Current Interest: Broken Government? (2009): Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

The
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books began in 1996 with a simple goal: to bring together the people who create books with the people who love to read them. The festival was an immediate success and has become the largest and most prestigious book festival in the country, attracting more than 130,000 book lovers each year.

Chris Hedges is the author of numerous best-selling books and, as a seasoned journalist, was part of a team that received the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. His most recent book is When Atheism Becomes Religion: America's New Fundamentalists.

Amy Goodman is best known as the principal host of Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! program and for her work as an investigative journalist. She coauthored the book Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times with her brother, David Goodman.

Hugh Hewitt spent six years working in the Reagan Administration before beginning a career in radio broadcasting. Currently host of a nationally syndicated radio show. Hewitt is the author of eight books, including GOP 5.0: Republican Renewal Under President Obama.

Matt Miller is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a columnist for Fortune. He is the host of KCRW's Left, Right & Center program. His book, The Two Percent Solution: Fixing America's Problems in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love, was a Los Angeles Times best seller.

Jacob Weisberg is chairman and editor-in-chief of the Slate Group. Before joining Slate, Weisberg wrote about politics for magazines including The New Republic, Newsweek,Vanity Fair, and The New York Times Magazine. His most recent book, The Bush Tragedy, was a New York Times best seller in 2008.