The Texas Book Festival is happy to partner once again with C-Span2/Book TV on October 27-28 to host (and livestream) engaging and relevant cultural conversations about our current political climate. This year, the topics are many and varied, including immigration in the U.S., voting rights, class divides, technology, feminism, ground-breaking medical advances, and discussions on the importance of free press and journalism.
Saturday, October 27
Saturday, October 27 10:00-10:45
Undocumented: Our Experiences Living in the U.S.
Jose Antonio Vargas and Reyna Grande
The tense political discussions about undocumented citizens in America often focus on policy and overlook the heart of the matter: the very people living the reality of being undocumented every day. Vargas and Grande offer insight into this fraught debate and share their first-hand experiences living undocumented in America.
Saturday, October 27 11:00-11:45
Presidents of War with Michael Beschloss
Michael Beschloss
Ever since our nation’s founding, America has found itself almost continuously at war. NBC News Presidential Historian and bestselling author Michael Beschloss discusses his definitive analysis of America’s major wartime presidents and their wars, from James Madison and the War of 1812 to LBJ and Vietnam, examining the commanders-in-chief of the armed forces who have had to make the impossible choice of when to hazard American lives.
Saturday, October 27 12:00-12:45
How We Learn: Examining American Education
Justin Driver and Lenora Chu
Journalist Lenora Chu (Little Soldier) and scholar Justin Driver (The Schoolhouse Gate) examine how we value, consider, and make decisions about childhood education, looking at examples of American and Chinese public school systems. What do we gain—and lose—in the race to achieve?
Saturday, October 27 1:00-1:45
America on the Fritz: Reporting 2016
Ben Fountain and Amy Chozick
2016 was a surreal year to live through and an extraordinary year to write. Amy Chozick (Chasing Hillary), who covered the Hillary Clinton beat for the New York Times, and Ben Fountain (Beautiful Country, Burn Again), whose new essay collection analyzes this monumental year in American politics and culture, discuss the wild ride of writing 2016.
Saturday, October 27 2:00-2:45
One Person, No Vote: Voter Suppression in America
Carol Anderson
Carol Anderson, award-winning author of White Rage and her new book, One Person, No Vote, addresses the history of voter suppression in America, how it works, how is effectively allows racial discrimination in voting districts, and the resistance at work to restore the basic right to vote to all Americans.
Saturday, October 27 3:00-3:45
Squeezed and Broke in America
Sarah Smarsh and Alissa Quart
From the the working poor to the middle class, America’s labor force is struggling to make ends meet, despite the supposedly low unemployment numbers. Why? Wages have stagnated. costs have risen and traditional careers and life trajectories have come undone. Meanwhile, the wealthiest get even more wealthy. Can the ever-more precarious working class and middle class ever recognize their growing common cause in economic instability, and organize to change their lives and our political landscape? Join journalists Sarah Smarsh and Alissa Quart for a frank, moving, and eye-opening discussion.
Saturday, October 27 4:00-4:45
San Francisco to Austin: Cities Changing Under Tech
Cary McClelland and Randy Shaw
Austin’s tech bubble is booming, but what does that mean for the life of the city and the people who live here, whether or not they have anything to do with tech? Cary McClelland (Silicon City) and Randy Shaw (Generation Priced Out) explore how tech shaped San Francisco and what might be ahead for Texas’s capital city.
Sunday, October 28
Sunday, October 28 11:00-11:45
Identity Politics
Francis Fukuyama
Demand for recognition of one’s identity unifies much of what is going on in world politics today. Francis Fukuyama, the bestselling author of The Origins of Political Order, offers a provocative examination of modern identity politics: its origins, its effects, and what it means for domestic and international affairs of state.
Sunday, October 28 12:00-12:45
Ticker: The Making of the First Artificial Heart
Mimi Swartz
Texas Monthly executive editor and two-time National Magazine Award winner Mimi Swartz takes us behind the scenes of one of the greatest medical and technological quest of our time, the effort to develop, perfect, and successfully implant an artificial heart in patients whose hearts are failing.
Sunday, October 28 1:00-1:45
Beyond #MeToo: Women Seizing Power
Ashley Farmer and Bernice Yeung
As misogyny runs rampant at the highest levels of society, women are furious—and claiming power through action. Farmer and Yeung examine historic and present-day women and female-led initiatives that take #MeToo beyond the anger and into transformative action.
Sunday, October 28 2:00-2:45
Held Captive: Inside America’s Prisons
Shane Bauer and Debra Jo Immergut
Mass incarceration is big business in America. In order to write penetrating new investigative nonfiction and a gripping new novel, journalist Shane Bauer (American Prison) and novelist Debra Jo Immergut (The Captives) went inside prisons to research the reality of the system and bring to light the shocking state of being held captive in America.
Sunday, October 28 3:00-3:45
We Get the Job Done: Political Power of Immigrants
Sayu Bhojwani and Laura Wides-Muñoz
Immigrants in America are a powerful political force. Sayu Bhojwani (People Like Us), founder and president of New American Leaders, and journalist Laura Wides-Muñoz (The Making of a Dream) share stories of immigrants who are organizing as political newcomers and making change in America.
Sunday, October 28 4:00-4:45
Keeping Score and Calling Foul: Sports Journalism in 2018
Michael Sokolove and Mark Leibovich
Award-winning journalists Michael Sokolove (The Last Temptation of Rick Pitino) and Mark Leibovich (Big Game) take on the Big Time Sports with their respective exposes on NCAA Basketball and the NFL. Go behind the scenes with them into the locker rooms, basketball courts, and playing fields and learn some ugly truths and surprising revelations about two of America’s major organized sports.