The Dissident’s Mindset: Sunday’s Book TV looks at what makes dissidents tick. Join Atlantic staff writer Gal Beckerman as he unpacks the psychology of the dissident. From the trial of Socrates to the modern activism of Ai Weiwei, Mr. Beckerman explores the common threads of those who dare to defy. In his book, “How to Be a Dissident,” he cites Václav Havel’s words about the Czech leader’s path to defiance: “You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them.”
History of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence isn’t just a trend — it’s a decades-long saga. On American History TV, join technology professors from Purdue, Vanderbilt, and Cornell for a deep dive into AI as part of the American Historical Association’s Congressional Briefing series. They trace AI’s journey from its 1950s infancy to its ubiquitous presence today, including touching on privacy and national security issues brought to the forefront by Anthropic.
Compelling Interview
A Retrospective on the Biden Presidency:Book TV heads to the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute where Princeton Professor Julian Zelizer gives a postmortem on our 46th president’s four-year term, detailed in the book he edited — “The Presidency of Joseph R. Biden: A First Historical Assessment.” Professor Zelizer is joined by several presidential scholars who contributed essays for the book evaluating how President Biden fits into the story of our early 21st-century America.
Did You Know? Earlier that year, the Continental Congress declared Friday, May 17, 1776, as a national day of “Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer” (proclamation shown above). Passed amid the Revolutionary War, Americans were urged to confess sins, repent, and seek God’s assistance in defending their liberties. Leaders, such as George Washington,enforced strict observance among the troops and others in their spheres of influence. Tune in on C-SPAN Sunday for “Rededicate 250,” a ceremonial event held on the National Mall.
C-SPAN Tours the National WWI Museum & Memorial WatchSaturday, 8:52 am/pm
C-SPAN tours the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. Vice President of Collections and Chief Curator Christopher Warner guides this exploration of the Great War through the stories and artifacts of those who lived it. The tour includes the completely renovated trench exhibits with added figures and props, as well as multimedia.
The Civil War: 12-Year-Old Fred Grant at Vicksburg WatchSaturday, 2 pm
Author Albert Nofi discusses the experiences of 12-year-old Frederick Grant, then-Brigadier General Ulysses Grant’s son, at Vicksburg. His book is based on Frederick Grant’s 1887 account of his nearly 100 days living among the Union troops written for the National Tribune, the nation’s principal newspaper for Union vets.
2026 Literary Awards
Sunday, 11 am to 12:53 pm
Book TV features two separate award ceremonies held in New York City celebrating scholarly works based on historical themes.
The 2026 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize laureate is Richard Carwardine for his book “Righteous Strife: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln’s Union.” The laureate and six finalists are celebrated at this event recognizing literature focused on the 16th president.
Columbia University presented the Bancroft prize for history writing to 2026 winners Emilie Connolly (“Vested Interests: Trusteeship and Native Dispossession in the United States”) and Beth Lew-Williams (“John Doe Chinaman: A Forgotten History of Chinese Life Under American Racial Law”).
Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, “The Pain Brokers” Watch Sunday 5 pm
Law professor Elizabeth Chamblee Burch investigates medical lawsuit schemes that led to women getting unnecessary medical procedures. Based on over 150 interviews, her book profiles, in her words, “the invisible hands greasing the wheels of mass torts, hands that propelled injured people through a maze they knew nothing about.” Vanderbilt University bookstore in Nashville hosts this talk.
Sundayon C-SPAN
America’s Book Club: Historian Candice Millard This week, David M. Rubenstein hosts bestselling historian Candice Millardfor a conversation about Theodore Roosevelt, James Garfield and Winston Churchill. This interview takes place at the U.S. Capitol. Tune in at 6 pm & 9 pm ET/PTor catch up on the previous week’s episode at 7 pm on C-SPAN2. Also, enjoy America’s Book Clubas apodcast.
Q&A: Adam Szetela, “That Book Is Dangerous!” Adam Szetela, author of “That Book Is Dangerous!,” discusses his investigation into the rise of self-censorship in the publishing industry, which he argues is being negatively transformed by social media and the culture wars in the United States. Mr. Szetela talks about the role played by the Big Five publishers, literary agents, sensitivity readers, and online pressure groups in the process. Tune in at 8 pm & 11 pm or enjoy Q&A as a podcast.
Podcasts Extreme Mortman: Governors Celebrate America 250: Great American History from State of State Speeches, Part 1 With this year’s United States Semiquincentennial, governors are waxing poetic about the 250th anniversary in their annual addresses. In this part one episode, we go to the Video Archives to find out which guvs mentioned America 250 in their State of State addresses and what they had to say about the role of their state in our nation’s founding. Also, we uncover some America 250 fun facts and share their speeches’ big takeaways. Listen to Extreme Mortman: political history for political junkies.
Booknotes+ Harvey Mansfield, “Where Harvard Went Wrong” With over seven decades at Harvard as a student and later as a faculty member, Professor Emeritus Harvey Mansfield has compiled his speeches and essays in his recent book, “Where Harvard Went Wrong.” Professor Mansfield says he’s an outlier as one of the few conservative faculty members at the university. His plea has always been that Harvard abandon, in his words, its “partisanship with the Left and adopt instead a bipartisanship that welcomes conservatives as well as liberals.” Listen to Brian Lamb’s discussion with the author.
