Virginia Festival of the Book 2014 - World Politics

Last month in Charlottesville, the Virginia Festival of the Book hosted more than 200 programs on a wide range of topics, including authors of fiction and non-fiction, literary agents, and children's book authors.

I attended with video camera in hand to record some of the proceedings -- it's impossible to attend more than a handful of events during the five-day festival -- and belatedly post them here.

The first program I attended was on Wednesday, March 18, on the topic "The United States in the World."

The panel discussion was sponsored by the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia and moderated by Sorensen's executive director, Bob Gibson, a former political reporter for The Daily Progress.

The panelists were UVA political scientist James Ceaser, talking about his book, After Hope and Change: the 2012 Elections and American Politics; University of Mary Washington Professor Stephen Farnsworth on The Global Presidency: International News and the U.S.Government; Stanford historian Robert Rakove discussing Kennedy, Johnson and the Nonaligned World; and former Ambassador Francis Rooney, who presented The Global Vatican: An Inside Look at the Catholic Church, World Politics, and the Extraordinary Relationship Between the United States and the Holy See.

James Ceaser spoke first:

(For my post-panel interview with Ceaser, visit Examiner.com.)

Stephen Farnsworth spoke next, about how foreign news media organizations view the American president and U.S. foreign policy:

Previous posts about the Virginia Festival of the Book in earlier years can be seen here.

Robert Rakove then discussed his new book about U.S. policy toward the non-aligned world in the 1960s, focusing on the Kennedy and Johnson administrations:

The fourth speaker was Francis Rooney, who served as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See during the administration of George W. Bush:

(My post-panel interview with Ambassador Rooney is also available to read on Examiner.com.)

Finally, the four panelists fielded questions from the audience on the mezzanine of the University of Virginia book store:

Previous posts about the Virginia Festival of the Book in earlier years can be seen here.

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