Booknotes Stories from American History

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Brian Lamb, the host of C-SPAN's author interview program, Booknotes, presents a collection of the American history stories he's featured on the program. Included are: Tom Brokaw on "The Greatest Generation," Christopher Matthews on the Kennedy-Nixon rivalry, Nicholas Lemann on the movement of southern blacks to the North, Harvey Mansfield on de Tocqueville, and Robert Dallek on LBJ, among others. Lamb's interview questions have been omitted from the edited text, making for "conversational" essays that colorfully present each author to the reader.

Publishers Weekly

On C-SPAN's Booknotes, host Brian Lamb conducts in-depth, thoughtful (and sometimes plodding) author interviews. Transcripts of David McCullough, David Brooks, even David Crosby are free on the show's Web site, but polished essays based on the "excerpted and edited" interviews are gathered into a companion series, of which Booknotes: Stories from American History is the third installment. Divided into sections from "Revolution and Founding 1776-1815" to "The Culture Wars 1975-2000," the volume features Ben Bradlee on JFK and the Pentagon Papers, Gina Kolata on the 1918 flu pandemic and Witold Rybczynski on the making of Central Park. (Nov.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

The founding CEO of C-SPAN and host of its Booknotes program, Lamb has converted 79 interviews with historians and writers who have appeared on the show into this collection of essays on U.S. history. In many respects, this volume continues the "great men" theme of his earlier anthology, Booknotes: Life Stories (LJ 3/15/99), reflecting his inclination to choose historical biographies for his popular show. The U.S. legacy is explained largely through such well-known individuals as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and the Roosevelts, yet thoughtful essays on some traditional rogues of the American pantheon help create a balanced vision of the nation's past. There are also fascinating discussions of women, including Helen Keller and Ida P. Wells. Taken in their entirety, these essays are an affirmation that the personalities and actions of individuals have had a profound impact on the course of American history. Most of the essays will lead readers to other quality books, making this a good choice for both public and academic libraries. Jim Doyle, Sara Hightower Regional Lib., Rome, GA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Adult/High School-This book covers different facets of U.S. history from the Boston Tea Party to Dan Rostenkowski's fall from power, with the greatest emphasis on 20th-century events. Historians and participants discuss the most important aspects and the telling details of the events that they have analyzed. Based on the interviews on the C-SPAN program Booknotes, these essays are not the scholarly pieces that make history seem dry and dusty. (Students will find no footnotes here.) Andrew Young describes Martin Luther King, Jr.'s decision to go to jail in Birmingham, AL, in support of the people who were already imprisoned because "there was nothing else to do." Jack Rakove describes the Virginia Plan that was used as the basis for the Constitution as something the Virginians and Pennsylvanians cooked up while they were "sitting around Philadelphia waiting for the other delegations to appear." Each entry is no more than 8 to 10 pages in length. The colorful details will make these events, both great and small, come to life for today's readers.-Jane S. Drabkin, Chinn Park Regional Library, Prince William, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.