OASIS IN THE VAST WASTELAND:

C-SPAN host wants to get to know writers (Sylvia A. Smith, Feb. 02, 2003, The Journal Gazette)

He asked what S&M sex is. He asked who Abraham Lincoln was. He asked Jimmy Carter to analyze his role as a father. He asks why authors dedicate their books to the people they did; where they write; what their parents think of the book.

When Brian Lamb sits down with an author for an hour on C-SPAN's "Booknotes," as he has weekly since 1989, the conversation has one point:

To teach someone something. On the best of days, that someone is Lamb. [...]

Lamb stands out among author interviewer on two counts. He reads the book, and he asks short questions that allow the author to talk - often at length. On one typical show last month, in fact, the "Booknotes" guest spoke 8,026 words. Lamb uttered 1,251.

"One of the things about interviewers in television is they abhor a vacuum," Lamb said. "Commercial television doesn't allow them to have a pause. Interviewers are almost trained putting words in people's mouths. They ask closed questions. They say to the guest: You think that George Bush is a great president, don't you? Well, we have just the opposite approach: What kind of president do you think George Bush is?

"That person can take that anywhere they want to. You're not prejudicing their answer. You're not forcing them to say, 'No, I don't think he's a great president.' It flows. They're not used to that."

Lamb readily acknowledges that C-SPAN's Joe Friday approach doesn't appeal to everyone. But its fans are diehards. [...]

Zacher's book sold out after his "Booknotes" appearance. So did "Carnegie," a biography by Peter Krass that was aired Nov. 24.

"There was a huge spike in sales," Krass said, noting that before his "Booknotes" interview, "Carnegie" was ranked about 2,000th on Amazon.com, where rankings are based on sales. After the program, he said, "it skyrocketed to 300."

Count us among the diehards. We know the Krass family a little--see book review--and Mr. Krass says Brian Lamb is exactly as nice as he seems.

If you aren't hooked yet, this week's show looks terrific: Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order by Robert Kagan (C-SPAN, Sunday, February 16, 2003, 8 & 11 pm). The book expands upon this outstanding piece Power and Weakness, which foreshadowed the current NATO crack-up and explains that, contrary to those who think this is all a matter of temper tantrums, the split between Europe and America is a function of the clash of civilizations--Europe having become post-Western.

MORE:
Brian Lamb's America (David Brooks, Weekly Standard)

THE QUINTESSENTIAL C-SPAN MOMENT came during a Booknotes program in 1991, while host Brian Lamb was interviewing Martin Gilbert, the author of a biography of Winston Churchill. Gilbert was talking about the interplay between private scandal and public life when the following exchange took place:

Gilbert: When Churchill was 20 and a young soldier, he was accused of buggery, and, you know, that’s, you know, a terrible accusation. Well, he ended up prime minister for just quite a long time.

Lamb: Why was he accused of buggery and what is it?

Gilbert: You don’t know what buggery is?

Lamb: Define it, please.

Gilbert: Oh dear. Well, I—I’m sorry. I thought the word we—buggery is what used to be called a—the—an unnatural act of the Oscar Wilde type is how it was actually phrased in the euphemism of the British papers. It’s—you don’t know what buggery is?

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 13, 2003 9:11 AM