C-SPAN Bookshelf

As a follow on to Stuart Banner's history of the Supreme Court, this week's Booknotes+ podcast features a 2002 interview with Dennis Hutchinson, a University of Chicago law professor emeritus. The subject matter: the forgotten memoir of John Knox, a law clerk to former justice James McReynolds, a native of Kentucky. Knox's year was the term beginning October 1936. In history, it is very rare that a law clerk at the Supreme Court has published an insider's view of the court or of a justice. Professor Hutchinson gives the background on where he found the memoir, which hadn't been published before. Justice McReynolds, as you will hear, was, according to historians, arguably one of the most disagreeable justices ever to sit on the bench. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and writer George Will, whose nationally syndicated column has been running since 1974, discusses his life and career in the opinion business. Mr. Will talks about the impact of his work on U.S. politics over the past 50 years, conservatism in the age of Donald Trump, his love of baseball, and other topics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer Paul Blustein made the case for why he believes the dollar will remain the world's dominant currency. He was interviewed by author and Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Zongyuan Zoe Liu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

UCLA law professor Stuart Banner's book, "The Most Powerful Court in the World," is a history of the United States Supreme Court from the founding era to the present. In his introduction, Stuart Banner writes that: "Today, critics on the left accuse the justices of deciding cases on political rather than legal grounds. This book shows that the Court's critics have always leveled this criticism at decisions they did not like. These attacks have usually come from the left because the court has usually been a conservative institution." Author Stuart Banner has a law degree from Stanford and clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in 1991. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Activist and professor Loretta Ross, author of "Calling In," discusses the excesses of cancel culture and the need for a more inclusive way to hold people accountable in the age of social media. Prof. Ross, who was sexually abused as a child, also talks about her past work with convicted rapists and white supremacists. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bestselling author Michael Lewis posed the question, who works for the government and why does their work matter? He's interviewed by Harvard Kennedy School of Government Public Policy & Management Professor Elizabeth Linos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

C-SPAN Founder Brian Lamb is in conversation with Sam Feist, the network's CEO, and Susan Swain, C-SPAN's former co-CEO, about his quest to bring live, gavel-to-gavel coverage of Congress into every American home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steven Gillon was a scholar in residence at the History Channel for more than 20 years. He has written 12 books on subjects including a history of the United States, the Kerner Commission, Lee Harvey Oswald, and the Life of John F. Kennedy Jr. His latest book is titled "Presidents at War: How World War II Shaped a Generation of Presidents from Eisenhower and JFK through Reagan and Bush." Steven Gillon closes his book saying: "Ironically, the threats facing America in the third decade of the 21st century are very real and, in many ways, similar to the challenges the nation confronted in the 1930s." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York University journalism professor Meryl Gordon, author of "The Woman Who Knew Everyone," talks about the life of socialite and Democratic fundraiser Perle Mesta. Mesta, dubbed the "hostess with the mostest," was close to three U.S. presidents during the mid-20th century, and was known for throwing parties that brought political elites together. She served as U.S. envoy to Luxembourg following WWII, was an early activist for the Equal Rights Amendment, and was the subject of the Broadway musical and later movie, "Call Me Madam." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Adam Ratner spoke about the resurgence of measles that he's seeing as a pediatrician and the future of children's health. He was interviewed by George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health professor Emily Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a follow up to our recent podcast regarding the life and times of Anne Frank, we asked author Alexandra Ritchie to tell us more about the horrors of World War II and Poland. Ritchie, a citizen of Canada, now lives in the city which is the title of her book, Warsaw. Her focus is on 1944 and what was called the Warsaw Uprising. In her introduction, she writes, "Himmler and Hitler had decided that the entire population remaining in one of Europe's great capital cities was to be murdered in cold blood. Himmler referred to Warsaw as the great abscess, which was to be completely destroyed." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY), author of "All the President's Money," talks about his committee's 15-month investigation into the business practices of then President Joe Biden and members of President Biden's family, including his brother James and son Hunter. Rep. Comer argues that the Bidens have benefitted financially from corrupt financial dealings involving Ukraine, China, and other countries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Omar El Akkad questions if the U.S. is forsaking its core values, after covering wars around the globe & social unrest as a journalist for 20 years. He's interviewed by author and University of Oxford Modern Middle Eastern History professor Eugene Rogan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the years right before World War II started in 1939, Winston Churchill had been out of government. However, even though he was far from power, his country home, Chartwell, became Churchill's headquarters of his campaign against Nazi Germany. Catherine Carter is a curator and historian who has managed the house and collections at Chartwell. Her new book is called "Churchill's Citadel: Chartwell and the Gatherings Before the Storm." Catherine Carter reveals how Churchill used Chartwell, which is 35 miles from London, as his base during the pre-war years to collect key intelligence about Germany's preparation for war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

National Geographic explorer Tara Roberts travels the world documenting underwater wrecks of some of the 12,000 slave ships that operated during the Atlantic slave trade. In her memoir, "Written in the Waters," Roberts talks about the training and preparation required to undertake the diving missions and the work done by the nonprofit organization that she dives with, Diving with a Purpose, which is primarily composed of African American divers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Kevin Fagan reports on the underlying issues of homelessness in America, tracing the experiences of two unhoused persons in San Francisco. He was interviewed by former Obama Administration HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

80 years ago, in early 1945, 15-year-old Anne Frank died from a typhus epidemic in the Nazi German-based concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. As the 7500 square foot replica of the Otto Frank family secret annex in Amsterdam opens in New York City, writer Ruth Franklin is publishing her new biography called "The Many Lives of Anne Frank." According to Franklin, the title of the book refers to the multiplicity of ways in which Anne Frank has been understood and misunderstood. Anne Frank's diary is one of the best-selling non-fiction books of all time. Reportedly over 30 million copies have been sold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former mafia associate Louis Ferrante talks about "Borgata: Clash of Titans," volume two of his history of the American mafia that covers the years 1960-1985. In part two of this two-part interview, Mr. Ferrante further details what he says was the mafia's involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy and discusses Robert Kennedy's battle with mobster Carlos Marcello (mar-CELL-oh), boss of the New Orleans Mafia from the late 1940s to the early 1980s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Eve Ewing argues that education systems in the United States have been designed to reinforce racial inequality at the expense of Black & Native children. She's interviewed by Associate Press editor Alia Wong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A little over 100 years ago was the beginning of what's often been called the Great War. World War I had military casualties of over nine million and millions more of civilians. Professor Sean McMeekin of Bard College, located in New York State, has written 9 books since 2003 on subjects that include German history, Russian history, the Ottoman Empire, communism, World War II, and one titled "July 1914." This last book is the focus of our conversation with Professor McMeekin. World War I was triggered in late June of 1914 by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo, Bosnia. They were gunned down by a Serbian 19-year-old by the name of Gavrilo Princip. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices