C-SPAN 1 & 2 (times e.t.)

This Sunday’s Booknotes on C-SPAN 1, at 8:00 and 11:00 p.m., is an interview with Antony Beevor, discussing his work, The Mystery Of Olga Chekhova: Was Hitler’s Favorite Actress a Spy?.

In 1920, young Olga Chekhova, the beautiful niece of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, fled Moscow for Berlin—taking only a smuggled diamond ring. Olga quickly won both celebrity as an actress and prominence in the ranks of Germany’s Nazi party, eventually becoming Hitler’s favorite actress. But was she really a sleeper agent recruited by her brother, Lev Knipper, to spy for the Russian NKVD? More.

The history slot is given to Norman Davies, whose discussion of his Rising ’44:The Battle For Warsaw should also interest World War II buffs.

Looking ahead, the November “In-Depth” period will be devoted to David Hackett Fischer (the phone-in three hours session will air Nov. 7 and be repeated throughout Sunday and early Monday morning). (So, we now are looking beyond the election – isn’t that a nice thought?)

C-SPAN 2 presents its 48-hour schedule.

The weekend kicks off with a set of three books Saturday morning: Jason DeParle, American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation’s Drive to End Welfare, 9:00, followed by Ken Foskett’s, Judging Thomas: The Life and Times of Clarence Thomas. At 10:15, Beverly Daniel Tatum speaks of her Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”

On Sunday at noon pm and Monday at 12:15 am a panel discussion between John O’Neill & Glenn Smith should prove, well, controversial. Another set who appear to have battling theses will be on the Sunday 3:00 presentation of a debate between Peter Beinart and Ann Coulter. Another debate, this time between Bill Press and Ronald Kessler, occurs Sunday at 9:45 a.m. and again at 6:15. We are also likely to see little agreement on substance (though neither style is much given to understatement) in the Sunday morning pairing of Ted Rall (at 7 a.m.) and David Horowitz (at 8:30 a.m. ) Another duo will be Stanley Greenberg (The Two Americas) matched with Morris Fiorina (Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America). These appear at 4:15 and 5:15 both Sunday afternoon and early Monday morning.

Saturday afternoon Mr. De Villepin, currently the Interior Minister of France, discusses his book just after John Miller spends an hour discussing Our Oldest Enemy: A History of America’s Disastrous Relationship with France.