one who made it distinguished. now, here in this picture ..h. the photograph was taken very soon after junius chose edwin to be his theatrical apprentice and the error to his fame that he had created here in america. tellingly, there are no photographs of john wilkes booth was his father. growing up in an actor's house, a place filled if you can imagine it hundreds of costanza, stage swords, makeup cases, all the paraphernalia of that team had left edwin and john both with a yearning to be a part of the theater. but only one would have that chance early on. and this junius noted, my sons

are as wide apart as points on the compass. they were very different boys. john wilkes was physically strong. he was the image of his father. he was charismatic, aggressive, bold. but he was not a scholar. he had a difficult time reading. he had a slow memory and no head for languages. edwin, those commie and admittedly strange looking, physically weak, he would cry when always been baltimore gave him a hard time and his brother had to fight his battles for him. nonetheless, edwin had an intuitive grasp of shakespeare's words even from a young age. they even said at the age of four he was a child who inherited not his father's luck, but his father's intellect. and so for junius, edwin went to chili's to be a successor on the american stage.

and it was bad choice that sowed the perceived of conflicts between and when and john wilkes. for junius took edwin out of school at age 12, making him his assistant and together this year traveled every year from albany to new orleans, savanna, to cincinnati while the father at did, the sun was a valet, but he was also a guardian. junius was an alcoholic. if you drink too much or found his way to a tavern he could refuse to perform that night. or if he did go on stage coming to breakdown the performance, weeping and screaming where he give all this income for the evening away to strangers. it was edwin's job to keep this man out of tavern, on time for his performances and disciplined. it was not work for a child.

john wilkes envied this job. he said it was a golden holiday for his brother to do this. he never understood what that reality was like for edwin. edwin's childhood was mr. boll. even a state chance at a formal education, but as training to be an act dirt come in the experience was ideal. his father performed all the great roles and edwin absorbed and internalized everything he watched from behind the scenes. meanwhile, john was at home in maryland with their mother, watching her into her more public humiliation for of course junius is by now ex-wife stayed in baltimore and continued to persecute the family. because of the dr to this reputation by this adultery scandal, john wilkes' mother was determined that john the fall for children would be socially respectable. she wanted to train him to be a

gentleman until all the cash that edwin sent home from touring with their father, she spent on board in schools, etiquette classes, even dancing lessons for john wilkes. but john wanted a different future. tonight his father teaching, tonight the experience of touring, he studied shakespeare alone by himself at the family firm and was not easy for him to do so. in 1852, the great junius brutus booth dies after 30 years dazzling american ibm says. he dies on the road. a trip to san francisco to act for the miner 40 niners and to tour the california gold fields turn dangerous. he caught a fever on the steamboat coming back and died. the last of the father free john to step off the scores that have been prepared for him to be a gentleman and to try to be, not

your. but in the race, he was far behind his older brother. this woman is lorie kane. you may recognize her face and name. she was a direct terror and the star of our american cousin, the play performed when lincoln was shot and she was the woman who held the dying president's head in her lap. what is less well known is that the decaying was edwin booth's mistress. and she played a key role and watching his career. the pair met in san francisco after the death of junius brutus booth, laura was 10 years older than edwin, already an established act or is, but early on she recognized his talent. she wanted to be as costar, his direct dirt and it was her that plans their first tour together.

he was leading man, she's the leading lady. edwin's genius is evident to everyone who saw him at. his performances in new york and boston attracted the interest of very powerful people. drama critics and writers. one of these was the abolitionist, julia ward howe, future author of battle hymn of the republic. she adopted edwin esser protége in 1858, publishing poems in his honor in national magazines. these writings help cement his reputation and been a friend of julia ward howe, also shaped edwin's political views. so it was with the help of these very advantageous friendships that by age 25, before the civil war began, critics were calling edwin booth the greatest actor of his generation. john wilkes started back in at

age 19 in 1857. without training, without experience and without connections, he could only get work as a suit. that's short for supernumerary, the 19th century term for an extra. the walk-on guy with no line. you might think john could have traded on his famous family name, but edwin, who by now was the head of the family in virtue of his stardom and his income wouldn't let john call himself a booth. not until his younger brother had proved some ability on stage, edwin said, could use that last name. so until john proved himself, he had to be j.d. wilkes on playbills. so j.d. wilkes toiled as a suit in richmond, virginia four years.

it was low paid work and humiliating. john earned typically $300 a nine-month season. edwin, by contrast, could earn that much in a night. it was finally in 1860 that edwin allowed john to start touring as a star on his own, using the name boost. this was after three years of the next drive. but john was not free to go where he wanted. edwin decided the amount of the country right along the mason-dixon line in 1863, not for political reasons but for business reasons. edwin wanted to preserve his monopoly, his prophet in theaters in new york, boston and philadelphia. john was free to tour in the south, edwin said, were cities were small, further apart and profits for less. but the north, or the big money and crowds were was going to be

edwin. so john's first experience of touring at the start was in montgomery, alabama in the fall of 1860. this was the turbulent presidential election that put the union. it was a disastrous experience for john wilkes. the people of montgomery, instead of coming to see his plays, were too busy debating secession and forming militia companies and drilling in the streets to ever walk into a theater. and worse, john's manager, a draft, accidentally shot him in the rear at this juncture and put an end to his attempts at performing for the season. but in 1861, when the civil war began, john had recovered from an injury. his sympathies for the south were strong. his childhood spent in maryland in the years he spent working in richmond that shaped his

political feelings. and he was not afraid of a fight, but he did not enlist in the confederacy, even though he was inclined to do it. she had a golden opportunity. when war broke out, edwin left the country. he had been invited to perform in europe and london and paris. so for the first time, with edwin gone, there were no restriction on john wilkes booth as to where he could act. the map is wide-open and civil war audiences, without edwin booth, they were hungry for another son of the great junius brutus booth. they were eager to see john wilkes. this picture was taken at that moment. and it captures that think unlike all other pictures i've seen of john wilkes booth the sense of possibility coming even optimism as if this were maybe one of the best times in john's

life. he was making money. he was getting bookings even on broadway where he'd never been on broadway. this moment did not last long. reviews of john's work as hamlet, iago, shylock were scathing. john was like a stuntman. he was great in the bruising battles that she needed to do on stage. and when edwin returned from europe in 1862, once again, john would be left scrambling for work. this is a scene from the draft rights to place in new york in july of 1863. this event would be the closest that the booth brothers, edwin and john wilkes ever came to scenes of actual combat during

the civil war. and not summer, a union officer, a man named adam to go. he was staying at edwin booth's mansion in new york. he'd been injured on the battlefield in louisiana and he came to the actor's house to recuperate. john wilkes was there, too. he had no home of his own and he stayed with his brother whenever he wasn't working. and he had to follow one the while he was staying with edwin, never taught confederates under the roof of edwin's house. in july, the three men, john wilkes booth, edwin booth and captain atom but go were staying together. riots broke out across the city to protest the new federal draft. african-americans and union officers were targets of

violence. john at this point was forced to help hide the injured captain dido and his african american medic the basement of his house, protect them from lynch mobs, arsonists and gains. eventually the right side down and order was restored. and adam bedell left the city safely to join the staff of general ulysses s. grant for whom you would work for the rest of the war and would be standing at greenside at appomattox would lay surrendered. bad though late in life marveled that he spent the period of being protected from a mob by john wilkes booth. he wrote that he was amazed that in all the exciting. at the right, the future assassin of president lincoln said nowhere that indicated sympathy with the south, but in

private, john had been furious at the role had been forced into play during the riot. to assist her, john confessed, imagine me helping that wounded soldier with my rebel sudanese. in 1864, when edwin was performing for lincoln at the national theatre, john wilkes was snowbound on the high plains of kansas, where he had gone to act in town hall theatre's. he was trapped by blizzards. he earned very little money and frustrated after seven years of hardship on stage, john decided to try something new, oil. it had been discovered in western pennsylvania at the beginning of the war in a place

people like to call petrolia or oil toronto. following in the footsteps of thousands of other wartime prospectors comment john sank all of his savings into building three wells, these like structures that she see here and almost like a forest in the picture. the scheme he hoped would make him a rich man and perhaps free him from the drudgery of touring on the western theatrical circuit. it was a bad gamble. notice how many derricks are in this picture and try to imagine how many of those were at a wells. not many. john was not one of the lucky prospectors. he had chosen a financial gain with this much hope of success at that, unfortunately. edwin booth, meanwhile, hit a geyser of cash as the owner, direct your and star of the

broadway theater, the winter garden. his box office made him a millionaire. or the civil war equivalent of a millionaire. from the stage of the winter garden, edwin could launch attention grabbing stunts, as he did, when he performed hamlet 100 nights in a row without stopping, becoming the first actor ever, even from shakespeare's time to do such a thing. and he received a gold medal from the people of new york for doing that. john wilkes had not been invited to be a partner in the venture of the winter garden either. not even as the stage manager or a ticket taker. as usual, edwin booth have shut his brother out of the family business. so in his shack in petrolia, very similar to the one pictured here, john paper the walls

visitors reported with images of his famous family. when he returned to new york for a visit, john wilkes did not tell edwin and the other booths that is oil venture had been a bust. on the contrary, he told the booths he was becoming rich and that he would never have again because petroleum, he said, was more profitable than the theatrical profession. at that time, john was recruited at the confederate secret service. so when the news reached edwin booth that is brother had shot the president, they act it was not at all surprised. he said the intelligence hate

him on the floor hard like hammer. he wrote, my mind accepted the fact that once. i thought to myself, that my brother was capable of just such an action. his brother's murder of lincoln was devastating to lincoln, but the reactions he records in his letters seem to speak less of the blow to the union fan of the blow to the actor himself. where has my glory gone edwin wrote in agony. i have been blasted in my hopes during my villain. edwin got to quit at forever for his brother's crime in a letter to the american people that he wrote in the summer of 1865 and published at various newspapers. edwin said, i shall struggle on in my retirement, or in any trust memory name jamal to

welcome grave. but edwin booth did not keep this promise. six months after lincoln's body was laid in the tomb here in springfield, edwin announced his return to the stage. more surprisingly still he brought a production of our american cousin to this stage of the winter garden theatre in september of 1865 and who was starring in a tear to his brother-in-law john sweeper clark flushed from the old capital prison where he had been held under suspicion of assassinating the president. working forever associated with this play. this play she wrote out to have only a memory of shame and

horror for you and your family. but few people shared laura's disdain. the public welcomed edwin booth's return when he walked down the stage of his broadway theater in january, 186 to six, less than a year after the assassination, worshipful crowds packed the auditorium, we've been applauding and every line he spoke. a new york theatrical agent from the civil war. explained. edwin booth was devoured by a thirst for fame, a very wise ambition for frank's money. and edwin booth to the largest profit after his brother's assassination of lincoln. americans hungered to see edwin on stage. not only for the throat that his genius could deliver, but to

feel the sense of connection he provider to the martyred lincoln. edwin booth was a touchstone to the tragic last seen of the civil war. when they act her finally retired after a long and very profitable career, he took up residence in this luxurious club i mentioned before the players in gramercy park in new york. this cleverly decorated with images of his father, junius brutus booth and filled it with a collection of his father's costume, stage stored and paraphernalia. it was also filled with treasures, treasures donated by its wealthy and distinguished membership, first fully editions of shakespeare, cultures, painting. edwin's club was a gathering place for high achievers, for

geniuses, for a man of rare talent and ambition and included people as i mentioned earlier like marc twain go for cleveland, the inventor nikola tesla. at the club, surrounded by these bright intellects and great talents, edwin booth was never troubled by illusions to the assassination. everyone at the players attended edwin never had a brother and they never spoke we didn't name in the terse presence. but if you visit there today and you see distributed in unchanged, guilty by his bad eye level, still hang in there today, something the actor looked at every morning and every night, a photograph of john wilkes booth. over the years, edwin has been largely forgotten. his talents, the trajectory of

his career he raised. out of respect for edwards during his lifetime and newspapers in new york really wrote about the assassination of john wilkes. only after edwin died in 1893 did a popular fascination with john wilkes and the assassination began to flourish. a legend was created about the dramatic genius of lincoln's killer, about how he had been the inheritor of his father's greatness and in generations of mythmaking about john wilkes booth, edwin's name in his dori have been lost, leaving his younger brother to standalone on the stage of national memory as he no doubt would've wished. thank you. [applause]

and i hope you have lots of questions because i'd love to answer them. [inaudible] >> -- his brother cloud his judgment? >> what a great question. was john wilkes booth a true peach or peach or it's of the south or did his rivalry with his brother cloud his judgment online? i think he was a zealous

confederate. i have no doubt about it. everything he ever wrote is filled with that conviction. but i think what happened was there was a parallel for the metaphorical between the imbalance, between the power difference between his brother and themselves they seem to mirror the face of the north and south during the war. they were both unequal contest. and certainly john wilkes, there's no question in my mind, was a true confederate. but i think this relationship with his brother drove him to a place where he was trying to compete in a fight that he could never win. >> what is the story that junius

once threatened andrew jackson's life? >> what of the story that junius brutus routh once threatened the life of president andrew jackson? i read the letter. people said that junius brutus booth, they wondered if you were insane or simply drunk all the time. [laughter] and opinions differ on this point. but it's certainly clear that he left his brandy and a lot of his letters, when you read them, are scrawled. they are confused. they're almost impressionistic. and he would often say to theater managers defend ahead, you know, i may not make it there. i'm drinking today. don't announce mantled easter riots, meaning themselves. as though the letters he wrote

to andrew jackson, talking about hanging, i think, to me reads like a drunken joke, you know, i don't think it was an actual threat of assassination. they think he was blustery and a way that a guy who had two points of brandy with lester. he was friends with andrew jackson. their friendship but i think permit that kind of teasing or what we would see is completely inappropriate statements to make to a president. but i think it was that kind of friendship forged on the american frontier, you know, in those heydays of the 1830's and late 1820. junius in fact in addition to be a great drinking buddy vendor jackson also worked with sam houston for the first president of the texas republic. they were very close friends and

there's this kind of masculine camaraderie that all circulates around the tavern that they shared. so i think his threat was a joke crowded by alcohol. >> and there are two questions here that are similar so i'm going to kind of combine them. one ask if you can elaborate on john wilkes booth service and the other one asks how do we know that john wilkes was dead since those records were burned? >> only answer that in two short parts. what i found in my research -- i mean, it's very tip go to document the doings of the secret organization, but when john went to new orleans to act at the st. charles theatre in the spring of 1864, he met

individuals they are aware blockade runners for the south and who are under suspicion by federal authorities because new orleans was occupied by federal authorities at the time has been connected with the government in richmond. and so, theater managers and actors notice those relationships and noticed that john wilkes corresponded with those men after he left new orleans. it is hard to write about the confederate secret service in great detail, but we do know that john deposited money in a bank in washington d.c. after attending a meeting in canada that has been characterized as a secret service meeting. so looking at the flow of money, looking at whom he met and where, people i think have

safely posited that he was involved in a secret service. >> there are also several questions that are similar in asking how edwin could have such control over john wilkes and where he could perform a question about not using the boost name. >> yes. the people i left out tonight in talking with you are very important characters in the partially answer that question which is a very important question. mary ann holmes, the woman, this poor women, mistress, pregnant mistress who came with junius from london to the united states, the mother of the 10 booth children. her livelihood depended on edwin booth. not only her livelihood, but the rest of her children, her daughters, her younger son, the

funds that were younger than john wilkes. and so when edwin and the father go to california on this mission to the gold fields, where they hope that the lack of the miner 40 niners and become very wealthy and junius does on that trip, edwin stays in california for five years. that leaves mary ann holmes, the mother and all the children, including john on the maryland farm with no money for five years. they had no income. they had no bleach garnered to support them. and the hardships they experience, if you read the journals of this family from the time they were close to going hungry at certain periods. so when edwin returns a star in the late 18th east, a wage earner, the person who's going to revive the booth family fortunes, that gives him tremendous power in the family. because whatever john wilkes did

as he asserted his career, if it affected is wagering that affected the whole family because edwin was supporting the mother, his sister's, other brothers. said that, by making edwin become in the head of the family, he was basically taking junius brutus' place and that gave him almost a paternal authority over john wilkes. and so having a booth out there at team who wasn't a great talent, who might tarnish the name or you might lead to audience fatigue was an issue that the whole family was concerned and and that gave kind of impetus to address power over john. >> there are a number of people who want to know, what happened to the other booth children. >> is a sad story.

there was another brother, junius junior may call jan, who like john wilkes didn't have that spark that edwin hyde. you know, they said he was mediocre and everything, which was very cruel. but he tried to make a living as an act there, too. i'm what you see in his later life is heartbreaking. ed wynn, as we know, was the equivalent of a millikan air, right? he was a coward start, especially after the assassination. but even junius and a small niche is carved for himself as a leading man had to ask edwin if he could perform at theaters on the east coast. even as they were into their 40's, 50's and 60's. i mean, it was sad. and so junius had a very small career. he was always struggling for money and the derived letters to his brothers and i have typical

problems, too many children and not enough income. and he never really made a success of anything and he was completely in the shadow of edwin. and again, like john wilkes, junius was never -- his fortune was not made by his older brother. edwin could've helped him and he didn't. >> do you believe booth broke his leg after shooting lincoln and jumping onto the stage? >> you know, i think i can answer that question very specifically. i've read a letter, and amazing mother, written by the neighbor of the booth, of their family farm in hartford county, maryland. there was a woman named mrs. elisha roberts who lived next-door to to the booth family for years. and when john wilkes' body was

released from where it had been, it's unmarked grave in washington d.c. and returned to the booth family for reburial in the booth family plot in baltimore, this neighbor was present when the casket was open because of coors edwin hyde bought a new coffin for his brother. and she saw the body lifted out and placed in the other box. and she described it so hard to rita is so graphic. you should know john wilkes and his ipod there when he was growing up in cheek, you know, jodi donham like any neighbor does on any child that lives next door. she said, you know, his body was broken. the lake was stopped in the bone protruding through the skin. and when i read that i thought this had been a decade -- will not attack it, but many are said

past from the ceiling of the casket to the opening of it. and so she sought a bone broken and protruding through the skin. i don't know what you want to do with that piece of evidence, but that's what i read in a letter written by the window size casket open. >> what was edwin and john b. b. personal relationship? we know they have a professional rivalry and their politics was different. what did they get along otherwise? >> there were physical type in edwin's house in new york during the war over politics. you know, the kind of sites where at the breakfast table someone tries to choke the other person or punch them. and john been ejected down the front steps of the house. so there were very ugly moments. and that kind of physical

antagonism is something that you see in the brothers even when their children. i found these newspaper clippings, reminiscences by two was growing up in baltimore with the booth brothers. so when the older they gave reminiscences to newspapers. i remember when adam and john wilkes for little boys and they were putting on theatrical performances for the children of the neighborhood in basement hotels in baltimore. and even then, edwin and john wilkes had this resentment for each other where you'd have these classic situations where edwin would steal a costume from his father's wardrobe and take it down to one of these basements while the neighborhood kids had paid a penny to comment and see some crazy play. i've seen his costumes and beat

them because of course it's a 19th century. and that kind of, you know, brotherly -- i don't know, just quilty to each other was typical of their relationship. >> do you believe that there was a conspiracy beyond john wilkes booth that edwin stanton was involved in andrew johnson was involved? i don't -- no, i don't believe that. [laughter] you think he acted on his own. >> is it true that john wilkes was kept a major coney in prison continuous -- prison conditions after his capture? >> i -- from what i understand he was shot on sight before

there was any imprisonment. yeah, he was never imprisoned. >> out of the dough was a theater critic. can you describe some of the relationship between man and edwin booth? >> absolutely. this is one of the best parts of researching the boat. the fact that general grant's private secretary, who was with grant through some of the hardest parts of the civil war on the battlefield at the headquarters was constantly corresponding with edwin booth the entire time. you can read their letters at the players, this private club had been established. they're beautiful. they have this incredibly close friendship. an added before he became a soldier was a drama critic in new york and he was the one

alongside julia ward howe. they were all friends, or really launched edwin's career. so in many ways, edwin's great success was the creation of the theater critic who endorsed his interpretations of shakespeare and you called him the great shining talent of their generation. and their remarkable friendship that lasted, unfortunately not be on the civil war, this closeness that they shared in their incredible letters -- adam was the one who after john wilkes killed lincoln brought these letters to general grant, two other people in the lincoln administration of the book, edwin booth is a man i have hundreds of letters or he st. bernard had robert e. lee on a plate or go kill those rebels.

very patriotic letters. adam bado was an advocate after the assassination. but the breakdown of their relationship reveals kind of the cruelty and the ruthlessness of the heart of this star because once edwin put that play, our american cousin up on stage in boston, i think adam bado couldn't accept that and he couldn't accept edwin's coolness towards him after all of the labor adam bado had gone through to prove atoms in a sense. so their friendship ended in 65, but adam bado would go on to be general grant ghostwriter, helping him write his memoirs. and he also is the best source we have about edwin booth. he wrote a lot about edwin and the friendship and the character

of his great actor. >> final question, what is your next book focusing on? [laughter] >> do you have any ideas? .. i think would be very hard.oc

what i would like to do is my favorite parts their researching is to document seeing the trip to california and that junius took in 1851. and they went down by steamship then by the isthmus of panama of the and jungle and an amazingst journey and again byzi steamship and thinking of that part of the west, a california, the southwest, it gripped me especially his gripping to know that lt. grant followed the boost route he was two weeks behind junius hiked through the same jungle trails and he lost 100 men to cholera on that trip. two weeks later. i always wondered what would have happened if edwin booth

had died of cholera on that trip? so many of grants men did two weeks later. would we be talking about what happened in ford's theatre today? >> ladies and gentlemen, please thank nora. [applause] g with us. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> now we are pleased to be

joined by the founder of the national book festival and former first lady, laura bush. >> we're pleased to be joined by the founder of the national book festival laura bush. st national book festival was held on the capitol grounds, founded by laura bush and now grown so large they hold on the national with all sorts of tense. >> that's right is a thrill and i'm thrilled to see so many people who have come for the very first reading. we can hear gordon wood reading from the history tense. very happy to see him and how many people love the books. >> we continue to hear about the demise of the publishing industry and the demise of books in general but then you hold a book festival, in its tenth year. >> 100,000 people show up. >> the texas book festival as well which is one you founded. what does that say to you? >> i think people to love to read for sure. a big part of the demise is the publishing industry which i

don't think is a demise. they will figure a way of a rounded but now you can get all the books when electronics. rather than buying the hard copy of a book a lot are downloading them because you can do that in 35 seconds so as soon as someone recommend a book you can rush, and down load on your electronics. i think people will continue to read and continues to buy hardbacks, hard copies of books because they want them for their collection and there are certain books like our beautiful children spoke, so many we are fortunate in america to have, people will want to look at because the illustrations are lovely and it's fun to look at with a chalice. >> it was september 8th, 2001 you open the first national book festival and now you are returning as an author published in may, "spoken from the heart", and i want to read into your

reaction because when you speak you will speak about 9/11. you read the -- you're right on september 10th, we held a gala for the festival before the official day. dr. billington the library of congress introduced me as the back of the stage opened it, i walked out and the crowd gasped and i felt this was my official debut as first lady, not quite nine months after george took office. i was doing what i loved, finding my place in the world of washington and beyond. >> as rights. when i looked back and wrote the book i saw that leading m2 sept. 11th the book festival and then on the morning of september 11th which i will be reading in imminent, i was on the way to castle hill to brief the city. i was finding my way as first

lady. right before that we can before. we hosted and mexican president fox and martha fox on september 6th for our first date dinner, when i left for the capital that morning september 11th the white house grounds for covered with picnic tables and we were hosting the congressional families for the picnic that night, so i think in many ways i was just finding my way and figuring out what i wanted to do. of course, i wanted to work on education and reading because that's been my whole life and that's what happens that we can before september 11th. >> he also writes extensively about 9/11 and about the iraq war and katrina. how personally did you feel as first lady the politics and what was going on in the world? >> of course, i felt personal to the politics and the criticism about george.

everyone does, but i also knew it was a fact of life and i knew when he ran for president that's what happens to the american president. remember we had been the child of the president, we have been so distraught when president bush george's that was criticized some months in 1992 when he lost the election. so we knew what we were getting into. i thank you really know to expect that and it's nothing new. we feel like its new as we look around now and say the criticism of our current president, but if you visit to the lincoln library in illinois and see the terrible things that were written about lincoln it wasn't 24 our newsstand pamphleteers, pamphlets that were published ever so critical and terrible about him so is a fact of life and really is also a function of our democracy. that we can criticize our president. that we do have the freedom to

say what we want to say. so as much as i hated it when it was terrible things about george i also knew that's part of life in the united states, really a part we should be grateful for. >> at what point do you broke is candid enough to withstand the criticism? >> maybe we have drawn the skin from when george's that was vice president but i also think i knew more than the critics. i lived with george, the threats were and didn't know everyone of them, he didn't think kevin's tell me everyone because he didn't want to add to my worries, but i felt i knew a lot more about the issues than the people criticizing him did purvis. >> in "spoken from the heart" you write about those. you are a pretty private person, only child but some of the things are about the private trips you took and one of those that wasn't on your schedule is a visit with mary and pearl in

paris. >> that is right. i knew about danny perle, his kidnapping, a wall street journal reporter and he had been kidnapped. we all at the time probably assumed he was dead if it did not know for sure. when i was in paris maryann pearl lived there, she was pregnant with their first child. so i made a call on her and had a chance to visit privately. my daughter jenna was with me, we have a chance to talk with her and bring some encouragement and comfort to per. shirley after that we found out that danny perle had been the head and and that the tragic and brutal when he was killed. i kept up with mary and pearl when i went to paris last year a year ago after george was president for international literacy day, i invited maryann out to lunch with the two spouses of the current

embassadors, bilateral ambassadors to france from the u.s. and the wife of our ambassador. so they could meet her but, in fact, she told me then and two weeks later she was, became an american citizen so she is a citizen of the u.s. nile. >> again, with the privacy thing you discussed some of your yosemite trips, hiking trips with your friends and how you were able to get away on those. is it possible we have seen the articles about the karla britney book, the first lady of france, and what michelle said. is it possible to have private conversation in your capacity? >> it is absolutely. she probably did not say that at all, that was probably made at. carl i didn't say that after all but it is possible to have friendships and have a very normal life. i know people don't believe that because you're living in a magnificent mansion with every

sort of help including a pastry chef that you can imagine, but i knew the white house to be a home. george and i say there with his mother and dad and, of course, barbara bush made it a home for all of our children and grandchildren and i knew i could do that for barbara and jenna and george. we have lots of longtime friends who came up and visit the thus and stayed with us. >> mrs. bush, there is another bush family book coming out in two months. have you read decision points? >> i have and it's very good. i think people like it. george's book publishes in november, and decision points, and i think people will like it. mary george bush. >> suggestions from you? >> not really. we were both writing our books at the same time ensure researchers, we each have our own researcher who would go to

the archives where everything is documented. for instance when i wrote about 9/11 the look at secret service lot of the timeline to look at our advanced time lines, looked at everything else on our schedule a run that day so i could write about in very straightforward and honest way as. so we did share researchers, we did talk to is whether about what we were writing. george did ask me to take a couple stories out of my book that he thought were his stories and they were. >> will we see them? >> you will see them and decision points, stories that happen to him i was riding second hand in my book that he wanted to include in his. >> in your acknowledgements you acknowledge and thank in the card and josh:. as first lady what was your relationship with the chiefs of staff? >> two unbelievably great chiefs of staff, five men.

i was close to both of them and both made an effort to have lunch with me once or twice a month and just so we can have a chance to visit so i could talk about what bothered me or i was interested in. they saw coming up on the schedule they thought would involve mesa that was great to have that relationship with them. andrew card's wife is a methodist minister so on the day after september 11th when i went to visit with my staff who were young women, many straight at of college who never expected to see to run from the white house, they thought they ever coming to a glamorous wife house job but had to kick off her high heels and run on september september 11th. i asked andrew card's wife kathleen to come with me because she's a methodist minister and she was able to counsel with my young staff members who were

getting used to the idea of having a job a lot more dangerous than they ever expected. >> three final questions, who is a lyric? >> america is one of my very good friends who help me with this book. she lives in washington thomas to live here the entire time we did which was very helpful because she knew what it was like to live in washington during the years i was writing. her husband is an historian. i hope the assets of national book festival riders who has written to magnificent books about the last week of the civil war, george read it early on in his presidency. we both were very fond of it. the other i'm not sure is called the great of tivo and is a history of what was going on during the time of the founding of the u.s.. i found it so interesting because we think of our founding in a vacuum.

did you know that catherine and the czar of russia when the u.s. was founded, it's a great way two. our revolution of the american revolution into perspective. >> for viewers interested we have covered him on booktv, the 02 booktv.org, the search function, you can type in the name and watch it online free of charge. second boston, and in "spoken from the heart" you write: in 2004 the social question that animated the campaign was a marriage appear before the election season unfold and i talked to george about not making a very significant issue. we have a number of close friends who are gay or whose children are gay. have you talked to ken that since he came out? >> i haven't talked to him since but i talk to him right before. he was in dallas and we had to fly in this administration people to talk about the bush institute building as part of

the bush library and can was there a. view is my dinner party that night. i respect very much his decision to go public two because i know it's difficult, it's very difficult for many people to be able to get men -- and mid their feelings and especially in the republican party but i am proud that many republicans and many other people have accepted and zero is accepted can as a great friend. exempted his choices. >> finally mrs. bush what are you reading and what is the president reading? >> i am reading books that booksellers can meet on my book tour, when of the great things is the bookseller's all over the united states there for book signings so they would give me the books they just read that they highly recommended and one is my name is mary souter, historical fiction about the

civil war. out in his very excellent beer, then another is cutting for stone, a texas book festival, i'm not sure if he has been a national book festival writer or not it is historical fiction also about to ethiopia during the time of fascinating story about twins. my twin -- my twins are reading it. jann know when to ethiopia with care on a trip there. she wanted to read that especially around her trip. >> what is the present rating? >> he is reading in excellent biography of of bon hopper that i am an anxious to get my hands on. >> we got that at booktv and will cover that at some point. .th . the national book festival and the author of "spoken from the heart". she was first lady for eight