this is booktv on c-span2. television for serious readers. here's our primetime lineup: next an interview with glenn beck on islam. then at 7:30, michael oren talks about his year as israel's ambassador to the united states. at 9:00 eastern, co-authors report on the emergence of africa as a global powerhouse.

at 10:00 p.m., michael tanner on the national debt. and at 11:00, the life of presidentat assassin john wilkes booth. all next on booktv. glenn beck in your most recent back, it is about islam what do you open with thomas jefferson and the library of congress? >> guest: because jefferson changed my life. he wrote a letter to his nephew, peter carr, and peter was -- i don't remember -- 13, 15, somewhere in there and he was -- his mother had tied. his father was about to die. and the father within to thomas and said, will you oversee the education of my son when i pass on. you're he smartest man i know. he said sure. so when peter comes of age he writes him this beautiful letter and he says, in

mathematics you have to learn these things. when it comes to literature, never read a birth out of its native tongue because you lose to much. then he gets to last one is religion and he said, when it comes to religion, above all things fix reason firmly in her seat and question with boldness even the very existence of god for if there be a god he must surely -- over blindfolded spirits. that changed my life. that coupled with the fact that thomas jefferson was the man who fought the first war against islam, when he was in office. we had the first -- the barberry pilots and he didn't understand it. he was trying to understand what do these people want? he owned one of the first copies in english of the koran in the

united states. so he was a scholar he read everything in its native tongue when he could. he tried to be as fair as he could, and he also read the entire koran. so i think he gives us a good example, that this is a good place to start but we should all read the koran. we should all know what it says says says says and don't take sound bites. don't take this from me. we have footnotes. don't take it from me. this is what we have found weapon have gone to the original sources. it's not my opinion. you further that investigation yourself. but ask honest questions not trying to prove one way or the other. honest questions and question the very existence of god while you're doing it. >> host: from your book, as a member of the virginia house of delegates, jefferson cite islam as an example for why virginia should not have an official religion.

>> guest: yes. and at the same time, he was protecting a religion like islam. he was using it to say sharia law is -- better word for it is -- the islamist attitude now there's a difference between islam and an islamist, and that is important. one who believes -- i know great reformes of islam that want to believe that their religion is peaceful and want to have a peaceful existence with everybody else, and then there are islamists who want sharia law for everybody el. theft what not what this country is all about. we don't have the combination of church and state and that's what an islamist does. >> host: you quote a notorious british islamist preacher. contrary to public misconcessions islam does not

mean peace. but rather means submission to the commands of allah. >> guest: so what we tried to do here is show that the people who actually do believe, you can't -- if i said to you let's go take on natz eu -- on the nazis you insisted it wasn't about nationalism or socialism you would just say these people are crazy. well, i couldn't get to their ideology. i wouldn't be able to stop them, because, yes while hitler was crazy, there were a lot of people that based their understanding of socialism -- people in denmark are not nazis. so they were national socialists. it was that combination that brought us the nazi world. that doesn't make every socialist a nazi. doesn't make every nationalist a

nazi. but you have to know the underpinning. so we tried to find the people who are actually causing the trouble and actually calling for our death and actually quoting the koran and actually saying, yes, you're darn right we are about islam. we can't deny what they say. if you want to defeat them, you have to know them. >> host: this is part of your control series. what is that? >> guest: we did a book on the second amendment. then we did one on common core. trying to correct some of the information out there. it's not a series that is my opinion. there's not a lot of my opinion in this. what they are -- these are the facts. we try to make them in paperback and small so people can carry them with them, really learn the topic and have it. a starter for a different topic. >> host: one of the things you did in this book, it is about islam, is that you listed 13

lies about islam in the back, and number 5 was america is safe from sharia law. >> guest: not. we have a court case in the book from new jersey where a judge ruled that a -- he could have sex with his wife, even though she said no, because it was his religious right to do so. and the judge sided with him. we don't have two standards of law. and where i live, down in texas just outside of dallas, the city council just voted and it was 54 decision, so there were -- almost passed, and what the resolution was we only respect american laws, and texas laws. that's it.

we're a respecter of in other laws. that's almost didn't pass, and the reason why is there's a muslim community there some of them are muslim brotherhood and they are -- they're setting up their own little council to be able to work with the people in their religion as the arbiteers of. we can't have two sets sets of laws in america. >> host: in your home state -- new home state of texas you just had a event the mohammad cartoon contest happening. what's your take on that? >> guest: should that have happened? it's america. yeah i guess. i'm not a fan of it. i mean, i'm not doing the cartoon content. i'm an ultimate free dumb --

freedom guy so i believe we all have the right to do things. should we do it? no. she is trying to prove a point that you could get killed by doing that. i think we all know that. i think the pushback on her was obscene but i didn't attend nor i would have attended. you have the right to do it should you? probably not. but with that being said, i respect the fact that there are some things that we better wake up to, and that's what i think the ultimate goal was here, was wake up, america. there are people in the -- in the book we talk about 51% of american muslims believe that they should live under sharia law, 51% of american muslims. and one quarter of american

muslims believe silence is the way to get sharia law over the constitution. if you just look at the numbers that's somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 americans who believe that they should overthrow the constitution for sharia law. that a problem. nobody is talking about that. we should address those things. >> host: glenn beck, five years ago you held a rally on the national mall in washington. do you have anything planned for the future, any similar events? >> guest: i do. it is kind of on this. i'm gravely concerned about a couple of things. one, i don't have any answers militarily or anything else for the middle east. that's a mess. and you can't export our freedom. you can't bring it to people who don't want it. but on the other hand, we have a genocide going on. i had one of the rabbis from the

simon wiesenthal center come to my office in texas -- i'm a big supporter of israel and have been crying out about the things -- the antisemitism happening around the world for many years and mocked for it for most of the years. now things like, what happened in france are beginning to happen and people are starting to wake up. he came up to my offices right after france, and he said, glenn, will you do me a favor? i need you to not focus so much, please on the -- what is happening to the jews itch said, excuse me? are you seeing what is happening? he said, they're coming for you first. he said, what is happening with isis in the middle east is a genocide. this time you guys are getting it first. he said i'm trying to wake the jewish people up to what the -- basically what happened to the christians. i'm gravely concern about what is happening there and also concerned that we have hardened

our hearts and i openly admit and regret i played a role in the divisiveness of our country and that is not good, and i'm currently going through -- this is the only interview, and i'm giving a speech tonight. i am supposed to not be speaking for a month and i don't know if you can hear my voice is a little rocky. but i have been have something issues with my voice and some other health issues for the last five years and i kind -- that kind of clarifies things when you think you may not speak again, you may not have long to work or live. what are you doing with your life? and it's clarified. and we are -- any role i've played i'm trying to make up for. we are in a very dangerous

situation, where we are -- we're not seeing people as people anymore. somebody asked me this morning so what your take on bruce jenner? i don't have a societal answer for that. i have this answer. do you ant to be bruce jenner? do you -- how would you feel if you lived your whole life that way? i don't know what to say. i don't think society knows how to deal with this. but i hope we all have compassion for the man and all can say look, i don't necessarily think he is a woman i think he is a man or i do think he is a woman whatever, but we can all agree and say we have to have comp park, we have to have heart for one another. what is happening in the middle east nobody is paying changeses. churches aren't even paying attention. these are innocents children, women. in the book we talk about

nine-year-old girls being sold into slavery. nine-year-old girls for $170. does anybody care about that? how about the hoax osexual's being thrown off buildings or ripped apart or stoned to death in iran? a war on gays? yes. with isis. and iran. and we're in a negotiating table, trying to say they're normal -- they can coexist with western society. not while you're killing gays. not while you're stoning women to death. not while you're crucifying children. i don't think so. so i don't have a political answer or a military answer. i do have this. we better start connecting with one another. we better start standing up for -- stop worry about your rights. let worry about our responsibility to protect the rights of other people. let's stop worrying about us. let's start worrying about the person most unlike you.

i went to new york and i called a meeting with the head people at -- about four months ago. they were shocked. and it was uncomfortable. we don't have a lot to talk about. even though i am for gay marriage i believe the government doesn't have a right to be in your life and tell you anything about marriage. so in that way i'm for gay marriage. religiously i'm not. not my decision. my world is my world. your world is your world. we sat down, and i said, can we stop talking about wedding cakes? how about we stand together for what is happening in russia, where they're now talking the driver's license away from homosexuals and saying that is a mental disorder.

how do we stand up against that? how about we stand up against isis and those in iran and those in saudi arabia, those all across the middle east that are killing people, let's stand together. so on 8/28, this august, down in birmingham, alabama where the last civil rights movement started, i'm asking people to come together of all different faiths all different beliefs all different walks of life, that can say you know what? my political interests may differ from you but my principles are the same. we have to stop talking about interests. and start talking about principles. so we're going to -- on saturday the 29th, we're going to have a march on the same streets that martin luther king did. i have alveda king joining me and i believe i have right graham billy graham's daughter joining me on the other arm.

we have thousands of pastors coming from all over, all different religions and people coming from all over, and then we're going to start putting that into action, and -- because i believe it's time for people of all walks of life to stand up and raise their hand and be counted and say you know what? we got to stop the hatred. we have to stop -- we have to stop jamming our point of view down other people's throats start seeing people for human beings again, and the easiest one we can unite on are those people in the middle east. the muslims who aren't muslim enough. the gays who are gay. the women that are being enslaved. and the christians that are being systematically killed and crucified. let start there on an easy one. let's stand together and say

let's stand against that. >> host: anything significant about august 28th-29th? >> guest: yeah. august 28th its the anniversary of martin luther king jr.s "i had a dream" speech. we didn't pick that intentionally five years ago. i annoyanced it and five minutes later "the new york times" tweeted out, glenn beck takes martin luther king on. other i'm like, gee how can we not know that snow now we're embracing it. >> host: back to putt its about islam. ". why number 2 islam night that much different from christianity or judaism. >> guest: it is radically difference. the biggest difference is it has not had a fee formation. if you don't have a reformation you're still living in the stone age there are people who want to reform islam but a shia rhea law does not -- sharia law does not

allow you to -- whatever the common consensus is, so if all of the scholars and imams say no this is who we are they can kill you for trying to reform. sounds like christianity maybe a thousand years ago. we have had our reformation. there are great muslims who want their reformation. but it's not happening. and by us denying that there is this struggle within islam we're hurting the reformers. we're trapping them in the stone age. >> host: you have, what, 25 books glue your belt? sunny don't know. >> host: what your writing process? >> guest: it depends elm put this one to bed the same week i put another book to bed. so -- >> host: what book is that? >> guest: right now the work tootle it "the immortal."

a fiction book come out at christmastime. that book is very different. this is almost like jon stewart -- how jon stewart writes itch set the table these are the thing is want to focus on. that's why we start with the 12th imam and start with, if if you don't understand islam isis and the republic of iran believes the end times are upon us -- if i said that as a christian, hey jesus is coming back. everybody would say i'm crazy. i said, jesus is coming back and i'm going to help him come back. even more crazy. jesus is coming back and i'm going to help him come back bay causing chaos around the world and killing as many people as i possibly can. now i'm dangerously psychotic bus because -- but because it's

a protect it islamist thatting saying it nobody pays attention 0, maybe we have such low standards for the people in the middle east that we think it doesn't really matter. but they believe that they are on the verge of armageddon, and it's there job to bring it on us. so i set the table and say i'm interested in that and want to find the details. get the best quality meat you can. then i oversee that. and then we put the book together. then the other style book is one entirely done by me. and that is -- the example is "the immortal" which will not be its name. >> host: but due at christmas time. >> guest: due at criminal anytime. >> host: how is that -- >> guest: doing great. we have an unbelievable community. there's a deeply passionate

underserved and misunderstood group of people in america that will recognize america in a different way than they may have ten, 15 years ago. they will recognize that we as nation have made mistakes. that we as a nation are currently making mistakes. that maybe people like me, who was pro war in 2002, now and under bush, very antiwar we have woken up and that the community we serve and it's a great community. really good, solid loving people. >> host: glenn beck, what would you like to see president obama or president whoever do about isis, boko haram al qaeda? >> guest: i -- i don't know.

i mean, we're in such a bad state now. we have -- we have bungled it so badly that i'm not sure. i'm certainly not the man qualified enough to come to you and say my gut is that it's at some point we're going to have to deal with them but i don't -- i am offended that our military is still over there. and i'm offended because most americans don't even know where they are what they're doing or more importantly why they're doing it. why are we killing people today? for what? for what? really. if we really mean we're going to stop isis, unfortunately that means you're going to have to do things like in world war ii. you just have -- you have to raze the place just like we did

in germany. do you have a stomach for that? i don't think the american people have a stomach for that. and i don't want to kill another person until we know what it is. why are we killing people? i don't know. i did in 2002. i lost it about 2006. i'm completely baffled now. bring our troops home. we're going to have to go back, but only when we know and have the balls to say who the enemy really is. that is the enemy. and there is no compromise. there is no, well, they had a hard childhood. no. they're psychotic killers just like the nazis were. kill them. kill them. >> host: when did the bungling start? >> guest: oh, early on. early on. shock and awe.

trying to nation-build in afghanistan. right from the start. that's not our job. you are never going to take and bring our republic to people in afghanistan who don't necessarily even know what it is or want it. what are we doing? what are we doing? we should have gone in, got the bad guys, and got out. i think the best thing america should do is, when we fight a war, we know exactly what we're doing, we know exactly who we're after, what a win looks like, make it fast, make people walk away go, don't ever mess with those -- they'll take you down and will not rebuild you. that's not our job. we don't want to go to war and we don't want to rebuild you either.

just you do your thing we'll do our thing. >> host: here at freedomfest we talked to an author yesterday and he said that in his view, saudi arabia is a powder keg. >> guest: my gosh. the whole middle east -- saudi arabia i can't believe they're our allies. that's the biggest problem we have as a country in the world. would you want to be friends with them? do you know what we stand for? i don't. i don't. i know what our constitution stands for. but i don't know what our parties stand for. i don't know what our government stands for. i know what our people do. our people generally both republican and democrat, independents, are all generally pretty good. the government seems to stand

for power, and money and control. that not america. and when we get into bed with saudi arabia, or mubarak where our principles there? where are our principles? we're going to ghost-plane somebody send them over to a dark prison to torture because we don't torture? that's insane. if you're standing there and your loved one has been ghost-planes by the united states and put in mubarak's prison what drew think? are we the freedom loving guys? no. we apparently don't give a flying crap about anything except us it we have to have prims. when i hear politicians say it's in our national interest. our national interest can change. our national interests do change all the time. my interests this morning was to

have a big stack of waffles. my interest right now is not so much. they change. what are your principles. nobody talks about our principles anymore. and because we don't even know our principles, what do you think the rest of the world thinks? of course they want to kill us. we're part of the problem. we believe in freedom. we believe that homosexuals shouldn't be killed. doing anything about it? nope. near bed their their king. we belief women have a right to vote and drive cars. are we doing anything about it? nope. having tea with the king at 3:00. who are we? >> host: how has been the move to texas. >> guest: it's been great. love it. texas seems to be america 2002. it thinks it can weather the

storm. it thinks it can -- but it's texas and will always be texas. a thousand people from california alone moving into texas every single day. and i've done -- had a meeting with 200 ceos that have moved their companies into texas and i said, you know why you moved your company to texas. but do you employees know? have you made a point to tell your employees we could no longer do business in new jersey? we could no longer do business in california. no. you just moved to texas. so all the employees come and they're like, woe, i like texas but i liked california and they'll vote for the same things and it will fundamentally change texas. >> host: final question.

do you expect another 9/11 attack? >> guest: yeah issue think it's only a matter of time before we are gravely attacked. i don't think it's going to be necessarily like 9/11. my worst fear is -- that is what america should be worried about what i believe is something like that. and i think we are in a -- i don't think americans realize especially with greece and everything else, we just have to remember what they felt on september 11th. we all felt the same thing. my gosh, this is fragile. it's been 15 years of taking a beating. our country has taken a beating over the last 15 years financially, morally