lady that like flowers. [laughter] i think it is just what happens and it is a shame that somehow the stereotypes' start and our first ladies are seen as flat and one-dimensional because they are always so much more complex and so much more interesting than those views of them and certainly barbara bush and my grandmother who is this such a strong will and very fascinating woman. >> it was true of martha washington. [laughter] >> i just wondered if you think it is because it is a pressed by yes against people who didn't like your husband -- >> that's part of it for sure there is no doubt about that. i think that's part of it for

sure. but i hope and i think that maybe we are slowly moving away from that. .. and so, i berti hosted the u.s. ashcan world country and woman counsel there.

we did videoconferencing into afghanistan with the minister of education in the u.s. ambassador to afghanistan. the ambassador was with us from dallas along with several ashcan scholars and from other afghan women who were doing projects in afghanistan, came as the secretary-general who is a bulgarian case. they are very act of literacy. and this u.s. afghan women's council was focused on literacy for afghan women and girls. and so i want to keep working on that. i hope that the united states will stand with afghanistan. it's really important. if we don't hamman just afraid to go back to what they were. and it's really important, especially for the women there.

i met with this group of afghan parliamentarian members of parliament than right before george and i laughed the white house and one of them said, you know, this is our only chance. and if we can make it now, then we will be able to. so i have that will do whatever we can to support the people of afghanistan. >> here's a good one from lisa from humble, texas. did you ever cook when you were in the white house? >> no. [laughter] [applause] i haven't cooked for 15 years now i guess. we had a show for the governor's mansion, a wonderful chef at the white house. i never have been really a very good cook. i love to read cook books. [laughter] and am very interested in food and i love to be. but i'm not a very good coach. >> if you could have taken one nonpersonal item of the white

house acted taxes, what would you have wanted it to be? >> well, there were so many beautiful paintings. the white house has a really magnificent art collection and i don't even know which one i would take him up there so many that are wonderful. >> ueberroth and african-american art. >> the white house ever made. it by far the most expensive item there, but probably george washington would be considered price is as well as the painting of benjamin franklin nuts in the green room. it's a beautiful painting of builders, with one of jacob lawrence builders series in its men of all races living together sort of the belief that if we all work together we can build our country. and since my father was a builder, it had a special personal memories to me.

there's something very tangible about being a builder. you had something tangible ftn. whenever a driver with my dad in the a.i. built that house and i built that house here there's something very satisfying about that. >> as a military spouse, i've always wondered how you and your husband found time to visit our troops and our wounded warriors. now that you no longer are doing first lady duties, are you and your husband don't fault and support the troops programs. god bless you and semper fi. >> that so sweet. [applause] we did visit the wounded warriors and walter reid at brooke army medical center where a burn patient was. and then we met of course with families of the fallen at all different times.

i remember specially in the 2004 campaign in the week go to big events and after the big events were over, we would go backstage or in other rooms and meet with the families of fallen from that part of the country wherever we were. and that is, you know, a grief that is very, very difficult to share with or to see what these families. and what i always saw with all the people on september 11th, all seamlessly met with after the terrorist attacks and then the families how they wanted you to know about their loved one that they have bus. and what they really wanted to do with all their stories. in fact, one sister of someone who died in iraq had read a story to george and me about her

brother and there was something so moving about every one of those visits and how precious our country is coming that we are so fortunate to have men and women who volunteered to serve our country, like the men and women of the united states military do. >> absolutely. [applause] >> what advice did you give your daughters in finding a suitable house then. >> i'm still giving that advice to barbara. i always said look for somebody just like that. >> both of your girls are doing wonderful. >> they're doing very well, thank you so much. if you don't know, john is a contributory spot and from the today show. she's still teaching just one day a week at the school in

baltimore. and barbara has founded a nonprofit called global health score. and if your interested, you can look on the web at gh for global health, gh core.org and she is placing recent college graduates, recent smart graduate for the poor. right now she has fallen on the ground in malawi, tanzania and boston and new york. it inodes the idea rehang teach for america that is just to support and help young college graduates to work in clinics. they're setting up to supply change. whenever friends in tanzania did work for the gap in a ranting supply chains for the cap, the ordering and supply chains. so now for tanzania, he said he met their supply chains for antiretrovirals for their drug ordering, so that people in the

clinics that go on arb is can keep up with their medication. so i'm very proud of both of them and they're doing great. >> and there's also a question how your in-laws are doing. >> they're doing very well, too. in fact, at this very moment there in dallas in my backyard with george, hosting a party. george's assistant, teachers are, met barbara bush's assistant last summer in maine and they are getting married saturday night. [laughter] [applause] so tonight, we are all hosting the welcome to texas barbecue for the out-of-town guests. so a lot of maryland friends i think are there in the backyard right now. they are doing well enough to deal to fight houston, coach this party, fly back home, fly back on saturday night for the

wedding and then fly all the way up to maine for the summer. >> that's great. i think this is a good last question and i actually would love for u2 reaches the end of your book here because it so beautiful. the question is, what are you enjoyed doing now that she could not come it did not do in the white house. it's probably a long list, but also you write it so beautifully. >> chesty think this last one here. we have lived through four seasons now on our ranch land. a spring bloom of wildflower carpets and pear, the baking heat of summer when the air shimmers and even the cicada whine slow to accommodate the stifling air. a fall, a crisp morning in brilliant colors in any winter when it may we can hear the house of the coyotes and the rush of the biting prairie winds. four seasons, hardly enough time

to reflect on peak years, let alone a lifetime. when i was born, there was a blacksmith shop on one of them mainstreet here today, our news has disseminated via blogs. but each morning when i watch the sun lifted us over eastern jail, cutting through the tree lines and illuminating the general prairie grasses in the two john shade trees that are white house that gave to us, i'm reminded of the choice to be found in the day that's coming. george was soon up in his presidential library at southern methodist university in dallas for the george w. bush institute is dirty functioning and as a part of that i'm pursuing many of the causes that were especially dear to me in the white house. i need her to advocate for women's rights and women's health through a special's women initiative i've begun working on new ways to help the women of the nsa and in the middle east and to promote education and

literacy are the millions to help alphabets are a mystery and basic edition of complex puzzle. enter the do, we'll help to promote basic human freedom for these women and their families. but as much as i treasure my public life, i.e. also treasure the quiet -- the quiet of my private one. sometime during that first spring and summer back in texas, i began to feel the buoyant the of my own newfound freedom. after nearly eight years of hypervigilance, of watching for the next danger or tragedy that might be coming, i could at last exhale. i could simply be. when i wave my activist eyes to see the drift of the clouds, the brightness of the blues or the moon and the ever shifting arrangement of the stars. look up lost. i can still hear my mother say with a hint of on and wonder.

[applause] >> thank you. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you all. tank you so much. thanks everybody. [cheers and applause] >> for more information visit laura bush foundation.or. >> there was a great storm. i came along unexpectedly at the time of force they had very little means to forecast storms. this was a time when when the first weather maps were just coming online, the weather map in the smithsonian building, what we call a castle today.

and telegraph operators across the country would report and the smithsonian every day. and the farthest telegraph to the west at that time was not far from the small island on the coast. but it couldn't -- there's no way they could be anything coming from the sea. this was before the ships had no way of connecting with sure so there was really no warning of a story. >> worded the hurricane hit? >> the hurricane hit in central louisiana in august 1856. there was a resort built on the wealthy belters and the planters to this was during the sugar boom of anabel of louisiana, said the planters would come, wealthy merchants. one thing they would do is to

get out of this city is like new orleans. new orleans was extremely dirty at the time and sweltering during the summer. and also very dangerous because of the disease would crop up yellow fever. three years before 1953 killed about 8000 people. so if you have the means, you got out of the city. and one place he would go would be all the mayor for safety. and in the summer as they gathered their data very nice resort, a major storm came along. >> and on the front of your book, "island in a storm," you have a map. where is the last island? >> it's the aliens that -- >> go ahead and pointed out. >> is the island here to the west. this is the south of the mississippi. here's the most westward island.

new orleans is right up in here. >> and down here was where the resort was? >> that's correct. >> at bill inhabited now. >> one thing we learned from that storm. i'm an oceanographer and a steady storms and what they do to coast and things like that, but one thing we can really learn from this storm is their response was quite different than what we do today. every building on the island was destroyed except for one mall staple and a horse survived and a sleigh survived in that stable. and then afterwards, the survivors storm how to choice about whether to go back and rebuild. and as a matter of fact, there were discussions in new orleans about the storm, to build the largest resort in north america, beach resorts in north america on this island. and they had planned spreadout,

with beautiful images of these plants spread out on a table at the st. charles hotel, the weekend of the storm. and they were bringing in investors to get started on this thing. and they decide it, though, after they saw after the storm that this is not the place to build her that island did not rise over five or six feet high anywhere. it was extremely low, not much higher than a tabletop. and what happened is the storm served with the increase in sea level due to the wind blowing against primarily due to the wind blowing in the gulf against the shoreline rose 1760 comes to the entire island had 10 feet of water during the storm. and the people decided not to rebuild. they walked away from that

island and the island was never rebuilt. today when we have a katrina, when we have eight that happened in 2008 on the coast, we not only rebuild, we build eckert, more elaborate, more densely. but there's something to learn from what those folks did that in the 19th century. >> so most of the deaths from the 1856 hurricane were from drowning. >> almost all of them. >> the island basically disappeared if it can feet of water. >> the island is a fascinating story but not only the island going underwater and what happens under conditions like that, but the island actually degraded, disintegrated. the island chain. the storm triggered something in the system here, the natural system along the coastline but made that island really start to

go down in terms of maintaining its integrity. this is the place where the land is thinking on the mississippi delta and so it's thinking about a centimeter through. and that induces a rapid sea level rise. and that's on top of the storms made this island in the following 150 years retreat landward two thirds of a mile, some of the fastest eroding stretches of coast in the world. and it also lost about 75% of the surface area. i was just devastated. it is very strong concerns and this had happened before that these islands eventually will disappear because of the rapid sea level rise and because of extreme storms that come in, the combination of the two have triggered this.

>> what sparked your interest in this hurricane in the story? >> i went in the 1980's. a friend of mine took me down there, and another colleague. and i grew up on the outer banks of north carolina and were familiar with very large sand dunes. our house was set back from the beach and we were up 60 feet and went through many hurricanes with no problem. and then they took me to this extraordinarily low place and it didn't even resemble a barrier island to me. and they started -- and i started hearing stories of a command resort here how they used to throw these ball where they were in hoop dresses and i got very much into the culture of the people who went there as well as what physically was happening to the island. and they came together in a story. i'm a scientist. this is not a text book by any

stretch of the imagination. this is a story of what happened to those people, but also to the island. and what happened to the island is the land is as much of a carrot or her. >> you tell the story through the eyes of different characters. how did you research this characters? >> you know, it was fascinating that five or six of the survivors of the storm gave very detailed, took a lot of time, you know, one of them was 70, 80 pages long and that one was particularly interesting and a gentleman who's lost his entire family with seven children and his wife. and this was an answer, if you will, to repeated questions from his family on the mainland seen how did you survive when you lost your whole family through the kill. he wrote this very long thing

and there were three or four other long descriptions. and they were in different locations on the island and they ended up in different locations. some of the people were actually -- the island flooded from the land. the wind blew very hard from the land initially enfold them. they knew that when the wind blew very hard from the ocean, that the island could be endangered, but they knew less about it coming from the land. some of the people were blown off shore. some of the people in the hurricane came by, the wind flipped around and blew them back into the marshes and were getting views from different disk, different location and i was fascinating to see the oceanography that went on, but also to understand what happened to the men and women and children who were involved.

>> where did you find these records? >> these records were in museums. i spent time in the library of commerce. a number of museums and family holdings. my wife and i visited a number of small towns that had descendents of folks who were on the island who died in the island and some have their papers and they were these votes that were very, very open with us about sharing family documents. >> so how do you sell a book about an 1856 hurricane to a publisher and this is published by public affairs? >> to me, what's important about this book is first of all it's a wonderful story. there's a love story in there, believe it or not. scientists writing a love story interesting. but it was fun to put together

the different kinds of cultural mix of people here. and also though is to make it relevant, and make the story relevant to today. this story, what happened to that island was essentially what happened with the fall of the peninsula just north of galveston during hurricane ike during 2008. the height of the land was the same, the level of distraction was well over 90% destroyed buildings. and to me, bringing this home that we can actually study with the people in them 18th century.and what they did and learned something very project to about perhaps better managing our coast today, we build on --

we build enormous structures on extremely vulnerable stretches and coastlines. and they chose not to do that. you know, we have something to learn. >> how would you compare the storm of 1856 to katrina? and do you think that new orleans has taken the right approach in its rebuilding efforts? >> you know, it was different than katrina and that it came a little bit further to the west. it passed to the west of the city and that brought onshore winds, you know, when i came across the land and it brought onshore winds and the city, the devastation from katrina that it passed to the east and we had winds that came back and flooded, that flooded the city. the question about whether new

orleans is taking the right approach i was on a national resource council committee overseeing the protection plans for new orleans in south louisiana, reviewing the protection plans. and it seems to me that we have to make choices and the choices are difficult. there's not enough sediment today coming down the mississippi river, that if we could grab it all and spew it in the appropriate places on the d-delta, that we could rebuild the delta to where it once, to the state that it once was. i think we have to be realistic about what to try to save in south louisiana. i'm not specifically louisiana, but the whole plant and then do that as aggressively as we can.

what we can't do in an effective manner, in my opinion, is try to save it all. it's almost virtually impossible. >> what is your day job? >> my day job is an oceanographer with the u.s. geological survey. a study of beaches change under extreme storms, not surprisingly. >> you're on the storm impact team. >> that's right. i'm head of the storm impact and we operate out of the tampa bay area in florida, st. petersburg florida. and what we do is every major tech comes to shore anywhere in the united states is we will send aircraft, various aircraft and field teams to examine what happened and then we'll have a cadre of scientists working on ways to predict what's happening. so hopefully, you know, we can

implement some of the -- some of those ideas that the folks of the mid-19th century had, you know, about why certain units of our caseload. >> in 1956 it was the one piece. get federal aid go down to this area when they were hit? >> very good question and the answer is absolutely not. those people were on their own. there were major interesting questions that the book into afterwards that parallels the katrina's to some degree where, you know, people were calling, where's the help? the survivors around the islands for upwards of a week with no release. and to some degree that's because nobody quite what happened. and we took a while to get them and their warships offshore who had founded in a lot of sailors

had died. and their survivors were afloat off shore. it was a mess. >> is this your first book? >> two is my first book. >> what was the process like for you? >> i thoroughly enjoyed it. i was surprised by that. i set out to write a book that the nonspecialist would enjoy. it incorporated a story and had things. we've been through but it would be painful science like somebody sitting down having read a text that can take a test on it are some team. but i found it particularly -- i knew i'd find it a challenge of trying to explain the science and an approachable manner. what surprised me how much it got into the care years, the people who were there in that valley towards the end of the book itself like i knew a lot of

their families. descendents. it was a very enjoyable experience. >> the public affairs approach you or did you approach them? >> my editor approach them. had a great public affairs, lindsay jones, a young woman who worked with them on it i think she brought a lot to this book and i learned a lot. and i really value that experience. >> when was this -- if this is a photograph of colored photograph taken? >> that is actually a sketch that was done in 1861. they called it a birds eye view in a covered a much larger area. if you see the original paper copy of an original that's available online from the

department of congress. if these kinds of images were done around the country right before the civil war of consensual battle areas of the harbors. this is the entrance to the mississippi. this is the entrance to new orleans. and there are a whole bunch of these from around the southeast united states and they are just spectacular. now, the artist for public affairs, took the original image which was not originally so forbidden looking and added the dark of and the darker hue there and i think to just a fabulous job. >> abby sallenger, trend "island in a storm."

>> were looking not the book of a cover called last culture and a new deal. the authors here with us at the organization of america's historian and washington d.c. digital matte canvases the first the first chance he by chance to talk about this book. >> absolutely. while black culture and the new deal is a product of about a decade of research on the cultural programs in the roosevelt administration during the 1930's and the 1940's and the ways in which they addressed racial issues of the period. >> let's are with president roosevelt himself. tell our viewers about his record overall on racial matters. >> well, i think that there's a sort of mixed idea about franklin roosevelt and his

posture towards african-americans. i think on the one hand, in his heart, he was in the racial love and justice, but the policies he created and enforced have to be supported by high to be contingent in congress. and the real legislation, structural legislation would it change the political and economic as african-americans would never quite achieve. on the other hand, franklin roosevelt and certainly his wife, eleanor, were very conscience of the need to reach out to the african american community to embrace the democratic voters and to acknowledge that america had changed, certainly in terms of the quality and he made a democratic hearty. and eleanor, in particular,

really to dishonestly caching project and a lot of franklin's ideas came from the suggestions of his wife and her connections as well. >> well, perhaps the answer is mixed, but let me ask you on the part of the president himself, how much a his support and endorsement of these programs reach out to african-americans was more on ethical grounds on how much of your political calculations? >> again, i think that much of what he did was politically calculated. but let's not forget that the individuals in his administration who were key to these programs, kerry hopkins, hurled fichte, roy alexander, holly flanigan, they were -- they were impassioned individuals who thought a new vision of interracial cooperation and you really tried to prevent racial injustice wherever they could.

in terms of what was in there view. and these programs were created because of individuals who envision greater african-americans of the patients but also later african-american to stability. it was important and that stereotypes and discriminatory iconography needed to be obliterated. and that was, you know, in terms of the presidents own interests, his interest in these programs certainly came to some of the protections and some of the key direct heirs, but the folks in his cabinet, the folks at the point as head of the wpa and secretary of the interior. and the folks who would really shepherd these projects were longtime locals who had a history of working with these leaders. so much of this came from a

longer history of liberal liberalism. >> explain why it was needed to entice the romance of the african american voters what has historically been? >> since the end of the after part in american have supported the republican party and the party of lincoln, of course. and most african-americans of the 19th century were disenfranchised in the could not vote. in the north they continue to vote republican, but by the 1930's, certainly by the election of 1936 that it changed. they were disenchanted with the party of hoover, disenchanted with the professor come the greatest run of the depression and thought incremental change in more positive action being taken on the part of the democrats. so slowly they started to think that on the democratic party was

in fact proponent of, again, social justice among the popular friends, bringing unionization and all the states coalesced last by 1935. and you see a certain amount of skepticism. so what is he really done for us? well more than the republican party everyday. sort of singling out that they had the black cabinet. look at some other hickling hastie, what other individuals have achieved. by 1935. again, we start to see much larger over chewers towards african-americans. it's nothing from. to sort of contemporary life. it's nothing compared to the civil rights movement of the 1950's and 60's. this is the first time that a

president, that an administration out to the african-american community and of the necessity, a political necessity. and also coming in now, there are some ideas about discrimination and they are pressing part of the situation that's unpopular. [inaudible] >> yeah, the 1930's is a great awakening coming in now, in terms of american culture and in terms of thinking about the real american is. and many people, liberal intellectuals, people who are really cultivating the program are thinking about imagining that isn't just emulating europe, that is a just white men, that isn't the first americans, it is these indigenous communities, african-americans and rural people and there's a whole

effort to sort of excavate the origins of american life. >> these programs developed during the roosevelt administration is largely cultural and reaching out to intellectuals, celebrities and performers from the light. what was the umbrella under which the programs operated and how do they work? >> well, that's a buick a couple work progress administration -- [inaudible] one aspect of it was white-collar, all these people of the book which talks about the programs of the 1930's, but part of what was called schedule one, which was a white-collar program for musicians, writers, authors and staged employees. and part of the mission was to provide art for them.

there was an ideology behind it. it wasn't just about putting dollars and people sprockets, also that was the first priority. but there was also the idea that most americans have not seen the bcl or a real work of art in person, that many american children never have a real art class. and the idea that bringing us out of the pendulum was sort of uplift and give a cultural democracy. that's what some of holly flanigan talks about theater for the people. this idea of really trying to democratize culture. so with this in mind, this project performed with different units. and the focus in my book on the federal theatre project talked about the unit, the idea of having a separate black theater to cultivate black artistic talent, for playwrights and i

yours and stage employees and to create reform and says for black audiences by black authors and play writers. >> or some of the names we recognize even today there were beneficiaries of the program? >> okay well, and the federal theatre project, again, a lot of these folks are folks that deserve new biographies because folks like imbue [inaudible] and i'm trying to think of again one of my key figures call thomas served as chair of the new york negro unit nsa portend documentary of the negro soldier, a figure warranty more study. but in terms of the influences they hold in their time at a residence within the african-american community.

jolene brown, who headed the federal writers project affairs have now become a potential figure in african-american literature. and again he's someone who had not undergone a renaissance of understanding his work. so very famous people, l-lima warren, ellington, those folks, as the waters and butterfly mcqueen and the warhead programs , they are recognizable needs right now, for one of the points i think were supposed to make is there so many important african-american figures who helped people at the time and they deserve more following the inquiry. >> subprogram obviously benefited the artist because they had a steady employment and exposure. how did they end up benefiting the public? >> well, one thing i wanted was

to make sure people understand that the african-americans were involved in the theater programs were at this point been shut out of the commercial industry. they have never been able to perform at the level of managerial authorities and also offering the crimes of roles in these programs. at this time, broadway was highly segregated. it was highly restrict it. there were some exceptions, but african-americans are for the most part been sort of resigned to much more merchantable stereotypical roles. again, for the most part these were few and far between and opportunities for black playwrights were in the role. for the public, for some this was the first time that communities got to see african-american performers in a very typical life offering drama

is amid some very politically challenged ballot of the harsh nature of being black in america. a play like that white fog it seems that garvey and the communist. david you are, underplays talked about laser conditions. and then there were other kinds of performances i talked at length about which satisfied white desires, but were turned around by the black layers who infused the performance to their own interpretation. so, these plays were highly instrumental, but again he plays for a year in chicago and one of the most prominent theaters and then moved to new york city. it was particularly these negro alliant has. and some of the other more

prominent african-american performance as were circulating and traveling all over the country. so for many audiences, for some hadn't seen a play at all. but that they had been a play that offered african-american and more authentic way. >> how long do they last? >> well, the federal theatre project lasted from 1938, 39. there was increasing congressional scrutiny. the federal theatre project was charged as seen the house un-american committee shut us down. the federal writers project and the american diet. in terms of rewriting black history in a court in african-americans into communities that little bit longer into the warriors, the direct shift changed in an

office essence by 1939, these programs were finished. and they were not for -- they were never forgive congressional monetary and unscrewed me. but they were very, very instrumental. you're very, very ambitious. and not doing anything comparable to them is government-sponsored entities. and the numbers involved in all of these different entities were quite high. and they were the people out of the bouts of depression. [inaudible] >> .as a sort of long story for most authors. i was really interested in white

fascination with blacks, with creating it, with disseminating the come out with making it. up until this point, the scholarship on the connection between culture and politics always pointed to the idea that the images being created by white people were again, you know, were derogatory, were demanding and were only a way for white men and women to elevate themselves. and when i started reading about -- when i started to research and the national archive and came across these dialogs and federal records and you start to see different government officials talking about african-americans than talking about what african-americans offered. even the solutions to the quote negro problems posed an interesting question.

and i found these white administrators talking about the ways in which, you know, focusing on gerald lewis, where the music is duke ellington for the federal theatre projects would give the african-american community figures to identify the representation while at the same time not actually, you know, stirring up any real political tension. but what's interesting about the project and this is sort of an unanticipated consequence is that another story emerged as i was doing that research, with the story of racial representation in the black freedom struggle and the african-americans who were involved in these programs and people like walter wright really capitalized on the opportunity to take these programs and to try to improve racial imagery and can see if of representational agencies, the

idea that you control how people are going to present to you, they're going to offer images that view and grasp that internship. and what's most telling to me is that in the midst of world war ii, 1942, walter white is the executive secretary of the naacp at the time, holds its annual meeting in hollywood of all places. and lobbyists to age and, industry leaders and moviemakers to make the proof meant a priority. and to me that says something about were coulter sits in the black political agenda. and of course it doesn't fit in the same place as, you know, the lynching belt or, you know, the anti-poll tax measures or those sorts of structural legislation. but at the same time, i think it occurs in tandem.

i don't think that people have given up a whole lot of recognition because it is entertainment and what this coulter really means anyway. it's not central to the civil rights unit. it not central to boycott demands that all of that. so we should just sort of take it as a secondary field is ready whereas i think my study shows that it's just at the forefront to understand how people feel about their own representation and the way in which the sort of fact occurred without representation for so long, trying to remedy that situation. >> last question is, is a difficult as a white historian to sell a publisher about a black history book? >> i'm sorry, what was the -- >> no. the reason why it isn't his he caused most of my colleagues who write african-american history

now or wait and the nature of the field has become i would say open to white historians. and certainly -- and the idea, i hope, i hope the i.d. surgical idea is that only people who are at the race up there writing about has been dismissed in for that matter, certainly medievalist who lives in medieval times it will have to a certain liberty and what we write and understand. but the reason why it i'm so pleased that question doesn't come up is because i think were coming to recognize the complexity of human experience and that no matter what your race or religion or whatever, that your experience is going to be vastly different than someone else's, even someone who is of the same race or gender or whatever. and so, i think it's a book

that's incredibly relevant. i think it points to the origins of america's fascination with examiner teeners and really foreshadows the ambivalent about the other two shins. and i tank i would've liked to know what a lot of these folks who are all dead now would have said about the election and career of our president. that's the legacy of this book. >> thank you area much for telling us about your new book "black culture and the new deal." we appreciate learning more about it. >> well, there's a new worldwide community gathering to read the book and it's called one book and one twitter and the organizer is just how. mr. howe, explain to us what one book, one twitter is. >> well, in a sense it's a global book club. but the inspiration was not really a club, which twitter had

a few out in the really wonderful as the big greed we've seen over the last 10 years or the first one being pithy pearls, what if everyone in seattle read the same book, where in 1998 world seattle read russell banks, the sweet hereafter are the one that actually inspired me was reading one book on the one chicago, the first macro case where they read to kill a mockingbird and the sorts of connections that drew. and i was reading about that in a course on the fellow this year at harvard and i've taken a class in social capital with robert putnam who wrote bowling alone. and the idea was that these programs, you know, while they get people to read and not wonderful, what they do is build social capital, connections between people, they give people with nothing in common something in common. >> what book was chosen to be bad? >> guest: there was a long and

involved nominating process ultimately the buck chosen with american gods by neil men. >> host: and why did you choose that one? >> guest: i didn't. why did the crowd choose their? that's a good question. there were a lot of classics of their. essentially, you know, i watched this on the wire.com prevent a contributing editor and the books that were nominated and collected the most votes and not versed phase, we have a lot of science fiction. we had five in 1984, brave new world, fahrenheit 451 was probably the runner-up, but people there is a lot of neil yemen fans that read wired. but even then when we add it, you know, the board picked the six popular ones and then added four titles to sort of introduced the diversity into a list of finalists, people still, you know, a broad group of

people really decided that they wanted seals but. and i think anything red college people didn't necessarily want to read for this project. >> so jeff howe, what's the process here? of people already started reading americans god? >> guest: good heavens, yes. it's been -- we have a lot of traffic. it's been a beast as successful as they would've wished, probably more. in fact, as they keep saying, this is one big experiment is one book on the one twitter, one brick experiment. to my knowledge no one has ever tried to conduct a global book club before it is so international that there is no disconnect david e. overnight because that's when all the people everywhere from kuala lumpur to india to poland by reading the book in treating about it. so, what we've done is there is

one hash tag, one b., one t. were general comments of the book are being made. and we split the subsequent discussion into chapters so that people aren't giving away some of the plot points. >> host: so some of the booktv viewers want to join the discussion -- >> guest: log on to twitter and just do a search for hashmark one b., one t. and they should also follow our official count and that's the@one b. one t. 2010. and from that account is where we spend the information people need to know. >> host: how long will this be going on? >> guest: for another eight weeks. >> host: thank you for joining us on the tv. >> guest: thank you. >> i'm inept next, but tb presents afterwards afterwards, an hour-long program where we invite guest host to interview

authors. this week communications from executive paper kerman discusses her first book, orange is the new black, the memoir of her time spent in federal prison for drug-related related in her early twenties. the book details the experience within the legal system of the boston crassness graduate who was convicted within 10 years after her offense. she discusses her incarceration with author and former undercover prison guard, ted conover. >> host: i'm ted conover and here today speaking with piper kerman about orange is the new black. hi, paper. >> guest: hi, ted. >> host: i wondered as i read your book about the ways in which danbury sticks with you. and one of the great revolutions of the new book is what happens on mother's day. as you recall a little bit of that, what it's like and why it

means anything there at all? >> guest: i think others day was one of the most intense days that i experienced indian. and i'm not a mother. of course i've got a mom who came to visit me that they and that was one of our most wonderful visit. my weather was an incredible source of strength during the entire legal proceedings and certainly during the time that i was incarcerated. and one of the things that i really remember striking me when i was thinking back on my mom and mother's day in the course of writing a book was that i can't remember ever seeing my mother be beaten by anything and that really came through. i can only imagine that my legal travails for one of the most challenging things she ever experienced, that she was just an incredible source of strength for me. mother's day started the long before i saw my home mom in the

living room. the mall that we woke up that day you wake up pretty early in prison as i'm sure you know, everyone began to wish each other a happy mother's day because almost all women in prison are mothers. i think the statistic is around 80%. and it was so important because i think on that day of all days, mothers miss their children. they missed their children every single day, but that's a tough date because you really confront what other mistakes you've made as an individual that has put you behind bars on such an important day when your supposed deal to support your relationship with your children. many children, their families made tremendous efforts to get them up to the prism on mother's day. that's really not possible though for so many families. most families of evil in prison are indigenous, poor people. and even danbury, which is not that far from new york cit