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Sundays at Eight: 25 Years of Stories from C-SPAN’S Q&A and Booknotes
For the last 25 years, Sunday nights at 8pm on C-SPAN has been appointment television for many Americans. During that time, host Brian Lamb has invited people to his Capitol Hill studio for hour-long conversations about contemporary society and history. In today's soundbite culture that hour remains one of television's last vestiges of in-depth, civil conversation.
First came C-SPAN's Booknotes in 1989, which by the time it ended in December 2004, was the longest-running author-interview program in American broadcast history. Many of the most notable nonfiction authors of its era were featured over the course of 800 episodes, and the conversations became a defining hour for the network and for nonfiction writers.
In January 2005, C-SPAN embarked on a new chapter with the launch of Q and A. Again one hour of uninterrupted conversation but the focus was expanded to include documentary film makers, entrepreneurs, social workers, political leaders and just about anyone with a story to tell.
To mark this anniversary Lamb and his team at C-SPAN have assembled Sundays at Eight , a collection of the best unpublished interviews and stories from the last 25 years. Featured in this collection are historians like David McCullough, Ron Chernow and Robert Caro, reporters including April Witt, John Burns and Michael Weisskopf, and numerous others, including Christopher Hitchens, Brit Hume and Kenneth Feinberg.
In a March 2001 Booknotes interview 60 Minutes creator Don Hewitt described the show's success this "All you have to do is tell me a story." This collection attests to the success of that principle, which has guided Lamb for decades. And his guests have not disappointed, from the dramatic escape of a lifelong resident of a North Korean prison camp, to the heavy price paid by one successful West Virginia businessman when he won 314 million in the lottery, or the heroic stories of recovery from the most horrific injuries in modern-day warfare. Told in the series' signature conversational manner, these stories come to life again on the page. Sundays at Eight is not merely a token for fans of C-SPAN's interview programs, but a collection of significant stories that have helped us understand the world for a quarter-century.
First came C-SPAN's Booknotes in 1989, which by the time it ended in December 2004, was the longest-running author-interview program in American broadcast history. Many of the most notable nonfiction authors of its era were featured over the course of 800 episodes, and the conversations became a defining hour for the network and for nonfiction writers.
In January 2005, C-SPAN embarked on a new chapter with the launch of Q and A. Again one hour of uninterrupted conversation but the focus was expanded to include documentary film makers, entrepreneurs, social workers, political leaders and just about anyone with a story to tell.
To mark this anniversary Lamb and his team at C-SPAN have assembled Sundays at Eight , a collection of the best unpublished interviews and stories from the last 25 years. Featured in this collection are historians like David McCullough, Ron Chernow and Robert Caro, reporters including April Witt, John Burns and Michael Weisskopf, and numerous others, including Christopher Hitchens, Brit Hume and Kenneth Feinberg.
In a March 2001 Booknotes interview 60 Minutes creator Don Hewitt described the show's success this "All you have to do is tell me a story." This collection attests to the success of that principle, which has guided Lamb for decades. And his guests have not disappointed, from the dramatic escape of a lifelong resident of a North Korean prison camp, to the heavy price paid by one successful West Virginia businessman when he won 314 million in the lottery, or the heroic stories of recovery from the most horrific injuries in modern-day warfare. Told in the series' signature conversational manner, these stories come to life again on the page. Sundays at Eight is not merely a token for fans of C-SPAN's interview programs, but a collection of significant stories that have helped us understand the world for a quarter-century.
- GenresHistory
496 pages, Hardcover
First published April 29, 2014
About the author
Brian Lamb
10 books26 followersBrian Lamb, founder of C-SPAN, currently serves as the C-SPAN Networks' Executive Chairman. Since C-SPAN's founding in 1979, Brian has been a regular on-camera presence, interviewing all presidents since Reagan and many world leaders, members of Congress, journalists and authors. Over 15 years beginning in 1989, Brian interviewed 801 nonfiction authors for a weekly series called "Booknotes." Currently, Brian hosts "Q & A," a Sunday evening, hour-long interview program with people who are making things happen in the public sphere.
Six books of collected Brian Lamb interviews have been published by PublicAffairs based on the "Booknotes" and "Q & A" series, most recently, "Sundays at Eight." And in 2010, PublicAffairs published "The Supreme Court," a collection of interviews Brian and C-SPAN colleague Susan Swain conducted with eleven current and former Supreme Court justices. C-SPAN's 10th book with PublicAffairs, "The Presidents: Noted Historians Rank America's Best - and Worst - Chief Executives," was published in spring 2019.
Brian's work with C-SPAN has been recognized with the Presidential Medal of Honor and the National Humanities Medal. In 2011, Purdue University, Brian's alma mater, announced the naming of the Brian Lamb School of Communication.
Brian is a longtime resident of Arlington, Virginia. When he's not devouring newspapers, websites, nonfiction books, or Thai food at his favorite local restaurant, Brian is likely in hot pursuit of the latest country music release.
Six books of collected Brian Lamb interviews have been published by PublicAffairs based on the "Booknotes" and "Q & A" series, most recently, "Sundays at Eight." And in 2010, PublicAffairs published "The Supreme Court," a collection of interviews Brian and C-SPAN colleague Susan Swain conducted with eleven current and former Supreme Court justices. C-SPAN's 10th book with PublicAffairs, "The Presidents: Noted Historians Rank America's Best - and Worst - Chief Executives," was published in spring 2019.
Brian's work with C-SPAN has been recognized with the Presidential Medal of Honor and the National Humanities Medal. In 2011, Purdue University, Brian's alma mater, announced the naming of the Brian Lamb School of Communication.
Brian is a longtime resident of Arlington, Virginia. When he's not devouring newspapers, websites, nonfiction books, or Thai food at his favorite local restaurant, Brian is likely in hot pursuit of the latest country music release.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 22, 2017
I love C-Span and its Sunday night program at 8:00, Q & A. It and Booknotes has cost me more than a few dollars in books I've bought after watching the authors on these programs.
I enjoyed most of the essays in this book. The exception would be those in the Money & Politics section. Those were a bit over my head.
Four stars waxing.
I enjoyed most of the essays in this book. The exception would be those in the Money & Politics section. Those were a bit over my head.
Four stars waxing.
August 29, 2014
Essays are diverse, well edited. Very moving and important topics. Do not know how I missed this t.v. program.
June 28, 2018
boring
March 23, 2014
Book Notes and its successor, Q & A, have been on C-Span every week since 1989. They're interview shows which feature authors of current non-fiction books. All told, there have been over 1,300 interviews in those twenty-five years, and Sundays at Eight collects the best 40 or so of them. In addition to choosing the most interesting interviews, they've adapted the transcripts to remove the question and answer back and forth and turned the interviews into essay-like chapters. It works very well.
Since I have never actually tuned in to the shows, I didn't have much in the way of expectations, but I love the idea of a book highlighting excellent non-fiction. For those of us who prefer history, biography, current events, popular science, journalism, and human interest, this book is a treasure trove. I started reading the first essay and was immediately hooked. Same with the next essay and the next. It was one fascinating discussion after another. I had to start making a list of all the books from Sundays at Eight that I want to read.
Many of the books are several years or even decades old now, but still worth reading. Blaine Harden's Escape From Camp 14, about a North Korean prisoner who escaped to freedom in the West; Isabelle Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns, a history of 20th century African American migration from South to North; Robert Curson's Crashing Through, about a man blind from age three who had an operation to regain his sight at age 46, with unexpected results. Michael Lewis, Malcolm Gladwell, David McCullough, Christopher Hitchens.
I enjoyed nearly every one of these interviews. This would make a good nightstand book, or as a reference for non-fiction book club ideas.
Since I have never actually tuned in to the shows, I didn't have much in the way of expectations, but I love the idea of a book highlighting excellent non-fiction. For those of us who prefer history, biography, current events, popular science, journalism, and human interest, this book is a treasure trove. I started reading the first essay and was immediately hooked. Same with the next essay and the next. It was one fascinating discussion after another. I had to start making a list of all the books from Sundays at Eight that I want to read.
Many of the books are several years or even decades old now, but still worth reading. Blaine Harden's Escape From Camp 14, about a North Korean prisoner who escaped to freedom in the West; Isabelle Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns, a history of 20th century African American migration from South to North; Robert Curson's Crashing Through, about a man blind from age three who had an operation to regain his sight at age 46, with unexpected results. Michael Lewis, Malcolm Gladwell, David McCullough, Christopher Hitchens.
I enjoyed nearly every one of these interviews. This would make a good nightstand book, or as a reference for non-fiction book club ideas.
June 9, 2014
Another great book of Excerpts from Book notes and Q.and A. Love it of course I am probably addicted
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews