C-SPAN takes historic journey through American writers

C-SPAN, which mainly fulfills its public affairs mission with nonstop coverage of Beltway business, is busting loose for this "Journey."

Every week through December, 46 American writers -- some famous, some obscure -- will serve as the jumping-off point for a look at American history, from the pilgrim experience through the Vietnam War.

This journey is more than metaphorical. "American Writers" will roam the nation, with each program airing live from a historic site somehow tied to that week's featured scribe.

On Monday, the tour begins at Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Mass., where the 1620 Mayflower Compact of Gov. William Bradford is the focus. (This and subsequent two-hour programs begin at 9 a.m. EST, repeated the following Friday at 8 p.m.)

Make no mistake: C-SPAN's list is not meant to be an honor roll of belletrists, nor is the series that will come of it intended as a literary salon.

"It's a way to look at American history through the lens of writers who either shaped the course of our nation, influenced it, chronicled it, or reflected upon it," says executive producer Mark Farkas.

This makes "A Journey Through History" a natural extension of C-SPAN's day-to-day fare, adds Susan Swain, the network's executive vice president.

"We have a basic belief that people who study history with us (on this series) will gain some more context for the day-to-day events in the political world," she says.

And, as usual with C-SPAN, callers are invited to contribute to the dialogue.

Each of the 38 broadcasts, many of them moderated by Swain or C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb, will gather scholars and other guests to help place the work and writer in historical context.

Providing physical context will be the on-location site -- be it founding father Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate or Marina Del Rey, Calif., home of 20th century objectivist Ayn Rand's institute.

"A Journey Through History" is C-SPAN's fourth historical series, but it introduced a brand-new challenge for its producers. Unlike two years ago, when the network worked from fixed source material for its 41-week series on American presidents, "for the current project, we made our own list," Swain says.

As a Melville devotee, she was among those on C-SPAN's selection committee who fought to have him and "Moby Dick" included. But the collective will of this group and of C-SPAN's outside consultants decided otherwise: However distinguished as a storyteller, Melville wasn't a major player in the American narrative.

Was Ernest Hemingway? Or was he done in by his expatriate leanings? C-SPAN gave Poppa the nod. He and his novel "The Sun Also Rises" will share the bill October 1 with F. Scott Fitzgerald and "The Great Gatsby."

Who to represent World War II triggered another round of give-and-take. Was Joseph Heller the signal voice, lampooning war in "Catch-22"? Or fellow novelist Norman Mailer, author of the gritty "The Naked and Dead"?

No, the choice was war correspondent Ernie Pyle, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columns were collected in the 1943 volume "Here Is Your War."

Swain, who looks forward to a lot of reading in the next 10 months, hopes the audience will join her as she hits the books that chart C-SPAN's journey -- and will argue with her about them. "We're trying to encourage a healthy debate in this country," she says, "so we're kind of happy if there's an aspect of controversy."

On this trip, when C-SPAN talks writing there will be no last word.

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