Challenges our society has had trouble with in recent years this is a time that makes us wonder how strong institutions will be how we rise to a challenge like this but because at the time of testing but also think of americas strength what we are good i had as a country and to address the enormous problems. Host how did we get here . Thats a complicated question. Our country has always tried to strike a balance between the dignity and quality of the individual on one hand and some strength of community on the other our society in the past halfcentury has emphasized the individual, liberty, freedom, dy that has brought some enormous advantages and benefits but there is another side to the coin that can look like fragmentation and isolation and alienation and loneliness and we have seen all that and era marked by a crises to the financial crisis to a pandemic that forces us to look to the sources of our strength and ways to drive us to the history and politics is not always good at doin
Up next its booktv is monthly in Depth Program with author and Princeton University professor imani perry. Our books on race and africanamerican history include prophets of the hood, may we forever stand, and the recently published breathe a letter to my sons. Its a letter. Its a series of letters to my son, but of course, its also a letter to the larger world, both about, you know, the reality of the terror and anxiety and worries that comes along with being a parent of black children, and particularly black boys in the United States at this moment, but its also filled with my desire for them to lead a life of beauty and joy and excellence and selfregard. Much of which, i think, one finds a lessons for in an extraordinary tradition that we have to draw from. Where did you come up with the idea to write your sons a letter . Well, so, i actually have written them letters privately for years, but my editor, at beacon press said, is this something youd be interested in doing . In large pa
American descriptor and was life andrd things left unanswered. San Francisco Chronicle colonists. We are very pleased to have them both here for b the first time. Before we begin, i would like to find out how many of you have been to the mechanical institute. Who actually were there. Wonderful. How many new. Wonderful. Please come back wednesday noon, we have a free tour and librarians will surely around her Incredible Library on the second and third floors with the International Chess program down the hallway and we will give you a little bit of our history. In 1854 we were founded so we have a long history of San Francisco. In here the mechanics, ongoing authors. They have the International Chess club, that presents their ongoing lectures and tournaments. And also we have book clubs and writers groups. On friday nights, theres three talk. So we hope youll come join us for all of our cultural events. I would like to now it is our guest. Roland is an investor. Her online journalism any
Guest reporter, and our guest this week as former senator gordon smith who is president and ceo of the National Association of broadcasters. Senator smith, we appreciate you coming into the studio for this interview. Guest always a pleasure, peter. Its nice to be with you even if it is just proximate. Thank you for having me. Host in this age of coronavirus how has this affected americas broadcasters . Guest in many ways its affected us but i think perhaps its unfortunate, but it seems that the United States and our citizens become aware of broadcasting indispensable irreplaceable role in the firmament of American Life when there are natural or other catastrophes and calamities that befall us. Because it is then that the architecture broadcasting, one source of content everybody in a geographic area, without any stress on the system, people begin to realize how valuable broadcasting remains. Survey after survey continues to show that broadcasting remains the most important source of jo
Horn. Please give a warm savannah welcome to jaquira diaz. [applause] hi. Thank you so much. Im so happy to be here and its wonderful to see all of you booklovers here and thank youo savannah for your southern hospitality. I also want to thank the savannah book festival and everyone who made thist event possible including sponsors, booksellers. Lets give it up for the indie room. Llers in the [applause] i love you all. Thank you for all that you do for championing writers and supportingng ordinary girls. Because of you i am here so thank you. I want to open with just a little piece that opens the book ordinary girls. It functions kind of like a prologue but not really. Its just a very short section. Girlhood. We were the girls who strolled onto the blacktop on long summer days past the voice on the courts. We were the girls on the merrygoround laughing and laughing and letting the world. Holding on for lives. The girls on the swings throwing our heads back, the wind in our hair. We wer