Transcripts For CSPAN3 About Books With John Williams 20221105

Current nonfiction authors and books. The latest book reviews, and well talk about the current nonfiction books featured on book tv. And this is about books book tvs podcast and program looking the business of publishing. Now, in just a few minutes, well hear John Williams. Hes the of the Washington Post book world, which has been relaunched as standalone newspaper section. But first, here are some of the latest stories from the publishing world. A new report from the literary Free Speech Group in america is spotlighting the of diversity in us publishing. The report notes that 95 of books published in the us. From 1958 to 2018 were written by white authors. Now, while more recent trends show a move toward diversity, pen america says that publishing remains disproportionately white, both in terms of authors and industry employees. Pen america cited reasons for the lack diversity, including low turnover rates in publishing, which is delaying the diversification of leadership ranks. Quote publishers are the curators of americas stories. The report states. They are gatekeepers who decide whose stories will be told and, whose will not. They have a moral and social obligation to that. The pluralism of American Society is presented moral bossley in our literary canon. In other publishing news, the 2022 finalists for the condo history prize were recently announced. This annual award is administered by Mcgill University in montreal and it recognizes as the best in history writing. It comes with a 75,000 prize. This finalists include vlada zubac for collapse the fall of the soviet union. Ada ferrer for cuba. American history and time for all that. She carried the journey of ashley sach, a black family keepsake and now a focus on book reviews and how one major newspaper covers books, authors and the latest news from the publishing world. Well, the Washington Posts book as a standalone section is back John Williams did this occur . Hi, peter, thanks for having here. This occurred just a few weeks ago, the last sunday in september, the first sunday that we were back in print. What was the reasoning . Well, the reasoning, i think, was that the readers missed it. It had folded in 2009 as a separate section, although the papers obviously continued to cover books. And i think that it was a rare bit of good news in the book coverage world. The newspaper which since the basically the turn the millennium has been a story of contraction mostly at most papers. So the paper decided to support, relaunch and to get at books a variety of ways and hopefully both educate and entertain readers. Well, literary world are the new editor, but youre not. Washington post, longtime employee. Is that correct . I am not. They brought me over from the New York Times where i had been for 11 years on the books desk there, which i greatly enjoyed and loved. My colleagues there. But this was just such an exciting opportunity, kitty, to like i said, i think weve already heard from so many local readers who remember because it wasnt long ago when would get a book called on sundays, and theyre just thrilled to have it back. So to be a part of both the legacy of that, but also kind of reimagining it for a new generation is really exciting. Well, if you think of the New York Times book review section as kind of the the grand dame of book review sections, how is book world different and how is it similar . Well, the similarities are probably easier just because two degree book reviews are book reviews. If youre interested in fiction, nonfiction, youre going to find very thoughtful pieces in both places about them. But to the degree that theyre different, i think its theres a slight difference in audiences. I think that dc readers are even interested in the domestic political and and maybe even more interested in a way, in an international relations, you know, such as theyre conducted from here. And so thats a foundational core of what we do and will continue to be and. I think the times probably in recent years has been maybe covering little bit more of the literary world, the world in translation, poetry, things like that. Were going to bring some of that back it a little more robust, but theyre slightly different animals. Its a friendly competition. I think. Well, how do you define your job as books editor . Oh, gosh. Well, i have a great staff who were already doing great work before i got there. So ive been getting to know them. They assign the books that we review. My though is to, i think theyve been very busy getting the reviews out. Its been it is a its a churning business. There are new books every tuesday you have to figure out which ones youre going to cover, get them to the reviewers. I think my job is to step and see how we can maybe cover in a slightly different in different directions. On the one hand, i think we want to have some longer, more argumentative pieces that of launch from books that out, but kind of make broader statements about whats happening in the culture or in political world and on smaller side, i think we want to adopt a little bit of a more of a relationship with social media and places like that and have sort of bite sized delightful things for readers to enjoy too, because there are a lot of dower in the world right now that books get at Everything Else does. But think that thinking about and talking about books should also be a joy. And so were going to try to lean into that a bit too. Well, John Williams, will you be writing for section as well . I hope to be, definitely but but for now, im really getting feet under me, learning the team, learning the perspective that were going to take on things, trying to freshen up and diversify our roster of writers, which well hopefully have news about. Were going to hire a couple of people, which is great. So were were adding resources to the team and so were going to deal with all of that. And i have a lot of my plate in those directions and then hopefully when everything settles down, ill occasionally be reviewing or writing a feature for the paper. Well, you had the duty of writing the obit for Hilary Mantel recently. Well, no, we had a we had a wonderful obit from from the obituaries desk there. And i, i sort of wrapped up a little bit of the online reaction that was happening around her death that was such a, i think a really devastating loss for people because she she seemed, first of all, even though she had been ill, health much of her life, there was still something shocking about it. There wasnt really news. She was that sick. And she was 70. She also just seemed like someone who, in addition to being a genuine genius, was a very good person and delightful and everyone really loved being in her company. So there were a lot of personal reminiscences, too, about losing her, as well as literary ones. We kind of just wrapped it up for people, gave them a sense of her. For a lot of people who have read the post book reviews for a long time, Michael Dauda is a must read. Absolutely. Yes, i actually just im coming from coffee with michael dirt, which was a total because hes hes of Great Stories but also is still completely on top of everything thats going on in the literary world. And he contributes every sunday he has a column slash review in the paper, which were which were thrilled to have. What was your role at the New York Times . My role at the times eventually was i was a staff writer, and i was also the editor of the daily staff critics there. So there were three people. And then eventually, actually for who were book critics full time critics for the times, whose reviews appeared then in the art section, the paper, not the sunday book review, and so i would worked closely with them and edited their reviews. Well, a lot of New York Times reporters write books as well. Washington post reporters as well. Whats it like to review, you know, a coworkers book . You know, on the one hand, its its delish. It in a personal way, but in a professional, you just do the job, which is to make sure that, you know, youre assigning the books that are important. But post reporters are writing their and times reporters but that you make sure that youre getting a reviewer who is going to be fair like any other review so who doesnt know the person doesnt have you know hasnt expressed strong invective against them in the press before and someone who will give the book a fair shake and tell us what they think of it. And and sometimes, you know, there are obviously cases at both the times and the post where the review will be less than glowing. But thats thats the nature of the game. Okay. Heres a recent book world. It came out october 9th, i believe. You can see President Trumps picture. From back when he was in new york. Trumps origins in a hustler in new york. This is about maggie haberman. New book, consider the New York Times reporter and. You got sean wilentz of princeton to write it. Why did why did you ask professor wilkins . Well, that was a case. There will be many cases like this Going Forward to where steve livingston, a long time editor at the post, who who handles a lot of the very serious nonfiction and history books for us, had made that assignment, i think, before he even showed. Were often assigning things or three months ahead of time, so there are a lot of things in pipeline right now that that were assigned before i got there. But it was a brilliant choice. I think one of the reasons he reached out to arnett, in addition to just once as a terrific writer, is that he is a historian and i think he wanted and got a slightly broader perspective on the book and on trumps presidency than just whats in the news today. What are the. Because i think haberman wrote the book as well. And it gets out. There are revelations from the white house years. But theres also, i think, the first half of the book really gets the 1980s and trumps rise in new york and puts his whole career at and eventual election in a bigger perspective. Which freelance was well equipped to think about on that larger scale . So John Williams you Say Something like this is in the works for months. Her book came out, i believe, october 11th. Yeah. This published october 9th. I were three months. Yeah. Theres an asterisk on a book like maggie haberman. Steve had the idea to go to sean wilentz. But i should say that in this case, well, nancy got the book pretty late in the game, so he turned it around pretty quickly when there were books like that that are an industry. Im sure your viewers have heard of embargoes. The publisher to hold on to the book as long as possible to keep any possible revelations it out of the press. And so we work with the publishers. We try to get them as early as we can, but those are often quicker turnarounds. The more political books that are on the actual beat. Well, because of whats revealed in a book like this, it. Whats your take on reporters not who cover a beat . Im holding it for the book instead of reporting it in the newspaper. You know, i that people who work with daily reporters in politics would have a more granular version of this answer because they actually know the issues involved and all that. My sense is, is that theres theres a little bit of a misunderstanding in the public about what reporters, how they get interviews and when in the process of writing the book, those things happened. You know peter baker recently published a book, the New York Times and other really esteemed reporter Washington Post do it all the time. I think that if anything, that is action able and incredibly hot, hot button issue gets reported in the moment, but they do get context and they do get recollections from people who there after the fact while theyre reporting the book. And so i think that i think there could be a more productive dialog between maybe the public and journalists and educating people about just how the whole system works. But i dont think that reporters in general are holding on to the most important details for books. What kind of books did you review and did you have a choice as to which books you were going to . I did have a choice. 90 of the time, the critics there at the times did too, as does our ron charles of the post, he looks ahead to whats coming out and decides what what he wants to cover. Yeah, that was one of the that was one of the joys of the job was if there was something i was interested in, i could raise my hand for it. And if it wasnt already claimed by someone, i could i could write about it, which was. What are some of your favorite reviews that you remember that ive written . Yeah. You know, ive had fun writing about, even though i write a lot about fiction, im also a big music fan and big sports fan. And so i wrote i wrote a review of morriss autobiography for the New York Times book, which is he was the lead singer of the smiths a figure of some controversy now in his older, he has some political opinions that arent welcome his from his original fans but but that was great fun just getting to talk about him in print. I reviewed a history of the Dallas Cowboys was very fun to do a biography of ty cobb. So those are the things that stick out because they arent the day i reviewed zadie smiths last book, which is maybe more of a typical thing that i would do, and i really enjoyed that too. Whats one that you remember that you just want to do or didnt like . Oh, gosh. Im trying. Think of the negative reviews i wrote at the times. I tried not to be too snarky, but. But occasionally you have to unleash it. There are a couple that come to mind, but they were probably id rather not say only because sure they were about your inner pauline kael can come out. Oh absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, thats of the fun. I was actually talking to michael berto about this this morning, how they you dont want to rely on it too often because its actually easier than writing a nuanced appreciation of something, writing something thats snarky or more negative comes easier. Well, recently Mark Whitaker review, Neil Degrasse tysons newest book and took a rather view of it. He did. Tyson is obviously very well respected as a scientist and a scientific thinker. This book may be ranged a little farther afield into Current Affairs and politics and some more philosophical concerns and and im sure there are people who would disagree with mark take on it. But he found that it didnt have quite the potency of one. Tyson is writing about science, his field of specialty, lets put it that way. Heres another cover of book, world. And this is a contempt every issue that were all knowing about right now. And this is dealing with russia. What is this . Yeah, this is this is sort of a summary review of three or four different books about russia and russian history that the writer in a again, a wider way that gets at not just the Current Affairs but also some of what led up to the current. I think the subtitle says Something Like the 400 year path to putins ukraine decisions. And this is like you were saying about the i dont its not a difference between the times and the post necessarily, but the post, i think, feels an obligation to put front and center, maybe more often big pieces like try to make sense of the world. And theres certainly no lack of of issues that need that days, whether its ukraine and putin, you know, Voting Rights and democracy guns and gun culture, reproductive rights and the courts to name or four of of 100 that we need to keep our eye on through books. Now, you mentioned more pithy items as well and i want to just show this. This is ten noteworthy books for october. Is this more of a pithy media type item that could maybe fall under that umbrella just in terms of its theyre shorter blurbs about things its more of a little of a checklist to keep people up to date on whats happening out there. Well, well have well have lists are hopefully useful and sometimes maybe provocative and argumentative as well. And then well be introduced some new recurring features that might be a bit a bit briefer and that people can absorb a little faster. Now, John Williams, we talked to somebody about book talk, which is the part of tick tock and its become quite a phenomenon. Do you keep an eye on social media reviews like that. I keep an eye social media for sure. I spend too much time on like the average person probably does, but i cant say that im a regular user of tick tock, but i certainly up on the coverage of book talk and i that its an important i think its important to know how people are coming to books even if you may have aged out of it. You know i dont find my books on book talk, but a lot of people do. A lot of younger readers. And its its a subject worth examining and writing about and thinking about. And well be doing that as well. Bestseller lists. How the Washington Post develop. Its own bestseller list. We get our information. A national organization. We know the times has kind of a secret source that they use for their bestseller list. For us, its a little bit more of a straightforward process, and we dont divide it up into quite so many subcategories. We just give people a very general sense of whats going on out there, both hardcover, paperback books. And so thats featured every sunday in print, but can also be found online. Is that from the American Publishers Association . I believe its the american booksellers booksellers association. Okay. All right. And the times really does have secret sauce, doesnt it, when it comes to they do. They do. And to be honest, i work there and i cant i cant tell you whats in it. No, not not not for proprietary reasons. They literally. One more cover of book world that we want to show everybody and this is about a book called braiding sweetgrass. That kind of took everybody by surprise. It did. When it became a bestseller, a couple of ago. And now its its one of these juggernauts on the list thats been ever since. I think the timing of this worked out really well for us. We thought that its author robin while kimmerer was worth talking to too, to figure out how this went from essentially an uneducated manuscript that she sent to a small independent press that i think was 700 or 800 pages when she submitted it that. That went from no. One hearing about it. I think even after it was published for a couple of years to becoming a paperback bestseller. And she was just of the day that we put the piece up online. She was named a macarthur fellow, which is the socalled genius grant, which gives her, i think now 800,000 over five years to do with as she pleases. So shes certainly someone that that people are paying attention to and is the reason she appeared on the front of book world is because hey what is this book about . How did it get to bestseller list, that type of thing . I think that just curiosity. Yeah, partly that and i think that sometimes there are there are things that i like to think of as bestsellers in plain sight. I think this book has a ton of fans and theyre fervent about it, but i think that there are a lot of general interest readers who dont know about it, even though its right there at the top of the bestseller list every week for years. So i think its a bit of what is this phenomenon that you may have heard of in passing, but you havent examined closer. And we like to do that when we can. John williams what are you reading right now . What am i reading right now for . For personal . Yes. Well, i just finished rachel cusks last, which was called second place, and im now reading a novel by a british woman named gwendolyn riley, who who has a novel called, my phantoms, that im reading, which is, i think thinly veiled about her and her mothers relationship. Nonfiction. What have i read recently . A nonfiction. You know, i just started a very long biography of freud that was published many years ago by peter gay, whos a very talented historian and biographer. And so im 50 pages into it and enjoying it will probably be piecemeal as i go, because theres a lot of reading to do her work. So im not sure how how much time itll take me. What made you pick that booker . I tend to read. I obviously keep up on whats new and read a lot of new books, but i would say at least half my reading is just filling in gaps that ive wanted to read over the years from everything from a book that came out five years ago to something from 50 years ago. And ill try bring some of that spirit to the to the books job. I think that people like to hear about interesting or great books from any time period, not whats out now. Now will book world go into issues such as the penguin, random house, Simon Schuster merger, or will you stick pretty, pretty closely to book review . I think that when. No, well definitely be covering more news and features in general. But in terms of the industry itself, something is at that level the Penguin Random house merger. Well definitely be covering it in collaboration with the media desk at the post, which covers things like that as well. But we have we have expertise to offer there. How would you describe the state of the publishing world today . You know, the state of the big publishing world is still conglomeration, increasingly so, too, to the point about the merger case and and the three or four biggest publishers just getting bigger and bigger and, you know, ill leave opinionated about that to someone else, but its a brute and an obvious one. I think that the interesting thing for me, as someone who does read those older books, is that theres a real boom time for smaller publishers who do really interesting things, whether its bringing back older books or looking for the things that maybe arent quite as mainstream anymore that used be more experimental fiction. I think there are a lot of small out there. If you go to a place, the National Book festival or the brooklyn festival, you walk around and you meet these publishers. It seems we really robust, which is heartening. Will you be viewing conservative leaning books in book world . Oh, absolutely, yeah. I believe very greatly. Diversity of all kinds, including intellectual and political diversity. I think that are things we have to address, wrestle with, you know, respect the good arguments we find them, tell people when we think something smells a little funny. But theres certainly no political litmus test for whether or not something gets reviewed or thought about. How did you get into this work . Oh, gosh. Well i, i want to say that ive just been a big since i was young. And so thats essentially why. But i got into it just because i wanted to be in or newspapers. And i ended up Book Publishing for a few years and just decided that the other side, it was more my speed and more what i was interested, which was writing about books rather than trying to get them published. And so from there i became a freelance editor and writer. I started a website which eventually got the notice of someone at the New York Times. And thats how i got there. And so, you know, its a combination, a lot of preparation and obsession probably, and also a lot of lucky breaks. Well, what is the second pass . The second passes. The website that i started and i think 2009, its so long ago now that lasted for a couple of years. It was essentially just my own online literary review where i wrote a lot, but i also got people to write for me, and it was it was a mix of both wanting to get that out into the world. And also it was kind of a three dimensional resume to show i could do as a writer and editor. And so there have been some happy things that happens and stuff. And where did you go to college and grow up . I went to college at Trinity University in san antonio. I grew up on long island until i was 14, and then my family moved to a suburb of dallas and when i was 14 and just starting high school. So i all my family roots from long island, thats what i consider home and the northeast generally. But i spent 12 years in texas, made a lot of good friends down there and consider it a home away from home. So John Williams, what is kind of that magical Company Version of book and reviewer for you . Oh, gosh, you can take a few different forms, but thats a great question. What were going to be trying to do, in addition to, you know, the core reviews that we do is to people who have things to say about what the books are about on broader scale. So in other words, you. Give someone a book that is about a cultural trend or. Its a report on one company. And yes, tell you whats in the book. They say whether its any good or but that person also through their work or through what they do in their life, has something bigger to say about that issue and can give you context it can give you their own opinion. I think someone who can you know, the old saw is that you want to avoid book reports. So you dont want just someone who can summarize whats in the book for you book and who can add something and who if you just read review, youre entertained, educated and of course, were happy that people buy and read books, but we want you to come from ten or 11 reviews every sunday features, lists, having learned something, whether or not you ever go to the book itself. And we should note that you came from the New York Times and the long time Washington Post staffer. Carlos lozada went to the New York Times. Was there anything that deal there . No. No. Yeah. Someone compared it to a baseball trade on light. I dont know. Carlos has this pulitzer, so i think that we probably added a couple of players to the mix if it was a trade. But carlos is a brilliant guy. We had great conversations leading up to me taking the job. Im sure hell do great things at the times and and we look to, you know, add some people to the mix and make it a. Like i said, a friendly competition. Well, John Williams to washington. John is the new books editor at the Washington Post. Book is again a stand alone section. Thanks, peter. And youre watching and listening about books, book tvs and program looking at the business of publishing. Well, tuesday, dozens of new books are published. Heres a recent sampling. The widow and brother of the late Rush Limbaugh have released a new book focusing on the conservative talk radio pioneers. Most memorable on air moments, commentary contributors to the book include former President Donald Trump Supreme Court Justice Clarence thomas and Florida Governor ron desantis. Its entitled greatest of all time. And historian john ferrell is out with his new biography, ted kennedy a life. Mr. Ferrell has also written biography of former president nixon, former speaker tip oneill and American Civil Liberties Union Attorney clarence darrow. Another new book thats just out, atlantic journalist, former espn Sports Center anchor jamelle hill has released her memoir entitled uphill. In it, she recounts the backlash she received in 2017 after calling former President Trump a white supremacist. In a twitter post. Now also each National Publications publish, reviews of new books. Heres to publishers weekly. Took a look at james crawfords forthcoming book, the edge of the plane how borders make and break our world. Publishers weekly writes, quote, crawford delves into change, mass migration, covid 19 and other contemporary issues interwoven with borders. This is a vital and eloquent that borders control our landscapes, our memories, our identities. And in the washington times, Jennifer Harper takes, a look at thnew book about the career of Rush Limbaugh. Quote, is there still a must read for republicans and conservatives out there . She asks. The answer is yes. Miss harper writes of, radios greatest of all time. Jennifer harper notes that in his time behind the microphone, Rush Limbaugh was heard on 650 radio stations around the nation and drew devoted of 30 million weekly listeners. The book made the top ten most sold list on amazon before it was even released. This. Now youll see these books and authors featured in the near future on book tv. Well, coming up on book tv. On our afterwards program its Tufts University chris miller, who the history of Microchip Technology and how it has become the most critically needed global technology. He was interviewed on afterward by representative jim himes, a democrat of connecticut. And heres a portion. I was thinking i was going to write a book on the cold war arms race because one of the key questions had motivated me was why was it that in the cold war, the soviet union could make nuclear weapons, they could make missiles and rockets that shot the first satellite into space, but they could never miniaturize computing power. And that seemed to me an important question for the of the cold war. But as i began to dig into that, i came to realize that the answer to that question had to do with the origins. Computer chips, which first emerged in missile and rocket guidance systems in the early cold war. And i came to realize this just as the Us Government was ramping up its competition with china to control the future of chip technology. And i sort of put these two pieces together. The of chips in Missile Technology and the current uschina competition realize that there was an entire history the last 60 years that you really couldnt understand. And without knowing much about computer chips and i admit when i started, i knew very little. But today ive come to the conclusion that the really the core to understanding globalization, the balance of military power and how our economy has changed. Its the first chips were invented in the late 1950s in a reminder that afterwards airs every sunday night at 10 p. M. Eastern time on book tv. Well, thanks for joining us about books, a program and podcast produced by cspans book tv book tv will continue to bring you publishing news and author events which you can always watch online at book tv dot org org. And a reminder that this and all other cspan podcasts are available on the cspan now. App