air force. he's a professor, a ph.d from harvard. and he along with the whole research team i put together for "cutting the fuse" were absolutely instrumental because you see, "cutting the fuse" examines over 2200 suicide attacks. it looks at a whole variety of patterns to try to test the assumptions underneath this argument. a whole variety of cases. ..

>> up next on booktv, howard means recounts the life of john chapman. also known as johnny appleseed, he was a landscaper who's traveled help paved the way for future settlers. it took place at the johnny appleseed educational center at urbana university in ohio. >> welcome, my name is jobe -- joe besecker. we are located in the johnny appleseed educational center and museum and historic coo hall at the university. we are here to listen to howard means talk about his brand new book. this is his 10th book.

he's written a biography of johnny appleseed, or john chapman. the name of the book "johnny appleseed: the man, the myth, and the american story." i welcome howard. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. my book was published only five days ago. since then i've done some taping sessions with the nationally syndicated radio shows. this is the first live event, it couldn't happen in a more important place. we are in the johnny appleseed museum. joe besecker was one the first person i contacted after they agreed to public the book, but before i decided to write a word. one the johnny appleseed

trustees, arthur humphrey. he has done wonderful research and the church of the jerusalem. i kindly latched -- and i say kindly latch, he might think i was a blood-sucking parasite. i should also add one the problems i face is when to refer to the title character as john chapman and when he is johnny appleseed. johnny chapman is the historical figure and appleseed the myth. that's what i try to hold to here in the comments. back to where we are -- i'm sorry, where we are, urbana the

city and urbana the university. as all of you know are bursting are chapman appleseed connection. it was where he met with attorney john james to discuss possible legal proceedings in the orchards. one the rare moments when the historical figures steps out from behind the curtain and lets us have a good look at him. for the record, he paced the room wile he talked and chewed on nuts. john james donated the dan, as the only affiliated college west of the allegheny, fullfulment of the dream held by chapman. the first president was college shared many common interests and reportedly committed to paper who would have been the most lengthy manuscript -- i'm sorry portrait. that's gone missing.

so many things have gone missing. there's so many tempting moments that you can't find the documents. maybe you have them in your home drawerrers. let me know. the johnny appleseed complex is named for francis bailey. generally considered to be the father of the new church. for henry's award, arthur has shown almost certainly gave johnny apple seed his first taste of sweetenberg. the most rewarding is the museum has to be the repository of lawrence murdoch, the secretary of the library in cincinnati. this was in those papers i was able to trace how johnny appleseed made his film debut. it begins with a letter to

murdoch of the indiana historical society. the librarian wanted to let him know that two studios has been asking around about johnny appleseed. librarian clearly preferred disney lake on the job. i only trust they do not do something peculiar and horrible. movies do. three and a half years later with the mgm movies scrapped with the version of johnny's life headed to theaters, he was convinced that something peculiar and horrible is what they had done. may 26th, 1948, the day before cartoon classic was released, murdoch wrote walt disney. her letter begins on a high note to praise them for celebrating johnny's blessing, love and

faith in an apple tree. then publicity showed gloated on to greatness by a sour puss aspiration. for murdoch, that was played fast and lose with the spirit world that was central to the vision. quote, the advertisements we have seen indicate the subject is treated in a relatively conservative manner. expect for the grotesque figure of a guardian angle. -- angel. we are curious to know what process the studio arrived at this suggestion. what to do? this is one day before the movie is to be released. is it too late to make a change? perhaps substituting the figure of a child if the traditional angel seems out of place. if that is impossible, could not the name be changed from guardian angel to spirit of the frontier.

let me digress, has anybody here ever met florence murdoch. in the course of doing this, i've gotten the vision of the stalwart, barreling forward, and d.a.r. wore completely blue dresses. she sort of stuck in my mind. disney never released. the requested were never made. without the guardian angel, disney's johnny appleseed wouldn't have left the farm on pittsburgh or going to the northwest territory. in johnny appleseed and johnny angel he's such a scrawny fella, despite being by all accounts the average, 5 ft.'9".

weren't no pioneer, despite the fact he walked across the mountains in pennsylvania, survived brutal winters, and quote, ain't got the muscle or the breath of chest. ludicrous on the face of it to join the pioneer parade heading west. worst there's not a hint of the intellectual death or intensity that john would have needed to wrestle his way in as he did. but that's hollywood. my 5-year-old grandson adored the cartoon has 5-year-olds have doing for more than six decades. disney took the appleseed and pushed it over the top. story line was competitive. in a lengthy response date june 23, 1948 and on the wall behind me, this is one the wonderful treasures of this museum. hal adelquist explained how the

animated film and johnny's guardian angel came to be. it was a simple and unassuming man. he believed his mission of planting trees in the wilderness to be devinely inspired and heavily beings upon the earth. thus, it would seem to follow, he wrote, that johnny's devine interpretation might well take the form of a frontier angel. he didn't stop there. we believe, he concluded, that our interpretation of the johnny appleseed story, though with humor, is a narrow approach to brotherly love and unselfishly ever attempted in our medium of entertainment. i can't disagree. it's exactly what he described, sweet sermon on brotherly love. as happens, the man on whom it was built disappears in the

truth. that's where the book began. it's where i began. i was one the 5-year-old that learned about johnny appleseed. this is the johnny appleseed i still knew back in 1989 long after i was five years old when a friend first suggested i took on the project. as two dozen years between now and then suggest i didn't jump. other work had priority. why take on a biography of such a known qualitity. i did nibble. as i did, the story got richer and richer until, i guess, i felt compelled. there was obvious the discrepancy between the man and the myth. they tackled the subject half a century earlier. i think i've been able to add to

that story. what's more the need is greater now. that's in large part of the legacy of the disney cartoon version of johnny appleseed's life which has ably rated johnny chapman from memory. only 58% thought that johnny appleseed ever existed. and fewer than one in four americans could identify the right half century in which he had done his planning and the right part of the country, in particularly the two states where he had spent most of his adult life. i did informal asking around among well educated friends. who is john chapman? my favorite answer, he's the guy that murdered john lennon. that was mark david chapman. in the end, i concluded, and i say this in the book, that johnny appleseed might be the best known american about who

most americans know nothing real at all. i should add also that thanks to john and his firm, all of that polling data, including pages and pages of demographic breakdowns now in the possession of this museum and education center, which is exactly where it belongs. there was also the sheer mystery of it all as i tried to do the book. thanks to the whole host of researchers, including florence wheeler who finally named down the chapman genealogy. we had the hints of john chapman. we know where money was born. we know more or less where and when he died. although a case can be made that whoever interned is not john chapman. we have promissory notes, we even have the wonderful trading post back in war and pennsylvania that shows chapman purchased, quote, two small

histories shortly after crossing the alleghenies with his brother in early 1799. histories of what, british royalty? ancient rome or greece? it'll be fascinating. there's no way to know, unfortunately. it made writing the book almost irresistible. as did the sheer weirdness of the character. the ohio historian called chapman the oddest character in all of our history. he was certainly every bit of that. i read in my book that he quote had the eye of a speculator, heart of a fill philanthropist,d wondering instincts of a know -- nomad. he wanted a nursery interest. then he gave away half of his stock and fair percentage of his

profits. here's the largest point. early 19th century ohio was filled with characters, pioneers who built homes inside trees, famous brawlers, legendary boozers, and what really struck me was that among all of these people, chapman's extrusty stood out. everyone knew him, everyone realized what a singular person, even a crack pot. yet, he seems to have been above the most. that line got me to the context of the times. that's where the story really deepened for me. how westward expansion has been become dammed up, the fact that the northwest territory was a huge real estate event waiting to happen when chapman arrived on the shores of the river at the end of the 18th century. the way the second grade awakening swept over all of this that drew ten and 20,000 and often involved as many as two

dozen preachers from a rainbow of ever reforming christian dominations. john chapman lived an often lonely life deep in the words. he was an integral part of the forces swirling around him. as real estate inspector and evangelist. when settlers in and around the creek got to vote, he was among the 15 eligible who wondered out of the woods to cast their ballots. what a triumph that was for frontier democracy. imagine the scene, whenever the polling place and the people wondering how to vote. the second great awakening led me to a fascinating character, emanuel. the noted swedish scientist. a man wildly thought to have been the greatest mind of 18th century europe and undenially the transforming muse of john chapman's life.

i suspect and know many of you here in the down and school with rich church roots know as much or far more about him than i do. i'll spare you my ignorance. the story told about the migration is so rich. maybe this is well known. so i apologize for repeating the story. everyone knows he was having dinner by himself late in the evening at a london chop house, 1745. when the room went dark and the floor began rising with snakes. he writes that he looked off to the corner of the room and saw an old man. the old man offered him four words. don't eat so much. then disappeared as the room returned to light. later the same man reappears and identified himself as god and began revealing the hidden truths of the bible. who can resist a story like

that. that's what happened time and again. something unique around every corner. that finally gets me to the mythic character and to the final history. i think and hope i show the myth keeps getting reinvested generation by generation. in the late 1800s and early 1900s, he was a symbol of innocence. before native americans has been driven into dismal devastation and swept away what the country once had been. two decades late after the womens christian temperance union, johnny reemerged as the spokesman for the helpful properties, not the needy ones of the america's favorite fruit. in the mid 1900s, they turned johnny into a sermon on

brotherly love and unselfishness. advertisements in the 1950s and 1960s praise the financial. oddly enough since his real finances were a complete mess. by the mid 1970s, johnny apple seed the pot was going around the countryside selling cannabis seeds. johnny appleseed of pot will still get you 10,000 hits on google. amazing enough. so the con stance reintervention continues into our own time in scaling back, going local, and preserving the wonderful creation has been handed. two seven res before there was a schism policety movement, john chapman had a created lifestyle that was simplicity itself. a level of consumption that would drive the economy back to the barter system of widely practiced, snuff the occasional

tool, a night upside a roof, that was all the earth's resources he seems to have needed. and the books he recycled. johnny didn't live lightly in the land, he barely touched it, even though he walked it constantly. it's the gift to be simple, it was the gift to be free, it's where you ought to be. when you find ourself in the place just right, it would be in the valley of love and delight? better 42 word summary of john chapman's life? long before what people realize, chapman and appleseed before there, coddling nature. and that might be the greatest gift of both of our own times. john chapman had scripture, not only the bible, but sweetenberg. and along with nature that enables him to exist. but, however, it came to be by

god's hand or nothing more than a cosmic accident and whatever label one comes to the challenge, creation care, evangelical, the world of ours does need someone to show us how to love it better. johnny appleseed is waiting out there now at the line between president and future, man and myth, the real and the imagined ready to lead the way. a lot of factors propel chapman into appleseed, the man in the myth. the potential to exaggerate a good story. so few treads held the man to the real world. i also think that john chapman -- this dawned on me, john chapman himself played a central role. he liked to tell stories about himself. about his escapes, amazing feats of stamina. in a sense he was wondering.

while i walked a lot about many subjects, especially for an essential loner, he never talked about the details of his life. he was alone in maine. he had been living in and around for a decade, and had a nice obituary. as to how old, they clearly had no clue and no clue to where he had been born or before coming to indiana, expect the sense it was somehow in ohio. i think the obituary says he was -- he lived in the area of cleveland and while chapman can be associated with 16 or 18 different towns in ohio, cleveland is not one of them. but that's how it was all the way along. people recalled his heroic feats. marathon run through the night force. they remember legendary acts of kindness, giving his few bits of

clothing to pioneers, even worse off than he was. they knew him as a saint, john the baptist of the wilderness. about the essential man, they knew almost nothing. it's as if john chapman was rehearsing from the part of johnny appleseed all night. now i'd like to read the short epilogue which i close the book. it won't spoil or take too long. the epilogue is called my johnny. a close friend, a lawyer with a great heart has a vision of john chapman building and planting his seeds, twirling the whole night long in rapturous concord which whatever he can see as a universal devine. i can see that. chapman, appleseed, whatever you call him, god talked to him through every tree, leaf, rock,

every beast great and small. how would he not twirl in joy? johnny's famous loneliness might now have been so lonely after all. as william d. howe wrote, if we are surrounded by spirits, evil or good which our evil or good behavior invites, then the harmless, loving, half crazy man walked daily with the angels of god. i could also see henry david thoreau in chapman. instead at the moment john chapman lay dying in fort worth, he was digging the foundation for his famous celebrated cabin. for all of his intellectual independence, he never cut the lifeline. he was within easy walking distance of the world he has always known. even as he was raps dieing, he

was still carrying laundry home. not chapman. from the early 20s on, he had no feather left. in an article for the december 1979 american heritage magazine, edward hogan say if chapman had left a diary, he might be compared to john james audubon or the indian portraitist. certainly it would not have been what his writers were. chapman lived his critique. the nature he love and gave himself over vibrated through the entire bean like walt whitman. years ago i spent long night with the washington, d.c. emergency response team. heroic men and women tending to the insane who had been institutallized. most of those they treated that night were living in the city's park often short walks. these were women convinced they

were men who had been castrated by demons. one man told me when he walked down the street and saw the stars, he was convinced each star of the part of a intergalactic space fleet. if i turn left, they will turn left, what if i turn the wrong way. we found him parollized in the middle of an intersection. the sky was filled with stars. i can't help but recall those people when i think of johnny appleseed. they smelled horribly was ab john chapman probably did. vices exploded, brains on fire, occasionally their eyes almost glowed as they talk. by our modern definitions, john chapman almost certainly wasn't sane. if you talk to god, it's prayer. if god talks to you, it's skit

inference -- schizophrenia. what a simple joying it to turn away from the birds from what wait beyond my window. there is a pleasure in the pathless woods, there is society where none intrudes. it was easy to go easy and walk the woods and feel the sunlight on your skin, shine and be simple, that's johnny appleseed to me. that's what i have to say. i'd be glad to take any questions that anyone has. i think there will be some. i'm going to throw out the first question. i've been somewhat criticized in print and on medium, and i perhaps rightly so, for suggesting that he was almost certainly insane. does that strike those of you who know the story almost as

well as i do as completely over the top? anybody want to venture an opinion on that? >> yes, i've been studying him for a number of years now. the impression that we have of john is probably a lot like a lot of people in our lives that aren't of the normal, aren't neurotypical, but at the same time, operate in society. and not certifiably insane, but someone that operates different, maybe aspergers or autistic. >> maybe i shouldn't thrown that word around. what am i going to do? questions. we have a mike over here.

who'd like to start? >> i've also been studying john twice as long as you did, i'm interested that you found twice as much information in half as much. how many trips did you make, places did you go? this is nonfiction, you needed to do research into things that are not that well known. and i'm just curious how you did that. >> funny story. this -- as i said earlier, it started in 1989 when a friend said you ought to write a biography. and i thought i hadn't done anything about it. when i started going back through my files, i had old things i pulled often lexisnexis. they had things to tear off. i had a fair amount. in terms of the actual writing,

that was only about 14 or 15 months. the research was double that, i would say. but i had the sort of backlog of material. and where i went basically everywhere that he was known to be. expect that creek you mention. yeah, i think i missed some of these creeks and these -- but i mean -- arthur actually pointed me to some of these places. but, yeah, you have to go get on the ground and see the places on the ground. and, you know, i thought what's the big deal about walking across the alleghenies? i've been driving for years, no trouble. you get out, stop your car, look at edge, you know, just think about all of this. so that was part of it. and then frankly google has made life so much easier.

every county in ohio, i can safely say in indiana, at least i was under the impression of the indiana, has a history of the county done between 1855 and 1880 and often two or three. google has digittized all of the histories. i thought when i started doing this, i would be spending months at the library of congress. which for me is about a 65 minute -- mile drive and 130 round trip. got to take the metro down and sit there and wait 45 minutes while they go get your books and bring them back out. i forsaw months of my life disappearing, it's a beautiful place, bit way, if you've never been there. please go. it's digitize. if you kind a book, prez a button. on demand printing. what is arthur davis holbrook? has this wonder eight volume, 11

volume history of transportation in america. it's magnificent stuff. for $15 if shows up your door five days later. pretty amazing stuff. anyone else? please. yeah. go. >> i think i got a microphone coming your way. in your exploration of material available, murdoch records here and other places that you've been, did you sense there's much so that's not been discovered that some other writer might come along and say i wonder what else is new. and we haven't known about john chapman. it's yet to be discovered and written about. >> i think there definitely is. for example, one the things i was hoping so much, and i think there's a chance that he was baptized by william hargrove in

brownsville, pennsylvania in 1805 or 1807. 1806. okay. it took place in the river. there were 30 or 40 people. so it turns out ha rgrove's papers are in theory at the frank something or something at the maryland state historical society. i go there and i open up his journals and had has 1806, that's right, the reference was -- i looked in the back. john chapman. and the page number corresponded to 1806. i knew he had a -- he recorded the names of all of those he baptisted. this was john something chapman who lived somewhere else. there were john chapman's all

over the place. chapman kept naming each other john and nathaniel. all of the females are elizabeth. but that name -- then i had a cup of coffee two months ago, kevin baxter who graduated from this institution and kevin said, you know, that would be a repository in california. and by then, it was too late for me to find it. but there have been -- i think that the library people have done a spectacular job. there's more. there's always more. look at the letter that elizabeth chapman wrote to her husband on her death bed essentially in 1776, may of 1776. spectacular letter that didn't come to -- laid in trunks for 150 odd years.

so their letters line in trunks around here by concern not maybe by chapman. i don't think he's given a lot to paper by john chapman, but by those who knew him. somewhere is the manuscript. it's a mother load for those that want to pursue this. got to find it. i couldn't. i just couldn't find it. anyone else? >> john was known as a story teller. who was your favorite story that you included in the bible -- not the bible -- i guess it all ties in the book. >> the favorite story? well, my -- he told it but others told it too the story of the mountain -- mansfield to mountain run? do you know that one? okay. the year is 1812, there's been -- indians, you know, war of 1812, the tribes of ohio are

making common cause with the british. there's an event that takes place, horrible event that takes place. they are rounding up green tree indians to send them to that very place right here, green town indians to send them to urbana. so they can't really, you know, sign them of for the cause. they march in about two miles away, inter them, burn their village, one girl 12 years old, i think she is, happens to be visiting from another tribe. her father comes to take her away. they shoot the father. they behead him, they scalp him. soldiers are drinking whiskey out of the scalp. it's beyond description in terms of horror. they were avenge of the avenge of the avenge cycle. so word comes indians on the

warpath. meanwhile, the american -- the garrison of soldiers in mount vernon has sent the troops. there's not enough protection. they have the meeting and -- i'll see if i can find it in a minute. they have the meeting and say somebody has to go worn the people in mount vernon. you know, there's the clear eyed man that steps forward and says i'll do it. he runs presumably through the night and stopping at all of the taverns along the way. can you wait one? just see if i can find this real quickly. it's a wonderful -- he said one of two things while he was doing this and if i can find this quickly enough, which i probably can't, -- rats. give me just one second. this is bad air time.

okay. here it is. here it is. okay. yes. so he runs from -- he visits -- okay. he leaves mansfield about 6:00 at night. in gathering dark. he runs through the dark all the way to mount vernon, which happens to be almost exactly 26 miles by a miracle exactly the great, you know, the marathon, the planes of marathon, and then he might have run back again, at least some accounts have him running back again. he told these stories himself. he didn't mind telling these stories. what was wonderful -- there were two different memories. he would stop at every cabin. fly, fly, fly for your lives. not bad. the other pioneer remembered him calling out this message.

the spirit of the lord is upon me and he has appointed me to bloat trumpet and sound the alarm because they are devouring flame. imagine saying that after running 15 miles? he said it time and again. he didn't have to say it in the way back. maybe he did it. could he have done it? ultra marathons have run 52 miles in six you hours. he had 11. nobody knew the woods better than him, excellent physical condition. with all of the stories, there's the possibility that something is true about them. another one he liked to tell, he escaped indians but pulling the canoe on to the passing ice flow on the allegheny river. he fell asleep and finally pushed it back up. that's a story he'd like. he told that story a lot. so that's why it came -- as i

was doing this, it came up on me more and more. there's a certain complexity in the myth. i don't know what -- i speculate in the book if any of you have read it. i speculate in the book that -- well, how do i put it, that he -- in other words for the myth to be born, the man had to die in a way. and i -- there was nothing holding him to his family. he had his father -- well, his father died two years after he moved to ohio. his stepmother and a bunch of step half brothers and sisters living only 80 miles away in the duck creek near what's duck city, i think. that's -- 80 miles was an afternoon stroll for johnny appleseed. while they have all of the history that people wrote, all of the counties, there's a wonder history of washington county, there's no mention of johnny chapman.

which leads me to believe he never went back to visit his family. i don't know what it was. there's hundreds of possible reasons for that. anyone else? please. ask up. i could drone own for hours. yeah. sally, yes, please. >> i was kind of curious, did anybody ever do any studies as far as he spent a lot of time with quakers. >> yes, uh-huh. being sweden, i can find the connection. i was curious if any quakers has ever not claimed them as one of their own but in a sense part of their communities in a sense? because he did win them over and stay with people a lot. >> you know, there's a story someone. no, that was a universal

unitarian who he got mad at and threw this book down. i know the quakers wind in and out of the story. i don't -- i never saw any evidence of that. that's another -- back to frank. that's another thing to be discovered. i just opened this up. that was a wonderful part about writing this book. every time you turn over a rock, there's another story to be told. there are all of the sort of person -- we were talking about it earlier, we only bald went. and all of the family connections. johnny chapman's -- john chapman's mother first cousin was a guy who became known as count rumford. as fascinating of a character as you are likely to find, sort of amoral benjamin franklin absolute genius who was a complete rate. and but, you know, i ended up

cutting pages and pages out of the manuscript. i get so fascinated by these people. you could only tell so much of the story. eyes on the prize as my wife reminded me. anyone else? yes. oh back there. >> is there any mention in your book about his dealings about nature? i remember there was a story in the rattle snake about not killing mosquitoes around the campfire. >> these are stories -- i should have mentioned some of these. the name story where he steps on a rattle snake, the rattle snake bit him, and he dug into it and came back and the only recorded instance of his killing an animal. and he came back and saw it dead on the ground later and was

devastated by what he had done. the other story about -- yes, putting out the fire so the mosquitoes wouldn't be burned. you and i are pushing them towards the fire. he dozes the fire. there was the pure animalistic quality. he did see -- another story why he planted apples by seed. he talked about this. because the apple limb feels the graph of his knife, surely as the human limb. you can only plant by seed. it's an inefficient way. they are fascinating, heterozygous. it means it contains the body of any apple ever made.

you have a delicious gala apple, antibiotic plant -- and plant it, the chances of getting a gala are one in a 1,000. they revert to the native state in central asia. they take 30 years to produce a crop. it's not an efficient way to plant apples. many of you know he was a frontier bootlegger. it's an interesting story. people certainly -- apples were primarily put to the use in making hard cider and vinegar, the basic frontier medicine. i don't think there was any intention to it. of course, he was selling the seeds, not apples. everyone left. it was a dollar store business. pile them eye, watch them fly. not a bad model. any other questions?

can i -- are you sure? let me say just one pitch at the end. then i'll be quiet. i wanted to close by saying how lucky i've been with the book. lucky with the help from people like joe and arthur and his cousin, from my publisher simon and schuster, who were bound and determined it would not only be a good book, a beautiful book. the paper is beautiful and did everything just right. the maps add the story. best of all from my point of view, there are nine original illustrations in the book that are absolutely magnificent and all done by my daughter. thank you for ensuring this. i appreciate it very much. [applause] [applause]

>> this is a book about george's work. he has given away billions of dollars through the open society which is based on the principals

and putting the philosophy to work in the real work. it covers the programs from around the world and includes an essay from george called my philanthropy where he lays out the principals and what animates. it really turned out to be his major business. >> right next to that is "poor economics." >> "poor economics" is one the most exciting big idea books we've had in a while. they are the founders of the m.i.t. poverty lab. they have really pioneered the idea of let's do some on the ground work, experiments, observations to learn what really works in development. where we should put our efforts, where we should put our money? and they are award winning, acclaimed, economist who's work is really getting a lot of attention and really being embraced now. when i read the proposal, i felt this is the most important work

on poverty that i've read since we published on microfinance and social business. we felt we had to have the book too. >> does that book include the concept of microlending? >> well, the microfinance banker, this does have some about microfinance and microlending and some of the research on the ground. it has lots of other techniques too. it looks as how poor people live and what they will choose to spend their money on when they have money, how they make decisions and almost like controlled experiments to see what will help in the long run. what's the best way to distribute bed nets to protect against malaria. why do they buy a tv instead of more food? you can understand that and decisions they might make about

their life. >> i want to ask about the cover of that book with the not in the corner. >> i think the idea is untying the knot of poverty in the developing world. it's kind of a good motif. we felt the words were so strong, we didn't want any illustration to get in the way. >> "unnatural selection." you were excited. >> this was one of those propoa pals when i read it, this is what we are here to do. to do these kinds of books. i call it a scholarly journalist. she's worked at places like the chronicle of higher education, based in shanghai, she's going back to be the editor now for them there. but she, you know, a lot of us say one child policy in china, why so many more boys than girls. we say that's funny.

what's going to happen there. then we move on to another question. mora didn't move on. she said what does it mean there's so many missing girls. how does it happen. what's going to happen when the boys grow up and there's no one for them to marry? how will they create families? what will society be like? she has asked the questions because of society and also went back and researched how did it happen? some of it is what we think we know about things like one child policy. but some of it has to do with zero population growth and enthusiasm for population control that has had great unintended consequences. i think will surprise people. >> that took is "unnatural selection." right next to that, two books about some troubled nations. >> yes, dancing in the glory of monsters about the congo by jason stern. our editorial director got this book in from a friend of jason,

the wonder journalist who has written also about africa from the financial times. she knew the editorial director. there's nobody that knows as much, you should talk to him. jason sterns had a manuscript. they read it and said there's a real book in here. we're going to find it. he and jason went to work together to hone the book. the claim for the book is that you can understand anything in the newspaper about the congo if you haven't read the book. the story is that complicated and the news story such a tiny piece and what's happening there. and the reviews from warn this out. wall street journal, financial times, economist, i could go on and on. but the reviews of this book has been just a amazing response. and the -- we are really seeing people not backing away, but saying i want to know about this story. i want to hear more about the

congo. >> dr. paul farmer. >> paul farmer is partners in health and has worked so hard to develop health care in places like haiti that has an interesting medical school kind of, you know, organization and practicing medicine on the ground in places like haiti and like rwanda. and he had -- you know, the effect of the earthquake in haiti and the work they've done and the level that they got to know haiti. he just said, i want to write about it. i want to write about what has happened, what is happening. is the response adequate? is the response from world leaders what it should be. is the aid being used in the best way it could be. he also in his book uses this as an opportunity to get haitian voices involved in this issue. he talks about how -- he gets

different people involved in haiti that he's known often for many years to write about this too. paul is not only talking about the experience in haiti, but he has also been able to give voice to people in haiti who in all of the brouhaha and all of the publicity have not necessarily been heard from. >> susan weinberg, the photo on the cover is rather powerful. >> he is. we were looking for something to convey the mix of emotions when you think about haiti and the earthquake and you think about the recovery. it is such a mixture of hope and maybe dispair of, you know, grand plans, but also understanding that everyone is so vulnerable. >> we are talking with susan weinberg, who's a publicker of public awares books and over here on your board, i want to talk about sally jacobs new book "the other barack" when is this coming out?

>> "the other barack" is coming out in july this year. this is a book as the subtitle couldn't say it better. the bold and reckless life of his father. she said when she -- she did a profile of, you know, obama and kenya, but all through the phone. not really the deep enough. she said if he's elected, i'm going to go and pursue the story. she had never done a book, or a story she felt that committed to. but she has been to kenya many times, talked to everyone that knew barack obama senior and she has put the story and rivetting i say i can't really know this. you know, president obama read this book, he would things about his father that he doesn't know. i think it's an amazing contribution to our knowledge of the president and his family. >> what's it like editing a

journal? >> well, it's an interesting process. journalist on the one hand can write very fluidly, and they are used to the idea of changes and rewrites. so, you know, they are not trying to hug their precious prose. but sometimes the book -- the arch of a book versus the arch of feature stories can be very different. i think our editors often find that's the thing they most work on, is getting the arch and the story line together. the arch of the book is amazing. the focus is where it should on barack obama senior. it's mississippi childhood in kenya, it's the time in the united states, which includes time at university of hawaii and harvard. it's the story of how harvard and the immigration service decided you know, maybe you are a lot of trouble. maybe you should leave and what happens when he goes back to kenya? >> very quickly, three more books we want to preview.

starting with peter thompson. >> peter thompson's award of afghanistan is an epic book. that's because peter thompson's knowledge of afghanistan goes very far back. he was very involved both through the soviet period in between the american involvement, he has had roles in afghanistan on the diplomatic level. he speaks russian and pashtun. he has a gift for languages. he was able to read documents in the original language that not many people are able to answer, including archives that no one had ever used before in the research and work. he brings a passion and a level of both detail and scope to the story that we think is unique. it was -- it's quite an effort getting a book like this together. but absolutely worthwhile and we're thrilled that it's going to see it's reading public in

july. >> two books on the media "the deal from hell" and "inside the new york times." >> "the deal from hell" is what has happened to media businesses from an insider. he has both the ground work and management experience of being, you know, i don't quite the other side. but, you know, in that -- in those decision making meetings. and it is the full unvarnished story of what's happened to media businesses in america by focusing on the story of the tribune company. page one is a book in our series of books that we have done in conjunction with media. we have done books and films like food inc. and waiting for superman. this is their new film, called "page one" inside "the new york

times," we've done a book with an npr media reporter that is a collection of essays by many different contributors writing about media. again, taking this subject beyond the films limitations. a film can tell you in a visceral way, but only tell you so much. the essays in this book really tell you more fully what's going on with media today. especially digital, print, what the future might look like. >> i know i said just two more. we've got one more to look at. this is the "unquiet american rob" it's over on the wall. if you can get that richard holbrooke. >> this is a book we are proud to be with. richard holbrooke's widow said we think you would be perfect to put together a book that really captures richard holbrooke's sp