PODCAST · arts
C-SPAN Bookshelf
by C-SPAN
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
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Booknotes+: Simon Sebag Montefiore, "The Cauldron"
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…
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Q&A Podcast: Kerry Kennedy, "Ethel"
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...
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America’s Book Club: Elliot Ackerman & Admiral James Stavridis on War, Global Conflict, and Their Bestselling Thrillers
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…
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AW: "Frenchman Flat: The Rise and Fall of Atomic Bombs"
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...
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BN+: John Ryan, "America's Trial"
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...
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Q&A: Brad Ryan, "Grandma Joy and Me"
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...
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Min Jin Lee on “Pachinko,” Her Literary Career & Meeting King Charles
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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AW: Dad Brain - The New Science of Fatherhood and How It Shapes Men's Lives
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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BN+: Sam Roberts, "Are They Dead Yet?"
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...
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Q&A: Mitch Daniels, "Impatience Is a Virtue"
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…
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ABC: Nathaniel Philbrick on the Mayflower, George Washington & the California Gold Rush
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...
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AW: "Technology, Politics, and the Fight for the Soul of San Francisco"
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...
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BN+: Craig Whitlock, Washington Post Investigative Reporter
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...
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Q&A: Zayd Ayers Dohrn, "Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young"
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…
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ABC: Scott Turow on Legal Thrillers, Writing & Artificial Intelligence
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,...
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BN+: Andrew Burstein, "Being Thomas Jefferson"
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...
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Q&A: Andrea Mitchell, NBC Chief Washington Correspondent
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…
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ABC: David Maraniss on Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Vince Lombardi & Jim Thorpe
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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AW: The American Way of Welfare
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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BN+: Jonathan Jordan, "Ike and Winston
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,...
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Q&A: Kenneth Feinberg, "What Is Life Worth?"
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...
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ABC: Susan Page on Queen Elizabeth’s Relationships With 13 U.S. Presidents
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...
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AW: Stories of Patriotism and Purpose with Martha Raddatz
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...
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BN+: Scott Greenberger, "The Forsaken Founder"
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...
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Q&A: 9/11 Oral Histories
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…
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ABC: Kai Bird on Roy Cohn, American Scoundrel & American Prometheus
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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AW: Amazon Labor Union Co-Founder, Chris Smalls
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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BN+: Joby Warrick, "The Jackal"
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...
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New York Times Photographer Doug Mills on Covering the White House
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…
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AW: Joanna Stern's Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything
Technology reporter Joanna Stern describes the year she spent using artificial intelligence and robots in all aspects of her life. The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, provided this event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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BN+: Paul Taylor, "This Is Getting Old"
Paul Taylor tells his readers: "For the first 25 years, I was a newspaper reporter. For the next 25, a political reformer, a demographer, a pollster, an author, and a public speaker." He's now 77 and has written a memoir titled "This Is Getting Old: Two Boomers and Their Generation at Dusk."...
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Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch Discusses Heroes of 1776
From the Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Neil Gorsuch discusses his children's book, "Heroes of 1776," about the signers of the Declaration of Independence and other, lesser known, revolutionaries who put their life, liberty, and property on the line to gain independence from the...
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After Words: A Woman's-Eye View of the Revolutionary Era
Historian Molly Beer took a woman's-eye view of the revolutionary era through the life of Angelica Schuyler Church, Alexander Hamilton's sister-in-law. Thomas Jefferson's Monticello hosted this event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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BN+: JD Vance, "Hillbilly Elegy"
In the political history of the United States, books have had a big impact on who the public follows in elections. In 1956, John F. Kennedy published "Profiles in Courage," which sold 2.8 million copies by his death in 1963. Jimmy Carter released his title "Why Not the Best?" in 1975, the year...
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Q&A: Historian & Biographer Robert Caro
This week on Q&A, it's a rare interview with one of America's leading historians. We tour the New York City office and home library of Pulitzer Prize-winning bestselling biographer Robert Caro, who is currently working on the final volume of his 5-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson. During the...
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BN+: John Jenkins, "Summer of '71" – Part 2
This is the second of a two-part interview with journalist John A. Jenkins. His book is "Summer of '71: Five Months That Changed America." Jenkins writes in the introduction: "[I]t is hard to overstate the importance of the events that defined the American experience during the fateful five…
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Jennifer Levasseur, Space History Curator
The Smithsonian Institution National Air & Space Museum's Jennifer Levasseur discusses the history of the 135-mission Space Shuttle program (1981-2011), its accomplishments, and two tragic failures that led to the deaths of 14 shuttle astronauts. Ms. Levasseur, the curator in charge of the Space...
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BN+: John Jenkins, "Summer of '71" – Part 1
John A. Jenkins has been a journalist most of his life in the city of his birth, Washington, DC. He says he's never known another summer like the one 55 years ago. His book, "Summer of '71: Five Months That Changed America," focuses on well-known names from that era: Daniel Ellsberg, Neil…
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Q&A: Mark Harmon & Leon Carroll, Jr., "Ghosts of Sicily"
Actor Mark Harmon and retired NCIS special agent Leon Carroll, Jr., discuss their book "Ghosts of Sicily," the latest in their series about real-life Naval intelligence operations. "Ghosts of Sicily" tells the story of the U.S. government's use of the American mafia to fight the Nazis and…
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BN+: Christine Kuehn, "Family of Spies"
The author's name is Christine Kuehn. The book is titled "Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor." Christine Kuehn worked on her family's story for over 30 years. According to the publisher's note, it began with a letter from…
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Q&A: Tad Devine, "How the Democrats Screwed Bernie"
Tad Devine, former chief campaign strategist for Bernie Sanders and the author of "How the Democrats Screwed Bernie," argues that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee used dirty tricks, dark money groups, and the mainstream media to thwart Sen. Sanders' presidential run in 2016....
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ABC: Ben Mezrich on The Social Network, 21, and Turning True Stories into Hollywood Hits
Bestselling author Ben Mezrich joins David Rubenstein to discuss his writing career and the real-life stories behind several of his bestselling books, including Bringing Down the House and The Accidental Billionaires, which were adapted into the hit films 21 and The Social Network. Learn more…
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After Words: Managing Chronic Pain with Dr. Sanjay Gupta
Neurosurgeon and medical journalist Sanjay Gupta discussed strategies for preventing and managing pain and promoting wellness. This event took place at the 2026 New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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BN+: Ted Widmer, "The Living Declaration"
The commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence has now gone beyond the Fourth of July. Many books have been published about the Declaration in the first half of 2026. The question for Americans is: "Have you read the Declaration in full?" A recent…
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Q&A: Mike Leinbach, Former Space Shuttle Launch Director & Co-Author, "Bringing Columbia Home"
On February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana while re-entering Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board. Former Space Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach, who led debris recovery and reconstruction efforts following the accident, talks…
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ABC: Michael Beschloss Explores the Revolutionary War, Civil War & 20th Century America
Bestselling presidential historian Michael Beschloss joins David M. Rubenstein for a wide-ranging conversation on American history. They discuss the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the pivotal events and presidents that shaped the United States in the twentieth century. Learn more about…
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AW: Political Realignment and the "New Right"
The John Locke Institute's Stephen Davies argued that the world is witnessing the emergence a permanent new form of "right-wing" politics. He spoke at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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BN+: Valerie Fridland, "Why We Talk Funny"
After 47 years of C-SPAN televising the Congress of United States, we feel there is no better place to hear accents and dialects of the American people 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In her book "Why We Talk Funny: The Real Story Behind Our Accents," Valerie Fridland promises to unlock "the...
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ABC: Geraldine Brooks on Memoir, Fiction & War Reporting
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss her memoir, acclaimed novels, and early career as a war correspondent. She reflects on the experiences that shaped her writing, the intersection of history and fiction, and the personal stories behind her work....
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AW: The Politicization of the Justice Department
Reporter Aaron Davis argued the Trump administration has politicized the Justice Department. This was part of Maryland's 2026 Gaithersburg Book Festival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
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!
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does C-SPAN Bookshelf have?
C-SPAN Bookshelf currently has 578 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is C-SPAN Bookshelf about?
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...
How often does C-SPAN Bookshelf release new episodes?
C-SPAN Bookshelf releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 578 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
Where can I listen to C-SPAN Bookshelf?
You can listen to C-SPAN Bookshelf on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts C-SPAN Bookshelf?
C-SPAN Bookshelf is created and hosted by C-SPAN.
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