people and they are fun to have around if you can stand their viewpoint down then. russian was that kind of conservative. younger conservatives tended to admire that and try to bring them along in that kind of style in vain. also as dr. edwards referred to, rusher was a major major conservative debater for quite a while. most prominently on the pbs show called the advocates. he was the conservative havoc it. it was a debate show and he did extremely well paired a lot of people would watch that and say well we can do that too mad. we can be as good as he is. >> booktv continues with nancy ruben stuart. she recounts the lives of revolutionary era women, peggy shippen the wife of benedict arnold and lucy flucker wife of

general henry knox. this is a little under one hour. >> is a pleasure to be here in this historic place and well i guess the ghosts of history are here visiting us tonight. people often ask me -- can you hear me now? lowder? okay. we are still not projecting. try again. people often ask me how it is that i wrote and 80,000 word book and i'm going to give you two words why. one of them is curiosity and the other one is coincidence. curiosity because i knew from the earlier book that there were 2.5 million people who were alive during the american revolution. now i am sure that you can name at least five, maybe 10 people, men who are involved,

significant years in the revolution. can we try? george washington. john adams. hamilton. franklin, hancock. both adams, john and sam. daniel morgan. chaim solomon. >> okay, chaim solomon. robert morris. nathaniel green. william dunlap. patrick henry. we could go on and on. now how many women can you name who were important figures? >> abigail adams. see one, two. >> sipple ludington. abigail adams, martha washington margaret corbin marcie otis warren. betsy ross.

martha washington, six. we are not going to get up to 10 are we? >> mrs. loring. [laughter] >> that is another issue. she would have a very interesting memoir, however the point is that there were at many women at least two or witnesses or involved in the american revolution. but we don't know that much about them and the accounts if we have from those who are left in mrs. loring is a perfect example among others are very scant. there are only a few. we we know for instance that there were women spies and we get a few sentences here and there and women during the lexington and concord when the british were marching, we know american patriot women through -- down on them to the to keep them. we only have scraps aside from

the women you mention and this is always been a real frustration to me, throw frustration. i said there have to be more accounts and there has to be correspondence and that is how i began writing the book. the other one which of course intrigues the writer is coincidence and coincidencoinciden t and coincidental in my research there were two women five years apart who both were if not torre certainly it -- neutralist in their leanings and both of them defy their parents and married these radical patriots. so when i discovered these two women i was off and running and i said i really have to follow this book. without further ado, this became defiant brides, the untold story of two revolutionary -- the untold story of two revolutionary-era women and the radical men they married. i'm not going to dwell on this but the first one was the boston

brunette lucy flucker who was well-educated and in 1774 she marries henry knox. the second one was peggy shippen and she marries the then military hero benedict arnold. their lives were really forever changed as a result of those marriages. one bride became a patriot and the other bride became a spy. since you are all not a logical odyssey about the american revolution i'm not going to bore you. in the 17 60's there were rumblings of revolution. not necessarily that we were looking for independence but rather that we wanted things to get that are between the americans and the british and these of course are some of the famous acts, among them the stamp act being very important in the other certainly, the towns and revenue act, they all were in inflammatory. and then of course the boston

massacre in 1770 was another flashpoint. at that point the sons of liberty have been collecting and gathering and disappearing and the idea of protests at sort of died down when this happened and there was a resurgence of energy talking about independence. and again i'm not going to go through the list here but as you know the various acts and particularly the boston tea party and some of the other intolerable acts that followed. we are definitely talking about revolution at that point. boston at the time was the wealthiest and the busiest port in the colonies and it's probably no coincidence that is where the cradle of revolution began. and of course we have the boston tea party here and here is an engraving of the patriots from that era dumping the tea into

the boston harbor and overhear one of the many political cartoons. this one illustrates the savagery of the american being force-fed -- i guess the tea is being poured down his throat. we didn't have psychologists then and we didn't have photographs but we did have some really terrific portrait artists who were great psychologists and this was lucy flucker's bother the provincial secretary of massachusetts and in a very affluent position. what do you think about him from this portrait? stern, yes and to say the least he was certainly not tolerant of anything that have to do with radical patriots. and her mother. we know more about her father than her mother that her mother was an heiress to a vast tract

of land at the district of maine. some of you have been there and you may know of waldo county and that is certainly part of that huge tract that lucy's mother had and she was to be one of the ercis too. now lucy met this gentleman henry knox. this is an early picture and henry was very tall and handsome, unusually tall for that era. six-foot 3 inches they say. he died and left henry an orphan at the age of 12. he dropped out of boston latin school. he was an apprentice to a printer and it becomes of course a printer on his own and he opens what is called the new london bookstore which became a very fashionable salon imported books from great britain, the britain at that time and all the young men and women would congregate including john adams.

now lucy was 16 and she happened to see henry on a course parading with the militia not too far from their parents townhouse at and she fell madly in love with him. this did not go over well with her parents obviously. they being tories and henry not only being poor and middle-class but a radical patriot. so they told her if you marry him, you will always be poor and lucy didn't care. think about lucy. lucy is a bit of a combination of rosie o'donnell, oprah and margaret thatcher all rolled into one. she is brainy. she is bookish. she is extremely strong-minded. but she fell madly in love with him and he with her and wonderful letters between them so they married june 16, 1774.

this is an early picture of beacon hill and kings chapter. sorry, 1764. sorry, i am still wrong. 1774 and here is a picture of boston. you see the kings chapel is still there. of course a few months later at lexington and heard broke out and at that point the relationship between the flucker's and lucy and henry's disintegrated completely. to make matters worse, the skirmishes continued all spring but to make matters worse, general thomas gage was a good friend of lucy's father and he thought that henry being brainy and young and energetic and quite intelligent and clever ,-com,-com ma that he would make a terrific british soldiers so he forbid henry to leave boston

which of course was that bad time. henry and lucy did not like that. so, one moonless night so goes the story, lucy had quilted his sword into -- and i got on a horse and escaped from boston to the army camp, washington's camp in cambridge. lucy ended up in a safe house in watertown and further in worcester massachusetts in the western part of the state and henry of course had joined the army. henry as i say at all these wonderful books in this bookstore on gunnery and fortifications and that he did not have them with him. being an ingenious fellow with almost a photographic memory and cleverly created new fortifications in gunnery and so on in nearby roxbury. washington became quite impressed with this and he wrote

a lovely letter from henry bragging about how washington and the other generals were impressed and at age 26 he appoints henry a colonel in the army. henry eventually goes on to be major general, washington's chief of artillery and also a close friend and of course he is invited to dinner in cambridge at the vassal house and eventually lucy who is quite pregnant by now, is also invited to meet the newly arrived martha washington and they become lifelong friends. here is a much later picture of henry and i think it's rather flattering. this is a tino three. this is rather flattering i think. okay, this is probably -- [laughter] a little bit vanished. we have the canon here of course. he was really in charge of all the arms and the strategic use of those. some of you may be familiar with that military history but henry eventually gets to weigh

290 pounds. and lucy is not far behind. [laughter] but they have this wonderful relationship, this love affair that goes on and on. there are 8500, this is approximate the close, digitized letters of henry involved in military affairs but also many that are related to lucy. they are dutiful love letters between them and she writes to him too. they are an absolutely passionate couple with each other all throughout their lives. washington has that little -- he said i think you need to go to ticonderoga in the lake champlain and you need to pick up some canons and guns. you know the story. this audience will know the story but certainly everyone had to learn about this in their high school history class about how henry went up there and --

versa with snow and then it was mud and then they have broke through the thin ice and got got more snow in more eyes and eventually were able to get these oxen teams and bring down these 43 cannons and heavy guns to cambridge. this is probably more modern rendition because there are more modern pictures of ticonderoga. lucy was not happy. lucy is a drama queen. but her parents did abandon her soon after this. she is not happy. her parents are not writing to her and her safe house even though she is writing to them so she is all alone. she is pregnant and she doesn't know whether henry is going to survive going to the northern reaches of new york state. she doesn't know whether he is going to be attacked by indians or by some british soldier or disease or what. and she writes to him. she is quite hysterical and all along the road he writes her letters assuring her that he's going to be all right.

three weeks he thought it would take and of course it took 58 days. she was quite pregnant. she is not happy but these are just examples of some of the letters. i think they are just beautiful. she writes that he is always in her thoughts. his image is deeply imprinted in my heart. this is the one moment where she has this very contemporary, i think a man whom i love too much for my own peace. henry on his side, he is a voracious letter writer. andy writes that his signature conflict is that he wants to render his devoted country every service in his power. his only objection is that these duties separate me from the tier object of all my earthly happiness. he calls her the charmer of his soul and the idle of my heart. they are just beautiful letters. anyway as you know he does return and he becomes a hero and those guns helped in the

evacuation of the british. lucy has her baby. she is ecstatic and henry is a hero. the only problem is all the tories are leaving boston. many of them are fleeing on ships either to britain or canada and among them her parents. they never write to her good guy. they just leave and she never sees them again. now, while henry is just in a slight deviation but does relate dramatically to the story. while henry is in ticonderoga or near ticonderoga and of course it could missions they are pretty rough. he is lodged in a little cottage with the capture of british prisoner. this man is john andre. he is brilliant. he is handsome. he is a ferocious warrior. he is also an artist and is highly cultured.

even though they are on opposite sides of the political conflict, the two of them henry and john andre spend the night talking all night and this comes back later on. anyway i think you know about this man. benedict arnold was an apothecary and traded in the west indies. he made a lot of money and he was handsome, debonair, charming and incredibly brave warrior. he was involved in montréal and québec. during that battle his left leg was severely injured. then afterwards, of course you probably know if you know any military history about gawker island, brilliant what he did there to save not only his soldiers but also from coming down and taking over that part of new york. later on he was involved in the battle of ridgefield and most especially in saratoga and he

was really the hero of saratoga and took credit for it. during that battle in saratoga, that same lake is so severely injured that it shattered and so severely injured that the doctors want to amputate it. arnold says no. he spends five months in an upstate military hospital. his leg is in this boxy contraption in traction and his health, takes a couple of years to fully regain his stamina. by the time he leaves there he is hobbling around. one leg is shorter than the other permanently and he is hobbling around on a cane. this is benedict arnold and it's a funny thing. he happens to know lucy knox. he comes to boston two years in a row.

he comes to visit boston and he falls in love with another boston gal. lucy being the social elitist becomes the matchmaker, the go-between ,-com,-com ma and the romance fizzled but they know each other. let's flash forward here and talk about the end of valley forge. lucy has been pining to be with henry. she keeps writing him letters, why won't you let me come to the army camps? he refuses. she was in new york when the british invaded and it was a fiasco for her. henry would not let her come. finally after the awful winter in valley forge when the roads are clear and when their reinforcements are there and the british -- they are still in philadelphia but they american armies and ready for conflict in the set all right you can come if you can find a way. as it happens benedict arnold cannot ride a horse but washington wants to see him.

benedict arnold is still washington's favorite fighting general. don't forget, benedict arnold is known as the hero. if you've been to the saratoga battlefield you know that's a section of it also known as the eagle of saratoga. he is revered by his men. he is incredibly brave and does things other sections of the army can't. he also supported and paid for ammunition and closed his men for all of all of the battles that i just mentioned in congress, guess what? they haven't paid them back so he has lost a lot of money and a lot of his fortune. his health is roomed and he doesn't think washington stood up for him because when he is finally made a major general as long after younger men with not as much distinguished service and he was not publicly announced. he is pretty upset with washington and upset with

congress. he is not sure that things are so good with this revolutionary idea. by the time he gets to valley forge he brings lucy in on a stagecoach and there's a wonderful comment from matt green who looks at the reunion of lucy and henry and says this is the ur freak a wonderful married couple. well, in philadelphia meanwhile the british have occupy than andre has been long since set free and he is very involved in social events. you know philadelphia is now a winter camp, a playground for the british. he organizes and helps the other organized and hunts and gaming things and of course there are also other shall we say proper things like ruffles and so on but it's become a playground for the british. there are loads and loads of

imported goods in philadelphia and it's become a miniature london. the quakers of philadelphia, those patriots who did not flee are horrified at this licentious behavior of these men who are on winter recreation break and just absolutely horrified. but, so it goes. now the last of the big events there before the british leave in that same year while lucy and binnendijk arnold have arrived at valley forge is the mustian's. this is a grand event to celebrate, well to celebrate the departure of general howe. here is andre. here is andre dressed in his regalia and here is one of his friends peggy shippen. you will notice this is a

character church view of peggy with that hair but not perhaps that much because if you read some of the literature fashion a women had eight-foot sometimes hairdos. other things in there besides hair. peggy is the daughter of a very well-known judge, judge edward shippen. if you come from that area or you know the pennsylvania area around philadelphia shippensburg is a community and shippensburg community college. the ship and staff already -- long been prominent in business in philadelphia. peggy is a daddy's girl. she is not only beautiful. the british soldiers made much of her. she is 16, 17 and they have taken her to and called her the handsomest woman in america. she is kind of dazzled by all of this. she is 16 or 17-inch is just

loving this. in the british leave and she is not looking forward to the adult tower pictured guys. was she a sweetheart of andre? the historians of sort of pass that along. it turns out that yes she has a lock of his hair and he she preserved in a gold pendant that is real girlfriend was a friend of hers. he did escort her to and galas and they were good friends in the whole social circle of bells and attended many events together. as i say the british do it evacuate philadelphia and of course the patriots come back in. we have been talking about portraits. now here is peggy's father judge edward shippen. i wonder what you get from this portrait of the man. some people think he is cagey and history shows that is what

he was. he played both sides. when the patriots were there first he wanted to protect his position as a judge. when the british came in, he entertained them in his trying room and became friendly with them. you never know which side is really going to win. so when the patriots came back and afterwards, he is what is called, the historians colin miniature list. he is not alone. 20 to 30% at least of america were not sure that this revolution was a good idea. he was pretty cagey. peggy's mother was margaret frances. i don't know a lot about her. she is the daughter of an attorney. there is not a lot about peggy's mother although i know she loved her mother. peggy was daddy's little girl. she was pretty, brainy, sensible, loved clothing like an

new wellborne young woman would in the social world but she also was another -- person. i don't know, think she is a combination of hillary clinton and baby grace kelly or lindsay lohan. i see her is kind of somebody wrapped up. when she didn't get her ways a child she had a great technique. she would scream in the own have tantrums and she would take to her bed. she would stop being. her health with decline in the family would give in. that is what she did and she was very good at it. now, enter arnold who becomes the commandant of the city. he can't ride a horse. he can't go into battle. and we need peace in philadelphia. don't forget the poor philadelphians. first it was the patriots in that it was the british and then the patriots. the city was in turmoil and there were many cities that were ruined.

food was not in good supply. some of the roads rows were being destroyed and things were pretty chaotic. they needed a strong peacekeeper and arnold thought this was just great for him. he couldn't be in the field. he would collect his small salary and the army and retain his position and get itself back and by the way, skim off a little bit of the english goods and use some of the federal profiting and reclaim some of the money that arnold has never quite paid them back for. he loves to live high. he lives lives in the master pen mansion. he writes wren in a stagecoach. he is hobbling around on actual flight came. he is dressed in full regalia and he entertains the young lady at the in the galas with tales of his military exploits in laos one over him.

he is a brave military hero however, however there are rumblings that perhaps everything he is doing is not exactly honest. nevertheless, peggy wants to marry him. he has proposed to her and judge shippen has a few calls. not so much about the undercurrent of the nefarious dealings. but rather some rules verse about what he did -- rumors about what he did in north haven. despite his brilliance as a military commander. so peggy however insists that once again and there were stories. she didn't marry him until later but she would have fallen into a quote dancing fury. so she does marry him in 1779 in april but there is a cloud hanging over the marriage and that is because now the patriots have gotten wind of the fact

that he has not been dealing exactly fairly with the american, the new american government and basically he is corrupt. so arnold is very charming and very debonair. he says well, if you don't believe that i am honest of me have a trial. court-martial my own -- so this trial is hanging over them as they get married but the family cannot believe that this this wonderful military hero has done anything wrong. they'd basically, the ship and its close ranks around him at the time and i love this quote because i think it's fairly telling. peggy's cousin elizabeth writes what demon has possessed the people with regard to general arnold? he is certainly much abused and ungrateful monsters to attack a character that has been looked up to. let's think about spycraft

because spycraft was alive and well at that time. there were over 500 spies that we know about and about 150 at least have been documentedocumented in maine. spycraft on both sides so both sides have many active spies. as they say some were women and probably most of them were men but spycraft was pretty advanced by then. ..

>> did both very radical

patriots and why they remain patriotic whoso is that the exact same time lucy follows henry through the camp of the revolution and henry had a dream of a military college and he felt they were not well trained and he created the military college let me go back to that.

and this was the first military college and this is a rendition any training ground this is where they would lift it looks bigger than it is. it is a small cottage they've rented it and maybe he donated it. he was a patriot. lucy is pregnant again with a child. she becomes pregnant just about every year as she follows him through the army camp and here she has her second child the julia. she does pretty well. within one month or three weeks she is off to the army camp and watching a major

military display with a french minister. she comes back to the house and within a week she has hepatitis and the baby soon get hepatitis and the baby dies. and lucy altogether has 13 children ultimately only three survived to adulthood summer from accidents, a disease little children, and number died as babies some guy in early adolescence but this is a woman who was abandoned by her original biological family in only has hendry and she really wants to replace that family with a large family of their children and it is pretty tragic. 1780 arnold has recovered

and washington wants them in the field and once in to take over the army. but arnold has been in touch with the british in fact, your the gave tips to the british because just before that the tips that he gave resulted in the conquest of the british in charleston but he has a problem they'd want to give him the money he wants. he wants 20,000 pounds and minimum is will more than $1 million of today's money and they wonder if he is a double agent. and his general is not sure so there are letters that go back and forth and the argument goes back and forth about the many. one of the people that passes the papers is none other than pate day this is much later in history

finally approved in the early 20th century but peggy helps to pass those letters and perhaps more and we may not know all of what she did. but their plan is if he will be appointed washington does not understand why he would want to be commander of west point. it was a strategic point* on the hudson and the area around it not in great shape but with that turn on the hudson of the british capture that they could separate the patriots from the south in many of the ammunition factories as well as the supply routes and it is important it is projected washington later called west point the key to the country.

but arnold complained he does not want to go in the field and every time it is meant to end he hobbles a little more and we read about this a lot in washington gives in to appoint him know he is delighted and his plan is that she will live in a house with him for a month or two and then he would meet with on dray with the important papers and maps to provide all the information so the british can conquer america quickly and end the war there will be any more people dying and we will go with this great power of britain and peggy and he will act -- gracefully exit with the british and go to new york to collect the

20,000 pounds and will be mated general of the british army and all we'll be well. but things don't go that way. you may know the story in a one to leave time for questions felony say that there are coincidence and the unmake long dash of lucky breaks that arnold and andre meet to but it is at dawn on the shores of the hudson and a lot of things have been but andre has no choice but to go with arnold but before he went they said there are three things to avoid. you will not get in disguise number two you will not go into enemy territory. number three will not collect any incriminating papers. it doesn't work out that way. andre finds himself in

arnold's hands and finds himself captive he has to go into the enemy territory. he has to change out of the british uniform and ultimately arnold cues into the assistant to say deliver him back to the british but not before i give you crucial papers that show the map of plus point*, all the details about the army so just before the assistant takes him to the border that it is now safe british territory near tarrytown the assistant says you are okay

and they say goodbye and andre is in disguise and has treasonous papers in his boots and just as he crosses by himself he is captured by three men and ultimately brought to the military headquarters and is back at the home in west point waiting for washington and to arrive. he thinks all is well but nobody could even dream arnold would have been a traitor. so one of the military officers has and in captivity since a letter to say we have a spy. said is all he needs. on dray is captured as the comments by andre this is a

pitcher of him the night before his death it is corbett it is the best i could do from his engraving from when he is wrong and i will do the best but arnold receives a letter one hour before washington is to arrive in his home and and the people who are already there are hamilton and knocks and mafia -- lafayette. he said go ahead and you want to have lessons and she is upstairs and arnold dashes upstairs to receive this letter about andre and says we are found out and i have to leave. he escapes having his men act gunpoint going to the

hudson one said it is a vulture meeting another. andre is ultimately on october 2nd, 1780. peggy is in the house and is upstairs today called a personal interest she has to think fast. and what can she do? she has an infant son with her. she can only do one thing to pretend she is completely innocent and she must go insane from the shock of the betrayal and it is the performance of her life over today's she yells and screams and rips her hair and takes off her clothes and pretends she cannot see anything and people nearby

and it essentially has the insanity attacked and arnold as:, what has he done? washington is convinced she has gone insane from the of the trail and hamilton even writes to his fiancee about for peggy and knox and the lafayette are taken and and the documentation is fascinating with the performance of a lifetime. so peggy is allowed to go back through her stage goes -- with a stagecoach with her baby to philadelphia to her parents in now arnold has escaped but peggy gets there in her parents of course, and spends the next 100 years defending her innocence. pennsylvania magazine of history for 100 years even as recently as 1998 about

her innocence so they proclaimed his but the patriots find at least one letter she has written to andre sorts of hidden code they discover it and tell her father that she is to be exiled. saw her father takes her to the shores of the hudson with her baby to watch her to new york city to be reunited with benedict arnold and by the way just around the time she arrives in philadelphia she hears about andre being hanged. also mentioned clinton of course, who loves andre and would love to talk about exchanging arnold for andre

but he can't because if he gives are now back, what will happen to the other spies? they will never want to work for him so andre is hung. these are just a few of the political cartoons arnold, a double, a pot of gold and another person helping because it is known that he loves money and is greedy. natural engraving of one of the many that went by a this is from philadelphia with arnold with two faces, many bag and the devil. with his effigy and this is berndt. there were riots over the country. not only was the country on red alert because who knew what he already told the british?

but where was this going? sova hold gravestones overthrown desecrated and arnold's name is stricken from all military records for review go back, you will not find his name even in saratoga there is nothing in the late 19th century there was the apologist who did a statue and he has taken forever from the record set actually ever existed. these two pitchers are on the front of the book. this is peggy and her son

but they were still young boys and we don't have to live images of in and of course, it is a silhouette but there is talk of lucy wearing her hair like the tricornered hat and later her husband become secretary of war and she loved fashion and to stuart tried to paint her but she did now like it or it did not come out well. there was a lot of comments of lucy and history shoes concentrate and. [laughter] but to mound this off with american history that when

you read correspondents you have the other side of the battlefield. some people have last we're i did my research. i am so grateful to the new york historical society because they have digitized everything but that would have taken me many lifetimes any of the place of interest and one was also. >> darr wanted to see with apathy but how they were

torn apart from the with the women and the wives what they learned, tolerated and but to the end of her life piggie rights to her sister and says marriage is but a lottery. thank you very much. [applause] now if you have any questions i will try to answer them. >> speeto spee i guess they will outlive their husbands but lucy was so devoted she

had her whole life that was encapsulated and around him and it is sad what happened to her very intertwined but peggy also outlives her husband dies and 894 but peggy is determined to preserve his name and she is a mother of five of his children and she is determined to restore his character. the british don't like people without good character. he never did make out too well in britain with other escapades' but he was a great general and the lousy businessman. >> to live off of his debt and to restore his name and

then she died of uterine cancer. >> where is the body now? >> we don't know exactly. there are things about finances but. >> and he sold a lot of things but mount pleasant was a dowry gift because the judge did nothing he was wealthy enough and what happened to him what would happen to his daughter? they never lived there. but now it is a part in philadelphia. a rental property. that is the best i can give you on that. any other questions? >> john j. is very upset about peggy and feel sorry for her especially when the

patriots say she has to lead the philadelphia. or the issues to put into 80,000 words. >>. >> i don't know the early 20th century one of the notes was published a range of the country that it was learned of the queen gave peggy 500 pounds per year for meritorious service to the crown and that sort of settles the question how handsome she really was put to be amazed at what letters

that are no rights saying americans come join the british and come with us and he cannot believe the arrogance of him. >> [inaudible] >> no. the family was very concerned of her reputation and burned all correspondence from childhood on so we don't get her voice until after the and it just little trips and drabs and tell 1788 and then the voice emerges. you could compare it to clinton she is brilliant brilliant, astute and arnold is not so practical and she is the brains and the caretaker.

not lady macbeth. >> [inaudible] >> for awhile. no. he gets on as well and is made a brigadier general and fights in this country against his own countrymen but he never gets along too well in england even though she does. one'' about her from a society dinner that peggy is a charming woman but if her husband were dead. [laughter] but they do go to new brunswick for awhile but you'll have to read the book to find out more. [laughter] i think we're almost out of time. [applause]

>> then the washington editor of the "national review" have a lot of folks:june reid ryan looking ahead to the 2016 presidential race the candidates so probably run

especially on the republican side fact and i am looking at chris christie's so i pick up the new book chris chris d. the inside story feet but his rise to power. is a fun read so far and takes you back into his political sense of new jersey before he was u.s. attorney he was the freeholder involved in county politics and this is behind the politician we have seen was president obama in new jersey and who is chris kristi told by people who really know new jersey politics that would recommended because i think he is a likely contender and you have to know where he came from and to know his policies ahead of the election but my second book of the new book called the end is near and it will be of some. -- are some. it is a lot of fun because the fiscal cliff earlier in

2013 was a big story recovered the later you will have the devil and it be the story that consumes congress and this looks at the debt from a political and historical perspective than the consequences and how it takes up a lot of congress's time and it could potentially ruin the country to make the country go broke in and doing it with whipped and fund so the end is near is of great book. the last one as a journalist in washington there's always gossip and talk of what is happening behind the scenes and house stores are written and the power struggles within the media so he has the ear of the beltway crowd coming out with the book in july called this town about the inside the scene of dupont circle and that gives this story and the color of washington and the political

media establishment. and one book i am looking forward to reading is from one of my favorite sports writers. called mickey and really. watching the chicago cubs play baseball iran into willie mays bellas said two men who came of age at the same time and became stars at the same time and formed a lifelong right relationship that i never knew. that would be a good book for the baseball fans in the summer. that is my list and i look forward to reading them all.

>> you have to be eric schmidt and jared cohen to draw a crowd like this it is the new digital age and eric schmidt is a software engineer by a bringing and chief technology officer of microsystems and for those who love the digital age he has the distinction of bell labs from the places back in the old days from wonderful retreats to help invent