for example in wales who was edgar snow's wife. there were a lot of them and some of them stayed on. a polish jewish refugee who went to china early in the war to escape the nazis became a member of the chinese communist party stayed in china until his death a thing. he was still there. i met him 1980 or 1981 at the american embassy of all places. thank you. [applause] >> their books for sale and you can bring them back here for him to sign. [inaudible conversations] booktv recently visited wheeling west virginia with the help of the local cable partner comcast. we start a trip with jeff rutherford. his book, combating genocide on the eastern front, examines combat and occupation policies of the german army during world war ii. >> we are with jeff rutherford author of combating genocide on the eastern front. why did you write this book collects. >> i've always been interested in the second world war and the war was between nazi germany and the soviet union so i looked for my dissertation and i want to do something on a complex that i was also interested in and not just a military confrontation but the ideological struggle that the nazis were raging against the soviet union to create this empire in the east and the german army was its primary means of creating this empire. so i wanted to look at how the german army fought toward not just a military struggle but the ideological struggle. there has been a lot written in english about the military struggle and a lot written in german about the ideological struggle having to do with combining two narratives to come up with one over urging theory. i focused on three infantry divisions that i believe had been kind of understudied. there has been a lot of wartime elite german divisions. what i wanted to look at were three divisions made up of ordinary regular german men who had been drafted who went to serve on the eastern front. i also wanted to look at an area that was relatively understood -- understudied that was the leningrad. there was a lot written about the siege of leningrad itself is not about the operations in that area so i kind of wanted to add a bit to the literature about this were most of which focuses on moscow or this section of the front in stalingrad. >> what was that ideological struggle? >> hitler's goal when attacking the soviet union was to create this racial empire, and empire in which they germans could economically exploit so they could continue the war successfully. the idea was the main goal germans wanted was food. they registered in feeding their homefront. this goes back to the first world war where germany is blockaded. 1918 we see the german home front brakes. this is primarily due to the german state being able to feed its population. so the leadership circle is convinced that if they can't get food from the soviet union particularly ukraine and feed the german home front and feed the german army than invading the soviet union there wouldn't be enough food at home and the german people will say no to the war in the german right will continue to expand. so the majority natural resources such as oil and other resources that the germans were looking to grab. so the idea is that the soviet union used to be in india. as india is in great britain when the germans think about this food that they are going to have to get this means their people and soviet union are going to be able to eat. this is fine with the germans because based on this racial hierarchies hitler has instructed groups that's such as the slavs are much lower and they don't deserve this food. they are to die and the other aspect of this ideological war is -- bolshevism. bolshevism is the mortal enemy to western civilization. hitler and many other nazis equated bolsheviks with the jewish. for hitler if we could destroy the bulls a fixed date of the soviet union we are not only -- but getting rid of world jewry as well. this leads to an ideological war that is perhaps reached in european history. >> what was the germans approach to how they waged there were? >> well, here we have that dichotomy. on the one hand we have the military struggle and what the germans hoped to do was to conquer the soviet union for its campaign. this is actually the first campaign the germans actually plan in blitzkrieg in elements of poland and in the elements of france in yugoslavia. the soviet union's plan is blitzkrieg. what i mean by that is quick moving units and groups in this case that would drive deep into the soviet union circles soviet troops impress on while the infantry is closed. the group that i looked at we don't see that same kind of blitzkrieg campaign. this is primarily due to the fact that they only have one group so doesn't have as many tanks as the other army groups. it also has to do with the terrain of the area. it's kind of a swampy area not conducive to armor. so our dance becomes one of the interesting -- infantry against the soviet forces. al-sisi the ideological war. we have one of the orders issued to the german army is in order that states that all political officers attached to red army are to be immediately separated from other red army prisoners and either delivered to ss units to be shot for shot on the authority of the office in the front so here we see that ideological nothing similar. we also see this ideological war emerge from a look at food policy and what the germans do in this attempt to ensure that their troops are fed and the homefront doesn't have to send rations to the front they are told to live off the land. basically buying food where it is. about two or three weeks into the advance one of the divisions that i look at, 120 3rd infantry division is ordered by its superior core command to find assessments wherever you can. a few weeks and they are being told wherever he can find it, go find it and in the soviet union during the 1940s food is a zero-sum game. where are they going to get going to get it? they are only going to get from the peasantry and of the peasantry loses their last cow their last goes further see to plan for the next year they're going to start. already in the summer of 1941 we see conditions where this starvation is going to set in the winter of 41 42 has already been made. >> but they take a different approach to the soviets limited to other nations. >> i think think is where the whole racial hierarchy comes into play. for the germans were the nazi leadership ercis approach to war based on race so they look at the west and they look at denmark and they see that denmark is racially similar to the germans. they deserve better treatment. for the french they don't see them quite as high on the racial hierarchy as the germans but nonetheless there's a civilization there. as they turn east and they look at slavic groups these are groups that simply do not compare. they don't hold up on the racial hierarchy. they don't deserve what they have so this gives the war a brutality that we don't see in the east. and the fact that the soviet union is ruled by communists. this has a huge role in many within the german army's not being full-fledged communist or full-fledged nazis would still see communism as a real threat something had to be eradicated so all this comes together to make the war in the east a particular savage affair. >> how did that affect the soviet union both in the general population and how did it affect the soviets, how the soviets looked at china? >> is interesting to go through the baltic seas between lafayette and estonia. these people have been forcibly incorporate into the soviet union in 1939 and 1940 as a result of the hitler ribbentrop packs. they view the germans as liberators. there is excited they are going to get rid of the communists. as the germans pushed deeper out of the baltic states into russia proper on their way towards leningrad or some to greet them in a welcoming manner and the germans were the soviets see them as allowing them to practice their religion again. there are many people in the soviet union who are not thrilled with stalin's policies. but as the year advances we see this initial support of the germans fades. this is most noteworthy and one of the smaller a small city in large town that sits outside of leningrad. this town was occupied by one of the divisions, the 120 1st infantry. they settle on the seas line of leningrad. it begins in september of 1941 and continues towards 1944. when the 121st i.d. moves and we sailed these policies trying to come together. when the first things that happens is the towns jewish population is murdered. the documents i look that it's not clear who did the murdering but it is clear ss units attached to army group north in the town so i think it's fair to say they were the ones who carried out the murders. of course the german armies theoretically and controlled in this happens on the army's watch. it's unclear that the ss and the army had a close relationship and they work together to secure the town. we see this later on in the year where 10 people are executed for cutting communication cables. once the execution is carried out by the ss again we say the same execution carried out for the same reasons this time by the army so it's clear they work together. the biggest issue however is food. what happens is as the germans knew then they confiscate all the food in warehouses. russian sources because the germans going house to house. what we see is this incredible starvation sets and in the city. i think this is familiar to people who read about leningrad during the siege. somewhere somewhere in the neighborhood of 800,000 to 1 million people who died of starvation. all the cities and towns we see the same thing. so home to 15,000 people when the germans got in there in late september by the end of the war it was down to 6000 with but the majority of these people dying during that first winter is just incredible scenes of desperation and misery coming through. what's interesting is that the highest levels of the german army they see this as an assessment and this gets at one of the main themes of my book that military necessity. the german army was willing to do whatever needed to do to win the war. the majority of civilians are treated in a callous manner not target but certainly not assisted. we see this in have lost as starvation rips through the towns, starvation and disease. we see the german field commands the division level are radioing up the hierarchy back to poland saying what are we supposed to do? one court talks about if we push and the city we'd have 50,000 people who are going to start. what are we going to do? they are instructed to let them starve. basically it's better to let them starve rather than the germans. there's this idea in the german high command that it's okay if these people start. it becomes a bigger problem for troops on the ground. divisions complained that it's intolerable to see women and children starving, intolerable for morale and many men in their letters and diaries i read would write about their efforts to give a little food to the russians especially children and women. one soviet report said that german troops are specially kindhearted or soft to women and children because they have wives and kids at home. so while the high command is okay with this mass starvation that has to go to the germans to be ready to fight this war. for many on the mend on the ground this was a problem and they would try to help out. whether or not they connected the fact that their occupation as a whole was causing this. >> you mentioned some soviets felt like starvation started the animosity of the german occupation. >> yeah. what we see is this group over assistance to german rule. this resistance started immediately after the german invasion pre-the germans certainly talk about it in our documents that i looked at. it's hard to find any concrete cases of this. this appears to be something of this mentality that they bought into for the war. they're expecting full-fledged assistance of a talk about it even when they don't get. resistent certainly does pick up as we get to 1941 and into 1942 and becomes a bigger problem in german states because of their policies. so i think perhaps one way of looking at this i talk about this first perry of war when the germans thought they were going to come in. they don't have to treat anyone in a conciliatory type manner. we see this period ends in december 41 with the soviet counterattack and this leads to what i think is the second period a war which is the winter crisis. the winter winter crisis is on me at this major soviet counterattack from moscow some 200 kilometers back but it also affects army group north. during the winter crisis one of the divisions that i looked at the 123rd division is surrounded. there are about 100,000 german soldiers surrounding his pocket and what veasey during this period of the soviet counterattack is that the german army believes it is fighting this existential war and if it does not win it's all going to be crushed from the snows of the soviet union. so it starts to wage a very different war than what we saw in the period of advance. now the war becomes one in which everyone is a legitimate target so civilians now are seen as being especially problematic because they are working with the soviet army which is putting pressure on this exhausted and we can german force for the germans realized they would have to let the soviets workforce of the soviet have become targeted and this is obviously going to lead to an uptick in resistance and is going to become much more violent and savage towards the soviet people. but from what i can tell my interpretation is that this change in behavior was based on how the germans appreciated the war. now they had this red army counteroffensive and the german army was simply going to disintegrate and everything becomes a battle. the whole area around them is a combat area and everyone is treated as such. the germans master this crisis. they survived this winter crisis partly because the soviets are well enough equipped to organize trained or led to completely destroy the germans. so we get in this period where everything stops. during this fall thought. map the german high command realizes that what has happened is the german army is no longer strong enough to feed the soviet union in one massive campaigns of a shift their offense of forces to the south and participate in the stalingrad campaign. what we see in the north where i'm looking at as they are told to go over to defensive. what we see is the battlefield of the north becomes what we had in the first world war on the western front trenches, position warfare. there are no great tank battles here so the german army has to dig and and defend the positions that it has one. this leads to the third period of war so we have gone from this kind of ignoring the civilians and 41 which the germans think they are going to win to this crisis. macworld civilians are targeted. now we get from mid-40s to mid-43. i think the germans start to feel the only way they can win this war against an enemy that has a far larger country, far more resources and far more people they can draw draw upon as if it starts to mobilize the population behind the german lines. we have to turn the soviet population so all three divisions become much more conciliatory in their actions towards the soviets in theirs is concerted effort to draw them into the war effort. i think the most striking example of this is what the experience of the 120 3rd infantry division. here and demi omsk the germans are surrounded and the only way they're getting supplies is from air-drops which isn't the most isn't nearly enough of what they need. they are turned by superior red army forces. these positions are stuck and greatly weakened during the advance of 41 smacked around pretty well during the soviet counteroffensive. so they are not strong combat ready divisions. what i found and what i found surprising was instead of becoming more ideologically motivated and more likely to lash out at civilians the civilians became much more conciliatory enacting programs so for example the 120 3rd infantry division ordered its medics and doctors with an division to help soviet civilians. most noteworthy they start supplying food to people in the pocket. this goes directly against 41. the russians are supposed to star so germans can live. now this division has taken it upon itself to feed people in the pocket. now clearly it does not do this for humanitarian reasons. it does that because it understands that people who are fed aren't going to be as rebellious and they won't have disease which would spread to german forces. again it's this idea of military necessity. the only way we are going to win this war is if we have pacified population behind the lines trying to link up with the red army and the partisan units to cut our throats. so during this period from 4243 i think we see this concerted attempt by at least elements of the german army in the east to work with the soviet population so this i thank breaks somewhat from this ideological conception of the war. i think if we look at this from an ideological perspective the idea is if things get tougher the germans will become more prone to wage the war that hitler wanted in instead we see a breakaway from that. they say the best way to win the awards that they are able to mobilize. so this was one of the very interesting things about it that i came up with during the course of my research in writing the book. >> is "tv isn't wheeling west virginia with the help of our local cable partner comcast. we continue our trip with author sean duffy whose book the wheeling family traces the influx of immigrants in the city during its booming industrial period. >> the industry and wheeling did result in massive population growth economic success. it was a boomtown based largely on the steel industry and of course it's not anymore because the steel industry has gone away. so it's boom or bust but wheeling's population was never higher than it was in the mid-20th century when the steel was in full production. the impact economically with huge. it turned wheeling into a major city. because of its location on the ohio river and because the national road came through there as i mentioned before it was a transportation hub so naturally there were a lot of resources iron and coal. it was easy to transport goods like steel to market so industry was naturally drawn here. industry requires labor. because it was an industrial town there were a lot of jobs in these people came from very poor regions of europe or the middle east than they needed work. many times the patriarch, the man of the family would come to the united states many times the companies and wheeling would go to new york or one of the other ports of entry and recruit for their business. we have jobs and wheeling and that's how they ended up there. others came because family members lived there but they would send back money for a time and eventually many of them since their whole family. in terms of the italian committee there was a coal mine that was owned by a gentleman who had come from italy himself. his name was the stanza and he came from a town called graffiti up in italy. he eventually did well and he bought the coal mine in warwick. he essentially brought a large percentage of his neighbors to work in the mines. he provided them jobs. essentially all of these battalions were from the same town. i just thought that was fascinating because he essentially dreamed a little italian town which was a small town north of wheeling eventually incorporated into the city. and they were grateful to him for providing work and opportunity and they came here by the droves. i spoke to a gentleman whose father worked in a coal mine and he had the opportunity in his 80s to go back to italy and actually visit. we had a photograph of his father leaving italy at the train station to take into the shipyard. he was able to visit that very same spot where his father had boarded the train to take a photographed himself. immigrants change the city and prior to their arrival wheeling was a typical american town. when they came they gathered for their countrymen in neighborhoods so you might go to east wheeling which was known as little italy. center wheeling had a lot of greek immigrants and lebanese immigrants and south wheeling was primarily polish. so these neighborhoods became distinctive and they brought a lot of culture and traditions with them and it influenced everything about cultural life and wheeling from religion and the churches to education and language and art music. .. >> but these people built this town essentially. they were the ones who laid the bricks in these buildings we are trying to preserve they laid the steel and bought the beer and sugars and fuelled the economy and provided labor for all of these factories. why they came here is important. it is part of american history. >> for more information on booktv's visit to west virginia and many other cities visited by our local content vehicle go to cspan.org/localcontent. >> and home of cef international. this is the largest grade show in the world and the communicateicators is on location. we will look at the new technologies coming out from ces international and talk to policymakers as well. this the communicators on c-span from los angeles. give us a snapshot of 2015 ces international. >> kicked off the year great with a largest event. the super piece super bowl. they have all come here. we have over 160,000 people setting records by every measure for the show. what is really impressive is not the numbers of people or exhibits or size but what is being shown here. the hope for the future if you will will. this show used to be about tellivation, radio, tv players and vcr's and expanded to home office and then the internet came along and it about about that and connectivety. we have shifted further and gone to the sense of solving problems of the world. transportations problems are being solved. driverless and save cars. food production and hunger. there are at lot of ways of building and connecting crops. health care has exploded. using the cloud and analyzing information and safety in the home, drones and everything in an easy way of exploring remotely. you are taking problems that per plexed us and we will reduce them in the future. that is what charges me up. we have so many ways to go. there is a lot over the next several ces'. >> 160,000 people house education and workforce committee exhibitors? >> 3600 plus and that is more than a hundred we had last year. 2.2 million net square feet of exhibit space. 150,000 square feet more than last year. 150,000 square feet was the size of the top hundred shows in the country. we added like a new show with nis this one event. it will be difficult to surpass that. we are using las vegas next year. so i am not looking for more rapid growth and we are trying to find ways to accommodate everybody >> you take over the convention center and you took over the san center in vegas and you are in several of the hotels as well. >> yes, there are three major locationsism locations. we are at tech east and the renaissance next door and in the another hotel and we have c-space, a new area at a hotel that is deaddicated to content and entertainment and we have people marketing on the internet and others. that exploded well. we have people we disagree with even with yahoo and google and everybody there. >> mark fields president of ford did the keynote this year. a car guy gave the keynote at ces. >> well ford has been here for nine years. mark fields has been on the keynote stage with bill gates 11 years ago. why not? they are the first to come in and define themselves as technology company and mark fields is keeping it going. he gave a fabulous speech and talked about transportation around the world. >> how many government officials come this event? and what does cea have a message for them? >> we have every fcc commissioner ftc commission and a lot of other commissions and agencies members of congress -- it was a little element limited because we started when congress did. and we had a large international delegation including two french cabinet ministers and the whole french delegation in governors and ambassadors to the united states because this is a destination for innovation and technology. the message for the domestic people, they want to learn and i respect that, but the message is look what is here. look at the 3600 companies here and what is happening in the future. and be careful you don't choke innovation. we recognize we need regulations for safety issues and guidelines and government has a major and important role but please regulate with knowledge. come out here. don't just regulate from the beltway. internationally the message is they want to be like the united states and innovators. how do we get our country positioned france especially more than any other country, is positioning themselves to be innovators. we have 150 french companies exhibiting here and a couple thousands people from france are here. we have over 45,000 people from outside sof the united states coming to this event. >> what were some of the new companies here? up and comers that excited you? >> we have the large companies from different fields like under armor or lowes reflecting the intelligent home. and wearables are big right now. what is the buzz and excitement of the show is our start up area with 350 companies compared to 220 last year. you have to be a start up and qualify, we subsidize but big companies are saying what excitement. a lot is about the fact we live in a world where anyone can innovate. if you can open a computer and start a program because of the chips because of great companies making and you take the chips and put them together in a unique way make a program that analyzes data and you are creating wearable devices and new thing for the car and aftermarket products. there is chips you wear and even ones you put in clothing that measure your clothing. and now there is a company that i was excited when i heard about my wife being a doctor and it is company for women-only, a cervical ring that tells you when you are fertile and the vatican is interested in and people trying to conceive. you have four hours using your temperature. and now in the future we can provide everything this provides on our heart beat how far you go and those devices are all over you. i know this isn't for you. i can tell by the expression on your face. but i tell you these are things we will be dealing with. washington will be dealing these devices that have information issues involving privacy, safety of course all of the time and there is an issue involving cyber security as you get to information devices like this. >> two final questions. going to policy. you had the fcc commissioners out here. a couple big issues they are con fronting is net neutrality mergers and spectrum. do you have positions on those three? >> yes we do. i will start with the last. spectrum is our oxygen and it is licensed and unlicensed. big companies buy it and use it for whatever they really want to provide a service to their customers and we pay for it through watching advertising or a monthly fee. there is an auction that went well. the next auction is to have the television spectrum because we need that to get broadband and wireless. and second anyone with an id can use it and create programs for garage doors and phones. it is for wifias well. the over-the-air broadcasters are trying to slow it down and delayed it already but we will work through it. cyber security is a big issue especially after sony. we will have to deal with it and live with it and rely on our government and private solution and caution consumers about what they do. with every new invention, there is always a downside and this is one of the downsideoffs -- downsides of the internet: that other people can get in. and net neutrality, i think the parties agree with 99% of this. everyone wants open internet broadband and investment. and how do you balance that out is the question. we cannot get caught up too much and do something that is going to restrict investment and competition. competition is the answer. if we as americans have a choice of good broadband services and we could chose who we want the issue of net neutrality goes away because any company can do what they want. that is the goal and the prices go down dramatically which is really what the consumers want. it will affect the landscape of the dish announcement of packages together a whole bunch of espn and other services together and wow, do it over the internet. not over a dish or cable or over the air. that is a game-changer and we will see more announcements like that and in five years from now the whole media landscape is going to be different. >> when does planning for the 20 2016 event happen? >> i have had more meetings about 2016 than 2015. we are going to japan this year as well. we are excited. the asian and china marketplace is growing. it took 48 years to get this show to this point. it will not take 48 years to get the shanghai show. we want to be the dominant show in asia in technology. >> in our tours around here we have noticed more chinese companies than the past. >> yes, definitely. we always see the world shift as to who is dominant. the chinese are the low-cost manufacture manufacturers trying to get brand names. but the cycle will continue. where we are, with the designs and chips and unique ways of putting it together. >> president and ceo of cea. >> thank you for coming. >> for mark fields why is a car guy giving the keynote address here? >> we use the consumer electronic show to highlight innovation. we started coming in 2007. we were the first oem to come out to the consumer electronic show. we did it to launch the incar connective system. it is a great opportunity to highlight innovation as company. we are talking about the sync three system which is our next generation. we are talking about vehicles we have on the road today people can buy and vehicles we are developing for the future. and as a company, innovation for us is really important. this is a show that brings that together. >> at what point in your auto career with ford which started in 1989 did you start thinking of a car as a communication device? >> when i joined the industry 25 years ago there were articles about cars becoming computers on wheels. it never came to that in that timeframe but now we are seeing tech technology enabling us for this to come together as a great consumer product and also a great technology product. when we looked at communication originally it was about ten years ago when we started -- we look at this a lot as a business because we need to use that to make strategic decisions on allocating capical and investing in products in the future and watt we saw 8-10 years ago was a growth in mobile phones. and the starting to grow the smart phone. it was mason at the time. but people wanted to stay connected and that is what drove us originally to develop the original sync system. >> we have apps on cars and all of the different technologies at what point does it become too much distraction? >> we spend a lot of time -- our customer safety is the most important. so what guides our whole strategy is we want to make sure we keep customers eyes on the road and hands on the wheel. our space system is voice activat activated and you can use the touch screen. voice activation helps them not get distracted. we have a rigorous process to get rid of the apps that are appropriate and are not appropriate because we feel they will take the customer's attention from the prive objective which is to drive. >> you mentioned the sync system. you made a change in how it is being developed. who is your new partner and why? >> we developed our system with a couple partners. we are using qnx for the embedded operating system. texas instruments is the chip processor and panasonic developed the interface. >> is that black berry? >> they own black berry. but they have been an expert in embedded technology for many years. our car used microsoft and it has been fantastic and we'll continue to work with them on a number of things but we decided to switch for the new system. >> in your keynote address you talked about the need to have a higher purpose when making cars. what did you mean by that? >> when you go back to the founder, henry ford, we are lucky, we are 111 years old and we have a heritage which is a history with a future. henry was all about not only putting out great products and earning a healthy return from the company what but wanted to create a better society. he invented the moving assembly line that helped economic development and spurred the next industrial revolution. he made the $5 a day wage that helped create the american middle class and that is still in our blood today. so that is what we mean by innovation with a higher purpose which is you know help develop a feature or product or service that satisfies customers and services a society need as well. that is why we are talking about mobility and using innovation to solve some very important traffic and backup issues in the meg mega cities around the world. >> how do you solve that issue? >> first, as a company it is a mindset. our mindset is we are not only a car, utility and truck company. we are also taking ourselves as mobility company. and that opens up your mind wonderfully at how we think about the business. first, it is mindset issue. and secondally, you go about it by experimenting and learning. we talked about the 20 global experiments we put in place around the world to learn a couple things. one is across the world how are people thinking about their mobility challenges in their country. secondly it allows us to get to know great partners we continue to develop with and thirdly it advances the whole issue of mobility which is going to be a bigger and bigger issue as the middle class grows around the world, major large cities keep growing and as we see the impacts on the air quality because of congestion. >> and you are expanding your silicone valley research center. what do you have there now and what research are you doing? >> we have a small lab there and what we will be doing and we will talk more about it later this month. but we are expanding significantly. one, we think it is important when we look at the talent. we are in a growth business around the world which is very exciting. and now as a technology company, and we need to make sure we have the right talent to compliment the talent we have for new skills. it is important in this case to go to where the talent is and be involved in the community. one of the things we have tried to do by coming to ces and visiting silicone valley very often -- i go three or four times a year for a few days to establish relationships and be viewed as part of had community and not just a transactional partner who swoops in buying something and leaves >> mark fields are the nuts and bolts of the car selling a car, more than the technology or is it technology overtaking? >> it depends on the buyer. but for the most part a car is an emotional purchase for people. it is kind of an extension of them. they want to look good in it. it is a car that represents themselves. so you want to make sure and our approach in the business is we have beautiful design in every one of our vehicles because we want the reaction when the customer drives home and they pull up to the driveway and the neighbor comes out saying what is that. so the design is important, technology fuel efficiency safety and quality are all things we focus on. >> how does a kid from brooklyn become a car guy? >> i always loved cars. when i was six years old by dad bought me a match box set of 20 cars and i was hooked. i loved cars and trucks and i love this industry because it is so important for the country, so important for economic development, and we want to do our part. and to me it is just this wonderful, wonderful mixture of a great industrial consumer and technology product. and everybody wants to talk about it. and everybody has a point of view on it. many steakholders are involved and i could not be more honor today work in this industry. >> and we need to talk public policy. in washington what kinds of policies can congress set that help the company or hurt the company? >> well, i think overall when i look at the big picture around the economy, we just continue to encourage lawmakers to come together and put in place policies that spur economic development because we are a wonderful country. we are so resilient and there is so much diversity and we have so much good things and everybody's vote rises as the tide goes on. we want to make sure from a tax reform standpoint that there is tax reform so we can encourage more investment in the united states. and as we work with the regulators we want to be part of the conversation and be helpful but the predictability of regulation i think would help us our industry and economy. >> mark fields is president and ceo of the ford motor company. >> thanks. >> and now joining us on the communicators is fcc commissioner michael o'reilly. commissioner o'reilly what is it like coming to the ces international show as an fcc commissioner? >> thank you for having me first. but to answer the question coming as an fcc commissioner is a challenging and daunting task because of the amount of information to gather. i enjoy coming to ces because it is an opportunity to learn about the innovation and how it will impact by job. >> what kind of innovation impacts your job? innovation that calls for regulations? >> i look at the new televisions and wonder what it will do for the standards and head phones and satellite products or video products and i think what impact on so many different items we had before us. and i get to learn a number of different proucts coming today. >> what did you see? >> televisions, head phones wearable fit-bits, an opportunity to see eureka park and innovators that may not exist next year or. it was an enjoyable tour all around. all kinds of different production. >> are we in a tech boom in your view? >> i think that is fair. it is an innovation boom where america is the leading creator of products and services and applications in the world and will be for a long time. >> commissioner o'reilly a little politics. coming up in february it has been announced your commission will be holding the vote on net neutrality. where were you on that and where are the discussions at? >> in fairness i don't know what the item will look like. it is to be determined. i am not see that until february 5th so i don't have particulars on what we are exactly talking about. in the broad discussion of the debate i talked a little about it. i have concerned about where we might go as a commission and what may impact the different demonstrators today. those trying to innovate; what is the impact of our decision on their business model going forward. >> did you get lobbied out here? >> in fairness not as much. i think there has been a bit of comments filled at the fcc. we have over 4 million individual comments and a number of participants lobbied. >> you have just been appointed to your full term. you are the newest member of the commission. is it political between the five of you? there was an article in in in "politi in "politico" about the paul -- politics. >> i think there are opportunities we could have found agreements or better accommodations but the process didn't allow that. we just went through a tough part where a couple items were delegated to the bureau to make decisions rather than the commissioner and it doesn't give me an opportunity to vote but the decisions was made not to let it happen. so i know people are looking at fcc processor forms including my former employers on capital hill. most of the issues are not partisan and that is a good thing. but there are some issues that broke down along party lines. the more difficult part is when process is an issue. >> and finally, we talked to some of the folks out here involved in a couple potential mergers. can you give us a timeline or thought process on comcast-time warner and at&t and direct v. >> i never comment about mergers. i don't have any information to review at the current time. the merger task forces, or there is a task force looking at both and they will present information at some point for me to review. i decline to comment urt mergers until a decision is made. >> commissioner o'reilly we look forward to having a full interview in the future but thank you for joining us here. >> and the communicators is on location in las vegas for the annual ces international consumer technology show. largest trade show in the world. if you are interested in seeing more of our programming, you can go to cspan.org/communicators. >> you are watching booktv on c-span2 with top non fiction books and authors every weekend. booktv television for serious readers. >> january 24th is being called national read-a-thon group. mr. martin, what is national read-a-thon day? >> it is a day in january, in fact it is coming up on the 24th, where all across america we are inviting readers to commit to spend the afternoon read reading any look they like. you can do it at home or in any venue participating across the country. >> why are you promoting this? >> well, that is a wonderful large and complicated question. but essentially our hope is to find different ways to foster a culture of reading in america and remind people of what the experience is like to sit and really dedicate a nice long sloth of time to reading. i think we hear feedback all of the time that people read books less now because they feel they don't have time or do it in little snippets here and there. but there is a real pleasure that comes from getting lost in the world of a book that is different than if you are checking your phone or on the go. we want people to remember that experience and get lost in the world of books >> you are setting a timeframe for this. four hours. 12-4 on saturday afternoon. >> that is exactly right. we agreed four hours is longer than most of us spend but not too bad so there are no way you can do it. four was the agreed upon time that seemed reasonable to ask everyone to try set a side to do. >> jen martin are groups participating in this? >> yeah we have book clubs and local libraries and schools. and on the read-a-thon website there is a list of state-by-state and different cities and venues participating. you can see if place near you is already participating >> if someone wants to do this at home how can they stay in contact with the larger group? besides the website is there a hash tag? >> absolutely. it is time-to-read. reminding people why we make time to read and the importance of it. you can search time to read on different platforms and you will see people participating and talking about what they plan to read that saturday and you can share what you are reading, why you are excited and photos maybe with your cat snuggled up and participate in the larger virtual community that way. >> there is a money aspect to this. what is that? >> sort of similar to walk-a-thons or running for a charity. we are asking people to consider raising money for the national book foundation and they are famous for the national book awards they give out in the fall in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry and they also do incredible work around the country bringing literacy training tutors, home libraries, and authors to speak to place around the country not getting diverse reading. so the money raised goes to help support their ongoing efforts for that program. >> how does one contribute? >> great question. on the website you can find the list to first giving. it is a platform that is similar to what is used for marathons. you can donate any amount or set-up your own fundraising event. it >> is there a target for how much money you want to raise? >> this is our first year doing this so we are leaving it open. i am thrilled there is almost $15,000 raised already in the early days. so i am pleased to see the diversity of people donating. even smaller amounts will make a big difference in overall getting us to a really nice number to give to the national book foundation. >> this benefits the national book foundation. but who are some of the corporate sponsors behind this day? >> good reads is on board and has been talking about the read-a-thon in their news letter and website and they are having a reading party in san francisco where their head quarters are. and mashable which is a leading tech website and has an incredible monthly book club called the mash reads club and they are participating and talking about it on their social media and they are having a book party in their head quarters here in new york. >> and don't forget your boss. penguin random house. >> thank you peter i would be in trouble for that one. >> we have been supporting the effort as well. we have a number of authors on board reading and making videos that we just started releasing yesterday. it is writers talking about why books are important in their lives and they make time to read. they are really fun and on the website and found on the social media channels searching for the time to read hash tag. >> making time to read is important because -- >> if you don't make time to read your brain rots >> it can educate and entertain and enlightened. >> there is nothing like a book to see the world in a new way. >> if i could sum up the impact books have on my life i would say they saved my life >> i have never been without a book. >> a book unlike almost everything else in our lives don't require a password. >> i read when i should be looking at television. >> it is really hard to find time to read but when you do i find it takes you down the rabidity hole. >> i developed a read of loving as a boy. >> by the age of ten i was reading crazy stuff. trash, too. james bond and so on. >> ally in wonderland. >> heriot the spy. >> a far away look comes into the children's eyes and his orher mouth's is open and the child is lost in the story. >> that is the ideal childhood. >> i like to pick up a book at my local neighborhood bookstore because i like a random encounter. >> while you read the book you leave your own world and space and in habit someone else's soul. >> everything we hold dear in books and all you have to do is pick them up. >> go out get a book and read. >> keep reading. >> national read-a-thon day is january 24th 12-4 p.m. in your time zone. >> penguinrandomhouse.com/national readathon is the website. >> thank you. >> here is a look at books being published, mike huckabee shares stories on his run forkingning for president. in guantanamo bay diary, a current detainee shares his record of the events that led to his imprisonment in 2002 and his treatment and the story of an american camp in crystal city texas where thousands of japanese german and italian families were sent during world war ii. and former war correspondent david morris explores the this history of pdfs in the "evil hours" in "thieves of state" we talk about the negative affects of political corruption and points to areas that have pervasive corruption. and a journalist tells the story of egypt's 2011 political uprising in once upon a rising. watch for the books coming up. during booktv's visit to wheeling, west virginia we met with a man who detailed the lives of the city founders and live on the frontier. >> the title was actually a school teacher from that era. he was named william darby and when he wrote to dr. draper whose manuscripts that primed a lot of the research he called this the heroic age and hooe was a teacher and taught the first settlers here. the area was first opened for settlement in 1768. with that the first family's that came to the area were probably considered the zanes. they are considered the founders of wheeling. this was the western theater of the american revolution. fort wayne was named after the governor of virginia. early of fincastle was one of their names. and the royal governor was thrown out and patrick henry came in as the revolutionary general and it was renamed henry. the forts are located for a strategic reason. wheeling was considered the head of navigation on the ohio during the low water season. it made sense to build a fort here. beyond that fort henry and wheeling had a symbiotic relationship as forts were build where there was no population or garrison. fort henry had people around it so people were there to garrison in terms of emergency. fort henry protected wheeling and vice versa. it is build on two sieges and the trilogy of legends with the first on september 1st, 1777 and they got word a large skill attack was coming. and they called all of their militia companies together to gather. they definitely had the believe that they waited until the nine companies in the militia were there, seven were dismissed and two were left to garrison there fort and that is when the indians decided to attack. that actually came to take place on september 1st, 1777. there was one company left to garrison, one was sent up the river. the problems the indian had was their nature of fighting. the indians were not -- siege craft wasn't what they did. they were outstanding hit hit-and-run raiders and in the wood and open fire they were the masters. people didn't realize the indians were the finest light in infantry of their day. the militia were part-time citizen soldiers and quite poor at it. what the indians found out watching them but the militia wouldn't stand unless backed by red foot. the battle see saws back and forth and the emotional zennith of the battle comes between 12-2 o'clock that day. the people who got to shepherd fort let these people know the folks in fort henry were in dire strait straits. they sent express riders out for help. one of the riders went to a small family fort located five miles from here called fort van meter and sam mcculic was the leader. when sam gets the word there is not a lot we can do in terms of rounding up a lot of people. communication couldn't travel faster than a man on horse back and the militia companies were disbursed so he would have a hard time rounding them up. the only thing he could to bring relief to the fort was he himself, his brother john and another man by the name of hanks. and they had the idea to approach the fort and when they saw the indians they put the spur of their horses and ride down or shoot down anyone that got in their way. of course plans like that never work out quite like you want them to. when they put the spurs sam put them out in front and the indians around him reach and come toward the front of the saddle. he wheels his horse around and takes off with the indians in pursuit. unfortunately, sam's fortupe go from bleak to black when he gets to the top of the hill, there is another group coming up the other side and he is caught between two fires. there is no real easy out. so prefering a quick death to a slow torture and capture he puts the spurs to his horse and both go down and hand 300 feet below. and that is where mcculoch street. he left to legend and was remembered for his rather dramatic escape at the first siege of fort henry. what it meant in the larger sense was that he was actually a very serious tactical defeat. the indians destroyed most of their food, livestock, transportation and inflicted death on them 5-1. and it kept the higher river open which is the artery to transportation connecting fort pit with the kentucky settlements. the second legend was betty zane. the second siege took place on september 11th 1782. what is significant about that is the fact it took place, this is almost a year after corn wallace surrendered. people didn't realize the war in the east stopped. peace negotiations were underway. the british occupied new york charleston, and i believe savannah. but they were negotiating peace terms. the war in the west never stopped. there is no real federal government. the state government of virginia is bankrupt and these people are left on their own to defend themselves. they know on attack is coming and they have scouts out. a 15-16-year-old boy road 20 miles in the ohio and what he sees alarms him greatly. there is a huge force of 20 indians and a company of british rangers, that is approximately 50 headed east toward fort henry, he comes to the edge of the water and files the rifle as a signal that is about 3 o'clock when he gets back. and the british and the indians realize they have been made. they make no attempt to conc etchingse being there. they demanded surrender and at this point these people were ringed around by 3 on of the finest special forces of the day. and inside are a hundred men women and children defending themselves. and these were intimate battles. this isn't like get-ysberinggetysbering. you are bunched together in there and that is who you fight with. and again, you don't know necessarily what sort of fate awaits you if you are taken. chances are it is going to be bad. they find they are out of gun powder and you wonder why something like this happens. how come not more powder was kept in the fort? the word was simple: theft. if just a couple months prior to that zane sent to the commander at fort pit saying if you send me powder i promise anything you give me is going to be burned nothing is wasted or stolen and the idea is kept with the idea that should an emergency occur and there was enough for a day or so to keep the indians at bay, because the raids only lasted a day or so, but what kind of put that out the window is the fact they have british rangers and they are going to be determined? now the siege lasted a day and a half and they are out of gun powder but there is more in the block house which is approximately 60 yards away. they look for a volunteer and a 16-year-old girl named betty zane says i will do it and if i should fall i will be less missed than a man. she steps out, and when she takes off the indians see her and curiously enough they don't shoot at her. they yell squaw, squaw, but not a shot is fired. she gets over there and relays to her brother the fact there is a crisis and they need gun powder inside the fort. they take an apron and fill it and tie it around her waist and she is sent back. when she runs back to fort henry, how the british and indians defined what was going on, no one knows, but she wasn't getting past this time. everybody with a rifle opened up on her. by her own description the bullets fell around like hail and came so close they cut her clothing but she made it back to the court. it doesn't sound like a great idea but when you think about it she is bringing 25 pooped pounds of gun powder and this is the stuff legends are made of. her act saved the fort and she goes into legend. what i written isn't history for historians but for general folks. when i first got into it i again was particular with the zane book and things like that. and why i got into the primary sources and read the stories of what actually happened i found out it was every bit exciting as the a mythological things people attach to it. the truth was better than the fiction. >> you are watching booktv on c-span2. we are visiting wheeling, west virginia and talking with authors and touring literacy sites. next we go the library and discuss rare books with author sean duffy. >> the national road came through wheel and the suspension bridge was really a way to get to the west over the river. before that it was ferry boats or things like that. you had to go around. so, there was a transportation hub and city full of creaks, streams and rivers so bridges were an important way to make commerce possible. part of our collection of photographs really was the base of the foundation of our archival connection that was donated to the library by a photographer named brown in 1950. it shows various scenes from the late 19th and early 20th century. i chose to focus on some of the histor historic bridges in wheeling. these bridges still exist. this was under construction in 1891. it is the main street stone art bridge which is just a couple blocks from here. when built, it was the longest stone arch in the united states in 1892 when it was dedicated. one of the stones fell on a construction worker who was killed by drowning and his ghost is said to haunt the bridge to this day. but the bridge is still in use. the second bridge i will show you is another stone arch that was built in 1817. it is the elm growth stone arch. some people know it as the hump back bridge or monument place bridge because it is near where th