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PODCAST

C-SPAN Bookshelf

The C-SPAN Bookshelf podcast feed makes it easy for you to listen to all of the C-SPAN podcast episodes about nonfiction books. Each week we gather episodes from the different C-SPAN podcasts that feature authors talking about history, biography, current events, and culture to make it easier to discover the episodes and listen. If you like nonfiction books, follow this podcast feed so you never miss an episode!

arts books

All Episodes

64:08

Q&A: Mitch Daniels, "Impatience Is a Virtue"

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/10/05

Purdue University President Mitch Daniels discusses his life in public service, including his time in Washington, DC, during the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations and his two-term governorship of Indiana. He also talks about his upbringing, his early years in Indiana politics, and his years as an executive at pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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61:34

ABC: Nathaniel Philbrick on the Mayflower, George...

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/10/04

National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist historian Nathaniel Philbrick joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss his bestselling books about the Mayflower, George Washington, and the California gold rush, as well as life on Nantucket. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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70:44

AW: "Technology, Politics, and the Fight for the Soul...

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/10/04

The 21st century saga of San Francisco's rise and fall -- paralleled by the arrival of tech entrepreneurs who remade the city's culture, politics, and economy - as told by journalist Jonathan Weber. In 1990, he became the first "Silicon Valley" reporter for the Los Angeles Times and later coordinated Reuters' reporting on West Coast technology. He sat down with former New York Times Technology Reporter, John Markoff, at The Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California in San Francisco in

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64:31

BN+: Craig Whitlock, Washington Post Investigative...

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/29

On Saturday, August 8, on the front page of the Washington Post was this headline: "Some Vets Went Along with Scams of the G.I. Bill." Leading the team of Post reporters was Craig Whitlock. His co-author was Andrew Ba Tran. The dateline on the story was San Diego. The first paragraph of the story was: "At Blue Star Learning, a vocational school that defrauded taxpayers of $29 million in GI Bill funds, learning was not the point." Craig Whitlock, 28-year Washington Post veteran, was a gust on

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61:55

Q&A: Zayd Ayers Dohrn, "Dangerous, Dirty, Violent,...

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/28

Zayd Ayers Dohrn, author of "Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young," spent the first three years of his life on the run from the law with his fugitive parents, Weather Underground founders Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover once called his mother the "most dangerous woman in America." Zayd Ayers Dohrn talks about his parents' upbringing and revolutionary politics, the violence committed by the Weather Underground during the 1970s, and his life after his parents turned

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60:01

ABC: Scott Turow on Legal Thrillers, Writing &...

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/27

Bestselling author and attorney Scott Turow joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss his career as a master of the legal thriller, his writing process, and the experiences that have inspired his novels. Turow also shares his concerns about artificial intelligence and its potential impact on writers, publishing, and the creative process.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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68:08

Andrew Burstein, "Being Thomas Jefferson"

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/22

Andrew Burstein recently retired as a professor of history at Louisiana State University. "Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History" is his 16th book about the early years of the United States. In the introduction, Prof. Burstein writes: "This book is about extraordinary drama that punctuated the life of a famous man who had an unusual need to control his environment." Andrew Burstein continues, noting that "as much as his creative imagination led to memorable achievements, the capaciousness of

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62:05

Q&A: Andrea Mitchell, NBC Chief Washington Correspondent

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/21

NBC News Chief Washington and Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell talks about some of the big stories and important people – including U.S. presidents and world leaders – she has covered during her nearly 50 years with the network. Mitchell also talks about her upbringing, her early years in radio and TV in Philadelphia, and her marriage to the late Alan Greenspan, who served as chair of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

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60:47

ABC: David Maraniss on Bill Clinton, Barack Obama,...

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/20

Pulitzer Prize winner and longtime Washington Post reporter David Maraniss joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss his biographies of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Vince Lombardi, and Jim Thorpe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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69:34

AW: The American Way of Welfare

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/20

Chris Pope argued for policies that he believes would improve the current welfare system in the United States. The Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., hosted this event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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72:47

BN+: Jonathan Jordan, "Ike and Winston

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/15

Jonathan Jordan devotes 544 pages and 57 chapters of his book "Ike and Winston" to telling the story of the friendship between Dwight David Eisenhower and Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. President Eisenhower lived to be 78 and died in 1969. Sir Winston died four years before that, in 1965, at age 90. Author Jonathan Jordan says: "Churchill could have had his pick of friendship, but he wanted Ike's. In the beginning, he courted Ike for what Ike could do for Britain. The Kansan held the trust

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65:06

Q&A: Kenneth Feinberg, "What Is Life Worth?"

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/14

Eleven days after the attacks on September 11, 2001, Congress passed a law establishing the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund to compensate families who lost loved ones on 9/11. Attorney Kenneth Feinberg, author of "What Is Life Worth?," was chosen to head up the taxpayer-funded effort and was solely responsible for determining how much each family would get paid. In all, 5,500 people received a combined total of $7.1 billion, with the average payout being $2 million. Learn more

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60:24

ABC: Susan Page on Queen Elizabeth’s Relationships...

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/13

Best-selling author and USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss her book about Queen Elizabeth's relationships with 13 U.S. presidents and her biographies of Barbara Bush, Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Walters.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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70:25

AW: Stories of Patriotism and Purpose with Martha...

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/13

Longtime ABC News war correspondent Martha Raddatz profiled American military service members and their families who have served in the 25 years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. She was interviewed by San Francisco ABC7 News Anchor, Dan Ashley, at the Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California in May of 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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64:46

BN+: Scott Greenberger, "The Forsaken Founder"

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/08

In the beginning of Scott Greenberger's new book, "The Forsaken Founder," Dawn Davis, publisher of the Simon & Schuster imprint 37 Ink, introduces us to this new history of a mostly unfamiliar name. Davis writes: "Hamilton, Franklin, Washington, Madison. These are names we know." However, she writes that "there was another man in the room at the founding, a prodigy whose contributions were just as essential, whose name has largely been forgotten: Gouverneur Morris. Morris, as the penman of the

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65:22

Q&A: 9/11 Oral Histories

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/07

To mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001, we present first-hand accounts of that day from first responders, journalists, political figures, and others. You'll hear from New York City firefighter Tim Brown, World Trade Center owner Larry Silverstein, photographer Doug Mills, reporters Ann Compton and Andrea Mitchell, President Bush assistant Anita McBride, Rear Admiral David Thomas, Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD), and F-16 pilot Major Heather Penny. Learn more about your ad

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60:17

ABC: Kai Bird on Roy Cohn, American Scoundrel &...

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/06

Pulitzer Prize winner Kai Bird joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss his biography of Roy Cohn, American Scoundrel, and his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus, which inspired the film Oppenheimer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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66:15

AW: Amazon Labor Union Co-Founder, Chris Smalls

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/06

Chris Smalls told his story of becoming the co-founder of the Amazon Labor Union. He was interviewed by Journalist & Author Karen Attiah at the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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64:14

BN+: Joby Warrick, "The Jackal"

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/09/01

Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal, has been in prison for 32 years in France. He was captured in Sudan on August 14, 1994. In his book titled "The Jackal," Washington Post correspondent Joby Warrick reports on his 2025 meeting with the jailed terrorist in Paris. Carlos told him: "I killed 83 people with my own hand." Reporter Warrick writes that: "Carlos mattered. He was the human face of a dangerous new form of international terrorism that emerged in the 1970s and the 1980s,

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63:32

New York Times Photographer Doug Mills on Covering...

C-SPAN Bookshelf ·

2026/08/31

New York Times staff photographer Doug Mills has won 3 Pulitzer Prizes for his work covering the White House & Washington, Super Bowls, Olympics, and many other major events. He tells us that he's taken over one million photographs of President Trump alone. In our conversation, he talks about some of the events he's covered going back to the Reagan administration. He talks about being in the Oval Office and on Air Force One, photographing the Clinton/Gore campaign in 1992, accompanying President

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