On C-SPAN's weekend literature program Book TV at 11 p.m. tomorrow, Penn History Professor Thomas Childers will focus on a different war than the one currently racking people's brains by bringing viewers back to World War II. Childers will be presenting his recently published novel In the Shadows of War: Three Lives United By French Resistance -- the second book in a trilogy about World War II. According to Childers, his book focuses on the tale of a Philadelphia pilot named Roy Allen who is shot down in German-occupied France and hidden by a French school teacher for six weeks. Allen insists on returning to Paris to find a resistance group, where he joins forces with French resistance leader Pierre Mulsant. Christine Ball, publicity manager for Henry Holt and Company, publisher of Childers' latest book -- explained that after the manuscript's production, she "sent a copy of the book... to C-SPAN2's Book TV," because she believed that this story is "right up their ally and would be surprised if they didn't accept it." Ball was correct. According to Annette Lee of C-SPAN's Media Relations, Childers was brought to Book TV producer Andrew Murray's attention through several different channels -- including the mainstream recognition that Childers garnered after a plagiarism scandal last year involving the late historian Stephen Ambrose, who admitted to using phrases and passages similar to Childers' 1995 work The Wings of Morning in his book The Wild Blue. "Also, a recommendation by a U. Penn alum to read Professor Childers' new book led to Andrew reviewing this unique story," Lee added. Murray said that Childers' book is "a great story about French resistance -- normally we don't do analysis of wars, but it was told in a narrative form." Childers expressed happiness about the recognition. "Book TV is terrific," Childers said. "You get an opportunity to talk about the book and read from it, which helps getting the message out." C-SPAN Media Relations manager Robin Scullin echoed Childers' sentiment, noting that "the publishing industry loves it when their books are on TV.... Books that you don't see anywhere else seem to jump the most" in popularity. Scullin added that the show's impact is evidenced by an "Amazon.com bounce," in which most books, after being featured on Book TV, increase in sales on the Web site. Childers said he hopes to appeal to a broad audience. "War is a fundamental element of human experience," Childers said. "So if you write something powerful, people will read it." In order to get this message across, Lee said that Book TV travels to bookstores and book fairs around the U.S., taping authors' book presentations and the audience question-and-answer sessions that follow. Murray added that the "Q and A is important to our audience." Childers' question-and-answer portion will include topics such as whether the book was translated into other languages, notably French, and what research Childers conducted to write his story. Another question raised was if Childers has considered turning his novel into a film. "If something becomes a film, I think for the modern imagination of 2003, the idea that... [Allen] and [the French school teacher] could have lived for six weeks in such close quarters and there not have been more than just an emotional bond seems incredible," Childers said during the taping, according to the Book TV transcript. "I'm afraid to think what would be let loose with that sort of thing." But in the meantime, Childers said he is sticking to writing the third book in his trilogy about the hardships encountered by people returning from World War II. "Women are forced back out of the workforce, and men suffer overtly from post-traumatic syndrome... and that's been swept under the rug."
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