Booknotes: On American Character

by Brian Lamb

Over the past twenty-five years, C-SPAN has established itself as a national treasure.And Booknotes, the flagship of its book programming, has become the premierplace to see serious, thoughtful nonfiction get its television due. Over the pastfifteen years, Brian Lamb, the CEO of C-SPAN and host of Booknotes, hasinterviewed 765 authors on the program, and these deep and wide-ranging interviewshave been the basis for three bestselling Booknotes books. Now, in anew collection, Booknotes: On American Character, Lamb has selected seventyoriginal pieces that reveal something about America: the nation's people, history,and character.

Here are biographies of artists, businessmen, politicians, and inventors; storiesof events famous, infamous, and less well-known in the nation's history; a lookat how politics works in America and how the nation responds to conflict. Ourleading historians, journalists, and public figures draw from a diverse set ofsources to examine what kind of nation and people we are. The result is a valuableaddition to the Booknotes legacy and a welcome read for any fan of theprogram.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Essays, Politics

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Brian Lamb, founder of C-SPAN, currently serves as the C-SPAN Networks' Executive Chairman. Since C-SPAN's founding in 1979, Brian has been a regular on-camera presence, interviewing all presidents since Reagan and many world leaders, members of Congress, journalists and authors. Over 15 years beginning in 1989, Brian interviewed 801 nonfiction authors for a weekly series called "Booknotes." Currently, Brian hosts "Q & A," a Sunday evening, hour-long interview program with people who are making things happen in the public sphere.

Six books of collected Brian Lamb interviews have been published by PublicAffairs based on the "Booknotes" and "Q & A" series, most recently, "Sundays at Eight." And in 2010, PublicAffairs published "The Supreme Court," a collection of interviews Brian and C-SPAN colleague Susan Swain conducted with eleven current and former Supreme Court justices. C-SPAN's 10th book with PublicAffairs, "The Presidents: Noted Historians Rank America's Best - and Worst - Chief Executives," was published in spring 2019.

Brian's work with C-SPAN has been recognized with the Presidential Medal of Honor and the National Humanities Medal. In 2011, Purdue University, Brian's alma mater, announced the naming of the Brian Lamb School of Communication.

Brian is a longtime resident of Arlington, Virginia. When he's not devouring newspapers, websites, nonfiction books, or Thai food at his favorite local restaurant, Brian is likely in hot pursuit of the latest country music release.

Reviews

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brian Lamb here presents edited versions of seventy-two Booknotes interviews—many of fellow journalists. It’s a bit unsettling to read interviews in which the interviewer has edited himself out, but since the book is Lamb’s third in this format, the publisher must have believed he knew what would sell. Obviously, some authors are more articulate than others, and the inarticulate ones come across as, well, more inarticulate than they probably would have liked. The essays are informal and chatty and only about six or seven pages long—nothing too serious and nothing about which I had any inclination to take notes.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brief, 6-page transcripts of TV interviews on CSPAN of authors who have written nonfiction books about American figures and subjects. It's organized by theme, so inventors, politics, culture, etc. The conversational style makes it both easy to read and superficial. An easy way to get a small amount of knowledge about topics in American history.

[Dick Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Write-ups of Brian Lamb's "Booknotes" show on CSPAN. 72 authors are interviewed, ranging from Isaac Stern to Sandra Day O'Conner. Reading this book is extremely educational. I gave it a "10" out of 10!