In Depth is a program on C-SPAN 2 as part of their Book TV programming that aired monthly from 2000-2023, featuring a different writer each month. Each interview covers the breadth of that author's writing career, and incorporates viewer calls and e-mails. The show was typically broadcast live the first Sunday of each month. The first program was on February 6, 2000, and was a discussion with historian John Lukacs. For the first several years of the show, episodes were not produced during the summer months. From the first episode through March 2019, the standard interview length was three hours. Beginning in April 2019, with Nomi Prins, the standard interview was reduced to two hours.
There have been a few exceptions to the practice of featuring one single author, as with the programs featuring the Strand Bookstore, Frank J. Williams Frank Williams and Edna Greene Medford's discussion of Bibliography of Abraham Lincoln (writings on Lincoln), and John K. Wilson and Jonathan Karp's discussions of the writings of Barack Obama and John McCain.
Sometimes, the profile will include taped footage of the author's own home or office, so as to give further perspective on how they approach the task of writing. On occasion (as with the programs with Shelby Foote and Harold Bloom ) entire three-hour interviews have been conducted live at the home or office of the featured author.
In 2018, the series featured 12 authors best known for their works of fiction, as opposed to their standard practice of interviewing authors best known for nonfiction works.
List of episodes Note: The dates of original broadcast of each episode are listed below, along with the name of the featured guest. The name of the host is indicated in parentheses. Each date links to a video of the full interview.
2000
February 6 – John Lukacs (Connie Doebele) March 5 – Richard Rhodes (Connie Doebele) April 2 – William F. Buckley Jr. (Brian Lamb) May 7 – Joan Didion (Connie Doebele) September 3 – Milton Friedman (Brian Lamb) October 1 – Gore Vidal (Susan Swain) November 5 – Stephen Ambrose (Connie Doebele) December 3 – Arthur Schlesinger Jr. (Brian Lamb)
2001
January 7 – Norman Podhoretz (Connie Doebele) February 4 – Toni Morrison (Susan Swain) March 4 – James McPherson (Connie Doebele) April 1 – Studs Terkel (Steve Scully) May 6 – Jacques Barzun (Connie Doebele) September 2 – Shelby Foote (Brian Lamb) October 7 – Richard Brookhiser (Connie Doebele)* November 4 – David Halberstam (Susan Swain) December 2 – David McCullough (Brian Lamb)
*Note: Richard Brookhiser's October 7 interview was cut short unexpectedly due to the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, which started during his interview. Brookhiser later appeared on In Depth for a full three hours on April 1, 2012, thus becoming one of the only guests to make two appearances.
2002
January 6 – Cornel West (Connie Doebele) February 3 – Tom Clancy (Steve Scully) March 3 – Peggy Noonan (Susan Swain) April 7 – Robert Caro (Brian Lamb) May 5 – bell hooks (Connie Doebele) June 2 – David Herbert Donald (Steve Scully) September 1 – Howard Zinn (Steve Scully) October 6 – Edmund Morris (Susan Swain) November 3 – George Will (Brian Lamb) December 1 – Bob Woodward (Susan Swain)
2003
January 5 – Phyllis Schlafly (Connie Doebele) February 2 – Martin Gilbert (Connie Doebele) March 2 – Susan Sontag (Susan Swain) April 6 – Bernard Lewis (Steve Scully) May 4 – Harold Bloom (Susan Swain) June 1 – Noam Chomsky (Brian Lamb) July 6 – Carlo D'Este (Connie Doebele) August 3 – Camille Paglia (Connie Doebele) September 7 – Jeff Shaara (Steve Scully) October 5 – Stanley Crouch (Susan Swain) November 2 – John Keegan (Brian Lamb) December 3 – Douglas Brinkley (Steve Scully)
2004
January 4 – Thomas Fleming (Connie Doebele) February 1 – Ken Auletta (Brian Lamb) March 7 – Victor Davis Hanson (Connie Doebele) April 4 – Margaret Macmillan (Connie Doebele) May 2 – Niall Ferguson (Connie Doebele) June 6 – Harold Holzer (Steve Scully) July 4 – Forrest McDonald (Connie Doebele) August 1 – Simon Winchester (Connie Doebele) September 5 – Strand Bookstore (Brian Lamb) October 3 – Angela Davis (Connie Doebele) November 7 – David Hackett Fischer (Connie Doebele) December 5 – Tom Wolfe (Brian Lamb)
2005
January 2 – Garry Wills (Connie Doebele) February 6 – Charles Murray (Steve Scully) March 6 – Helen Caldicott (Connie Doebele) April 3 – Robert Kaplan (Peter Slen) May 1 – Thomas Friedman (Susan Swain) June 5 – Richard John Neuhaus (Peter Slen) July 3 – H.W. Brands (Connie Doebele) August 7 – William Least Heat-Moon (Connie Doebele) September 4 – Harvey Mansfield (Connie Doebele) October 2 – Sherwin Nuland (Peter Slen) November 6 – Doris Kearns Goodwin (Steve Scully) December 4 – John Updike (Susan Swain)
2006
January 1 – Ron Powers (Connie Doebele) February 5 – Taylor Branch (Susan Swain) March 5 – Francis Fukuyama (Connie Doebele) April 2 – Shelby Steele (Peter Slen) May 7 – Robert Remini (Steve Scully) June 4 – Mark Bowden (Susan Swain) July 2 – Joyce Appleby (Connie Doebele) August 6 – Gary Gallagher (Steve Scully) September 3 – Tammy Bruce (Peter Slen) October 1 – John Hope Franklin (Peter Slen) November 6 – Ray Kurzweil (Pedro Echevarria) December 3 – Jimmy Carter (Connie Doebele)
2007
January 7 – P.J. O'Rourke (Peter Slen) February 4 – Dinesh D'Souza (Connie Doebele) March 4 – Barbara Ehrenreich (Connie Doebele) April 1 – Alexander Cockburn (Connie Doebele) May 6 – Marvin Olasky (Connie Doebele) June 3 – Lewis Lapham (Connie Doebele) July 1 – Michael Barone (Connie Doebele) August 5 – Edward O. Wilson (Pedro Echevarria) September 2 – Christopher Hitchens (Peter Slen) October 7 – David Horowitz (Connie Doebele) November 4 – Vincent Bugliosi (Peter Slen) December 2 – Newt Gingrich (Susan Swain)
2008
January 6 – Nell Irvin Painter (Connie Doebele) February 3 – David Levering Lewis (Peter Slen) March 2 – John McWhorter (Peter Slen) April 6 – Michael Eric Dyson (Pedro Echevarria) May 4 – Alice Walker (Peter Slen) June 1 – George Weigel (Connie Doebele) July 6 – Katha Pollitt (Pedro Echevarria) August 3 – Ralph Peters (Steve Scully) September 7 – John K. Wilson and Jonathan Karp (Peter Slen) November 2 – Steven Pinker (Connie Doebele) December 7 – Kevin Phillips (Peter Slen)
2009 From this point forward, all interviews were hosted by Peter Slen, unless otherwise indicated.
January 4 – Bill Gertz February 1 – Frank Williams and Edna Greene Medford February 28 – Ronald Takaki (Pedro Echevarria) April 5 – Robert Higgs May 3 – Christopher Buckley June 7 – Bill Ayers July 5 – John Ferling (Susan Swain) August 2 – Juan Williams (Steve Scully) September 6 – Jonathan Kozol (Connie Doebele) October 4 – Hugh Hewitt November 1 – Temple Grandin December 6 – Joy Hakim
2010
January 3 – Michelle Malkin February 7 – Paul Johnson March 7 – T.R. Reid April 4 – John Dean (Steve Scully) May 2 – Pat Buchanan June 6 – Martha Nussbaum July 4 – Bill Bennett (Pedro Echevarria) August 1 – Ralph Nader September 5 – Gordon Wood October 3 – Michio Kaku November 7 – Jonah Goldberg December 5 – Salman Rushdie
2011
January 2 – Phyllis Bennis February 6 – R. Emmett Tyrell March 6 – Pauline Maier April 3 – Ishmael Reed May 1 – Tibor Machan (Susan Swain) June 5 – Eric Posner July 3 – Linda Hogan August 7 – Ann Coulter August 10 – Ellis Cose October 2 – Michael Moore November 6 – Ben Mezrich December 4 – David Brooks (Steve Scully)
2012
January 1 – Chris Hedges February 5 – Mark Steyn March 4 – Randall Kennedy April 1 – Richard Brookhiser May 6 – Tom Brokaw June 3 – Anna Quindlen July 1 – David Pietrusza August 1 – Julianne Malveaux September 2 – Michael Beschloss October 7 – Steven Johnson November 4 – Kenneth Davis December 2 – Tom Coburn
2013
January 6 – Donald Barlett and James Steele February 3 – Randall Robinson March 3 – Larry Schweikart April 7 – Amy Goodman May 5 – Melanie Phillips June 2 – Rick Atkinson July 7 – Mary Roach August 4 – Ben Carson September 1 – Ben Shapiro October 6 – John Lewis November 3 – Kitty Kelley December 1 – Christina Hoff Sommers
2014
January 5 – Mark Levin February 2 – Bonnie Morris March 2 – Peniel Joseph April 6 – Bing West May 4 – Luis J. Rodriguez June 1 – Amity Shlaes July 6 – Reza Aslan August 3 – Ron Paul September 7 – Mary Frances Berry October 5 – Joan Biskupic November 2 – Michael Korda December 7 – Arthur Brooks
2015
January 4 – Tavis Smiley February 1 – Walter Isaacson March 1 – Lani Guinier April 5 – Ronald Kessler May 3 – Jon Ronson June 7 – Lawrence Wright July 5 – Peter Schweizer (Steve Scully) August 2 – Medea Benjamin September 6 – Lynne Cheney October 4 – Thom Hartmann November 1 – Walter Williams December 6 – Cokie Roberts
2016
January 3 – David Maraniss February 7 – Eric Burns March 6 – Jane Mayer April 3 – Steve Forbes* May 1 – Wil Haygood June 5 – Steve Forbes* July 3 – Sebastian Junger August 7 – Jeffrey Toobin (Steve Scully) September 4 – Dennis Prager October 2 – Gerald Horne November 6 – Kate Andersen Brower, William Seale, and Alvin S. Felzenberg, discussing U.S. presidents December 4 – Steve Twomey, Eri Hotta, and Craig Nelson, discussing the Attack on Pearl Harbor
*Note: Steve Forbes was scheduled to be the guest for three hours on April 3, but on the way to Washington, D.C. that morning he was a passenger on Amtrak train #89, which derailed near Chester, Pennsylvania. Forbes was unhurt and returned to New York. Just after noon Eastern Time, he spoke via telephone with C-SPAN host Steve Scully for approximately 14 minutes about that experience. After the interview, C-SPAN 2 aired a program recorded June 18, 2014, in which Forbes discusses his book Money at a Washington, D.C. bookstore. Forbes eventually was an In Depth guest for a full three hours on June 5, 2016.
2017
January 1, 2017 – April Ryan, Eddie Glaude, and David Maraniss on the Presidency of Barack Obama (Steve Scully) February 5, 2017 – Nick Adams March 5, 2017 – Dave Barry April 2, 2017 – Annie Jacobsen May 7, 2017 – Neil deGrasse Tyson June 4, 2017 – Matt Taibbi July 2, 2017 – Herb Boyd August 6, 2017 – KrisAnne Hall September 3, 2017 – Eric Metaxas October 1, 2017 – Lynne Olson November 5, 2017 – Michael Lewis (Steve Scully) December 3, 2017 – Cornel West and Robert George
2018 For 2018, the program broke its tradition of interviewing nonfiction authors to interview best-selling fiction writers, focusing on authors of historical fiction, science and national security thrillers, and social commentary. The phrase “2018 Fiction Edition” was added to the show’s logo.
January 7, 2018 – David Ignatius February 4, 2018 – Colson Whitehead March 4, 2018 – Jeff Shaara April 1, 2018 – Walter Mosley (Greta Brawner) May 6, 2018 – David Baldacci (Susan Swain) June 3, 2018 – Gish Jen July 1, 2018 – Brad Thor August 5, 2018 – Cory Doctorow (Pedro Echevarria) September 2, 2018 – Jacqueline Woodson October 7, 2018 – Geraldine Brooks November 4, 2018 – Jodi Picoult December 2, 2018 – Brad Meltzer (Steve Scully)
2019
January 6, 2019 – David Corn February 3, 2019 – Dave Zirin March 3, 2019 – Heather Mac Donald April 7, 2019 – Nomi Prins May 5, 2019 – Kathleen Hall Jamieson June 2, 2019 – Evan Thomas July 7, 2019 – Paul Kengor August 4, 2019 – Lee Edwards September 1, 2019 – Joanne Freeman October 6, 2019 – Naomi Klein (Steve Scully) November 3, 2019 – Imani Perry December 1, 2019 – Jason Riley (Steve Scully)
2020
January 5, 2020 – Sebastian Gorka February 2, 2020 – Deirdre McCloskey March 1, 2020 – April Ryan April 1, 2020 – Highlights show May 3, 2020 – Highlights show June 7, 2020 – Yuval Levin July 5, 2020 – James Stavridis August 2, 2020 – Wes Moore September 6, 2020 – Ralph Reed October 4, 2020 – Jill Lepore November 1, 2020 – 20th Anniversary Commemoration December 6, 2020 – Eddie Glaude
2021
January 2, 2021 – N/A February 7, 2021 – Robert W. Merry March 7, 2021 – Elizabeth Kolbert April 4, 2021 – Harriet Washington May 2, 2021 – Craig Shirley*