C-SPAN Bookshelf

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!

Episodes

October 27, 2026 • 67 mins
Eugene V. Debs ran for President of the United States as a socialist five times. The first in 1900, the last in 1920, when he received close to a million votes. Shawn Gude, a native of Iowa, a former editor of Jacobin, and a current resident of New York City, is the author of a Debs biography titled "American Socialist." In his introduction, Gude writes: "The story of Eugene V. Debs' life is the story of one man's radicalization, a...
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CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash, co-author of "The Elections That Changed the World," looks at elections going back to ancient Rome that have had an outsized impact on humanity. She discusses the elections of Lincoln, Hitler, Churchill, Nelson Mandela, and others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Author and former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (1995-99) joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss his extensive career in Congress and writing more than 40 books on topics ranging from political commentary to alternative history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Harvard historian Jill Lepore explores how digital technology is re-shaping society. She was interviewed by WPVI-TV anchor Tamala Edwards at the Free Library of Philadelphia in September. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Simon Sebag Montefiore has written nine nonfiction books and three novels. His latest is called "The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East." The time period covered is from 1900 to the present. In Mr. Montefiore's acknowledgements, he writes: "Family is an important theme in this book, and my own has a slight link to the dynasties that ruled the Middle East. My forebearer Moses Montefiore first met Muhammad Ali the Great, ...
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October 18, 2026 • 63 mins
Lawyer and activist Kerry Kennedy, author of "Ethel," discusses her mother Ethel Kennedy's early life, marriage to Robert Kennedy, and involvement in human rights causes both at home and abroad. Kerry Kennedy also talks about the Kennedy family's long involvement in American politics and the assassination of her father by Sirhan Sirhan in 1968. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Bestselling authors Elliot Ackerman, a Marine Corps veteran, and retired U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis join David M. Rubenstein to discuss their military thrillers, including 2034: A Novel of the Next World War and 2054: A Novel. They explore the future of warfare, emerging technologies, global security threats, and how their military experiences influence their writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adch...
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Jon Else explored the lives of the scientists who worked on the atomic bombs, including the health impacts they experienced. He was interviewed by UC Berkeley Journalism Professor, Mark Danner at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco in September.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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October 13, 2026 • 101 mins
Only nine men have been convicted, through military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, out of roughly 780 total detainees held there for some time since 2002. However, only 15 prisoners are currently housed at Gitmo. One of those is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who allegedly said he was the mastermind of 9/11. Mohammed has spent the last 20 years incarcerated and is said to go on trial in June 2028. John Ryan, founder of Lawdragon, has spent...
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October 11, 2026 • 63 mins
Brad Ryan and his 96-year-old grandmother Joy recount their visits to all 63 U.S. National Parks. Completed over a 7-year period, the duo visited parks from Alaska to Florida, concluding with a visit to the National Park of American Samoa in 2023 when Joy Ryan was 93. In total they traveled over 100,000 miles together. Brad Ryan chronicled their adventures in real time on social media and now in a book titled "Grandma Joy and Me." ...
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Bestselling author Min Jin Lee joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss her literary career, early life in the United States, her award-winning novel "Pachinko," and meeting King Charles and Queen Camilla. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Neuroscientist Darby Saxbe describes how men's brains change with fatherhood. She was interviewed by journalist, Matthew Yglesias at the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C., in June of 2026.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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October 6, 2026 • 70 mins
The name of the book is "Are They Dead Yet?: The Art of the Obit." The author, Sam Roberts, is a 50-year veteran of New York journalism. He says in his book: "I've buried 1,600 or so people during my improbable decade writing obituaries for the New York Times." Reporters who do his kind of reporting are called obituarists. Sam Roberts, in his book's prologue, says he "learned more on the job about accuracy, context, and the distinc...
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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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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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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 Commonw...
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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." C...
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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 Unde...
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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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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 cre...
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