also a concentration camp survivor. it said in a call to arms against an easily identifiable germany he is calling for action against the more seditious enemy was would be the charity and dictatorship of the world financial market, the unequal distribution of wealth, aggression in places like dozen. he is encouraging young people all over the world to get involved. without their involvement, just as he and his colleagues made a difference in the second war, without their involvement nothing can change. as i mentioned before, there is a general sense of malaise in that we don't have the power to make things happen living proof that we do. we're going to publish that in september. >> during 12 books a year, how far in advance did you have these books planned? >> right now my employees scheduled through august 2012.

i've got above three books in the fall of 2012 that are likely -- we always leave room because the projects. we have some peculiar demands. but some work very well. because of our on expectations it may not be right to be retried sellout rooms for the supplies but that comes in that everyone is fascinated about and that we can make work in a really big way with the kind of focus. >> the publisher and editor in chief of "twelve" books. >> this year book tv is touring 87 easton u.s. cities to explore literary life. this weekend with assistance from our local cable affiliates comcast we will take you to several locations in savannah

georgia. book tv, 48 hours of top nonfiction authors and books every weekend. >> this year book tv is looking at the literary culture of eight southeastern cities. next, an interview with preston russell from savannah, georgia, the author of "savannah: a history of her people since 1733''. it is about 40 minutes. >> a man of many parts. physicians, painter, historian and writer. he even finds time to play golf. since breast and retired from madison after 30 years of memorial hospital and his paintings have appeared in regional art shows and in homes throughout the united states and europe as well as here and at the morris museum in the guest. his book the low cut street from

savannah to charleston contains 85 of his paintings which capture the mystique of the region. preston russell along with his wife, barbara-is with the sick today. stand up. co-authored at ten. his most recent book is rights of madness in search of joan of arc. his pending work, i guess this means you're working now, deals with france's involvement in the american resolution and the father and son relationship between george washington and the yang marquis de lafayette. dr. russell, i also point out, has been an enthusiastic patrons of the book festival since its

beginning and was an author / speaker in 2008. ladies and gentlemen, the true renaissance man, preston russell. [applause] at bank. >> thank you. thank you very much. i see my reputation has exceeded me. give me your tired of low poor, amasses yearning to breathe free, richard refuse of your teeming shores, send these to me this could easily applied in our country of immigrants to the founding of savannah in 1733. it applies to the statue of liberty from france to our first centennial in 1876. indeed, savannah was founded and

is 50 years older than before america even was recognized as a country in 1783. so, story of immigrants. i guess we're pretty proud of these parts of being there rather old and traditional. trough study insist up the road are also a little bit older and they did a little bit up the about how much older there are. and it has been described that trust the audience selected chinese in the sense that they both the a lot of rice and warship their ancestors. [laughter] but with a little making up to do after nearly 300 years to marry your first cousin and all the right family, six or eight families, as a matter of fact my home state of tennessee, for million people but seven last names. there is a model in tennessee.

with this going on and has been said that you are not considered to be from an established samantha family and so your first and last name of the same. [laughter] we might take that as a little evidence of a proud jewish revolutionary war patriot who live here and 18th-century. there is an old saying that many of us know. if they choose own it, the irish red, and crackers and joy are rednecks let me have a good time. the third oldest jewish congregation that was founded in 1773, anybody want to take a guess? kendis to -- audience? that was really the snapper. it was newport rhode island. new york is the other one.

concerning the irish running it, even to this day we have the second-largest st. patrick's day parade in all the world. a couple years ago to irishman came from dublin that had a great time and then set to mock, we have won the lot over the weekend about this. we have learned that savannah has the second-largest st. patrick's day parade in the whole world. new york has the second-best. georgia in 1773 was the last and, indeed, the poorest of the 13 colonies is committed to the not union because there was no union, but what showed up as an english colony and good p.r. and gamesmanship. it is named after king towards the second. it also remains the largest face

in the aegean east of the mississippi river. it was originally put here as sort of a spoiler buffer territory between the established english colony in south carolina and the spanish colony down in florida. says this whole area from south carolina town to the floor was completely up in the air, as long as you could go grabbing territory, why not go all the way? the original when all the way from the atlantic ocean to the pacific gershon cutting through god knows what, mississippi, texas, wherever that would go to. so you might as well go big. initially this was a haven for all sorts of people. particularly a religious seven. sixteen languages ranging from welsh to gaelic to arabic were

spoken in the new colony of georgia. as a matter of fact and other young evangelist who came over to evangelize the greek indians could speak five languages, that is before he started back to england to found the methodist religion. i shook off the dust of my feet and left georgia after having preached the gospel there as i was able. so he left rather disgruntled. it is not for nothing that the main biography on young john wesley is a strange fire, and you can't figure that out for yourself. a few problems with some of the young women. i mention their religious seven. the jews came in in 1733 from portugal. soon after our contemporary german sulzberger's came. they tended to settle of sight of savannah which is about

20 miles up the road. the germans wanted as much as possible to preserve their language to religion, and other customs a little bit more than the rest of us here in savannah. christ church is a manifestation of this being an english colony founded in 1733, anglican church. you had people like john and charles wesley and george whitefield considered the most universally acclaimed evangelists in the world who would he was year founded america's first orphanage which remains the best. these were followed by a scottish presbyterians who were the genesis of the presbyterian church dow on wall street. and just a generation or two later you have the founding of the oldest black church in

america which is represented, first african baptist church with founders like andrew bryan and is located not that far from here on freckles court. all is open in the sunday to a very vibrant visitation of people who enjoy the colorful and beautiful service. central to the founding of georgia was a mysterious person named james oglethorpe. we don't know that much about him except maybe for the worst. in this sense he was a speckled spotted youth. he actually killing a man and a bar bill was not sent to prison. he emerges over in georgia appointed by the testes to come over and be ahead of this first colonization of anglican sellers .

an english historian wrote something that is rather interesting. a friend laden with debt was he could not pay was thrown into the fleet prison and died their smallpox under horrifying conditions. you-comprehend suffering and injustice until their thrust under our ice by the experience of someone we know. the like to be just what we do then without to close a scrutiny on what we fail to do before. his reaction to the death of his friend was to ask parliament to appoint a committee which would visit the london present and make recommendations for reform. some of the guilty punished and

some regulations were made to correct abuses in the future. at any rate the curtain which hit the fate of the desperate from the eyes of the secure and prosperous was torn and would never again be passed up. certainly the curtain was torn forever her james oglethorpe, and it was the emotional epiphany that give the rest of his long life in and will commitment. one of the legacies we have here on our squares, which almost everybody knows, originally there were up to shoot 24 and a longtime. i think we might be back in 23. they get put back. the squares were laid out. it was sort of like form and function. this craze could be used and defensive units in came the

spanish came up in intact. also, 40 families would be put around each square. in identical lot. sixty by 90 feet. and a church would be put on the square. as families would have the equivalent of a blackboard and who was responsible for the practical matters of racing ten militiamen to possibly fight the spanish. the testes garden was laid out to the east of us by sweat equity of the new colonists. one thing, raising vegetables to you and to raise some mulberry trees which, in turn would be food for silkworms. robert going into the soap business. instead of having to pay high prices.

and so it became -- savanna in the colony of georgia was a private business venture, of private business venture. in which one of the quotations in the various journals, and then will go back -- grow rich by sending her poor abroad. it was estimated that a given family earned 10 pounds was as a sound like much. what otherwise consumed 20 pounds. you have a net loss of ten. transported to the new colony of georgia they might generate with soap and other sweat equity 600 pounds a year. it would be a win-win situation. on father's day february the 12th 1733, 114 : this arrive.

a wonderful georgia day. so george a day is a very vibrant thank with schoolchildren rumba their heritage in founding. however, of 114, over half for dead by the second year. fill in the blanks. snakebite, fever, everything under the sun. so it was to make you know, horrible time for the first five virginias physically. yet we read such provocative literature trying to attract columnists. this is about parks account written in 1733 which were descriptions of is what become a sandy, steamy wilderness that he had never laid eyes on. the areas of the false.

being also rain, pleasant, and temperature. never subject to excessive heat or cold or sudden changes except, of course, the annual hurricanes. this soil is impregnated with sets of fertile mixture that they use no menorah, had oranges, lemons and apples, and paris besides peach and apricot. they're so delicious that whoever taste them will despise the incipit watery taste of those which we have in england. and yet they're given to the hawks in great quantities. so we got something between the top in the last year. concerning the crackers, which is my gene pool, basically down

and out scots, virus types, i grew up in tennessee. i am a good example of a hillbilly. other cigarette in the mounds of virginia or sell than the mountains of north carolina and virginia, indian property was opened up in the 17 70's. they came in droves. these are people who did not smell so good most of the time. probably most of them couldn't read or write. could presbyterians. and one of the testes, the endless trustees describing thus , idle and disorderly vagrants, great villains, or c lewis. by no means the right sort who should settle our land. however, after a span of ten to 20 years the idealism of a

perfect utopian quality based on private industry collapsed. the beginning mano was in latin, not for self, but for others. but after about 20 years it much could have been like what's in it for me. it's sort of idealistic but turned very dysfunctional. with the loss of the silk industry thus they switched to the rice industry and 20 with 30 or 40 years into the gun industry requiring vast amounts of raw manpower. the ban on slavery which is regionally affective for at least 20 to 30 years disappearing in the 17 fifties. so by that time the colony of georgia was bankrupt.

there were given back to the british government's, don't pack, you might say. slavery began in earnest. one settler described it has become proverbial done here. during the revolutionary time, 1779, the second-largest most bloody battle of the american revolution took place between the french and americans allied against the british and only rivals bunker hill as far as the most manpower loss. the large hit in which french and americans were thrown together in what is no the battlefield park that is literally sacred ground. six of 700 unmarked graves altogether in a pit which is right at the middle of the preserve of ballpark site.

in 1793 eli whitney invented the consent, and things changed. with the new prosperity that extended all the way up to the american civil war. savannah was a pretty rich little place. the first half of the 19th century. and then we had the civil war. 1864, general sherman ended his march from atlanta to the russian and brought 60,000 guests within which is the union army. sherman had previously been to savannah, love savannah. there was no burning or leaving or destruction. some analysts pared. and then chairman just left savannah performance litter with 60,000 troops. as a matter of fact, a cigna feed number of marriages

occurred between the savannah women and the northern officers. so we come up passed an american civil war through the reconstruction in the 1870's six. by the 1920's, and had failed to because of overgrowth and lack of fertilization and then in came the boll weevil. so savannah was back to being poor again. by 1946 lady astor described on her visit to savannah that savannah was a beautiful lady with the dirty face. and by that time, the '40's and 50's's, the old houses in downtown savannah were worth more dead than alive just because of the bricks. when city planner said savannah was so poor as she was not able to destroy herself. but progress did make some hideous inroads putting highways

through one part of the old town. street through three of the precious course. at one point there were you going to extend lincoln street through colonial cemetery which is the place of virtually all of george's founders over there in the falling apart cemetery. come to the rescue in 1954 was the historic preservation society who finally had had enough when the old city market was destroyed and they built subsequently an incredibly hideous looking parking lot. i mean, the parking lot that is incredibly ugly. so they band together and formed what some detractors have called hysterical savannah foundation to save the old houses starting in 1954. and literally seven low old

ladies and some of them into the shoes went around touring their bodies in front of old buildings and the wrecking ball to stop the progress. a revolving fund to the firehouse, picks it up, but restore it to what it was an selig for 25,000 bees so you have 20,000. you do it and do it and do it until presently at some point savannah now has the largest restored historic district in america which is quite an accomplishment. what has been done since 1954. and to those seven little old ladies, won't name any of them, one described, old ladies in tennis shoes. the use brains, work, and have cloud. downtown, historic savannah,

north of get some street which is the southern boundary of the preserve historic district. so you have things like that. my wife and i live on dads and street. we're not truly a free live on the south half. we just can't quite break and to the enter circled. some tourism and the port and certainly the savannah college of art all added that to what is now a sparkling savannah that we see in the present. just a few more words before closing. some people not without justification have gone a little fed up over the centuries with

savannah insulin major. one of them was dr. john hardy who was the editor of the savannah georgia. in 1818 just before he left which, by the way, was two years before savannah burned to the ground twice. he read this. may all your free citizens, wealthy or poor, be a bribe for their votes as they have here to four. make every quack doctor be patronized still and his talents be judged by the length of his bill. may all your. >> lawyers find themes for the times in their brains get the applause that is to to the lungs may your miserly merchants feel cheap for the pants and with scarce the brains showed good deal of sense.

nell to finish my curses upon your bill city and express in keywords i leave you the worst of all curses to remain as you are. we certainly had our people been charmed by savannah, one of them being john baron who in the early 1990's, midnight in the garden of good and evil, one of the best-selling books in the history of publishing. as a matter of fact, tourism in the economy went up 40% a year after midnight in the garden can now. john wrote the following, maybe a little softer. fermi seven and is resistant to change was is veining grace.

the city of sealed off from the noises and distractions of the world of large. it grew and in such a way that is people first flight houseplants attended by an indulgence gardner. the ordinary became extraordinary. a center its drive to. every nuance and work a personality achieve greater brilliance in that less inclosure then would have been possible anywhere else in the world. did you very much for your attention. [applause] if anybody would like to ask any questions i will be glad to give it a try. yes. >> the historical preservation.

you mentioned a bunch of little old ladies in tennis shoes. his name was john williams. he was involved. >> yes. >> the community was obviously very involved from pretty early on. has there been a thriving community in savannah for a long time? did that to start in the 20th century? >> i couldn't understand the last part of your question. >> is the bin of driving a community in savannah for a long time or just says the 20th-century? >> in terms of chronology i don't have a field. i certainly think there is a thriving community. i am sure they have been many positive things in that regard. >> could you tell us a little bit about the native americans that were found in 1733? >> these were the yemen crockery

people's, a lesser brands of the nation which pretty much covered what we call the southeast. the cherokees would start appearing in tennessee. said to be 7 feet tall. we don't know better, but that's not the case. he was said to live to be 100 years old. certainly open-minded. the creek indians with the leaders were very helpful to the early colonists in terms of trying to help them with planning and all the positive things we could think of. savannah's first 60. he died in 17 thirtysomething. he was buried. ..

>> a giant gordon monument up over the grave, the gordon family have always said every time they have bad luck or anything well, there's the curse getting us again. and the creeks disappeared.

they weren't part of the trail of tears. and they just kept going westward, westward, westward. >> preston, in your review, you said that savannah is owned by the jews, run by the irish and enjoyed by the crackers. i like you am a hillbilly from the hills of north georgia and tennessee and i want to add that the work was done by african-americans. you made that occasion that when it became economically important to have cheap labor, that that was the case. both savannah and atlanta,orn george's main cities came through the civil rights movement in a much better position than many other cities in the south, birmingham,

obviously, was tarred by its response to the civil rights movement. do you have anything to share about how the civil rights movement was received in savannah? >> i was not here when this would have been in the 1960s. i do remember and lisa white might be able to quote this in theorn george historical quarterly let's say within the last 10 years there was a story about the integration of savannah. and it had something -- there was a pickup like the savannah a busy to hate and savannah was too busy to what. do you remember, lisa. i'm sorry to put the heat on you. it was a positive statement about the compare actively peaceful integration during the 1960s of savannah. and two people i do know was malcolm maclaine who was the mayor and ww law who was a

postman who was the head of the naacp and they worked very, very closely to open swimming pools and all kinds of things to get things done in a quieter way. as a matter of fact, in that very -- in that article, which, obviously, i can't remember, martin luther king, jr., was quoted in 1964 as saying savannah was the most integrated city in america, which is, you know, not just the south but in america. so -- yes. >> would you tell us -- would you tell us a little bit about savannah's famous songwriter whose 100 birthday's we just celebrated this year. >> it's johnny mercy but i don't have much of a lore to tell you about johnny mercy. i really don't know -- i know most of the songs he wrote but i

don't have any good stories about him. sorry. anybody else? yes. >> one thing you have not mentioned that plays a big role in savannah is the military beginning with hunter army airfield and also fort stewart's follow-up but the history of hunter army airfield is quite interesting and i'm sure you have some stories about that somewhere? >> yeah. they're not in the book, but the mighty eighth air force was stationed at hunter who did most of the bombings in the daylight bombings why the british did something the nighttime bombings and 32,000 airmen died during those three or four years bombing germany. a great tribute. also related to military and the economy. this was a significant station during the spanish-american war in 1798. the troops gathering here along with tampa, i believe, you were

down there covering tampa about its role during the spanish-american war and there also was a significant role here, too, debbie concerning that conflict. and like maybe a lot of other places, certainly shipping was built a lot during world war ii here, which must have helped the economy as well. [inaudible] >> when did the ports become so savannah? >> the ports? >> yeah. >> i don't really know. anybody else -- it would -- it was certainly in the beginning of the late 19th century, like the 1880s. they had stuff like naval turpentine stores. i'm a physician and i don't have much on imports and exports.

it was definitely the late 19th century when all that began and just, you know, kept growing and growing and growing. we keep climbing up the ladder. we may or may not be the second largest port on the eastern seaboard, if not the third. but we're doing pretty good in that regard. yes, robert. >> one thing sherman didn't do was the port and they needed the port of savannah and the machine shops here in savannah? >> well -- he came to the sea because he needed to be refitted with the navy, the northern navy. needs supplies and everything. that might be a factor. but like i say, sherman loved the place. it was the winter of 1864. the war was already over. everybody had pretty much given up. in the union to the pledge even before the civil war was

officially over. yes. >> and also 40 acres and a mule thing. that also started here in savannah? >> is that like the field order or -- >> no. 15. >> you're up on that. is todd still here? yep, that's correct. they just put a marker down there at madison square that covers that background. >> i think was at the gray meldon house >> yes, related to the gray meldon house. >> one thing about sherman's march to the sea also is that he did leave and need railroad all the way from atlanta to savannah which is why the railroad museum here has the only intact pre-civil war turntable still working. and it is because sherman needed it. now, on either side of his march to the sea, he kept the rail

lines either going to brunswick or over to south carolina, but he left the line from atlanta to savannah open with the turntable. >> interesting. i was just watching something on the history channel in terms of the magnitude of the rail system, starting at the american civil war, the north had something like 160,000 miles of rail, you know, lots and lots of miles; whereas, the south had 28 something. a huge disproportionate number of rails were in the north and the midwest compared to the south. yes, robert. >> was savannah built with old savannah gray bricks. can you tell us a little bit about that history? >> i don't know how they're made. >> i think that was loftily because it was verbally from generation and generation. nobody knows the exact form of those bricks today but they're the most sought-out bricks that we have. >> the savannah gray are the

most sought after but, unfortunately, i didn't cover that for our book. well, thank you for your attention and for coming tonight. [applause] >> for more information on c-span's local content vehicles and the 2011 lcv's cities tour, visit c-span.org/localcontent. >> what are you reading this summer? booktv wants to know. >> the first book on my reading list this spring and summer cleopatra what a great insight of recounting her life. it was a book that was remitted to me so i decided to pick it up and read it and then continued with the strong woman theme, if you will, with elizabeth i that's by elizabeth george

that's on my ipad i'm reading both of these as ebooks. going back, doing these to klepat roand elizabeth i got me in the historical and novel type of approach and with my bible study group i'm reading pilgrim's progress which is delightful to get back into that. it's been a while since we read it and then because of the movie coming out with my family, we're re-reading atlas shrugged which is very timely i'll have to say for those of us who are here in d.c. >> tell us what you're reading this summer, send us is tweet at booktv. >> our visit to savannah, georgia, continues. next take a tour of urban slavery sites in savannah,orn george with annette goodwalker

quo author of "civil war savannah." >> we're standing in savannah's city mark. this would have been the place where the urban slaves in the city of savannah would have come to sell their wares. they would be able to pick from their garden and come out and sell their wares. one thing i want to talk about is the fact that urban slaves in savannah were a work force. the institution of slavery was a little bit different in savannah because there was literally 1 degree of separation. the slaves, the enslaved people who lived where their owners would have lived, but a lot of them lived away from their owners. in 1801, it became law that it took an act of the legislature to free a slave instead of the last will and testament. and with the act of the legislature it rarely happened what happened essentially in savannah these urban slaves were

nominal slaves. they were slaves in name only. they would hire out themselves for work or their master's would hire them out and they would be paid. one example would have been in the 1850s. here in the montmillam and ulysses square and the pastor of the third african church he was a butcher shop. he paid his owner $50 a month so he could work at his butcher shop. this building appearance very powerful history. on the top floor you had a slave mart. this building was build by a man named john montmillam. the land was valid in 1854 at $4500 and by 1857, it was 11,507 in value. it's three floors high.

it has a below ground holding area apparently that would have been where the enslaved people up. they were brought up in chains and taken to the third floor of this building. the middle window would have been where the auction block was. the window on the side where the ante room where the women would have changed their clothes. he talks about hearing the screams and the cries of the thousands of africans who were taken up to be sold into slavery here at this slave mart. john montmillam did not live as long as the slave mart survived. it was eight years that this was a slave mart. john montmillam met a very unfortunate death. he was blown up in a steamer and his body brought back to the city to be buried. the next owner was alexander brian, alexander brian was actually selling slaves as general sherman came up thet