the team was traveling to iran, and when the united states announced it, they pulled the plug because there's such strong support for the american team that it will be a propaganda bo bonanza. when the u.s. wrestle team went to iran to play in an international tournament, the iranians showed more support for the u.s. team than for their home team, and that became an incredible embarrassment for the regime, and khomeni says i don't want another wrestling fiasco. that's how popular the u.s. is. >> well, thank you. finally, i want to remind you that his book, "the shah" is available for sale to my left

and curtesy of books, inc, and he's here available to sign copies for you. i will mention in introducing dr. milani, i could mention he's a shakespeare buff. as you read his book, you'll see quotes from shake conspiracy's richard the second that leads into the next chapter that highlights the analogies between the two tragedies. ..

>> coming up next pamela newkirk presents a history of african-american men and women to their personal correspondences. the letter spent 300 years from benjamin banneker's letter to then secretary of state thomas jefferson protesting slavery to a letter from alice walker to barack obama the day following his election to the presidency. this 50 a minute that was hosted by new york university in new york city.

>> thank you, and thank you for being here. thank you so much to my wonderful friend, thank you also to my dean, richard come into the college for hosting this. thank you all for being here at this time, i'm sure that many things you could be doing, doing homework, faculty grading. and so i'm honored that you chose to be here with us. i will bring up to people who will help me read. lee couric who is also my aunt and an accomplished actress. [applause] >> and joshua who is a junior at the college of arts and science. [applause]

>> so, as dean farrington said, this was a labor of love. it's one that for five years i worked on going through archives and in anthologies in attics trying to find the letters of african-americans that could help sketch portraits, intimate portraits of the people from the dusty plantation to the white house with the election of barack obama. and during this time i was surprised by everything i encountered by many who saw these letters less as documents of a people's history, more as personal possessions. so i had a really difficult time, and one i did not anticipate, securing permission to publish many of the letters that are in archives. but fortunately, there was enough support for this project that allowed me to weave together more than 200 letters

that spanned from the 1700s, do 2008. we will give you just a piece of, a glimpse of the letters that are in this book. but what i tried to do is weave together letters that traces the footprint large and small other people from bondage to self-determination, from the civil war to the war in iraq. and as i said, from dusty plantations to the glistening white house. the correspondence of unsung slaves, soldiers, lovers, fathers, mothers, artists, activists are woven together with those of historical giants from phillis wheatley, langston hughes, james baldwin, alice walker, toni morrison, to benjamin banneker, frederick douglass, w.e.b. du bois, ida b. wells barnett and colin powell.

the likenesses of the extraordinary are matched by the equally poignant letters of the ordinary hoop in an hand share their joy and pain, ecstasy and hard. >> this letter is from hannah grover to her son, cato. it was written june 3, 1805. my dear son, i long to see you in my old age. i live in caldwell this -- with mr. grover, the minister of that place. my dear son, i pray you come to see your dear old mother, or send me $20 i will come to see you in philadelphia. and if you can't come to see your old mother, pray, send me a letter and tell me where you live, what family you have, and what you do for a living. i am a poor old servant. i long for freedom, and my

master will free me if anybody will engage to maintain the so that i don't come upon him. i love you, cato. you love your mother? you are my only son. this from the affectionate mother, hannah, hannah grover. ps, my dear son, i have not seen you since i saw you at staten island about 20 years ago. if you send any money, send it to the doctor and he will give it to me. if you have any love for your poor old mother, pray, or send to me. my dear son, i love you with all my heart. >> this is a letter,

september 19, 1858. i take the pleasure of writing you these few words, with much regret, to inform you that i'm being sold to a man by the name of pearson, a traitor who stays in new orleans. i am here yet, but i expect to go before long. and when i do go i want to send you some things. but i don't know who to send them by. but i will try to send them to you and my children. give my love to my father and my mother. and tell them goodbye from me. and if we shall not need in this

world, i hope to meet them in heaven. my dear wife, for you and my children, this pin cannot express the grief that i feel to be parted from you all. >> we are taken behind the activist, dr. martin luther king junior's letter from a birmingham jail is here along with his private to his wife who in 1960 he writes from a state prison. >> this is a letter from dr. martin luther king junior to his wife coretta scott. hello, darling. today i find myself a long way from you and the children. i am at the state prison in reidsville which is about 230 miles away from atlanta. they picked me up from the

dekalb jail at around 4 a.m. this morning. i know this whole experience is very difficult for you. especially in the condition of your pregnancy. but as i said to you yesterday, this is the cross of that we must bear, for the freedom of our people. so i urge you to be strong and faithful, and this will be in turn strengthen me. i can assure you that it is extremely difficult to think of being away from you, my little yuki and marty for four months. but i ask god hourly for the power of endurance. i have the faith to believe that this excess of suffering which has now come to our family will in some little way serve to make atlanta a better city. georgia a better state, and america a better country.

just how i do not yet know, but i have the faith to believe it will. and if i am right, then our suffering is not in vain. >> and w.e.b. du bois, it morphs into the notifier -- father who tries to be the forging of to the curiosity of race after british boarding school. >> dear little daughter, i avoided for you to get well settle before writing. i this time i hope some of the strangest has worn off and that my little girl is working hard and regularly. of course, everything is new and unusual. you miss the newness and smartness of america are gradually, however, you are going to send the beauty of the old world, it's calm and

eternity your and you will grow to love it. above all, remember dear, that you have a great opportunity. you are in one of the worlds best schools, and one of the world's greatest modern empires. millions of boys and girls all over this world would give almost anything they possess to be where you are. you are there by no deserts or a merit of yours, but by lucky chance. deserve it then, study, work hard, be honest, frank, and fairness. and get some grasp of the real values of life. you will meet of course curious little annoyances. people will wonder at your dear brown and sweet crinkly here, but that is simply of no importance and will soon be forgotten. remember that most folk laugh at

anything unusual, whether it be beautiful, fine or not. you, however, must not laugh at yourself. you must know that brown is as pretty as white, or per year. and crinkly her hair as straight, though it is harder to calm. the main thing is that you beneath the clothes and skin, the ability to do, the will to conquer, their determination to understand and know this great, wonderful, curious world. >> in the beautiful actress, fred washington morphed into the activist. >> fredi washington to doris smith, august 2, 1949. dear doris smith, excerpts from

your column dated july 15, 1949, in which you quote from an interview with alfred worker, director of lost boundaries has just been brought to my attention. i am so appalled, and not a little fighting mad, to think that a so-called intelligent adult could be so viciously ignorant as to give as his reason for not casting negroes in the above-mentioned picture that quote, the majority of negro actors are of the uncle tom show, shuffling a dancer type performer, unquote. well, i would like to say something for the public print on the subject. in the first place, neither alfred worker know her lewis,

from the beginning of the production plan ever considered using negro actors to portray the roles of the johnson's family. therefore, negroes having the physical appearance and ability needed for those roles were never interviewed. there are many negro actors and actresses who are consistently turned down for plays and screen fare on the excuse that they are too fair, too intelligent, to modern looking, et cetera. i know because i am one who falls into this category. it was i who played the role of a neurotic fair negro girl in universal's imitation of life. but did they give me an interview for either of the two female roles? no, he did not.

he simply was not interested in learning what he evidently did not know, that there are many legitimate negro actors and actresses who are far more intelligent than worker proves himself to be. >> and in 2008 following barack obama's historical election, alice walker wrote him to express our pride as an african-american, and as a southerner. >> alice walker to present a left barack obama, number fifth, 2008. dear brother president, you have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. us being the black people of the southern united states. you think you know because you are thoughtful and you have studied our history, but seeing

you deliver the porch so many others -- the torch so many others carried decade after decade, century after century, only to be wrought down before igniting the flames of justice and law is almost more than the heart can bear. and yet this observation is not intended to burden you, for your of a different time. and, indeed, because of all the relay runners before you, north america is a different place. it is really only to say well done. we knew through all the generations that you were with us, the best of africa and of the americas. knowing this, that you would actually appear someday, that was part of our strength. seeing you take your rightful place, based solely on your

wisdom, stamina and character is a balm for the weary. previously, only song about. >> what emerges is a multi-dimension -- dimensional portrait of black life, to be sure with hardship, despair and injustice, a sustained by prayer, faith, humor and love. in the end it is apparent that while america often fell short of its ideals, african-americans really give up on america. here they love their families, served their country in war and civilian life, express their humanity in the arts, and fought a valiant an uphill battle for equality and elusive acceptance. they remain on the soil they had killed, and on which their blood spilled, determined to someday reap the benefits of their efforts.

we all have much to gain from the wisdom, passion, courage and uncompromising commitment to justice contained in these letters are it was a privilege to assemble and contextualize them. and it is my hope that this line will help inspire a greater appreciation for the collection and the preservation of african-american letters. take you for your interest. and i hope you have questions. thank you. [applause] >> any questions? yes. [inaudible] >> but then the to a mic. >> let them get you the mic. >> thank you. this is absolutely fantastic.

>> thank you. >> i'm interested in knowing how did you go about this? how did you get the letters and the voices? >> well, the letters, many of them, thousands of letters are deposited in the archives around the country, and i traveled to many of them. and i also have taken two trips to the conduct during which time i also visited the archives. in addition to the archival research, i launched a public appeal for letters. so i sent appeals to people in academia, and medicine, and law. and you know, domestic workers, veterans, so i tried to do a pretty wide, widespread appeal. i went on list search. i put ads in newspapers. i sent letters appealing to many people of public life to contribute. so it was a pretty intense

effort. >> i'd like to know, obviously you must erect hundreds and hundreds of these letters, thousands as well, but who's counting? how did you decide which ones should be included? i mean, that's a huge amount of correspondence. and wasn't supposed to be a representative sample? what we are looking for in the ones you chose? >> it's a pretty quirky process. first, i try to look at the art of history. so i tried to find the earliest letters that i could find, and also look at the high and low points in american life and what african-americans were doing at those points. so i looked at the period during slavery.

i looked at after slavery and reconstruction. i then tried to look at all of those high and low moments in history and where i believe we should have some sense, the voices of the people who live through that history of what was going on. so there's no way that with 200 some odd letters you could hope to map the full history of african-american life, but i wanted to at least suggest that this is what was happening in the lives of real people during these great moments in history. and then there was also the matter of what i can get permission to publish. i have to acknowledge the presence of david lewis who, he was one of the people i reached out to early in this process and was one of the kind people who actually responded and contributed a very moving letter that his mother wrote to him

while he was, he was in god right after grad school. and in that letter, for those of you who don't know, david levering lewis is the w.e.b. du bois, not one but two pulitzer prize for his two volume set on w.e.b. du bois. in the letter come his mother after talks about w.e.b. du bois is it you probably don't know him now, but, you know. years later he knows him better than anyone else. thank you for being here, david. [applause] >> is there another question? >> hi. i have a question. he spoke briefly about facing opposition when publishing these letters and getting the rights to these letters. can you speak more about that and maybe why you selected, they wanted these voices to be silent still? >> yes, the reasons are so buried. with some estates, i got the

sense that they didn't appreciate the importancimportance of legacy. and as i said, they saw these letters more as personal relics and not important pieces of a puzzle of a people's collective history. and so it was just that they didn't see how this fit in to this sort of african-american life. you know, they saw it as their own prerogatives come in their own possession. for others it was a question of there wasn't enough money on the table. i have to say. for many, i think it was a resistance borne of the kind of portrayals of african-americans throughout history. and it is a deep mistrust of sharing of contributing to any kind of public record. many african-americans have been burned, and so i believe that for many it was just a lack of faith. they didn't know how these

letters would be used and if they would be properly contextualized. and i have to say since publication of the book a few weeks ago, some of those people have expressed regret. >> did you get a sense, the shape that there was a moment at which african-american letter writing took off? can you say something about that? >> obviously during slavery, writing a letter was an illegal act, and i guess i was most moved by the letters written by slaves because it took an active courage. and also it showed what they had to overcome to acquire the skill to write a letter. and what it really took do, not just write the letter, but to somehow get it across the plantation, across the county, across state lines.

this involved a lot on their part and on the part of those who helped them. so the letters as slaves are of course rare because, you know, ill literacy was legally mandated. but fortunately there are letters in archives, and national archives, and archives around the country, partly because sometimes slaves, like there is a letter from a woman named amy davis who wrote to president lincoln. and this was after the emancipation proclamation but she was still being held as a slave, and she said to president lincoln, are we free? like, can you tell me what the story is because, you know, my master didn't get the memo basically. [laughter] >> but those letters are rare, but they are enough to give you a sense of the striving of african-americans, not only to be free but to reunite with

their families. that was like in letter after letter after letter you heard this yearning to be reconnected with children, to be reconnected with husbands and wives. and it's a part of our history that we don't often hear about, he goes there's the assumption that a, slaves couldn't write, indeed, you know, they weren't writing to the families and loved ones and expressing these human desires for love and for connection. so, that's a long way event your question. the slave letters are rare. reconstruction, during reconstruction you had many highly educated african-americans who are serving in all kinds of political posts here there was that shining moment that david levering lewis can spee-2 far better than i can, but there was that everywhere you had african-americans writing from

the house halls from some the greatest universities, and writing each other in beautiful verse, beautiful prose. and so there were many letters written during that time, not just in african-american life, that in american life because, you know, before the popularity of phones and the kind of technology that we now take for granted, people wrote letters. and they not only wrote letters, but these letters were eagerly anticipate and they were savored. ever cherished like family jewels so people kept him. it was something that you passed down and you passed along. and so there were many, many letters. i would say from that period during reconstruction up to the, maybe the 1920s is when you saw a kind of a drop in the length of the letters. letters continue to get shorter and shorter and shorter after

that time because, of course, once the telephone took off, people were communicating that way. and then you saw, also, telegrams and use a postcard. and i include some of that. and, of course, we all know what's happening right now. we stay connected through e-mail and text messaging and twittering, and god knows how many other ways. and the art of letterwriting has taken a real slide, and i don't think many of us would be judged by the e-mail rewrite. i know i wouldn't. so the quality and quantity of the letters took a dive with the emergence of the technologies that we have become accustomed to. which makes the collection and preservation of these letters more important than ever.

>> i am thrilled, of course you're i want to know whether you came across or sort of quantity wise, of letters written by parents getting their children into colleges and universities at a time when they might have been the first to get there and the parents were struggling to do that. teacher, cross any number of letters tracks and if you did, did speak the letters written to universities? >> yes, written to college presidents. i remember seeing a long time ago when i was in atlanta weather was an exhibition of a number of things, but letters factored into it. and there were letters written to college, the college president, whoever that was. with parents who were struggling by, you know, here's $5 for my

son, that sort of thing. >> i actually did, and more so in the collection like booker t. washington, where there were always these public appeals to help this student, you know, pay for her scholarship. yeah, i mean, i did come across those but not so much from parents. mainly the people who were being reached out to to help with students who are trying to stay in college. >> over here, hi. you've written other books, and i wonder if from one the other books did he give you the idea that fell into this book ?-que?-quex was a connection or something like that? what made you to start a something like this because i think it's wonderful. >> thank you for that insightful question. people see the range of my work and they say, how did you get from being a journalist to

writing about race in immediate and writing about art to a collection of african-american love letters? it seems to make no sense, and it makes a lot of sense. i think it's because i spent so many years as a journalist as a daily journalist, struggling to try to present this multidimensional culture of black life. it's such a claim in the newsroom to do that because for so many people, the perversity of blacklight is more authentic than what i know to be true. and so that's one thing. another thing as i grew up in a home where the history of african-american was revered and we learned about people like benjamin banneker and phillis wheatley. you know, as long as i do -- i knew that african-americans have made these important contributions to american life, but i also knew i didn't see those contributions very reflected in my history books,

in the library, you know, a lot of my peers didn't seem to know about the people who i thought were heroes. and so i knew that there was a need to fill in those gaps. so a gap that i tried to fill, i wrote about race in immediate to try to kind of talk about this information gap and the shortfall in the way we present american life, african-american life. a lot of this history is not african-american history. it's american history. there's a letter that benjamin banneker wrote to thomas jefferson in 1791. and he's basically -- thomas jefferson at the time was the secretary of state, and benjamin banneker was this accomplished astronomer who would help plan that print for the nation's

capital. he was this accomplished man. he published annual almanacs that, with a striking precision, rejected crops. so he was this accomplished man your he was making clocks. i can go on and on about his accomplishments, and he was thomas jefferson insisted that african-americans were intellectually inferior and would never be equal to whites. so benjamin banneker writes this letter that should be a part of our education, because he's basically appealing to him as an american, as, you know, as a scholar, as a christian. and he sang, you know, yeah, my skin is as black as night, but unequal. like, how could you see otherwise? we are equal. sure, we are integrated in circumstances now, so you don't see us in full flower, but the potential is there. look at me.

and he sent in his almanac. so the need for me to help fill in that information deficit, because i think you have people who assume that after the americans were not contributing because it's not reflected in what we learn. i know they are just like i know that the portrayals of that i often saw that african-americans in my newsroom were in sharp contrast to what i knew in my own life. and so, that's the connection. the love letters book was an attempt to present and underrepresented facet about the african-american life. it was just a purist, simple -- if these letters had been very integrated into the many, many collection sightseeing, they would not be a need for my little volume, but because there

was a absence, that the richer, that book was an attempt to at least show this little glimpse of, yeah, african-americans have struggled and have march and they've done all this. but have also loved and have romantic lives and they have that, too. so that was that it can. then this book as if it is an attempt to at least suggest the depth and breath of african-american life in the words of the people. thank you. >> hi. granted all the letters are important. was the one that stood out to you? >> there were so many that stood out. they become like little children. sort of like i would like you, no, i like you. but i think the one that so

deeply resonate with me was the one that joshua read by du bois written in 1914 trying to prepare his 14 year old daughter for what she would encounter in this british boarding school. as an african-american parent, i know that i can too, had to sometimes prepare my children for the curiosity of race. and i just think that letter speaks through the ages. it still speaks to me now. >> professor come here come here and you sort talk about the discourse between benjamin banneker and thomas jefferson just crystallized for me how important and monumental your work is. and so just as an accommodation, it really overwhelmed me in the way that you could capture all the history and really the energy of what you describe by one letter.

i guess my question would be first, did you have any sort of measures for authentication our authenticity to really verify and validate the source of what came from? i know this literature out there and it was a movement that question african-americans ability to even cognitively right a letter. so i wonder how your research sort of involved that. and then secondly, did you have any mechanisms to really sort of validate the tone of the letter? were you able to speak to the more modern-day author that really sort of had them relate to you what really the heart of the message was? and how we able to grasp incorporate that into your book you? >> thank you. i had to read a lot. i mean, for every letter in addition to reading the thousands of letters, i read, had to break it into the 200 or more that include attribute a

lot of history to contextualize the letters. so in terms of the authentic -- authentication of the letters, many of them are in archives and have been researched and studied. so i didn't have to go back and reinvent the world, the benjamin banneker letter is what doctor. it's just that it's not widely shared. someone like professor lewis knows about so many of these letters because he spends a lot of his time in archives. is just that it is not well integrated into the tally of american history. so yeah, the authentication was not an issue for me because because i use many of the authoritative texts to help contextualize the letters that exist but i do, i've heard this question before, particularly regarding the letters of slaves. many people say how do they write those letters, they

couldn't write those letters. and it is true that for some of the letters they were translated because they didn't have the ability and they found someone on the plantation who would help them, whether it was a kind mistress or one of the children, or another slave who had somehow acquired the ability to write. but when you read the letters, the question of authenticity, i think it just flies out the window. i mean, when you read a mother writing her son while just think about it i am tearing up. thank you. >> i know your work is ever

evolving, and i was just wondering maybe kind of jumping the gun a little bit, but -- >> if you're asking what i'm doing next? >> yes. and how are you going to represent the black community history? >> i'll tell you, this is one time i have to say i'm a little stoked on that question because this is still so new. the book came out two weeks ago, and i kind of lurch from one book you get to the next, as are many other events on the calendar. i'm happy to say that there is interest in the works, so i would imagine for the next year i'll still feel very closely with this work. and after that i have a lot of ideas, but nothing, nothing really tangible yet. >> another question here.

thanks again. it was a pleasure to meet part of this great event tonight. >> thank you, joshua, for being such a part. what a great reader you are. [applause] >> now, if that says -- >> i have a question regarding your journalistic background. black in america, came out with spike, talks about how the media increases the amount of the information regarding blacks, including the negative violence, homicides, and that attributes to the stereotype which americans create revolving blacks. and he says it's an insane amount, like 70% of the information you see in the news is entirely negative for blacks. can you talk about that? what are your thoughts about that?

>> well, i don't have the precise figure. there have been many, many studies on this that blacks are routinely portrayed as criminals or entertainers, or somehow engaged in topology. i think that has been found to be true year after year. i'm happy to say that this year with barack obama's presidency and his election, we will automatically see more positive portrayals of african-american males. that's a biggie. you know, to see every day an african-american in a positive way is something that is still new and different. and i think it's new for all americans, black and white here every year i teach a class called, i like to call it so-called minorities in the media because minority's -- in

that class i have my students to a constant analysis of a publication over a period of time. because rather than the tell them that the me does x. y. or z., i would rather than tell me what they found in their own analyses. and every year i'm hoping that a student will prove me wrong. i'm hoping that a student will show african-americans portrayed in the wondrous writing of ways in which they actually lived. i hope that they will show the representation that african-americans outside of the realm of topology. i hope that that would be a more common portrayal. in 1968, president johnson or 1961967 ask the panel a commiss, called the carter commission to look at race and united states

states and whether charges was to look at the media and the role that it may have played in the unrest that has gripped this country during the 1960s are and what the panel found is that the media report from the standpoint of a white man's world, they treat the negro as it he doesn't marry, die or attend pta meetings. so this stinging critique of the media, and one of the other findings is that african-americans were sorely underrepresented in media. if we flash forward 40 years, 41 years since that report, african-americans, now other people of color, are still sorely underrepresented in the mainstream media, despite many efforts to integrate them. and we still have a problem with the portrayals, which we are all a little hopeful now that some

of that will change. for the better. >> i don't have a question but i do have a statement. i like to make publicly -- >> don't make me cry. [laughter] >> i am so proud of you, pam. [applause] >> make you cry, make me cry. but really, when i look back -- when i look back at you as a little girl -- >> oh, no. >> but i have to say this publicly to you. the uncovering, the discovery of the greatness of our people of color, to be acknowledged by

anyone is just fabulous. but for me particularly, for it to come from my knees, i applaud you, i love you, and keep on. >> thank you. [applause] are there any other questions that will not make me cry? [inaudible] [laughter] >> one more. and while the mic is going to him, i would like to acknowledge the presence of professional -- professor derrick bell. [applause] >> who also was one of the wonderful people who early on in this project contributed a few letters. in fact, i went to nyu's library where derek has so graciously given his papers, and he has the most amazing collection of letters. i've looked at many collections, and his is one of the most

thorough. and it's so clearly traces the civil rights movement -- i mean, there's a letter in the book that derek wrote to thurgood marshall, which he begins gearbox. because he worked for thurgood marshall. and he helped him in the efforts to desegregate public schools throughout the south. so he has this letter that he wrote to thurgood marshall sang dear boss, i'm writing today that, you know, i'm now working at harvard university. and that was what, 1969, or 71. anyway, derek became the first tenured african-american law professor at harvard university. [applause] >> and then, that wasn't enough, then i also have the letter that derek wrote to the dean of

harvard university in 19 -- what was it, 90? 90. which outlined his protest hud university for its failure to hire women and people of color. so what an art. that is dear. derek is such an activist. such a man of great humanity and has been a blessing for me to learn from him, to be his friend and his colleague. and we are lucky to have him here at nyu, as arthur david levering lewis. >> fantastic read and very moved by the stores. and i want to know, 100 years from now what do we do to preserve this impact? what will people be referring to, is writing letters? is a dying? what do we do to preserve this? >> i think the most important

thing we can do is to preserve the letters already in our mixed. so many people who i reach out to told me about these incredible letters they have. like i spoke too adam clayton powell's first wife who recently passed away. but had an hour-long conversation with her, and she told me about these amazing letters that they wrote to each other every day while she was in new york and he, he was sent to europe to study. she was a show girl and they wrote every single day. and i said, oh, my god. i could wait to see the letters to by the end of the conversation, when we got a divorce, i burned of those letters. [laughter] >> so, you know, this important historical relics have a way of getting away from us. and i think it takes a lot to step outside of ourselves and to see them as more than, as i

said, our personal possessions but to see them as important historical documents. because that's what they are. that's what historians like david levering lewis used to help stitch together, you know, the history of a person, of a country. so it's really -- and i think for african-americans, because of our turbulent history in this country, don't fully have the sense of these letters as the historical documents because that they are because for so long these letters were undervalued. many archives were not even collecting them. and only in recent times has there been even an interest in many of these letters. not just the letters of the high and mighty, but the letters of the common person because it's all a part of the story. so i think the most important thing you could do is to save

your own letters to make sure that the letters of your grandparents and her great grandparents, if you're lucky to have them, that they are properly preserved and if you have a really important collection, for instance, if you know of anyone who has a nice collection of vietnam war letters, they are almost impossible to find, especially from african-americans. wore letters after world war ii are almost impossible to find. so that's, you know, i'm not going to tell you to go start writing letters. i would say make sure that the letters that have already been written are preserved. thank you so much. [applause] >> you can watch this or any other booktv program online at

booktv.org. >> well, there's a new online enterprise just starting up and it is called the washington independent review of books. david stewart is president of this organization. mr. stewart, what is your organization? >> well, it's a group of writers and editors and similarly minded people, mostly in the d.c. area who are very dismayed by the shriveling a book review space and sort of the standard media. a lot of book review sections have been folded. they shrunk. and it's just hard to find information about what's going on in the world of books these days. the coverage of the publishing industry has shrunk. >> so we decided to try to do something ourselves. this is really sort of from the old judy garland, mickey rooney movies where they said let's put on a show.

we decided, well, we would create our own book review. it's about 70 of us have been engaged in it, and we just launched and had a great response. but it's been a lot of fun and very gratifying. >> what kind of books would you be reviewing on this site? >> a wide range. we are going to really review nonfiction and fiction. we suspect, for now we will not be looking at children's books and we will not be looking at romance literature. but beyond that we are quite open. and we will be reviewing recently released books. we hope to get our reviews up within the first 30 to 45 days after publication. so you can come to us for current information about what are the new books out there. >> no, can people submit books to be reviewed as well? >> we would rather not get the books but the concert to bring them to our attention.

because we will have to decide if we want to review them. you can get a lot of books that way, that are hard to deal with. so we certainly invite people to e-mail us to bring the bookstore attention. send us their packets. so we know in plenty of time that it's coming and we can decide whether it is one we want to take a shot at -- a shot at redoing. >> you said a lot of your reviewers have background in writing and publishing. what's your background and gives a snapshot of some of the people who will be participating. >> well, my background is i was a lawyer for many years, but i'm now an author, have been a couple books on american history, one on the constitution, the summer of 1787. one of the impeachment trial of andrew jackson. and i've anyone coming out this fall on their inverse western conspiracy called american ever. the other folks involved come

from journalism. there are book writers as well. we been so lucky in recruiting reviewers. we have a book on the eichmann trial in israel. were able to get judge patricia wald who was on the war crimes tribunal from yugoslavia. we've been able to get the leading constitutional scholar, to look any first amendment vote for us. we've just had a terrific response from people, just as an example, a professor at mit who has a wonderful book out. we've been able to get top notch reviewers, and it's an exciting thing. everybody in this operation works for the same amount of money, nobody is paid. that includes our reviews.

so it's just wonderful to see people willing to pitch in to create this conversation about the book, the world of books which is really what we are all about. spector has been a decline in traditional media review of books, but online there is quite an active marketplace of the reviewers. what do you bring to the table that is different? >> well, i think will bring the depth and the quality of our reviewers. we also have been doing features. we will have author interviews and q&a's. we have a couple of radio interviewer partners who will be putting up podcasts. so we will provide a full range of information. and i think the other operations that are trying to do the same thing are doing the lord's work as well. and i service support what they're up to, but i think there's room for a lot of voices. and that's important when you're reviewing books is that there are a lot of voices. so you're not just up with one

or two reactions to a new book. which may be idiosyncratic in their reactions. >> we be looking at politically slanted books as well? will you be looking at both books from the left and from the right, from the middle? >> of course. we are predominantly, with washington area writers, we have a lot of interest in political and historical topics, and we will take them all on from every point on the spectrum. >> and how often will you be putting up new material? >> we will have new content up every day. either new interview or new review. you know, in the early days we're trying not to set the bar too high for ourselves, but as time goes on we expect the content to become richer and richer and we are looking for to that. >> you say on your website that you have your seed money through

the aiw, what is that? >> its association of independent writers which is an association here in the d.c. area. the freedom to write fund is a 501(c)(3) that is affiliated with the aiw. we have done have very modest fund-raising, need to do more, but enough to get us up and running. and it's been a great sponsorship. >> david stewart is the president of the washington independent review of books. washingtonindependentreviewofboo washingtonindependentreviewofboo ks.com is the website. >> is there a nonfiction author a book you would like to see featured on booktv? send us an e-mail at booktv@c-span.org, or tweet us at twitter.com/booktv. >> coming up nicholas philpson present a biography of philosopher adam smith.

the author examines mr. smith's psychological and economic thinking and exports is best known work "the wealth of nations." this was hosted by the cato institute here in washington. it's about 75 minutes. ..