The Book Show

Robert Silvers, editor of the New York Review of Books, joins The Book Show again to discuss highlights from the latest issue.

First of all, with the presidential election looming (as it seems to have been for years now), we look at someone who could well emerge as a major figure in a future Democrat government, but who few people in Australia will have heard of—Jim Webb. This is a man who's being touted as a serious contender for vice-presidential running mate, alongside Barack Obama. But he's also a remarkable character in his own right, with a public profile that's equal parts 'war hero' and writer. His first book Fields of Fire, written in 1978, has been called the best book about the Vietnam war. And his writing, along with a passion for boxing, has had him compared to the late Norman Mailer. He's also a screenwriter (Rules of Engagement) and a documentary producer, but so much of Jim Webb revolves around his experiences and attitudes to war. So Robert and Ramona discuss Jim Webb's latest book, A Time to Fight: Reclaiming a Fair and Just America, which reads as something of a manifesto—a pitch for high office.

Then Robert and Ramona move on to Italy, and the rather epic figure of Giuseppe Garibaldi. According to reviewer Dave Gilmour, while other heroic Italians such as Mazzini, Cavour and Victor Emmanuel have become tarnished as clear historical facts start to eclipse pure nationalistic sentiment, Garibaldi remains 'an authentic Italian hero', one of 'the generation of giants' who helped to create modern Italy between 1848 and 1870. They discuss a new book which looks at this revolutionary life—Alfonso Scirocco's Garibaldi: Citizen of the World.

And finally, a look at Edmund White's review of three new translations of work from French writer Marguerite Duras. And in the process he paints an extraordinary image of her post-war years and her intemperate lurchings from alcoholic deathbed to social centre of attention.

Guests

Robert Silvers
Editor, New York Review of Books

Further Information

New York Review of Books

Publications

Title: A Time to Fight: Reclaiming a Fair and Just America
Author: Jim Webb
Publisher: Broadway Books, 2008
ISBN 9780-7679-2835-9

Title: Garibaldi: Citizen of the World
Author: Alfonso Scirocco translated to English by Allan Cameron
Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2007
ISBN 9780-6911-1540-5

Title: Wartime Writings: 1943-1949
Author: Marguerite Duras edited by Sophie Bogaert + Olivier Corpet translated from the French by Linda Coverdale
Publisher: The New Press, 2007
ISBN 978-1-59558-200-3

Title: The War: A Memoir
Author: Marguerite Duras translated from the French by Barbara Bray
Publisher: The New Press, 2007
ISBN 978-1-56584-221-2

Title: The North China Lover
Author: Marguerite Duras translated from the French by Leigh Hafrey
Publisher: The New Press, 2007
ISBN 9781-5658-4043-0

Presenter

Ramona Koval

Producer

Michael Shirrefs