and if they met i don't know about it so if anyone out there does now let me know. >> professor brody her were some of her contemporaries and friends? >> well her best friend was maya angelou. actually one of the things about the book that i discovered while i was writing it was how important friendship was to her. she had this very tight group of women who also were trying to break barriers and had risked a lot and were rather heroic in their own lives. you know that greatest generation, here's the greatest generation of women. they had gone to washington and will worked in government during the war and many of them had been part of the fdr generation and of course administration. anyway, when she was i would say in the 1960s she started, she met maya angelou and they were best friends for the rest of their lives.

>> the next call is from joan and berkeley, california. we are talking about jessica mitford. go ahead. >> caller: did you say something about jessica mitford's children? >> yeah. she has two children and both of them will be appearing with me on monday night at busboys and poets in washington d.c.. they have been very supportive of the book. and then, had for many years an organization, which collected tml's across the united states or wherever he could find them. and sent them to havana to substitute for a lot of the pmo's that were in bad shape

there. so to help the musicians of cuba and binky has been a longtime civil rights activist. and has always been engaged in issues of social justice. she is now continuing that. they are both great. >> what kind of mother was jessica mitford? >> well according to binky she was a fabulous mother. according to resolve, she always doubted being the best mother because she was always out. she was always doing work. she was always fraternizing or writing but binky said they always had meals, they always had a sense of family continuity and closeness, so you know in a way, jessica prided herself on being a little bit bad in every category. it gave her a sense of you know,

she was kind of wicked. she was a good mother and a fabulous writer and an activist to change the world. >> a few minutes left with our guest, professor leslie brody talking about jessica mitford. will and encouraged, alaska, good afternoon will. >> caller: hello, how are you? can you hear me? >> i wonder if i could just, before i forget, want to say that it was the famous writers school because i remember -- do that to bennett surf. >> you sorry you, will. go ahead with your question. >> caller: i really wanted to ask a question about her children and you answer that already. if you just want to comment that i think your book is very kindly. i am a very active purchase of land in the occupying movement here in anchorage, alaska and

i'm hoping to get your book today and i'm hoping it will shed some light on how she organized movements. i appreciate that. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> what about the movement, the occupied wall street movement? which would she be in the middle of that? >> yes, she would be in the ramparts. i don't know if she would be sleeping outside. she was a great on slipping outside. she liked a nice comfortable bed that she would be very day. her books actually were in the library and occupy wall street before the library was destroyed last week, i'm sorry to say, but i think the library will come back in her books will be there again. >> last call for leslie brody comes from derek in riverside, california. hi derek. >> caller: hi, hello. leslie cohen, congratulations on your book. like to ask a very important question. was jessica mitford's viewpoint about education and public

assistance we are using in particular what was her thought about self education and learning how to learn which are also now very vital in our next steps of our country? i was wondering if you knew of the of her opinions about education? >> education was really vital to her. she always complained her whole life that her mother hadn't allowed her to go to school. they try to educate them through a series of nannies and governesses. she hadn't been permitted to do it. she wasn't allowed to mix with the lower class kids essentially, so she always resented that. she was very well-educated but self educated and impact once when she had to put down on my resume what college she had gone to, she wrote -- even though she hadn't attended in paris, she had once taken a class come, a

finishing school class, how to make an omelette and how to sew. because the records had been destroyed she thought during world war ii, she thought maybe she would be able to check. that is about as far as she was educated but she was incredibly well read and a great intellectual. >> professor brody what you teach at the university of redlands? via crude teach creative writing, nonfiction. >> nonfiction creative writing? >> creative nonfiction. >> creative nonfiction, there we go. >> journalism a little bit come as a running. >> leslie brody's been our guest was 45 minutes, herb most recent book is "irrepressible" the life and times of jessica mitford. leslie brody book.com is the web site. professor brody thank you. >> jena having a. >> we have a couple more hours of live call-in programs for miami coming up. by the way everything we have aired today on booktv from

miami will re-air at midnight eastern time so you will be able to see everything. also there is a couple more webcast going on at otb.org. these are some light events happening at miami-dade college here at miami book fair. right now, and he is talking about the 50 funniest american writers. that is the webcast at chapman hall and you can watch that of otb.org. if you stick with us on booktv on c-span2 you will be able to talk with author, john avlon next about his new book, "deadline artists" america's greatest newspaper columns. we will be right back. on your screen as the tower in the center of the university of texas at austin campus. booktv has been on location here at the university of texas conducting interviews with some of their professors who are also

authors. every sunday during the month of november we will be bringing you those interviews at 1:00 p.m. eastern time as part of our university series. >> so my differences is not just another straightforward chronological biography of davy crockett, cradle-to-grave. nor does it focused us on that one slice from the big crockett pie, the alamo. there is much more to crockett and the last few weeks of his life. it's not a regurgitation of the many myths, many many myths and total lies perpetuated by crockett over the years. this is a book for people interested in learning the truth, or at least as much as can be uncovered about both the historical and the fictional crockett. and how they too the two often became one. and hopefully, readers will gain some new historical insights

into the actual man and how he captured the imagination of his generation and later ones as well. so now, a few spoonfuls from crockett, the lion of the west. the first is just a paragraph or two from my process. the authentic david crockett was first and foremost a three-dimensional human being, a person with somewhat exaggerated hopes and well checked fears, a man who had as we all do, both good points and bad points. he was somewhat idiosyncratic, possessive of often unusual views prejudices and opinions that govern how he chose to live his life. crockett could be calculating and self-aggrandizing but also

as valiant and indeed as resourceful as anyone who roamed the american frontier. as a man he was both authentic and contrived. he was wise in the ways of the wilderness and most comfortable when deep in the woods on a hunt, yet he also could hold his own in the halls of congress, a fact that distinguished him from so many other frontiersmen. remarkably, he enjoyed fraternizing with men of power, prestige and the fancy parlors of philadelphia and new york. crockett was like none other,, 19th century enigma. he fought under andrew jackson in the ruinous and indian wars only later to become jackson's bitter foe on the issue of, the issue of the removal of indian tribes from their homelands. crockett contradictions extended beyond politics. he had only a few months of formal education yet he read

ovid and the bard. he was neither a buffoon nor a great intellect but a man who was always evolving on the stage of a nation in its adolescence, a pioneer whose dreams aptly reflected a restless nation with a gaze pointed towards the west. perhaps more than any one of his time, david crockett was arguably our first celebrity hero, inspiring people of his own time as well as the 20th century generation. the man, david crockett, may have perished on march 6, 1836 in the final assault on the elmo, but the mythical david crockett, now an integral part of the american psyche, perhaps more so than any other frontiersmen, lives powerfully on. in this way his story then becomes far more than a one note walt disney legends. while his life continues to shed

light on the meaning of america's national caricature. a spoonful from the chapter entitled killed him a bear. [laughter] david crockett believed in the wind and in the stars. the son of tennessee could read the sun, the shadows in the wild clouds full of under. he was comfortable amid the thickets and the quagmires and the mountain. he hunted the oak, a grade maple and sweetgum force that it never felt in ax blade. he was familiar with all the smells, the older of decaying animal flesh, the rome of the air after a rain and the pungent smell of the forest. he knew the rivers lined with sycamore, poplar and willow had reached the mountains through steep sided gorges with strange

sounding names many with indian influences like the pigeon, the tellico, the high was a, the watauga, look who, the old obeys, the book, and l.. he stalked the dimensions of lakes and streams started with ancient cypress. he learned dog days arrived not with the heat of august but in early july when the dog star rises and sets with the sun. he carried his compass and maps in his head. he traversed the land when it was lush and a warm times and when it was covered with the frost the cherokees described as clouds frozen on the trees. the wilderness was indeed a crockett's cathedral. >> you can watch this and other programs on line at otb.org.

>> it's a street fair weekend at the weeklong miami book fair international held on the campus of miami-dade college in northern downtown miami, and booktv on c-span2 is live for this weekend. we will be live all day today and live begin tomorrow, and we are also live on the web at otb.org. we are broadcasting author events on our web site at booktv.org. you can watch andy borowitz right now talking about america's 50 funniest writers or you can join us to talk with john avlon who is the coeditor of this newest book, deadline artist, america's greatest newspaper columns. mr. avlon where did you get the idea to put this together? >> this was the book i wanted to read. it was the book that we wanted to read. errol louis and i were working at the new york sun together as new young columns and we started to talk to our colleagues, the

late great jack newfield and saying what he or favorite columns, who are your favorite palm this? ian jimmy breslin his friend both picked the same one called the death of frankie jerome. it hadn't been anthologized since 1924 and it took us weeks to find. jesse angelo are coeditor of the "new york post," we'll begin this process but at the end of the day this was a labor of love, and education with inspiration but it follows a ruler think you should follow when you are putting a book together. you should write the book you want to read. >> john avlon who hoosier favorite newspaper columnist of all-time? you have to have one. >> if i had to pick one i would probably pick jimmy breslin. >> why? >> breslin is the great and murray campton, pete hamill who will be with us later today, they can hit any pitch. they don't write in one genre. ernie cobb is the patron saint of new york columnist, a g.i. that died in battle a year after

receiving a pulitzer by jimmy breslin could hit any pitch. you still with us. he recently resumed his column in the daily news but he read breslin back in the 60s and 70s and you appreciate the guise of rage, the way he can bring humor to almost any situation the way he can write about crime, civil rights, war, you know. we divided the book dramatically war, politics, sports, humor, crime, civil rights but russlyn can have all those sections. that is what the greats do. mike royko could as well. >> what kind of power did wilson -- walter lippman have? >> walter litman was the american century school of politics. he was really a great proponent of what we call the mount olympus column where the author analysts sort of comes down from the mountains of ivan leister problems and here's what you should do. it's a very tempting role for thomas to play. interestingly they don't seem to age as well as the storytellers

and part of what we are trying to do in this book, we are writing at the time when people are writing obituaries for newspapers every day that opinion writing is proliferating on line like never before. what is unique about these columns and what i think makes the column last in addition to great writing is great storytelling and a reporting column talking to deal not just talking about ideas or typing out your opinion. my favorite litman columnist a column he wrote after the death of amelia earhart. it's a beautiful piece of work, really a meditation about the pioneering spirit and why she felt obligated to fly, pushing herself to make new records and one in which she lost her life on. is about that pioneering american spirit and it's beautiful in it can be read today and it will give you chills. >> was their time and is there a time now the newspaper columnists have the power to change policy? >> yes. certainty that was walter litman's repetition bachan

eisenhower, kennedy and johnson era. when litman broke with vietnam johnson felt personally wounded. and you do see that, the american newspaper column evolved over time. didn't spring wholesale. the earliest examples we have our ben franklin writing. mark twain, amber spears. there is american colonists is a woman named franny fern who rode bright around the 1850s, 60s and 70s for the new york ledger writing a regular column under her pen name which she was buried under into that we. that you see columns at their peak of influence around 1890 with richard harding davis who really creates theater russo by chronicling his charge up san juan hill. and really sets a model that people like hemingway would follow that globe trotting journalist who is a figure in his own right. but the apex of thomas in the 30s, 40s 50s and 60s these folks had a direct impact on policy whether railing from the outside or people from

within. >> page 47, steve hamill's column from september 12, 2001, at death takes hold among the living. weiss is included in your book? >> this is a great example of why we call the book "deadline artists." at the end of the day this is a creative process and it is written under a deadline. pete hamill wrote that column on 9/11. he writes it from that perspective it being downtown blocks away when the planes hit the world trade center and the trade center collapses. its history written in the present tense. that is one of the things that deadline artist does, and you see it again and again. when jimmy breslin is writing the column after john lennon's assassination called are you john lennon, he writes the john lennon is shot in the early evening. interviews the cops.

he joked that out in one or two or three hours. that is the deadline artist to create something transcended in a disposable media. pete hamill's column is a great example. >> "deadline artists" is the book in the and the phone number two zeros 2624-111 and in the eastern timezone 202624-1115 in a mountain and pacific time so john avlon is one of the co-editors. who are your other co-editors? >> jesse and i grew up in there together the editor-in-chief of the daily, the first on line pure article specifically for thy pattern also the "new york post." and errol louis is the anchor of new york one news in new york at the sun city all program and a columnist with me at the new york sun and the daily news. >> john avlon, local papers and local columnist. how important are they today? >> they are not as important as they should we.

through the great detriment of the newspaper industry. what you saw is a columnist who defined the spirit of their city. mike royko for chicago, men me and mike reuter died he -- they held his memorial service in wrigley field. that is how the love he was and how much he defined his times. ..

it's great storytelling, and a local columnist gives you that sense of place, and when that gets lost papers become less essential. and i think that is one of the challenges newspapers will have going forward as the treasury to in their identity is to double down on their local identity and elevate new local voices to create that loyalty. >> who is a damon runyon? >> he is one of the classics. he is another one of these guys who can hit any pitch, represented in the book. murder in the worst degree, the crimes section, humor, death plays a social call, the grim reaper visits his house and he just loves to socialize. does not feel like anyone likes him and he says, shoot, no one likes you. the play and letters for story came out of this column. now, run in is really one of the early progenitors of that kind of promise the american

newspaper column. h. in macon played that role. he is in the book. and but runyon you just get a sense of his rage, and it's a joy. >> h. l. mencken, with an inch -- h. l. mencken be read outside of baltimore? >> yes. he was the baltimore sun columnist, but his famous column, the scopes monkey trial, which is in the book, where he chronicles that great debate over evolution, which becomes the basis with the play and then the movie inherit the wind where his role is played by gene kelly , finley, that is and national figure. the point about this, we did not want to give people great reading. this is literary journalism, and the average length of column is it hundred 50 words, you can read it on the go, commute, before you go to bed, but the relevance is amazing, enduring wisdom. if you are concerned about the rise of the populism today you reid h. l. mencken and see how

much what is old is new. it is like harry truman said, the only thing new is the history you don't know, that is one of the things. >> what is your day job? >> i am a columnist for newsweek and the daily beast and the san it contributor. >> and also author of when that's, of a limited range is hijacking america, a co-edited book. and james in scranton, the a, you are on book tv. >> hello. >> please go ahead with your question or comment. >> the reason i'm calling, would like to find out, what is your favorite column? jimmy breslin. >> go ahead. finish your question. >> and if it is about the death of lenin, you seem to be a little attached.

>> a little what? >> a little detached. the next american. is there was a bridge. >> james, what is your favorite jimmy breslin column? okay. james, we will leave it there. a reminder to our viewers, turn down the volume on your tv when you call it. >> my favorite jimmy breslin column is probably dead an emergency room one where his work after the jfk assassination is as to mitchell, important because he zigs with other people's ag. the famously interviewed the grave digger for jfk in a column called it is an honor, but in death emergency room when he interviews the attending room physician on duty at the dallas hospital that date. and he recreates his day. the president comes in, given last rites, and with the first lady standing, never crying, just in the back of the room, last line of the piece is, i never saw a president before.

but the piece on john lennon is a beautiful piece of work. >> we are in miami. >> absolutely. carl tyson is one of the very best. it is important to appreciate that this is not just a tribute to the best of the past, but we get to the present day, and the art of the reported column, these people who can hit any pitch, carl tyson is a great example. he is a humorous, writes about crime, politics, unflinching, and he is one of a very, very best writing today. ♪ also from miami. >> next call comes from west virginia. hello. go read. >> i. i am fascinated by the journalists of the date -- late 19th and early 20th-century. the five -- writing was so vibrant, and some of the reporting it, especially from the first world war is may be some of the greatest ever read. i read something incredible. it was a writer, i believe, an

american writer who went to an austrian hospital before the u.s. into the war. some of the most moving writing that i've ever read about any wartime experience. i wonder if you mention any of those, and especially john reed. i remember one column, and i am not sure when he wrote this. speaking about the romanians and saying different things about that country, and if he also was involved with reporting in mexico. it just seemed that reporters, a for the age of racism, especially, they have some much exposure, so much more. i think we think of today's writers as being opinionated to move it to me they were even more so. >> tell us where you're interested in this columnist came from. >> what was that, sir? >> tell us where your interests in newspaper columnists came

from? >> i am a writer. >> thank you very much. >> well, first of all, you make a great macro point about the role of technology. we were putting a book together. the columnist who were riding, especially before the advent of television, there was a greater burden of proof and effect for them to make a scene from a live and the mind. there were looked much more vivid and descriptive writing because there were compensating for that lack of -- the lazy lack of an impulse we have today where we get a reference that someone will add an image in their mind. these days, and the past but did not do it. a great example. john london. these are folks who wrote features as opposed to columns. it is an evolving process that we have to cut a lot of folks from the book and already we are beginning a conversation because we're having people saying this is great, but did you think about this or that. richard harding davis to manage and earlier, you talked about

the long great march of the german soldiers into belgium and the start of world war one, and it is a harrowing moment. >> are there columnists to -- bird dog in issue? >> that is one of the great hallmarks. you keep hammering away at an issue. a great series on corruption inside the naacp. he really prosecuted that argument. you see it. the early civil rights era where he is writing from mississippi in the 50's and early 60's, unbelievably evocative. and he just kept telling that story, and he did it with a kindness. he would let people hang themselves. they didn't indulge in polemics. retreat even a big hit with a degree of dignity, but put his words and let them speak for him . and really tell the story of that -- of that movement. and, look. it is an evolin