Booknotes
Encyclopedia
Booknotes is an American
television series on the C-SPAN
network
hosted by Brian Lamb
, which originally aired from 1989 to 2004. The format of the show is a one-hour, one-on-one interview
with a non-fiction
author. The series was broadcast at 8 p.m. Eastern Time
each Sunday night, and was the longest-running author interview program in U.S. broadcast history.
, discussing The Grand Failure: The Birth and Death of Communism in the Twentieth Century. The fifth anniversary was marked on April 10, 1994 with a special two-hour show featuring over 50 of the 300 authors previously featured on the program. For the tenth anniversary of Booknotes in 1999, Brian Lamb compiled and edited an anthology of stories on 78 people who influenced American history from the 1700s to 1999. Titled Booknotes: Life Stories, each contributed story was written by a well-known biographer.
After 801 interviews, the final broadcast aired December 5, 2004. Lamb's guest was Mark Edmundson, author of Why Read?, professor of English at the University of Virginia
and a contributing editor at Harper's Magazine
. The show was intended to end with the 800th episode, but due to a miscalculation, the final program was actually the 801st.
Booknotes segments continue to be re-aired on C-SPAN
's companion network C-SPAN 2, during Saturday Book TV
broadcasts, while C-SPAN 3 airs repeat segments every weeknight at 11 p.m. Pacific Time
. All 801 transcripts are available online and the 801 shows can be viewed online via the Booknotes website. Lamb's own copies of the Booknotes books, most of which contain his personal marginalia, are housed in the rare books collection of George Mason University
.
, author of A Bright Shining Lie
, in September 1988. The interview itself resulted from Lamb having viewed a short commercial television
interview with Sheehan and wanting to hear more. According to Lamb, a strong viewer response to the program led to the decision to start producing a weekly author interview program.
The set where Booknotes was recorded was similarly basic, comprising a black backdrop, two armchairs and a coffee table.
, Colin Powell
, Frank McCourt
and David Crosby
. A number of former presidents have appeared on the program, including Richard Nixon
on February 23, 1992, Jimmy Carter
on February 19, 1995 and Bill Clinton
on December 15, 1996. In addition to the U.S. presidents who were interviewed for Booknotes, former UK Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher
also appeared on the program.
While the majority of Booknotes subjects have been authors of books on history, politics or public policy, exceptions included the violinist Isaac Stern
, who discussed his memoir, My First 79 Years, on the program on January 23, 2000.
Television in the United States
Television is one of the major mass media of the United States. Ninety-nine percent of American households have at least one television and the majority of households have more than one...
television series on the C-SPAN
C-SPAN
C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
hosted by Brian Lamb
Brian Lamb
Brian Patrick Lamb is the founder and chief executive officer of C-SPAN, a television network dedicated to coverage of government proceedings and public affairs. Born and raised in Lafayette, Indiana, Lamb earned a degree from Purdue University before joining the United States Navy...
, which originally aired from 1989 to 2004. The format of the show is a one-hour, one-on-one interview
Interview
An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...
with a non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
author. The series was broadcast at 8 p.m. Eastern Time
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
each Sunday night, and was the longest-running author interview program in U.S. broadcast history.
History
Booknotes debuted on April 2, 1989. The first guest was former United States National Security Advisor Zbigniew BrzezinskiZbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski is a Polish American political scientist, geostrategist, and statesman who served as United States National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981....
, discussing The Grand Failure: The Birth and Death of Communism in the Twentieth Century. The fifth anniversary was marked on April 10, 1994 with a special two-hour show featuring over 50 of the 300 authors previously featured on the program. For the tenth anniversary of Booknotes in 1999, Brian Lamb compiled and edited an anthology of stories on 78 people who influenced American history from the 1700s to 1999. Titled Booknotes: Life Stories, each contributed story was written by a well-known biographer.
After 801 interviews, the final broadcast aired December 5, 2004. Lamb's guest was Mark Edmundson, author of Why Read?, professor of English at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
and a contributing editor at Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
. The show was intended to end with the 800th episode, but due to a miscalculation, the final program was actually the 801st.
Booknotes segments continue to be re-aired on C-SPAN
C-SPAN
C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
's companion network C-SPAN 2, during Saturday Book TV
Book TV
Book TV is the name given to weekend programming on the American cable network C-SPAN2 airing from 8 a.m. Eastern Time Saturday morning to 8 a.m. Eastern Time Monday morning each week. The 48 hour block of programming is focused on non-fiction books and authors, featuring programs in the format of...
broadcasts, while C-SPAN 3 airs repeat segments every weeknight at 11 p.m. Pacific Time
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
. All 801 transcripts are available online and the 801 shows can be viewed online via the Booknotes website. Lamb's own copies of the Booknotes books, most of which contain his personal marginalia, are housed in the rare books collection of George Mason University
George Mason University
George Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...
.
Development
The Booknotes concept grew out of a one-off interview special with Neil SheehanNeil Sheehan
Cornelius Mahoney "Neil" Sheehan is an American journalist. As a reporter for The New York Times in 1971, Sheehan obtained the classified Pentagon Papers from Daniel Ellsberg. His series in the Times revealed a secret U.S. Department of Defense history of the Vietnam War and resulted in government...
, author of A Bright Shining Lie
A Bright Shining Lie
A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam is a book by Neil Sheehan, a former New York Times reporter who covered the Vietnam War. It is about retired U.S...
, in September 1988. The interview itself resulted from Lamb having viewed a short commercial television
Commercial broadcasting
Commercial broadcasting is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship...
interview with Sheehan and wanting to hear more. According to Lamb, a strong viewer response to the program led to the decision to start producing a weekly author interview program.
Format
Each Booknotes episode devoted one full hour to an interview with the author of a recently released non-fiction book. In order to avoid duplicate appearances by any one author, each guest appeared only once on the program, thus allowing for over 800 different authors to be interviewed every week over a fifteen-year stretch. The hour-long interviews explored authors' work habits, thoughts and lives, while also covering the intentions of their book and how, or if, these were achieved.Production
Research for the interviews was simple: producers identified subjects, arranged for them to appear and Brian Lamb would then read the book in the week prior to the interview. One reason for discontinuing the series, according to Lamb, was the time constraints imposed by reading an entire book every seven days.The set where Booknotes was recorded was similarly basic, comprising a black backdrop, two armchairs and a coffee table.
Guests
Notable guests appearing on Booknotes to discuss their published writings have included Hillary Clinton, Pat BuchananPat Buchanan
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan is an American paleoconservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought...
, Colin Powell
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...
, Frank McCourt
Frank McCourt
Francis "Frank" McCourt was an Irish-American teacher and Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, best known as the author of Angela’s Ashes, an award-winning, tragicomic memoir of the misery and squalor of his childhood....
and David Crosby
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
. A number of former presidents have appeared on the program, including Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
on February 23, 1992, Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
on February 19, 1995 and Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
on December 15, 1996. In addition to the U.S. presidents who were interviewed for Booknotes, former UK Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
also appeared on the program.
While the majority of Booknotes subjects have been authors of books on history, politics or public policy, exceptions included the violinist Isaac Stern
Isaac Stern
Isaac Stern was a Ukrainian-born violinist. He was renowned for his recordings and for discovering new musical talent.-Biography:Isaac Stern was born into a Jewish family in Kremenets, Ukraine. He was fourteen months old when his family moved to San Francisco...
, who discussed his memoir, My First 79 Years, on the program on January 23, 2000.