Skip to main content

tv   Book TV  CSPAN  August 31, 2012 11:00pm-12:00am EDT

11:00 pm
e-books. i love to hold a book. write in the page, go back and read a page, so i've never gotten into this e-book thing. i love books and thank you for all you've done. and you're on my bucket list, i'd love to have a dinner party with you there. thank you so much. >> guest: well, thank you so much. and wouldn't it be nice if conservatives and liberals in congress could talk to each other with as much humor and respect as you just spoke to me? i mean, sometimes i wish american government was as good as the american people. >> host: do you have conservative friends? >> guest: i have some conservative friends, but i live in manhattan. [laughter] you know, this is the ancestral home of liberals. in fact, among some of our friends i'm considered kind of a moderate. i get to be a radical when i visit other parts of the country. [laughter] >> host: and that caller was from dallas, and this tweet is
11:01 pm
from dallas. french girl. wonderful, have you done dallas yet as on your tour. this city may reek of big hair and egos, but we have grudging respect for the written word. >> guest: oh, that's true. texas is a great place for books. i have not done dallas. the last time i was in texas, i was in austin. but texas is a big book, book state. you can tell that anytime you land there. >> host: somebody wanted to pick up one of your books, what's the one that you would recommend, nonfiction? >> guest: oh, that's like being asked which one of my kids do you want to have lunch with? they're all equally fabulous. but as a writer if your favorite one is not the one you've just published, then you're in trouble. so i would have to recommend "lots of candles, plenty of cake." >> host: anna quindlen's nonfiction career to date, living out loud, 1988. thinking out loud, 993. how reading changed my life,
11:02 pm
1998. in 2000 "a short guide to a happy life." "loud and clear" came out in 2004. imagined london in 2004 as well. "being perfect" in 2005. good dog, stay -- which we did not touch on in this program -- came out in 2007. and then five years later, "lots of candles, plenty of cake," just published by our guest for the last three hours, anna quindlen. thank you for doing booktv and "in depth." >> guest: it was great. thank you. you read the report kaj of the day of arms control or whatever issues between the two powers
11:03 pm
which they sure did that only long after words do we get to know what they said. it turns out that kennedy spent a lot of time complaining about that press coverage being tough on jackie and other things and mcmullen who say said jack why you care? brushoff. other things to worry about. if you should have seen her mother. [laughter] >> it's the kind of thing that give you an idea what these people are like that you just can't learn in real time.
11:04 pm
the republican national convention having wrapped up in tampa on thursday, democrats will gather up next joseph persico on the roosevelt, fdr and the
11:05 pm
commanders he led to victory in world war ii. this is part of this year's roosevelt reading festival of the franklin d. roosevelt presidential library and museum in hyde park new york. it's about 45 minutes. [applause] thank if you for the most generous introduction franklin roosevelt never spent a day in uniform and his entire life. prior to becoming president, however, even for he was stricken by polio he had a strong interest in military matters fax he would be able to attend the u.s. naval academy at annapolis the long separation from her only child.
11:06 pm
in 1912 president woodrow wilson named fdr as the assistant secretary of the navy which simultaneously the rules that meant a great deal to him expressed his love of the sea and his continuing interest in military matters. now, in 1917 the united states goes to war. fdr goes to see what your willson and tells him he wants to resign his post and he wants to be in uniform. wilson said know you're doing an important job where you are. when the united states is deeply involved in world war i, she's determined to get to the western front and against the resistance of his boss, the navy secretary
11:07 pm
daniels manages and their key to that office in a vaguely military uniform of his own devising. he wears pants tucked into he was a french army helmet and a gas mask. in september of 1939 ranks summer and then came portugal and bulgaria. he's the commander-in-chief of the army that trans with trucks marked tank and whose soldiers trained with hand grenades
11:08 pm
substituted by eggs. by the time the war has been underway for a number of months, clinton is pretty much with its back to the wall to countries and the netherlands and as most france, denmark, norway have been conquered by the germans and the invasion of britain seems imminent he's determined to try to do something to help the british and his own hope he comes up with a plan to give the british 50 old american destroyers. in return, the british will give us a number of atlantic military bases. they have no value to us, but the justify giving or ships to the british.
11:09 pm
the british fortunes continue rather unfortunate. by the end of 1940, in december of 1940, churchill tells of the r3 frankly my country is broke. and so roosevelt again tries to think of what he can do to bolster the british. he is out on a cruiser tuscaloosa and presumably a recreational voyage where he is playing cards but in the meantime, he is hatching an idea. when he is back in washington at a press conference, he makes this analogy. he says if you're neighbor's house is on fire you don't offer to sell them your garden hose, you offered to loan him your garden hose. thus was born the concept of
11:10 pm
lending for which the united states before going into the war began providing tens of millions of farms so that the british could stay in the game. much to his delay when they sent the first list under lease to the united states, they asked for 900,000 feet of hose. [laughter] in the summer of 1941 adolf hitler invaded the soviet union coming and roosevelt now stretches to include the russians as well. at about that time he calls in his secretary of war henry stimson and he asks for in at less. an atlas is brought to his desk and he takes a pencil and runs a down the middle of the atlantic
11:11 pm
between the bald of brazil and west africa and he declares that it everything to the west of that line is part of the western hemisphere, an extension of the hemisphere that would probably shock president james madison who came up with the monroe doctrine and indeed under fdr's interpretation of iceland and greenland letcher 2,000 miles from the american coast are now part of the western hemisphere as much as boston or rio de janeiro, and he then determines that to have to be defended and again he goes before the press and he says if a rattlesnake is poised to strike you don't wait until a strikes, you crash it before hand. what he means is that america to become american warships will go after german vessels who are in
11:12 pm
the waters that he's not declared it part of the western hemisphere. this becomes known as the shoot on sight policy and what he's done, she has declared and undeclared war match against germany and the high seas of the atlantic. by the time pearl harbor occurs in december of 1941 roosevelt has seized the levers of control of the american military has no president since abraham lincoln in the civil war. he revels in the sand is as comfortable as the old be up for he used to wear as his trademark hat. at one point he is to be introduced at indigent by the secretary of state and he tell him don't introduce me as president today, introduce me as commander in chief. in this role, he assumed three
11:13 pm
major positions. first as the recruiter in chief finding the people who can lead the armed forces and dwinell war the second rule he assumed as the strategist and chief how to fight that war. third was as the morrill officer in effect mobilizing the morale in the united states to keep americans supporting that war until this a successful conclusion. his first is the recruiter in chief he pulls a pretty good judge. one of his major appointments to the army was general george marshall. marshall found out very early what was like to deal with roosevelt very dominant personality he had been warned about how to handle fdr but in the early cabinet meeting where
11:14 pm
roosevelt presented a plan for enlarging the nascent air force at that period. marshall thought he was getting over to quickly and stood up and said no that's not the way to go. now marshall's, redds and farms formed him that this is a good way to get yourself assigned to the position and go on. [laughter] but, fdr regarded yes men as a diamond doesn't come in and he was a jury impressed by the way that general marshall stood up to him. general marshall in effect becomes roosevelt's oak tree the end of the war. now, everybody -- let me mention one other point of marshall because roosevelt had a conviction that he could seduce
11:15 pm
anybody with his charm. when he's dealing with george marshall he starts undressing him as george. the displeasure is evident on his face and thereafter throughout their association he's general marshall. everybody assumed that when the time came to invade western europe and a great nazi dominated europe but the commander in chief of the allied forces would be general george c. marshall. churchill assumed as much. stalin assumed as much, so did mrs. marshall who was packing the household goods and the expectation of the transfer triet instead, much to everybody's surprise, fdr put the white steel eisenhower to be the supreme commander. he did so because he had observed eisenhower functioning in north africa and other venues
11:16 pm
and decided that eisenhower was the best political general and best sense of the word that eisenhower had the talent to pull together strong egos and dominating personalities who lead other nations to lead the armed forces of the nation's. the recruiter in chief chose to run the navy. in many ways, he was a terrible human being. he was irrational, and patient, difficult, his leadership policy was to praise his people in private and chew them out in public. his daughter once remarked that his tv career father was the most eager tempered man that she had ever known and he was always mad itself. [laughter]
11:17 pm
in mid 1942 a number of losses of allied ships at sea was horrifying. much faster than the ships were being launched and roosevelt in this role displays his leadership. he has confidence in him as a fighter but he launched the ships crossing the atlantic protected by the convoy system. he feels that he's dragging his feet and he simply ultimately orders him about the convoy system protect the ships as they crossed the atlantic. this is adopted and the ships start to fall sharply. the recruiter in chief chooses to run and the air force general henry arnold. in the early days of aviation, he had actually learned to fly from the wright brothers. now, she also runs into the strong personality of franklin
11:18 pm
roosevelt exhibits. roosevelt wanted to send more aircraft through france and england before france was defeated. arnall thought he was going a little fast on this. roosevelt said without naming names he wasn't pleased with people who didn't go along. people didn't play ball with him, and he finds himself as soon as he is correct that the beginner circle out in the cold, no explanation, frozen out of the future meetings of the trend chiefs, it looks like he's headed for an assignment and then just as inexplicably after nine months in the doghouse, roosevelt brings him back, and now he and king and george marshall are being very strongly
11:19 pm
urged by fdr to, with some way to strike in japan because of the early months of the world we have that part in this attack on pearl harbor, we are losing the philippines and flake island has been taken. so, roosevelt liens on these people. show some imagination. how can we strike at the japanese? so, kaine and donald get together as the respected chief said the navy and air force to go to the staff looking for ideas and they come up with an idea, and this eventually becomes known as the doolittle raid with in turbeville fires in which they perform any feed of taking off beazer bid heavily loaded bombers. they take off a carrier and strike cities in japan.
11:20 pm
the damage they inflict our pinpricks, this was just a shot in the arm that the american people need in the first month of the war and allowed roosevelt to say we are striking back. another figure very dramatic, theatrical and roosevelt's leadership group was douglas macarthur, and douglas macarthur and roosevelt have been associated at the beginning of the roosevelt presidency. macarthur always seemed to exhibit in peevish resentment against fdr, no doubt, the degree of jealousy that fdr never abandoned macarthur. he recognized him as a military genius. and in 1935, macarthur left
11:21 pm
active duty and got himself a cushy job. he went to the philippines as an adviser of the philippine military services. he became a field marshal in the philippine army. at that point was four times as much as general marshall was being paid to run the entire u.s. army. in 1941 before the war after pearl harbor, the war that looks imminent, fdr calls mcarthur back to active duty and gives him command of all american forces and all philippine forces in the islands. in those early months of the war macarthur is losing the philippines and is being driven
11:22 pm
back down the peninsula. he could have been left there. in fact dwight eisenhower believes that this theatrical history should be left in the philippines as he is going down to defeat the martyrdom. [laughter] but again roosevelt comes to mcarthur's defense. he hasn't flown to australia and he makes the commander of all allied american forces in the southwest pacific. the pacific starts to go with low after the battle of midway we are moving across the pacific from the guadalcanal, scion and when he left the philippines, macarthur had made a pledge to
11:23 pm
the philippine people on a shelf return cities pressuring roosevelt to approve the invasion deliberate the philippines. the navy is dead set against this and again, admiral king and the pacific commander believe that by continuing the leapfrog across the pacific japan can be surrounded and can be economically strangled, which obviates the need for an invasion now would result in a bloodbath on the beaches of japanese islands. but macarthur again a brazen individual warrants of the hour. roosevelt is running for the fourth term as president, and he wants that if roosevelt does not approve the liberation of the philippine people this is going
11:24 pm
to cost the election. whether it for that reason recombination of other reasons, roosevelt again comes to mcarthur's defense and approves the invasion of the philippines which is very costly and which historians subsequently said in general there was not a necessary campaign. we have another general in ferc 54 but who can match his history and drama and theatrics of general george patton. pavin had impressed roosevelt from the onset, but he was capable of extraordinarily bad behavior. at one point, people in the united states are clamoring after it becomes public knowledge that he slaps the shellshocked the g.i.s in the
11:25 pm
campaign and roosevelt stuck with him through that. subsequently he is in england as preparations are being made and he makes a speech in which he said the post-world war will be run by the united states and great britain which leaves the allied of the soviet union. again, roosevelt sticks with him after this creates a storm of controversy. i think the most egregious matter that patent engaged in is the following, he is the allied armies swept across europe he sent a unit of american g.i.s to rescue a single prisoner in a german p.o.w. camp. it was his son-in-law. the raid was carried out and the son-in-law was rescued and a number of americans died in the terms of rescuing his
11:26 pm
son-in-law. but still, roosevelt sees patton as the tactician that he is. he's a fighter in the last personal encounter together, fdr after they meet writes a letter in his archives that says george patton is of joy. roosevelt as a commander-in-chief saw these people nowhere near the military meddler than winston churchill. churchill's five-year the generals left and right and the team that roosevelt picked was in place from the beginning of the war respectively running the air force and they are still in place at the end of the war. i mention the second role as the commander in chief was a
11:27 pm
strategist in chief making major decisions as to how the war will be fought. one of the very first decisions that he makes is that germany must be defeated. he believes this because he is convinced that the defeat of germany will bring about the defeat of japan but the defeat of japan will not bring about the defeat of germany. laying out this victory the chief advisers beginning with marshall, eisenhower who is then in the division and other major figures very clearly support an invasion across the channel. they sent them across the channel and rum to berlin.
11:28 pm
marshall presents the president with a plan. roosevelt appears to approve it. then much to everyone's surprise, he instead approves an invasion of north africa. as he makes a shocking decision there of the blackest day in history if we compare them with the geography of europe, the fighting which went on for the coast of casseaux blanka all the way through to the show was something like a thousand miles where the distance as i mentioned before from sand normandy was something like 500 miles, so this raises the question. why did fdr block his commanders on this decision? here we have to turn to winston churchill. winston churchill was obsessed
11:29 pm
with the mediterranean, he saw the mediterranean as the british empire he gained a and retained over. they give lip service to the invasion across the english channel, that he and his mother to recovery said the shipping lanes were too long from the united states to great britain and the the troops were not tested and it was too early for them to go up against the germans. the time magazine taunted the president saying we have been in this war over six months and we have yet to take an inch of territory from the germans or launch a single offensive. so roosevelt becomes convinced that he has to put american troops at war against germany somewhere and he goes along with churchill's's pressure to do it in north africa.
11:30 pm
general marshall makes clear the plan that had been devised and that the president approved which was 4 a.m. invasion of western europe in 1943 is finished for now. invaded north africa you are not going to be able to mount an invasion from britain in 1943. you have to put it off. before that, north africa campaign is even over, churchill is again pressing for fdr to approve the invasion of sicily and in italy. again, general marshall wanted them to be of like a pump pulling the manpower and material out of the theaters of the war the after the war the eminent military analysts wrote a book called the great mistakes of world war ii and he cites this italian campaign as one of the mistakes as he put all roads
11:31 pm
lead to rome and rome led nowhere. perhaps the most stunning strategic decision that fdr made occurred at the conference in 1943 when he said the end of the war against germany and of japan must end on unconditional surrender. he took this position because he had been on the scene in world war ii as the assistant secretary of the navy and was essentially a negotiated the armistice with a generation the german military had come roaring back starting another world war. this time roosevelt wanted to see the enemy brought to its knees no doubt about the totality of the victory. winston churchill had mixed feelings about unconditional surrender. so did joseph stalin the nazi
11:32 pm
propaganda minister was delighted with as he said to the german people what trace now we have but to fight to the end. to this day the unconditional surrender is still debated and jury heavily criticized in some quarters but that raises the question if you are going to have a negotiated surrender who do you negotiate with? the fact that it is often overlooked is to the very end of the war id of hitler remained in power and became the butcher of europe remained in power. josette i just mentioned remained in power. and the idea that we would negotiate and enter the war with these people was unthinkable. another strategic decision roosevelt took upon himself. we all know that he was urged by
11:33 pm
albert einstein to do something about the destructive power and roosevelt consequently launched the manhattan project. the use of atomic weapons was admittedly horrifying. when the first bomb was dropped on hiroshima probably 70,000 people live on the spot. similar loss of life and three days later another bomb was dropped on nagasaki. at the same time the united states had been thinking of attacking japan with atomic weapons. an invasion of japan was being mounted. estimates were that if you had to land may be half a million would be lost. even looking from the standpoint of the japanese, the japanese have shown a willingness to take terrific casualties in the campaigns of guadalcanal,
11:34 pm
casualties that are inconceivable to us of 95% of the defenders dalia on these islands and we can imagine if the japanese were ready to fight that fiercely how they would have defended the home islands with subsequent massive military casualties. roosevelt's third role, as i mentioned earlier, is us eight morrill officer in the chief. as the commander of the people at war, convincing them that there are sacrifices in the loss of their loved ones was worth doing in the preservation freedom. how could he go about this? one thing that he did this to use his device of the fireside chat. the fireside chat over the radio was listened to by tens of
11:35 pm
millions of americans. and, for example, in one -- let's see, urged americans to come up with a map and follow him as he explained how the war were being fought and with the american strategy was pulled into the sense of involvement in the conflict. as the home front, he also liberalized the american society as follows. he created the women's army corps to allow women to participate meaningfully in the war. the head of the creation of the ways and there were other services which have their cathy mehl components. desegregation of the armed forces militarily very little was done and what little was done was at the instigation of his wife eleanor roosevelt. american blacks were allowed to
11:36 pm
join the marines and fight alongside white marines. why was he so slow? in this arena? at this period, the congress was controlled by southern senators and congressmen who maintained control over the congressional committees. roosevelt needed these people not only to advance the policies for fighting the war button continuing the domestic policies. he had a propaganda chief by the name of elmer who ran the office of war information. he brought other home front issued for the president. he said to think the american people should know what the war is like. prior to this, the policy was to forbid journalists,
11:37 pm
photographers and cameramen from showing that americans but roosevelt was persuaded that the american people had the right to know and went along with him. so, the policy was reversed and the incidence was in life magazine in september 43 there was a graphic full-page picture of the american bodies ball being in the surf thereafter under the new policy they were showed the newsreels and if other instances. after the policy was adopted, war bond sales went up and enlistments went down. roosevelt's greatest initiative as the officer and chief than the g.i. bill. what he wanted is that when
11:38 pm
american troops went home after the war and took off their uniforms, wanted them to know that they haven't been forgotten. before the war, something like 5% of americans had gone on to college after the war of the 16 million americans in uniform. almost half took advantage of the g.i. bill to get a harvard degree or to learn how to repair refrigerators. millions of americans who had gone back world war ii involved
11:39 pm
60 nations and of the globe. the united states fought from the beaches of normandy to the middle of the pacific ocean. what has been described as the good war caused over 60 million lives worldwide from 300,000 lives lost in a tiny country like the netherlands to 21 million in the soviet union. fdr stood at the cortex bimbo roles the plight described. the ultimate test of his leadership was did it hasten the end of the war or delay? clearly his willingness to go along with churchill in the engagement delete the d-day and very likely extended the war by about a year. another strategic decision which was why is is unconditional
11:40 pm
surrender. as i said earlier its still controversy all but one thing i think is often overlooked is when the japanese and the germans surrendered, unconditional surrender defeated totally or did they do in the post world war? the didn't come back as military power, the campus democracies and strong allies of the united states. another phase of leadership that roosevelt conducted, and i think this isn't sufficiently recognized, he picked to the energetic and vision, ambitious brawley and people who could mobilize america's industrial might producing more ships and tanks than any of the economy which i think was decisive and winning to victory.
11:41 pm
roosevelt led the war effort as a man that is very severely impaired, semi paralyzed by polio and in pain and great deal of time. after his death, winston churchill said no man in a million could have achieved the greatness that fdr had achieved given his physical limitations. by the time of his death, essentially all his victories had been one. germany was soon defeated a few months later japan was defeated. his role in the war can only be described as her lewicke as a
11:42 pm
great president and the time of peace and as a victorious commander in chief in times of war. thank dewaal. [applause] [applause] >> if you would line up here mr. persico will take questions for about ten minutes, and then we will move out to the lobby where he can sign your books. >> thank you all. the was a marvelous presentation and i look forward to in the book comes out. i have a fourth role that roosevelt had that i don't think is widely written about or widely talked about, and that is of parents. he had three sons who served in the military, and i believe all of them saw combat at one time or another. they are in the pacific but with
11:43 pm
all that he had to deal with with military commanders and the economy and everything to run the war when did he of time to be a parent and concerned about his kids? >> good point in the the the war were for real to fdr and their mother allin north. all of the suns were in the military and had a brilliant military records. i found a very touching after a result learns the death of her husband she attends a -- sends a telegram and says fought to the end else i know all of you will. any other questions? >> i was just curious clearly the american factor was vital to the allied victory under roosevelt but i was always curious at the end of 1941 prior to pearl harbor a lot of people
11:44 pm
are still speculating for why he did that while the allied position of the time especially the british were precarious it's also clear hitler didn't defeat the major war in power, so i was always curious if they never entered the war at all or they were just the kind of clause five belligerent protecting the merchant ships could britain, russia and canada have defeated the power? >> if it hadn't -- we're just talking about the western allies. had the united states not entered the war we probably today would be seeing [inaudible] with russia was in the war, and the one thing that we easily overlook from our vantage point is that the russians carried the brunt of the war. roosevelt went over backwards
11:45 pm
because he recognized that for every american to hold and the war, eight russian soldiers died and for every german, the russians for killing eight. so i think the russians likely would continue to fight germany and the outcome they might have been successful. any others? >> stila quote if the had managed and we still had the same type of backlash and the congress to accuse everybody of being a russian sympathizers and communists we had missions, after. they've criticized for the performance at yalta when george bush was president he attacked fdr on that score that he given
11:46 pm
a way which is ridiculous because at the time roosevelt's key interest was getting the russians to come in the war against japan. the russian army at that point was huge, the largest and the occupied the territories. the only way to have kept russia out of the territory was to launch what would have been world war iii and nobody was calling for that at the time >> it's hard to say he was a defender of freedom and obviously mccarthyism was the antithesis of freedom of expression but it's one of these that is impossible to answer.
11:47 pm
anybody else? >> on d-day they were in front of those in the bunkers. a lot of people had asked why do you make us cut and come behind the bunkers instead of sitting ducks like that? >> the war is kind of a perverse business and there was massive bombing of the german physicians. someone was inaccurately aimed they would have provided support and strength for the armed forces. we were leveling the city's one at that time. so, i don't know that we could have been more complete as we
11:48 pm
say, war is an unpredictable business. all of the bombs we dropped from the german occupied europe over a third of them never did anything. any other question? >> we have a final decision made to drop the bomb. previously the japanese commanders prisoner of war camps with 60,000 prisoners that kept on the philippines are threatening that the moment we land in japan those persons would be killed. do you think that is a part of considering whether or not to drop the bomb but to serve our soldiers? >> i think roosevelt went would clearly the drop the bomb and i would like to point this out i found fascinating. there has been speculation that
11:49 pm
the bomb was used against japan as racial argument that we wouldn't have done it but the japanese and oriental are not like us. in the battle of the bulge where the united states lost 19,000 killed, roosevelt called leslie groves that ran the manhattan project and he said i want to use the bomb against germany. he says we are not ready yet to answer your question, roosevelt certainly would have been persuaded by the kind affects you just described. anyone else? >> we would be happy to continue the conversation out of oil lobby. [applause]
11:50 pm
as you can see there are large crowds of the annual book publishers' convention in new york city at the javits center, and the book tv on c-span2 is on location to learn some of the upcoming titles and we are joined by the associate
11:51 pm
publisher of sentinel of pain when group. >> we have exciting stuff coming up starting with senator marco rubio at florida. his book is coming out in june of 1914 as an american memoir song and i think of your body that watches c-span knows that he is one of the most interesting talked about politicians of america right now. a lot of speculation about the future the immigrants from cuba that came here during the working class family and for them to produce a senator that only 41 is an amazing story of how he got that point. >> by the time this errors, that book will just be coming out or will come out. was this an embargo? >> it is. when you have prominent politicians you want to keep the book under wraps because the media is hungry to get a hold of the book we have to keep the
11:52 pm
books under wraps. estimate the well-known author that's been on book tv many times has a book coming out. what is that? >> that's going to be in the fall. it's a history book called the patriots history of the modern world, from the end of world war ii. his take is the historian of ohio and his is to give a perspective of history most professors have liberal bias in their account of the american history and world history and things like the atomic bombing and those kind of controversies so there is the rule and need for the perspective on the history of america in the world. we are thrilled to have the next one. >> what is your background in publishing? >> i history major. i never plan to go into publishing. it was an accident of
11:53 pm
circumstance when i got out of college but it's been fascinating for more than 20 years because you are forever meeting interesting authors and learning new things like an ongoing education. now, being at sentinel are you personally conservative? >> there is a diversity of opinion. some of us are conservative and some are moderate. the commitment is finding authors that have interesting points of view that are not quite as well represented as maybe in other parts of the publishing industry said that is our unifying concern. >> one more book we want to ask about. former governor huckabee. >> this will be our fourth book with him. letters to his grand children call der chandler and scarlett and it's the fault of wisdom family and faith and all the things he wants his grand children to know for the future, so it's a kind of -- it's interesting with politicians sometimes they do the best with the books that have nothing to do it politics about life and wisdom and things like that so we are excited to have governor
11:54 pm
huckabee, a wonderful man. >> we've been talking with bill weisser executive publisher of sentinel books. >> thank you very much. i would say that i'm working from naim-3. some say they write for seven or eight hours a day and they are exaggerating. you just can't. you sort of lose it after a while. you certainly lose it when you are working on an awful. because the edges of your imagination start to blur after i would say the best case about three hours. but even when you are writing a nonfiction book, you know, you may put in three good hours of counting away, and the rest of it is research looking at e-mails, making another cup of
11:55 pm
coffee, that sort of thing. fiction usually begins with a theme. identity, redemption, part, things like that. but the whole process really picks up steam when i start to ground some of my thoughts in a character that will become the protagonist, and that character becomes sharper and sharper to me. i think all reading is affirmatively good. if only because it leads to a piece of yourself behind. almost no one read your blog if. you will understand things they might not understand otherwise. even in its most basic forms a letter, a poem and a note to
11:56 pm
someone has a kind of immortality. we have all had that experience of loving someone and of losing them. of opening the door and finding a card that they have signed or a letter that the road saying still alive. so i think the more right in the better. >> any regrets about anything the you've written? >> i think regrets are things that a good columnist and i like to think i was a good columnist gets out before she publishes. in other words, you spend a fair amount of time at the computer back stopping and even mine your writing about events part of your brain is thinking how will this feeling ten years, how
11:57 pm
unequivocal do i want to be about certain things. i don't call it centering, it's more taking the long viewed. don't wait for inspiration. i don't know where she is, but she's not coming. occasionally there is a drive by and then she's gone and then it's all just about hard work the hard work part does not largely consist of thinking about. nobody ever gets written about. at a certain point you have to sit down whether you like it or
11:58 pm
not and too often people think if you're going to write what must be because we get in the morning in your heart sinks. it's not bring to be any good if it's in our town to get out before. so, if you wait for that moment to come before you sit down you won't do it ulysses was published between march of '89 team and the december of 1920, and an american periodical
11:59 pm
called the little review and we have copies of all of those as well. the reason i brought these out today is not so much to show the first edition of ulysses, but to show a later edition of ulysses that is extremely rare. 1921, the american government declared ulysses of cn and pornographic, and the book was banned. people still wanted to read it, however, and we actually have a copy of one of the pirate editions. and if you noticed the spine of alice-in-wonderland and the little minister. ..

163 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on