>> doubleday is approximately 50 bucks here. half nonfiction. we publish a lot of literary novelist and on the nonfiction side we publish a lot of history, politics and science. >> , has doubleday been in business? >> 1897. >> on a bike? >> someone named mr. doubleday. >> we are here to talk to you about previewing some of the books. you have coming up? >> three books to your viewers and a novice where publishing jeffrey toobin book about patty hearst, her kidnapping, what she did while she was in the liberation army and have very germanic tribal. as people know, a new yorker staff writer and chief legal correspondent and the author of the and also the o.j. simpson case which is recently made it to a television series. what is so fantastic about this book from my good as everyone says we are living to this terribly tumultuous time. in the early 1970s that ballot country was having a nervous break down. an average of 1500 terrorist bombings here. nixon was being impeached. political turmoil, economic malaise. patty hearst was kidnapped into my are enlisted in the sudan liberation army. the story has amazing twists and turns. the one thing, the largest police shootout in american history took place in los angeles where everyone were killed in something that also happened for the first time i might national television. and then we get to the trial that incredible twists and turns. the nation falling apart, but across political radicalism. he is a fabulous writer. in september, candice has written two best sellers. the assassination one of the most gifted man ever elected to the presidency. jamesa garfield and river of doubt about the other roosevelt would have discovered a river in the amazon and almost died. she's incredibly good at totten or it is about famous individuals and in this case she's telling a story that i sort of knew it happened but didn't realize how true matt gillespie is always believed he was destined to be prime minister of england and had a complete faith in his own great as like he had to do something incredible to get public notice. he tried to put himself in danger in the sudan as they were correspondent. he went to south africa where the war had just erupted. the guerrilla war against the great british army was a correspondent to volunteer to go in an armored train, the way of the reconnaissance and he was captured and put in a prison camp because he was the son of aristocracy. he escaped by himself and made his way across 300 miles of enemy territory but nothing that a chocolate bar and a couple clients, makes his way to get to mutual territory of every month in the british army, comes back and freeze the prisoner of what she had been held cap to. an incredible tale by one of the most gifted historians today. the third book coming out in october by h.w. brands, a two-time finalist for the pulitzer prize with franklin roosevelt and benjamin franklin has written a book about a moment in american history during the korean war a face-off between the unpopular president truman and nixon in the popular general douglas macarthur during the period when mccarthyism was coming and the chinese had overrun and macarthur wanted to use nuclear weapons to stem the flow and truman disagreed and they had a titanic power struggle. this is a moment that is just as dangerous though not as well-known. they also submit the idea that civilians have control of the military because it's unpopular, he pushed back and there was a behind the scenes fight in congress which was republican dominated. a great narrative historian who does all of this research, grounded in tact the research brought to vivid life by a tremendous writer. these are the three books we are most excited about. >> you will see all three authors on booktv this fall. bill thomas is the editor and publisher of doubleday. thank you. >> welcome to las vegas on booktv, located at the southern tip of nevada at the floor of the mojave desert. about 42 million people every year to visit the city for its many casinos, shows and restaurants. with the help of our thoughts and indications cable partners for the next two hours we will turn out the history of the city and tapping to the literary scene here with local authors david beginner feature in las vegas at this former mayor, oscar goodman. >> mr. goodman, how did you become a lawyer? >> all by accident. the most amazing thing in the world. i came to las vegas with my beautiful wife in 1964 and basically would take anything if i pass the bar. i had a motto that there is a remedy. believe it or not, one of the first card counters, even though they didn't call them that at that time. my dad and has $25 a week for pleasure. we couldn't use it for rent or gambling. we went out to a place called the charcoal room. after dinner we would take whatever we had left over in play blackjack. i knew they were abused in this beautiful hotels because people were winning. i would stand behind her in those books that i do all the talking, just that we are conversing with each other. i spoke to the dealer. he was a very nice guide one day he called me at my office and said i'm a little financial difficulty. i have to file bankruptcy. would you do it for me? i do know bankruptcy from a speed bump but i learned out country and how to fill out a petition. i charged them $250 i was happy. a couple weeks later a phone call comes into the pit at the hacienda and this from a reputed mobster and his brother had been arrested anyone to know who the best criminal lawyer las vegas. nothing changes over the years. the fellow cuts and says that's criminal lawyer las vegas in the guide i did the bankruptcy for called oscar and i represented the brother and i could try a thousand times and it was a 999 times, but i got lucky and i want to and from that point on whenever somebody got arrested who was conduct did with the alleged mob, it was carl aster. >> woes at lake? >> i was scared to death. i went to the judge's clerk the morning of the trial and i said to her, i don't want a jury because i didn't know how to pick one. i said this is a legal case for the judge to decide. not for a jury. she comes back and says mr. goodman, the jury has been summoned and i got so nervous i walked down the stairs at the federal courthouse in that part did all over the second step in and went back to my office and said we are all set to pick a jury and the jury went out to deliberate after the evidence was thin and my client's brother, the alleged mobster, while we are walking back to my office two blocks away from the federal courthouse as is it better if the jury takes a long time or short time? is that the longer they take the better. a lot into my office, and the phones ringing on the jury has the verdict. you can imagine how i felt. i think they felt so sorry for me that they came back with not guilty. >> after the first case, what were some of the crazier cases you were given? >> i became an expert of all things wiretap cases. they just went to a factor now is involved in the first wiretap case at miami international airport to wiretap a setup. two fellows were bookmakers and they would call here in las vegas to get the wine information from the race here. they were all indicted and i was hired to represent this bartender. we went down there and i asked for severance. that's when you ask your case to be separated because they were mentioning the client's name. finally after two weeks the judge said mr. gooding, go home. take your client with you. i haven't mentioned his name. my client went home, but the other lawyers said but i do stick around and help us with the wiretap case? i stayed there and they were all found guilty. but the word went out. o-oscar when the case because my client is back in las vegas on the severance and had nothing at all to do with winning the case. after that december 12, 1970, 26 cities are rated and i was hired in may in one of the 20s it did because they had more than one case, i had all my papers strewn around my office. one of my clients have look at this. i said don't bother me. i'm working. i said don't bother me. he says you are going to want to see this. i said okay and i picked up two different authorizations for the wiretap. the wiretap has to be authorized by the attorney general himself or one of nine assistant attorney general's. the signatures, even though they were the same name are different. so i filed motions that i took the deposition of john in general, the attorney general of the united states in my law office and he was smoke. he really was smoke smoking his pipe. he finally said okay, you are right. we did not raise this properly and i won all 19 of the cases. therefore i was the wire expert for the united states. >> how familiar were you with a mob before to las vegas? >> i wouldn't know a mobster from a monster. i was raised in a very conservative environment. the only way i stepped out of bounds was this some came around our school grounds and pic free baseball players to get six to one day, which is virtually impossible given the great hitters. that's the only contact i had with anything that even resembles crime. >> is there any case that came to you that you said now, i can. >> most of them got to know. you have to understand it is hard work. when i became the mayor they said this has to be so tough. if it compared to what i did for me and for 35 active years of practicing criminal law, this is a cape. if i lost a case the clients i had in the difficult cases, i never saw my client again. they went away forever. as the mayor if i made a mistake, i didn't make too many i hope, i would put it back on the agenda and revoke. instead of sweating and having a wet bag, i slept like a baby at the mayor. >> did you say in the midst of your defending this alleged mobsters -- [inaudible] >> they were being targeted by the federal government. >> yeah. in my opinion, i don't know whether it happens today or not. i haven't been actively practicing law. i have my license, but for a lot of different reasons i'm not actively in the courtroom. i felt that many of the federal prosecutors, the state wasn't that bad, but the federal prosecutors, and they played the game with the ends justified the means and they wanted my clients so bad that they would do anything in order to get them. i can't think of a case and everybody goes he's always saying the same thing, where it didn't catch an fbi agent or an irs agent and alive. i tried the government in many cases. i rarely allow the client to take the which to stand, said this did they wanted to do it, i didn't want them to do it because i could talk a lot better than they could and they were pros than i did this as a profession. i think the government overstepped its bounds. the way i defend my case is to make sure they adhere to the constitution he went to a person that an allegation that when dealing. he was supposed to be getting money -- giving money to their fellow and he had $162,000 with him. he is sitting there by the curb and a cadillac and he was ultimately arrested. we had a hearing in federal court, where there were three law enforcement people who are bored in the courtroom and i invoked what is called the exclusionary rule, which means i moved that they not hear each other's testimony. the first guy gets on the standard raises hand and said i swear to god to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me god. that is the prettiest serious doubt someone is taking. he said sarah, which he be kind enough to roll down your window and i knew right off the bat when he said sir, that i was going to hear the tale here. he said that many well down the window. would you mind opening up the door? he said many complied. i knew that right now this wasn't demanding that i knew. would you get out of the car? sure? give us the key, sir. you mind if we open up the trunk? would you mind if we look at this bag in the trunk? bingo. well, he turns to me that mr. goodman, they are lying. i said manny, you are charged with being a heroin dealer. babcock was a red-faced cracker. he said they are lying. i said let me just do my job. the guy gets out. i swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god. word for word then he says to me, mr. goodman, they are lying. i said manny come i can't do two things at once. i can't say they are lying and i can't listen to the witness testified. they are lying. i say take it easy. next-line common same thing. he said they are lying, they are lying. the people that were there can tell you that. i said what are you talking about? he says the pilot of the flight attendants always come on the plane and they get into a van to go to the motel. i said yeah. he says they saw the whole thing. i said what are you talking about? i know they saw the whole thing. i said to the judge, timeout, judge. mr. goodman, don't waste our time. give me a couple days to investigate it. you can't get a little bit. i went back to my office and said to one of my associates of a my associates can win a light amber because manny was going to be this way. we know the airline. find out who the pilot was. he found out my called the pilot. he was in san francisco. i said would you mind coming down in telling this judge what you saw that day. he said i don't mind. i said i'll buy you dinner. if you do that i will buy you dinner. comes into court. i put them on the road. they most be a same god i guess. he said yeah, i was there and i saw this. three cups, three big red not -- redneck cops. that fella sitting next to you, mr. baker, they reached in and taken by the scruff of his neck and threw him on the ground. the cuts behind his back. they pulled their guns and put it at their head. they started kicking in. they went into the key, open the trunk and said they go, you're under arrest. it was like miami vice. maybe that's the most egregious story in the book. >> you are defending these people. but now makes you want to start to get into politics? >> i've done everything. it got to a point where i wasn't liking myself because i would go down every morning to my office and see how much i could charge. and i said i'm not about this. this is why i became a lawyer and this is that y represent the people the way i do it not to make money. i made money as a byproduct. i said to my wife, you know, i've got to do something different because i'm not liking what i'm doing. we were on a cruise in the caribbean during the winter of 1998. i said to my wife and four children, you know, i'm going to do something different. i'm going to run for mayor. we have a very democratic family would take a vote on anything that affects one another. i was making a lot of money as a lawyer. the mayor made $40,000 in those days and they were going to take a hit as far as their bequest was concerned. we had to go. carolyn, my wife would stand in the four children voted for did nothing against me. there were no outstanding college loans. i said why? you have more baggage than the sky cast in the airport. but they were wrong. they're not allowed to put up a line in no-space-on politics. the sports folks in london, maybe a 17 to one underdog and i was fortunate enough to have one. very funny story. the day after the election i go back to my office and there were two messages in particular. one of 5:00 from president clinton congratulating me being elected mayor of the fastest growing need in the united states. but by the clock. the message came in at 5:05. danny baker, the dealer congratulated me on being elected mayor. >> were you concerned about her was your reputation with the alleged mob, did that come up at all in the election? >> my wife is known to have a bit of a temper. he had little cartoons of people with masks on, holding moneybags, hypodermic needles and i was supposed to be may represent a them. because i represented this alleges i was doing something bad. i thought i was defending everything good about the country it all came together in sin city fair, which was for older folks. i would knock on the doors and i would campaign may when a wonder early on in this gave me the complete us in. a woman answers the door. she's had a bathrobe on at 3:00 in the afternoon. her hair and curlers. she said guest is out here. the mafia lawyer. i've got milk and cookies for you. so i had no problem. >> what were your platforms? >> i didn't know where city law was. i wanted to be an honest guy who would do its very best and make sure my constituents were protected the same way i protected my clients. that's what i ran on. the first day was a lack it, the same street i walked for years. when you walk as the mayor or may relax, sit eyeglasses. you see they are cracked. you see tufts of grass coming out. you see that there is a state of malaise and nothing is happening. my whole point at that point was easy. the day after i got elected i said i'm going to create a renaissance of downtown las vegas vitality. didn't know how. all i had done my whole adult life was to send people who are in trouble. a friend of mine who was not a friend at the time. he was very vocal opponent of my running said i know you're trying to do a good job. if you every place. i will let bygones be bygones. he was the president of a major real estate firm. i said i need somebody to give me a one-on-one course on how to develop a downtown. you brought up the ceo of a major east coast development firm that had done baltimore. they did the seaport in new york if these are first-class developers and he spent an hour with me and said after he poured my heart out what i wanted to see happen. he said he can't do it. you don't have what you need. what are you talking about? he says you need land. i looked up my window at city hall. he said no, land. i went home that night. i was distraught. i had a busy life as a lawyer. the phone wasn't ringing when i was the mayor. but a lightbulb went on. there was a piece of land, an old railroad. i called it the ceo of the union pacific railroad and i said sarah, i want to buy your brother died. he said not for sale. call them again. not for sale. i said everything is for sale. everything has a price. he said their 61 acres in that night that we don't know them. it is owned by lehman brothers. but back to new york and i sat down with them and brothers. i've got a private 61 acres. they quoted me a $30 million price. the city did not the money. i knew that would be the future of las vegas that i could acquire that without him in it domain. i was fortunate to be able to trade land in the affluent part of our city for the 61 acres downtown and then we started to develop all the wonderful things that we now have. the downtown casinos that you know, this mayor is serious. they began to fix up their places. one place downtown that would not have gone into for fear of getting a secondary lung disease. everybody fit their places. look at the restaurant here. this is a broken down dies. i wouldn't come in here for fear of getting blood on my shoes. and now look at it. it's sparkling. >> at any point did you think of running for another -- >> yes, running -- where the county line. >> this is what happened. i spent the time in washington representing judge may board. a very funny city. i was so proud of myself. i was on c-span every night when i was back there. they named a drink after me at the monocle. i was a big shot in washington. wherever i went, there's oscar goodman the lawyer, the lawyer. i came home and i said sweetheart, you're the cat's meow. i've initiated a town like you've never seen before. the capital a get on their knees when i go there. six weeks after we left, it was oscar hill. that turned me off of washington. i needed a little adulation. i need it to be the rockstar. he said there's not enough ginning persons ready to keep me happy for more than a couple weeks. so i passed on money for governor and we did that because people were telling me to run for this come around for that. i will take a poll because i'm part ascendancy whether or not it's a political view. we took a poll and it showed a would have carried clark county substantially. you win the state. reality set in. i said i don't want to be anything but what i am. and the ambassador for the authority for tourism. and the chairman of the permanent committee. i get woken up every morning by my wife who comes to my side of the bed and the plot is still to get the juices flowing. to show gross to meet me when i go to my front door. they have a martini for me. i am half floated by 12:00 everyday. what is better than not? >> next, we discuss subsets with author geoff schumacher. >> when people think about las vegas, they typically think about the las vegas strip. the big casinos. the shows, gambling, but restaurants. they might think about downtown las vegas where we have the older casinos and fremont street with the spec the goal of the promenade. so that is what i think people immediately think of. someone who lives here, someone who writes about las vegas, i don't necessarily think of that first. i think about the 2 million people live here. i think about the neighborhoods where i live than my friends and relatives live and it's a much more nuanced complicated story than the typical person from outside of town imagines. las vegas has been growing ever since 1905 when it was founded as a railroad town. there's certain decades when things really accelerated. one of those was certainly the 1940s did the 1940s saw during world war ii, the arrival here of a huge magnesium production plan. the production plan drew thousands and thousands of workers to las vegas. then at the same time you had the development of an army airfield which became an air force base. thousands and thousands of people descending on this valley and in a matter of years coincided with that with the development of the casino business on a much larger scale. those casinos again drew workers. las vegas became a tourist. the 40s were huge. the 50s is when you saw the rise about the iconic casinos on the las vegas strip. that coincided 60 miles north of las vegas. again, a lot of scientific others who need it to work cavemen lived in las vegas. again, tourists also came to las vegas just to witness the spectacle of in the aboveground atomic explosions. the 40s and the youth that would have to say what this really pivotal time for las vegas. las vegas spaces allotted different challenges that are so quickly. one was transportation. on other with education, building enough schools to accommodate all these kids. transportation, for example, the building of the airport. we were very late in getting caught up with the demand. the development of mccarron airport was open and then suddenly we are already talking about expanding, expanding comic standing. and the 50s he saw the need to develop or a and need to develop the infrastructure for the spreading of the city. we were always behind the curve. las vegas has never ever quite kept up with the growth. that's probably the nature of all fast-growing cities in the west. las vegas has had an extreme case. first of all, the positive side keeping up with growth in las vegas means that lots of jobs. lots of people needed. we need them to work on the construction. we need them to work in the different businesses around the community. you see people coming here for opportunities. oftentimes in the pastors and crowding. that's a big problem. there aren't enough amenities. restaurants are crowded, for example. the roads are insufficient, living on colorado's should otherwise be paid. most importantly, you don't have enough tax dollars to pay for all these infrastructure needs that you have so then you start to look at raising taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, sandra to be able to afford new amenities. las vegas is can't delay trying to keep up with this growth and is really never let that. there's a lot of people who've been around las vegas a long time and would like to keep a small town feel that they remember from the earlier days. unfortunately las vegas has always been in a growth mode and there has never been a real sincere attempt to troll or manage growth in las vegas. we are opportunists. we are constantly looking for the next opportunity, whether it's developing subdivisions or commercial areas where casinos. the impact of the growth of the strip on the suburb has been this sort of insatiable demand for more housing. when you have more housing, you need more schools, more parks, roads. we are basically one big construction site that has been going on for decades now. in the past, las vegas has had recession. i suffered from low down. periodically there's a national recession, other challenges that come up. we had a water issue in the middle 90s to slow the development for a little while. what happened in 2007 and 2008 is almost unprecedented for las vegas because we saw the real estate market collapse here so dramatically and then we saw the national risk -- and with the wall street crisis and they just hammered las vegas tourism. at that point, between 2007 and 2012 or 2013, las vegas was in sorry shape. a lot of homes foreclosed upon. a lot of people lost their jobs. high unemployment rate in the latter think of buildings. not just houses, but commercial buildings. las vegas took a long time to recover from that. the damage to the foreclosed upon homes by squatters, and the people who get upset because they are convicted and tara a house. he sighed again and again here. he summed up for homeless people on the street. you saw people leaving town because they needed to find work somewhere. in the construction industry, the unemployment rate was 50%. this is an amazing number for a town where people have grown literally rich working blue-collar construction work. it was a very severe recession and a half las vegas as hard or harder than it is in the country. the good news is, the positive side is las vegas is pretty resilient and it is fighting back. growth is returning. the economy is growing. people are getting back to work in my 26 team, you know, things are starting to look bright. .. it goes all the way back to the font law, that salman rushdie was under. at that time he called on the city to become city of asylum knowing his privilege and attention on him which was protected for him, you know, his financial means putting in a totally different category from writers who are in similar situations but who might be put to death or imprisoned. and at that time the nigerian nobel laureate playwright, poet, numerous, fiction writer was at unlv and was part of this community of people, he and his group of folks it wouldn't be surprising if las vegas became the first ever city of asylum. and we did. there are many places in the world where freedom of expression is not taken for granted. to the contrary, there's an expectation of an official line. literature is all about speaking truth from the heart, what the writer sees and feels and believes. and it can't be varnished. it can't be detained. if it gets molded to some kind of ideology that it will be, that will be water on its flame. looking at the other recover later we writers are naturally drawn to speak honestly of their experience, and that makes them very, you know, doesn't make them a favorite people of leaders in repressive regimes. >> my problem for reviving my novel, because my novel is antiwar. because my novel is about the war in iraq. i was a soldier during the war, and my novel is my experience, my awful experience in war zone. i know the government didn't like my novel. i know the censorship is a big problem in europe, but i can't stand censorship. in my story come in my novel, in my life. i resisted the war for the censorship, for anything. i remember, i remember all the time i avoid -- [inaudible] because tehran is a big city with a lot of problems, a lot of problem. >> it got to a point life without people to do his work living there as he was, and fled, now found himself in a situation of what's next? where do i go? how do i make a life for myself? he had some english but needed a lot of work with it. his work had been published outside of iran but not heavily into english. he came to us with these great needs. my experience is that while it's a huge deal to offer funding to someone like hossain, which have been able to with help of our generous donors, very aggressive support, the bigger question is how do you lead them to the place where they can be independent and where they can have a life of a writer or scholar on their own? that's what we are really working with hossein to articulate. how do we get him connected to publishers, agents, to a community of readers, readers of general literature and also readers with a particular interest in iranian culture? there's some conversation in this community of people involved in this program, because what do you call it quits when you call someone and aside from fellow, it sort of works them. some fellows don't want to be identified that way for the own dignity and sometimes also because of the statement it makes to their home country. maybe they're going to go back one day and they don't want to be seen as someone who have sought asylum elsewhere. if hossein can get to a place where he is able to teach and write and live safely and has a son enrolled in school, that will be a source of great cheer to all of us. >> i'm really alone here. my son is here, but you know, i want to teach here. my parents live in tehran, and i miss my students and my parents and my friends. all of them live in iraq. it takes time for fighting -- finding your new life. it takes a long time. i think a few years. but, unfortunately, here i am in a good situation and i can write. it's awful. it's a good chance for me. >> you are watching booktv on c-span2. this weekend we are in las vegas, nevada, without the -- we visit provided fox door. >> a lot of people were excited for us to open and we are both supported but i think a lot of people were understandably a little bit skeptical that we would succeed. a lot of things come and go in vegas. it's a transient city in terms of its population. it's transit in terms of its business. we are famous, the city is famous for employing hotels and casinos that are no longer serving the function and need to be raised for the with something else. institutions don't necessarily outlive the conditions of existence i guess. there's not a lot of piety. there've been independent bookstores in the past. they have not lasted. there hasn't been in in a while granted, and i think people underestimated the amount of people in the city who were big readers and we would be willing to go out of the way to shop at an independent bookstore. >> writer's block open november 2014 light at the tail end. we been open for about a year and a half at this point. the writer's block is the only independent so of new books in las vegas period and only one in southern nevada. we felt like it was a meteor that really wasn't being met by existing bookstores. biggest cell committee mutual acquaintance summary with what tony she was doing a downtown las vegas. so tony she is the ceo of this apple.com, the shoe company. he sold his apples to amazon. i don't have exact year but part of what he did afterwards was the relocated. he retained sort of operating ownership over zappos so still a ceo and runs the show. so we moved zappos.com from henderson which is like a sort suburb of las vegas to downtown vegas. and allocated a bunch of his own capital to revitalize discord or you. he was sort of joining a momentum that was building to make downtown sector for native las vegas that wasn't focused as much of the tourist industry that the strip focuses on but would also focus on the needs of the local population. the writer's block was opened by myself and my husband scott. scott reservoir of the literary background that even i do. event delivery not-for-profit in new york. he was the cofounder and executive director of 826 nyc which is part of a national network of not for-profits that offer free creative writing classes. we were told they were interested in opening something similar to 826 nyc where they would offer literacy education for students in the area. vaitkus ranks between 49-50 most of the time spent education rankings for public schools and the creative writing program has sort of indebte been gutted forc schools is not a whole lot of quality literacy education. we were gone to vegas because -- drawn -- we felt there wasn't illiterate needs of the city were not being met into and have a good independent bookstore. there's a lot of great big readers and there's a population of excellent writers, and the city as little more literary vibrancy that i think people are aware of. it was an exciting place to come for that reason. like in new york especially new york but i think a lot of other large american cities the literary scene, it's very large and is very entrenched, and u.s.-soviet more, there's a certain openness to it i think because the city itself is still very young. one of the big differences between the literary scene and new york isn't the literary scene in vegas is far more accessible and transparent. like in new york i think it's because there isn't like a singular like monolithic literary scene in the year. there are many of them operate on top of each other side-by-side, like all over the place. like there's a lot of, like, little spheres of litter activity, and all of them are quite explicit because there's so much in publishing is located in new york. whereas in vegas the are not as many literary circles here, but as a consequence the ones that i tend to be more accessible to just about anybody. one of the things i like, for example, about the black mountain institute at unlv is that those giunta all open to the public and that just like anybody go. by customers, their day jobs may be in office when they might work in hospitality but privately they are big readers ever been they can go ahead and go to one of these events and it isn't close off to the. it's something they've heard about, for example. i feel like in new york as love it more harder. our first year and half of business has been great. it's been really reassuring. we are pretty much what we expected to be. we create a business plan as anyone does with projections as one does come and those projections as they usually are more one part in like informed estimations and one part guesswork because you don't ever really know. but we just try to put something together that seemed reasonable. we anticipated we would sell an number of books that would be reasonable like any business. and so far so good. that's been really a huge relief just businesswise. in terms of seeing people come out of the woodwork to shop for books but also talk about books and recommend books. it's been really wonderful i think are the literary scene is somewhat small just because it is a somewhat small city and if you like we have been able to witness that literary community come together to some extent, and that's been greater i feel like a lot of people in the city may have felt like they were kind of loan agents reading on their own. i do like to think we played a little bit in part of allowing people to come together over the love of reading. >> you are watching booktv on you are watching booktv on you are watching booktv on c-span2. this weekend we are visiting las vegas, nevada, to talk with local authors and for the city's literary sites with up of our local cable partner cox communications. next week or from other gregg jones about the vietnam wars battle of khe sanh. ♪ >> in the northwest corner of south vietnam, nestled among 4000 foot-high mounds, steve regains ethic of jungle foliage, rests the small valley of khe sanh. at this time in history it is calm and peaceful on januar january 21-march 31, 1968, and was the scene of one of the most bitterly fought and highly publicized battles of the vietnam war. >> the importance of khe sanh and vietnam war, i would argue is significant. that has been a subject of some debate among historians because it was not a decisive battle but it came at a critical moment of the war, came in 1968 just as the antiwar movement in the united states was really gathering force. lyndon johnson was under pressure within his administration. at the same time lbj was going to be facing reelection in 1968, and he was trying to reassure the american people that there was light at the end of the tunnel, that the war was starting to wind down, that america was gaining the upper hand. so subtly you have this situation unfolding in khe sanh, this remote marine combat base type into the far northwest corner of south vietnam, some similarities to the french situation in 1954, then jeb the tet offensive that happened with all of these attacks in cities up and down south vietnam. so the combined effect of khe sanh was more a psychological impact on the american people. khe sanh, there was a marine combat base and it was tucked into the far northwest corner of south vietnam. so it was about 15 miles or so beneath the demilitarized zone separating south vietnam and north vietnam. it was about seven or eight miles from the border with laos, just across the border in laos the ho chi minh trail was running from north vietnam down through laos and serious infiltration routes along the south vietnamese border. keep in mind, in 1967 that had been -- there had been a steady increase in american casualties. so the u.s. had first brought in significant ground forces in 1965. and so there had been an escalation and 66, and then 67, u.s. casualties were reaching newer and more all morning levels. so you have had at khe sanh, in fact, in 1967, in the spring of 67, the marines have discovered that north vietnamese army forces were invested in some high ground, some very prominent terrain surrounding the marine combat base. and so there have been a series combat. this was not as the hill fight. it was at khe sanh, but khe sanh wasn't really as prominently mentioned during this period that there was significant marine casualties during the hill fights in the spring of 1967. and so things have been quiet around khe sanh but then the been evidence that the north vietnamese were infiltrating a significant number of troops. they were coming into, coming across the demilitarized zone, which is only about 15 or 20 miles north of khe sanh and also coming down the ho chi minh trail to the west in laos. and so this was, it had the makings of a showdown, and the intention of the north vietnamese simply were not clear. the marines had 5000 in based at khe sanh at the combat base and that the hill outpost arranged around there, and then there were a few hundred assorted army units, special forces at the combat base. they had the own compound called forward operating base of three. some army forces, special forces had a camp called long day about five miles southwest of the combat base. and so although it was about 5000 american forces, and approximately 1000 indigenous forces scattered around the combat base, khe sanh village and the long paste special forces came. the north vietnamese army had been infiltrating forces into south vietnam, into the khe sanh area for several weeks in late 1967, early 1968. and, finally, they were ready around january 20. there had been heavy contact between u.s. marines on january 20 during the day, and then on the night of january 20th-21st, and with the babies begin to unroll their plans against khe sanh. >> on the morning of the 21st about 0500 the morning the base received heavy mortar rocket and artillery fire. almost simultaneously killing 61 came under attack from the bottom, and that no sooner got started than down here in khe sanh village, a unit came under attack by about a battalion. so we had three things going at once and naturally my concern was come with all of these forces which are iran and michigan would imagine, i begin to become concerned that there might start closing the base. however, it didn't take very long to really upset me win, and a few minutes later after this whole thing was boiling to a pot, that the ammo dump went completely up. there were rounds flying all over the place. >> even the american intelligence had made it clear that there was significant infiltration of north vietnamese forces, that they were up to something, they were moving south of the dmz, they were moving into the khe sanh area, that the marines were in a very awkward and somewhat unfamiliar position. that they were being asked by general westmoreland, who was army, to hold the static position. khe sanh combat base, and these hill outpost. and so the marines have been trained to be an offensive force, and aggressive force, amphibious. and so suddenly they were being asked to perform a very different and very unfamiliar, and to some extent, our role they did not like. and so the marines were not dug in as heavily, had not bothered as heavily as they should have -- bunkered. once the north vietnamese attacks began, the shelling began, there were casualties in those first few days that probably would not have occurred if the marines had been more heavily bunkered and ready to fight that kind of war. immediately after those first round of attacks on january 21 on hill 861, the shelling of khe sanh combat base, an attack on khe sanh village which was the district seat, the americans started trying to strengthen their defenses, that expectation was they were going to be facing a human wave attack. and so there was great concern that they were going to be fighting for their lives and in a massive attack against north vietnamese regulars. so they started digging trenches, taking much deeper, better bunkers. one of the problems was they did not have adequate bunkering material. and so they had sandbags, but they did not have, for example, the types of heavy pillars or metal sheets or things that could have resulted in much more secure bunkers. and so the marines were, resourceful ones that they are, they are used to getting the bottom of the barrel when it comes to any kind budgets, they scrounged, they did was a kid. so they were using metal runway madding. they were using logs, sandbags, anything they could get their hands on. because today, to get deeper was to live. after that initial attack on january 20-21st, 1968, there were wheels turning in vietnam, wheels turning in the white house. lyndon johnson was very concerned that the united states might be facing its own coup, a reference to the 1954 french defeat at a remote outpost in far northern vietnam that resulted in the french pulling out of vietnam, and vietnam essentially becoming the responsibility of the united states. and so johnson was living in mortal fear that he was going to be facing his own coup. he started meeting regularly. he started following events to an obsessive degree that he would pat down at night in his robe and slippers and go down to the white house situation room to get the latest reports from caisson from vietnam to see what was going on, to see if there've been any dire development in the preceding hours. so the question became in vietnam among the american high command and in the white house do we stay or do we pay out quickly make a stand at khe sanh and risk a crushing defeat or do we stand and fight? by that point route nine, a land route, had already been cut settlement earlier. so khe sanh was entirely dependent on aerial resupply. it was entirely dependent on transport aircraft and helicopters. the hill outpost could over the resupply by helicopters. keep in mind that this was the worst time of the year was a wise in khe sanh. there was fog and rain and so it was a very dangerous flying conditions. and then the north vietnamese had very accurately zoned in on the landing zones, on the hill outpost and on the runway at khe sanh. so anytime a aircraft came and they were almost immediately come within 30 seconds, going to be facing mortar rounds, rocket propelled grenades, rockets and others. so we became very dangerous. and the question was good khe sanh be kept alive? could this lifeline hold, and his aerial lifeline, or were they going to not be able to get ammunition, not be able to get the word out, not be able to get medical supplies and food? for the first three weeks or so, it was an incredibly tense and uncertain situation. there was even consideration given a general westmoreland and president johnson were considering using tactical nuclear weapons, if required, to defend khe sanh and to prevent an american coup from happening. so it was a harrowing few weeks for the american military commanders and for the johnson administration in washington. and so, but johnson had from the made the decision. he had counseled with jenna was more than a with jenna buzz wheeler, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the joint chiefs, and asked them directly, do you think we should stay or go? responds was we should stay. so the decision was made to fight it out at khe sanh. the turning point came around february 23 when something known as the super gaggle was organized. and this was targeted at resupplying the hill outpost. this was is massive orchestra of air assets, and so what do we do is they would bring in fighter aircraft and bomb and napalm, try to hit all of the known gun artillery, rocket mortar positions to invent helicopter coming into the same thing. they were dropping gas, tear gas and things like that. and smoked as will do it in the resupply choppers would coming. and so that greatly used the resupply crisis, again, about february 23 or so. so at that point it was a more of a month into the siege and that first month things were very much in the air, were very dicey. it was a great question whether on the resupply could be maintained and whether or not the massive human wave attack was going to overrun the base. that battle of khe sanh, or the seizure of khe sanh, ground on over three months. and find that on april 1 in what was done as operation pegasus, the overland relief from the coast, so army eric have and marine units started pushing up from the coast. the siege was declared officially lifted around april 7 and april 8. that is somewhat misleading, and the casualties, and it's a difficult number to pin down, so i should start by saying the official number is just shockingly low. i believe it's something like 265 killed and several hundred wounded. is on the american side, i'm speaking. there were at least a thousand americans killed. and if you factor in air accidents, transport, helicopters, those sorts of things, then i think that the number of kia were clearly over 1000, at the number of wounded were in the range of 3000 for possibly four or 5000 on the american side of the equation. the north vietnamese, timing is law system were significant, but it's very difficult to put a number on those. i would easily believe that 10,000 men were killed on the north vietnamese side. the fighting and dying that went on in the rest of april, may, june, until early july 1960 when the americans abandoned khe sanh combat based and pulled out, that there were an equal or a possibly larger number of casualties in that forgotten period. and i use that term because it really was overlooked, that the high command had declared the siege over. the reporters, the journalists, the tv crews had gone elsewhere, and so the men who are at khe sanh were fighting and dying really on their own, out of the spotlight in the period between april and july of 1968. so the americans abandoned the base in july on and select a point khe sanh combat based was no more. i think that khe sanh must be seen in the larger reality that vietnam was, which was very unpopular war, a very divisive war on the homefront. and so khe sanh and tet are seen through the prism and ideology and we stood on the great divide as to whether or not america should be in vietnam or should not have been in vietnam. when they came home, end this war has so divided the population and it was so bitter, and it was so unpopular that they were subject to protests. some were spat on. they were reviled and condemned and rejected. i just, after this long journey of trying to understand what vietnam was and what it was all about, i just strongly felt that this was wrong, that what had been done to the returning veterans, that i understand the motivation of those who opposed the war. i think a strong case can be made that we were on the wrong side of history in vietnam at that point in time, but the fact that this rejection at all of this anger was poured onto returning veterans really bothered me. and so i hoped by capturing a piece of their experience, by capturing this dramatic moment in 1968 and writing "last stand at khe sanh" that it could at least help people understand what they went through, what it was like, and why they deserve our respect and not this rejection. >> some have asked what the gallantry of these marines and airmen accomplished. why did we choose to pay the price to defend those very hills? i believe that our initiative toward talks with north vietnam was greatly strengthened by what these men did at khe sanh. for they vividly demonstrated to the enemy the utter futility of his attempts to win a military action -- victory in the south. brave men such as the 26 marines will carry on to fight for freedom in vietnam. and soon, god willing, they will come home. we would like nothing more than to see that day. but until they do we shall express at moments such as these on behalf of all our american people our great gratitude for the protection that they have given us, and our great appreciation for their selfless bravery. >> during tvs recent visit to las vegas we toured the private book collection of beverly rogers and discuss 19th century printing practices with her. >> i started collecting about 15 years ago, took a break to go back and get a masters degree. i've been collecting seriously now for 10 years. i collect books about books which is a really interesting genre, because includes everything from anecdotal stories, librarians and booksellers, to bibliographical minutia about paper and topography and i love it all. i ended up getting into the view of the taurean monopolists, victorian literature, the publishing practices of the victorian era, and it ended up finally, because it's difficult to get a focus, finally focusing on collecting books that represent the publishing practices of the victorian era. and that includes more ways of publishing than we have today. what i have in here is kind of a handful of real weight additions, which are fun, colorful as you can see. this is the first time in english, the history of english literature, where the picture on the cover actually depicted something going on in the story. prior to that or prior to this process where these books were sold at railway stations can people at the time, there was growing middle-class leadership, growing class of people ride the train to work. they had more leisure time. twiheart to the book coming out in this foru form which is realy sort of a precursor to the paperback, the covers of books purpose was to promote the publisher. so all of chapman and hall the books look alike. all of blackwood's books look like him and difficult for. they would be in different colors but the design of the book jacket would be okay. here's one. all the books that came out by that publisher, or the much look like that. except for the color would be change. after i finish school i went back to the books about books that i purchased an indictment most of them but i thought i would go through and read a few here and there. i discovered a book called an inquiry into the nature of certain 19th century pamphlets which is a real-life detective story about who booksellers and bibliophiles discovering a 19th century forger. the printing on the front is not even centered. some of them don't even have printing on the front. these are forgeries. there is a man named thomas j. wise who was known as a 19th century creative forger. he would take a poem, a track, something out of an apology, something out of a magazine, a speech and create a pamphlet of it, predate the date of its first real appearance and claimed that it was a long lost pamphlet privately printed by the author, and it would claim the place of first edition. he then, summarizing, planted some of them at auction to establish a little historical provolone's based on who bought them, establish price and so forth. from there he would then actually either give them or sell them to friends and other book collectors, people that he kept in contact with. he successfully did this. he did have a partner which was a later discovered, but he successfully did his creative forging with the material of 23 or four popular victorian poets over a period of more than 20 years. that's a long time. in 1934 there were two bookseller who had known for years that there have been rumors circulating that there were too many of these privately printed pamphlets at auction. so they decided to, first of all, gather as much circumstantial evidence as they could and tried to figure out what happened. and they look at things like were any of the pamphlets inscribed, with the pamphlets even opened in some cases? what's the condition of them? what did they sell for? just all the things surrounding the physical pamphlet. and then they decided to do something that no one had ever done for bibliographical purposes prior to that, which is chemically test the paper. they chose elizabeth barrett browning's sonnet from the the portuguese because it denies the price. the raw lot of them on the market, and it was the most popular and everyone would recognize it. so they wanted to choose what they called their star peace to test the they discovered the pamphlet called simply sonnets, 1847, was on paper that could not have been available before 1868. because it contained things that they didn't use. paper was made of 100% rag in 1847. so they then went back also and tested the topographical fonts and discovered that those are also not available at the time. i see myself as a rescuer of the material object, which is as much an artifact historically as a dinosaur bone is archaeologically. the reason it's important to collect books, is to preserve the history. the book represents the material book represents not just the text embodied within it, but all the production that went into it in the manufacturing of it and the sales and distributions and the arguments back and forth between the author and the publisher. the material book, you can learn so much from as well as what you may learn from the text. >> during booktv's recent visit to las vegas, nevada, we spoke with michael green about the life of las vegas attorney ralph denton and his work in the civil rights movement. >> spent the first time i met ralph denton was that an engagement party. and las vegas and nevada function on six degrees of kevin bacon everybody knows somebody who knows somebody else. and a very different of mine named mary lou folie whose father and grandfather were federal judges was getting married, and ended up at a table with ralph and his wife, and linda and bob. he also was an attorney. she is an advertising executive here. the whole evening was the stories. they had all known each other for ever, and i was working on my ph.d in history. it wasn't on the beta but i couldn't appear. i do a lot of nevada history one year the names they were talking about. and just to sit and listen to the yarns, which makes it sound like they were not too but i think they were, it was just very fun especially we became very good friends. when ralph was a kid and the depression, nevada was going with the rest of the country tied into the fdr coalition because becoming a very democratic state. so in essence it was a democrat that was a pretty good timing for him. but that that had a tradition, and it holds to some extent today, that you didn't vote so much for the party, you voted for the person. so he was joined with republicans and the republicans he confessed to having voting for -- voted for in his lifetime. when he was seven, pat mccarron was elected to the senate. it was 1932. the of u.s. senator from nevada was jean di pivoted ichabod hers bittman was the president pro tem of the senate. he was also a picture of the foreign relations committee. mccarron comes into the senate, goes on major committees got into chairing the judiciary committee. mccarron goes on to be in some ways a reprehensible figure in a lot of people's minds for the legislation he introduced in the position he took. and ralph would not argue with that. i think it was incredible to think about was you had one of the most powerful centers in the country, pitman, then one of the most powerful senators, mccarron, and they would be sitting in the little boys living room campaigning for office. 20 think about what nevada was like, that's kind of lost for 2.7 million people but the personal touch itself was not. ralph didn't really have a great interest in running for office. but in 1958 his best friend, grant sawyer, was running for governor. ralph thought i should find out what it's like so he ran for da of esmeralda county which is northwest, but goldfield, alas mining rush come golda meir much of the 20th century was there in the early 1900s. it still happened to have an attorney from another place to come in and dv be did it because there isn't enough for them to do. he ran anyone and he said he ran a dirty campaign and so did his opponent by the of them. he realized after six months this town need someone here, and so he quit. he was appointed to the clarke county commission which is a very powerful body in nevada than and not because the strip is not in the city of las vegas. it in clark county. the city limits and where the strip begins. so you appointed him and ralph thought i'll do this. but the mark i think of the man he was, he realized he kept having to conflict himself out you might say because clients would come before them. there were other people on the commission who were friends with everybody who is in doing business literally at the commission meeting. ralph didn't think he should do that so we got out. he ran twice for the house of representatives, and until 1982 nevada had only one member of the house. because the states population was so small. today we afford which isn't that big either but the congressman at the time was a very popular long serving democratic named walter behring. and bearing attorney against john kennedy and the new frontier. and was now essentially a right wing republican running as a democrat. so for a decade democrats could run it against him in the private and would be just enough voters who love walter behring to get into and then republicans would step back and the general election because he pretty much was on their site anyway. it was until the enough people in las vegas to defeat him that he was defeated. ralph rant against an entity for 56. came closer to anybody and tell behring was defeated. in 64 he campaigned saying the civil rights act is a good thing. a campaign of half of the national heart from the beta. he was defeated. in 66 the issues were kind of similar, and at the time we had already gotten deep into vietn vietnam. and to his dying day, ralph felt he didn't stand up strong enough against the vietnam war in that election, although he made clear he thought there was something wrong. but in both cases a hard-fought campaign. and he ended up basically going bankrupt and running for congress. which we think of the money in politics today, makes no sense. but that's the way i campaign was run been. ralph told the story when he ran for da in esmeralda county, to campaign by going into bars buying drinks comment somebody made a nasty comment, ralph just said, you don't vote the way you drink anyway. if you want to compare bargain for congress in nevada in the 60s in particular, though there is an element of this today, with what we have now, when ralph ran for congress he went to see no day let's who was in charge to the vegas hotels on the strip, a major local length over you do him to money. that's the way it is. ralph walked in and there was half a dozen other candidates sitting waiting for plummer said he thought no, this isn't right. welcome to end up going over the sand. we think of the rat pack and sonata. it was a guy to rent a casino, carla cohen, and he later became famous for punching out sinatra. such came into the coffee shop and set a few nasty things and calling back to the ralph which is the coi coin in cd4 and justs guy supposedly a gangster, supposedly a mobster, and they talked a little bit. and cohen said judgment. he goes into the cage and pulls out $1000. he says years ago. which today would you do in serious trouble with every regulatory agency in the world. and then cohen said what's your position on civil rights? ralph said, well, and they talked a cohen said, ralph, a thousand isn't good enough, and went back and gave him 2000 more. that's one way is different or another what it was different is ralph used the line in his oral history talking about being around mccarron in nevada. he was just packed to them. will come he was. you call them by first name. partly because candidates and elected officials are everywhere. brawls political involvement was mostly helping other people, and he was pretty close to being the campaign manager, i'd say, for grant sawyer was elected governor in 1958. they were close friends forever, and sawyer was probably the most transformative governor in nevada's history. he supported civil rights and a lot of people wouldn't. he pushed very hard first victor gaining control, and he got to the point where his regulators pretty much forced frank sinatra out. they forced out some of people, and ralph told the story, sawyer was hosting john kennedy on a visit to nevada, and kennedy said something like, can i do anything for frank sinatra, and sawyer said no, there's nothing we can do. he worked with sawyer, but in the '70s there was a very popular governor, mike o'callaghan, who was reported going to run for the senate. the seat was vacant. and sawyer sat ralph down and said you should run for governor there's a groundswell for you. he showed in these clippings about how popular was around the state. o'callaghan was going to run for the senate, it was certain. so ralph filed and then, of course, i'll tel callahan didn'n for the senate so ralph unfiled. where the story gets even more interesting is, first, ralph couldn't resist the he called the editors who are supporting him, and sawyer had called all of them on his behalf exciting come at the time the republican candidate for the senate seat was paul laxalt who becomes national as ronald reagan's best friend, when his campaigns. and laxalt had coffee with ralph the day before he filed a said howie getting back to las vegas? well, i'm going. be careful, o'callaghan might call out the national guard on you because he was actually filing, this is the other point. because it would people around here who were not sure that the whidbey democratic candidate for governor was ready to run. he was lieutenant governor, a young fellow named harry reid. well, i reread into the life of the senate at that time losing, going on to win two terms later and is both sawyer and ralph said, we misjudged him. and we are big supporters of is all alone. ralph was happy being behind the scenes. so when sawyer ran for governor, they are hosting parties for him, going to did work for him. ralph told the story that they're up in lincoln county, ralph's old stomping grounds, and these people come along and sticky hands and camping at the ticket in the correct or do they have illinois plates. sawyer and then look at each other and said we are trying to get votes from people who can't even vote for you. the fun of a campaign. he enjoyed that. he chaired the kennedy-johnson campaign here in 1960. he was active in eugene mccarthy's campaign in 68, and a lot of local a lot of local campaigns or if it didn't give money, they gave time. back then when money mattered less in politics, though it always mattered, time really mattered, and ralph and his family gave it. ralph died in 2012, and if you want to know the way to die, ralph was diagnosed with a terminal illness, and people would just come visit. he would sit and visit. he was with it till the end. it was like a daily salon. in a way that's part of his legacy, knowing how to live and how to die. he understood life is short. he had 86 years, so for them it was long but not long enough. but in nevada, if you think of people he influenced, people who held high office, people who worked for people who held office, the title of this book is "a liberal conscience" and i meant it in a couple of ways. when i chose that title, and i did choose it. and one that he was a conscience for liberal minded nevadans. not just liberal left, but liberal minded. he also had a liberal conscience. he knew how to forgive. he founded friendship and loyalty, and that's important in life. those are things where he had an influence. i do not know that grant sawyer becomes the governor who transformed the civil rights and gaming in nevada without ralph's help. he might have but ralph contributed. and standing up for your beliefs, he would do that. and we are sitting in boulder city, and ralph wanted to keep his work life and his home life separate, but boulder city as a town of about 15,000 or so. gambling is not legal. there are limits on growth. people here want a small town. ralph, in living here, helped to do that. he helped with those laws, and so this community is his legacy and his community is also his state and his country. >> for more information on booktv's recent visit to las vegas and many other destinations on our cities to work, go to c-span.org/citiestour. >> the publicity manager for illinois press. what new books do you have coming out? >> we have a lot of great titles coming out including one that is a look at the history of the atlantic slave trade but it's called slavery at sea. it's really one of the first in depth looks at the mechanics of slavery at sea and the making of slaves as they're being transported in bondage from one continent to north america. and it really shows how this process happen step-by-step and explains a lot about the process of slavery transformed the spirit of people to be put in that position. and that will be coming out in november. >> white house? >> we also the book which looks at the 1936 olympics. commonly called not the olympic. it's called six minutes in berlin. some people may be familiar with the story of the american rowing team that won the gold medal that year. of course, people know jesse owens of course winning the gold medal as well. that olympics really was the first time that the worldwide sports media business got started, and the six minutes in berlin are the six minutes that that race took broadcast live around the world for them to win and defeat the favored nazi team. ..