Neil Sheehan talked about his book, A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon (Random House; September 22, 2009). The book tells the story of the nuclear arms race and the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile through the eyes of Air Force General Bernard Schriever. In 1954, General Schriever was the head of a research team that led to putting satellites in space and the development of missiles like the ICBM.

21 years ago this month, Neil Sheehan sat for five 30-minute interviews about his previous book, A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam. Those interviews subsequently were the inspiration for C-SPAN's 16 year series "Booknotes." Video clips from the 1988 program were shown to compare and contrast the two books and Mr. Sheehan's experiences in writing each of them.

Neil Sheehan spent three years in Vietnam as a war correspondent for United Press International and The New York Times and won numerous awards for his reporting. In 1971, he obtained the Pentagon Papers, which brought the Times the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for meritorious public service. In 1989, Mr. Sheehan won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction and the National Book Award for A Bright Shining Lie.