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New York Times columnist Gail Collins joins us for another installment of our series looking at the outlandish things politicians have been saying and doing lately, How Did Politics in America Get So Weird?

Historian Eric Foner discusses how slavery and emancipation transformed Lincoln—and the nation—and gives the definitive history of Lincoln and the end of slavery in America. In The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, he gives an account of Lincoln’s political navigations that led to his rise as a leader, and how his pragmatism and principle led him to finally embrace the Civil War's “fundamental and astounding” result: the immediate, uncompensated abolition of slavery.

Hooman Majd, the grandson of an esteemed ayatollah, discusses a group of influential ayatollahs in Iran who still believes in the Iranian republic, and explains their notion of “Islamic democracy." In The Ayatollah’s Democracy: An Iranian Challenge, he introduces top-level politicians, clerics, and ordinary Iranians who express pride for their ancient heritage and fierce independence from the West.

Steven Rattner, the Obama Administration’s former Car Czar, who led the effort to restructure GM and Chrysler, gives an insider’s account of the process. In Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry, he tells what happened during the historic auto-industry intervention, covering political brinkmanship, corporate mismanagement, and personalities under pressure. He also explains the tough choices he and his team made to keep Chrysler and General Motors in operation.

New York Times columnist Gail Collins joins us for another installment of our series looking at the outlandish things politicians have been saying and doing lately, How Did Politics in America Get So Weird?

On this week’s edition of The Big Picture, a look at why our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan has not been more of an issue on the campaign trail during this election season. David Sanger, Chief Washington Correspondent for the New York Times, explains what the official withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq and the increase in the number of troops in Afghanistan has meant for candidates and voters so far this year.

New York Times columnist Gail Collins joins us for another installment of our series looking at the outlandish things politicians have been saying and doing lately, How Did Politics in America Get So Weird?

Walter Mondale shares insights from his five decades in public life, his role in creating the modern vice presidency, and the parallels he sees between the Carter years and the Obama years. In The Good Fight: A Life in Politics, he describes his evolution from a young Minnesota attorney general, to a U.S. senator, to vice president and a presidential candidate. He spells out the principles required to restore the United States as a model of progressive government.

New York Times columnist Gail Collins joins us for another installment of our series looking at the outlandish things politicians have been saying and doing lately: How Did Politics in America Get So Weird?

For this week’s edition of The Big Picture, Michael Grunwald, Senior Correspondent for Time magazine, discusses the American Recovery and Reinvestment act of 2009—the stimulus bill—which Republicans have called 'too much government spending' and 'not enough' by many Democrats. He’ll explain what the stimulus bill called for, where funds have gone, and how effective it has been in boosting the economy and creating jobs.

Ingrid Betancourt talks about being held hostage by a terrorist guerrilla organization, the FARC, for more than six and a half years in the Colombian jungle. Born in Bogotá, raised in France, she returned to Colombia to become a political leader, and was abducted while she was campaigning as a candidate for president. She tells her story in Even Silence Has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle.

Fatima Bhutto, daughter of Murtaza Bhutto and niece of Benazir Bhutto, discusses her father’s murder and the long line of tragedies in her family. Songs of Blood & Sword: A Daughter’s Memoir reveals how a family of feudal landlords became powerbrokers and politicians.

Alan Khazei, who founded the non-profit City Year with his friend, Michael Brown, talks about national service and social entrepreneurship. In Big Citizenship: How Pragmatic Idealism Can Bring Out the Best in America, he explores how social change could be achieved through Congress, popular movements, and motivated alliances of groups.

Iran is viewed as a security threat that's part of the Axis of Evil, but it is also is a proud nation with a 2,500 year history of Persian poetry, art, and passion, and its complexities are often overlooked. Scott Peterson discusses Iran: from its recent internal struggles to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In Let the Swords Encircle Me: Iran—A Journey Behind the Headlines, he speaks with clerics and reformers, filmmakers and journalists, True Believers and the Westernized resisters.

New York Times columnist Gail Collins joins us for another installment of our series looking at the outlandish things politicians have been saying and doing lately, How Did Politics in America Get So Weird?

With unemployment passing 12% and a state budget shortfall around $20 billion, the economic picture in California is looking bleak. On today's edition of our 2010 midterm-election series The Big Picture, Cathleen Decker, state politics editor and writer for the Los Angeles Times, and by Dan Walters, political columnist for the Sacramento Bee, look at the crises plaguing the Golden State and candidates who want a shot at fixing them.

Arianna Huffington discusses the plight of the middle class, why she sees it disappearing, and what it means for America. Her book Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream lays out the threats to middle-class stability: shrinking industry and fewer blue-collar jobs, a weakening education system, economic turmoil, and a loss of faith in our political system. She also addresses what can be done to restore and strengthen the middle-class.

Vanity Fair writer Michael Joseph Gross discusses the paradox of Sarah Palin. As the public voice grows louder, she has become increasingly secretive, walling herself off from old friends and associates, and attempting to enforce silence from those around her. Gross’s article “Sarah Palin’s Sound and Fury” is in the October issue of Vanity Fair.

Atlantic writer Jeffrey Goldberg discusses his exclusive interview with Fidel Castro. Among the revelations from his reporting are Castro’s criticisms of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Castro’s doubts about his own behavior during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Tony Blair, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, discusses his ten years in office as Labour Party leader. He explains his decisions to go to war in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, and, most controversially of all, Iraq. He shares his views on emerging power relationships and economies, and looks ahead to the changing world. His memoir A Journey: My Political Life is his firsthand account of his years in office and beyond.