardin and john mccain sponsored, that i worked on and was a cosponsor of to hold accountable those people in russia who had violated his human rights, who had tortured him and to hold others in russia accountable for human rights violations. So, it is a fascinating story and reads like a novel. Also also interested in another book which has New Hampshire connections which is called citizens of new london. Its about about world war ii and the americans who helped forge the bond with britain that helped us defeat the nazis in world war ii and one of the principles and that was a former governor of New Hampshire who then went on to be ambassador to england during that period. So it is a great story about americans who were really pivotal in world war ii. And about the time of what it was like in london during the bombings. I just coming to get that sense of what life was like and that it could end at any time. So theres a sense of urgency about everything that people do. The former governor of New Hampshire was a real hero to the english people during that period. He succeeded joe kennedy as ambassador to england. Spee1 do you find that reading can help you work here in the senate . Guest absolutely. It gives you Historical Perspective which is interesting. Even though i was an english major i find history fascinating. I think most of us who are in politics are fascinated by history. Also, gives you a a sense of the challenges that we face today and understanding that they are not unique. In most cases we face similar challenges before and looking at how people make decisions to overcome those at the leaders that we have had in the past who were able to steer the country in a positive direction is really reassuring to see that we face difficult times as we have today before and we have been able to get through them. Host you said you are an english major, why, why, why did you major in english . I sort of wound up as an english major, ive always loved literature and love books. I started out majoring in french and then had to transfer schools and switch to Political Science and when i transferred back to my original college i wanted to be able to graduate and i had more credits in english than anything else so that was the way i wound up as an english major. Host who has been your literature favorites . Guest i love heart of darkness, conrads conrads book about heart of darkness, that was one that as i was a College Student one of the books that i thought was really critical and thinking about life. The idea that work is really important and having something to get up and do every day. And focus, that is very important. I also love a book called the last angry man which is about a novel about a man who, he was a dr. Who was upset and try to do something when he saw around that he thought should be addressed and his whole life he worked hard to try and do something about them. And then of course i had the benefit of taking courses in chaucer and shakespeare, and having that foundation. I love shakespeare. Also American Literature as well, in particular american playwrights. Im a big fan of oneill. I tend to like heavy place. To go back to william shakespeare, how would you explain shakespeare to those of us who just dont get it . Who try. Guest i think you have to see shakes your performance. And when you see performed it is very different than reading it. I taught school in mississippi the first year they totally integrated the schools in the south and one of my classes we did mcbeth and we actually read mcbeth and we have the students perform different scenes from mcbeth. It was really interesting to see them interpret what they were reading and to get it as part of being able to actually play out the scenes from mcbeth. Of of course the witches are everybodys favorite. The double, double toil and trouble. The kids have a great time with that. Spee1 is it relevant today . Spee2 absolutely it is relevant. Mcbeth, you see what happens to lady macbeth, she cannot wash the blood from her hands because she still feels that guilt. Get some some of our situations today where people have done fun things that are wrong and unfortunately not everybody feels that guilt but there are people who still do. Hamlet, then decision of hamlet trying to figure out what is right thing to do. It is very relevant today. Host if you had to recommend a book or two books on the u. S. Senate, on u. S. History and someone said how can i learn more about what you do up here, is there when you would recommend . Guest David Mcculloch spoke about john adams is a wonderful book. 1776 is a wonderful book. Less about what we do today in the senate. I have not yet read master of the senate which is the third book in the trilogy of lyndon johnson. I just finish the second book. That is on my list to do this summer. The people tell me that it is a wonderful description of what happens in the senate in the process and how to make things happen which johnson was a master. So that is one of my list for the summer. Host when you were growing up in missouri and going to school in mississippi, did it ever occur to you that you are going to be the governor and senator from New Hampshire . Guest no. Never, that was not on my dream list of things that i wanted to do in the future. But, i had this theory about politics and that is that some of us are born with musical ability and some of us are our, and other of us get a drink at the political gene. So there are some of us that are drawn to politics because my parents were always interested in Current Events but neither of them were political really. They were not involved in politics. So i think some of us are junkies. I think we get excited about it. Host are you an author . Guest i am not. I wish it were. Were. My daughter is an author. My oldest daughter as you know have written a wonderful book about her family and my oldest granddaughter, her granddaughter my granddaughter ellie who has type one diabetes. Ellie and coach in this wonderful yellow lab who came and his alleys at Diabetes Service dog. In in fact she is at a camper six weeks this summer in pittsburgh and coaches with her. And so a of the concern that i know we all feel about ellie because this is her first extended period of time away from home is mitigated because she has coach with her. Host that book ellie and coach came out in 2015 by Stephanie Shaheen in case youre interested. Book to be. Book to be did an interview with her about that book. So, why are you an author . Youre an english major, history buff. Guest i hope at some point i will be. Host a lot of your colleagues have written books. Guest they have, and very good fascinating books. The senator nextdoor, barbara boxer, the art of tough, i love that love that title and that of course Claire Mccaskill have written about. She has a wonderful title to hers as well, and then kiersten has a wonderful book about not a memoir about her, but its about the importance of women, particularly particularly young women engaged in the political process. So it is great to have these talented colleagues and at some point i hope maybe i can join them. Host as the only woman who has been both governor and senator. So what would you call your book . Guest oh, i have not gotten that far. Thats why have not written one because you actually have to take time and think about it. Do you ever get recommendations for books im colleagues or recommend books to your colleagues . Host yes. Guest yes. I cant tell you any that ive gotten like lately but i have Lamar Alexander bring me a book about the senate that sitting right over there on the table. And he said he thought it was the best book of how the senate operates that he had read. So we do share from time to time books that we think are important and helpful. Host why would senator alexander bring that to you . Guest i cant remember. We were talking about books and i cant remember exactly what i was talking about but he said oh you need to read this book and then he brought it to me. Senator, the the books that you go back to time and again, the novels, historical, historical books. Guest less now than i used to, when i was growing up there were books i used to reread frequently, but because time is more challenging today it is harder to do that, one of the things that i like is having had the opportunity to read to my children and some of the books that i read to them in my grandchildren have been interested in are some of my favorite books, books like charlottes web, stewart little, trumpet trumpet of the swan, those are wonderful books. For parents it is just as fun for me to read them to my kids as my kids to hear them. Books like shell silverstein, where the sidewalk ends which is a great a great book of poetry that is just fun to read out loud. When i get asked to go to school and read to some of the Elementary Students that is when i often take with me because they love that book. The rhyming, the images, sarah would not take the garbage out. You get that image. You get this image of this little girl that kids can identify with. Host when you visit with librarians in New Hampshire, what is their main concern . It. Guest resources. It is is always resources. They also are very positive about the library of congress, about the wonderful job that it does and providing support to libraries throughout the country. One of the things i had the opportunity to do in the last ten years or so is to go to the opening of new libraries in New Hampshire. I think there is this perception that some say that while everything is online so people dont need libraries and they are not reading books in the same way. But we have had a number of new berries open in New Hampshire and they have, they have the traditional books but they also do have this new function of providing computer access to people who may not have it at their home. I providing Community Space where people can come and meet together. I think that has been a wonderful transition in the functions that libraries provide to communities. Host do you find that you could affect policy more directly as governor or senator when it came to reading, libraries, this type of education . s be to. Guest it is a different role as governor than senator. I was very proud when i was able to chair the appropriations subcommittee on the legislative branch because the library of congress was part of my oversight, my portfolio and we were able to increase support for the library of congress after several years when it had been decreasing. That was very positive. I heard back home how much people appreciated that. As governor i was able to be in New Hampshire more to meet with students and go to school than i had been a senator and had a very direct ability to go in for programs like reading is fundamental to be able to go into the school every year and read to the kids and talk about the importance of books. Host what you think about these programs like New Hampshire reads or the entire state all reading the same book. Guest those are great. I think that is very effective. Programs that have students who are signed up to read a certain number of books over the summer, those are very important because kids need encouragement. They need direction. Reading does broaden your horizon. It gives you the ability to fantasize about other places and what may happen in your life in a way that very few other things do. Even television and movies, they are great, but books have a different ability to capture kids imaginations i think. Host you have volunteered and been a political person for a long time, jimmy jimmy carter, al gore, gary hart, barack obama, is there a political book that you would recommend for people, a memoir or a book by a politician . Guest certainly teddy whites book about campaigning are important to read because they give you that foundation to the modern Campaign System that we have. I can remember reading the book about the Carter Campaign by and im trying to think of yes, jack who was a wonderful book and particularly for those of us who had been part of that campaign it is always fun to go back and see how outsiders that viewed what was going on. There is a book, almost every campaign has this book done about it. Host where you got your books . To order them online, hard copy . Ebooks . How you do it . I never read ebooks. I read ebooks. I have to say, actually like having a book. The feel of the book and the physicality of the book i find important, i like that and i guess wherever i can find. I go into bjs on the weekends and i always go to the table that has the books on it to see what is there that i might want to pick up. Thats how i picked up 1776. It had been out for a couple of years and i found it very cheaply going into, i love to go into bookstores and just browse and see whats there. As i said, the the library of Congress Events where they give you a book, that is one of the good reasons to go is because you get to leave with the book. So wherever i can find them. And then friends will loan me books to on occasion. Thats why have not yet read master of the senate because i have a friend who bought it who said dont caught by it, and i could get it from the library of congress but then i have to give it back. So eyes feel like im on a deadline when i get books from the library of congress. So so she said ive got it, i will give it to. So wherever i can find them. Conservative activists passed away last week at the age of 92. The founder of the eagle form, she also authored over 25 books on topics that range from Americas Nuclear strategy during the cold were on the harms of the feminist movement, to childcare and education, to Supreme Court, abortion, and religious freedom. Her final book published last week and coauthored with ed martin and brett decker lays out a conservative case for donald trump as president. Phyllis has been on book tv several times to talk about her books, here she is in 2003 on our indepth a program discussing the release of her first book, a choice, not and i go. Well, you remember kennedy was assassinated in late november of 63. I was at that time the president of the Illinois Federation of republican women. I had a series series of republican speech is scheduled beginning in december and it just seemed inappropriate to give the standard anti democratic speech so i worked out a new speech called how political conventions are stolen, started the first week in december of 1963. And then i gave that speech all january february and it told the story of how the rockefeller establishment had outmaneuvered the conservatives and given the domination to lead to worse. By march i realize that i could put it in a book and influence the convention. So, it was a world when year. I wrote it on my typewriter at night at home. And then of course i self published it. If you go to a publisher is going to take in two years to get their act together. We needed it in 64. Thats the little publisher i set up to produce this book. And so i sent it off to the printer in march and 25000 copies arrived in my garage on april 40. I typed out a onepage letter that said dear friend, please read this book today and then buy enough copies to send to your delegates to the 1964 Republican National convention. And then i had on my counter and typed a stencil in those days and i had a machine in the basement and i put the stencil on the round thing and i went out a hundred letters. I sent out a hundred letters its the only advertising i ever did. One of those letters was red but a friend in california who called up and said, i read it, im going to a convention this weekend that is united republicans of california. And i want 5000 copies. So i loaded them up in my station wagon, took them to the airport and sent them out there. That out there. That weekend we had statewide distribution in california. The california primary was the first week in june and we sold over half million copies. Those between the first of may in the first of june in california. Host where did the title come from . Spee2 Barry Goldwater use the title in the moment moment i heard it i knew it was it. Reporter watch this and other programs that featured phyllis on booktv. Org. In effect, the federal governments long mobilization of the war on crime promoted a particular type of social control. One that signals that the target arrest of racially marginalized americans and subsequent creation of new industries to support this regime of control are among the central characteristics of domestic policy in the late 20th century. The decision that policymakers and officials in close circles are part of a larger coalition made at the highest levels of government had a measurable consequence for long come americans. However unattended some of those choices may have been at different times, and in different clinical moments. Ultimately however, the bipartisan consensus of policy makers fixated on urban space and eventually removing generations of young men and women of color from their communities to live inside a prison. We can excuse a set of actions and choices these historical actors made as a product of their time, or as an electoral tactic. By doing so it will continue to avoid legacies of enslavement that still prevent the nation from fully realizing the promise of its founding principle. Until recently the devastating outcomes of the word crime have gone all relatively unnoticed. Many americans appear the dissemination ended with Civil Rights Movement and the United States had to move beyond waste racebased systems of exploitation. Alongside growth of of american Law Enforcement at the last 50 years, black metaclass surface and africanamericans assumed power with greater visibility. These achievements promoted discourses of cultural pathology and personal responsibility even further. Making it seem as though the systematic incarceration of entire groups of racially marginalized citizens reflected the natural order of things. Political representation and the fact that some black americans have amassed substantial wealth and capital do not mean that historical racism and inequality has ended, which im sure is not news to many of you in this room today. Africanamericans grew more affluent after 1965, by the end of the 20th century the net Financial Assets of the highest black american households were 7448. Only 448 above that of the lowest fifth White American households. The black middle class has always been concentrated in the publics fear and social services. Mobility is tied to the state spending on domestic programs. In celebrating the Racial Inclusion championed by africanamerican activists and their allies across the nation during black History Month every year, the fact that many of the Critical Reforms of the postwar period have been nick remain unrecognized. For instance, nine years after the passage of the Voting Rights act, but on a mass incarceration incarceration the Supreme Court ruled it constitutional to deny convicted felons right to vote. States have consistently removed convicts from voter rolls ever since 1974 when the decision. Today nearly 6,000,000 americans, most of whom have already sent their sentences are deprived of the franchise. Although rural areas are home to the majority of the population. They lost representation because of this infringement and rule districts that tend to favor republicans gained extra representation because of how this prison system works. Meanwhile Public Schools in many urban neighborhoods are more segregated today than they were before the Civil Rights Movement. You can watch this and other programs online booktv. Org. Cspan, created by americas table Television Companies in rot two as a Public Service by your cable or satellite provider