applause, but wanted to be respected. that is what they believe. just because the name is not forefront in her social studies class, doesn't mean they were vitally import. >> host: okay, brian kilmeade, terrific book. >> guest: thank you for your interest. appreciated. >> host: take care. >> that was "after words" which authors of the latest not fiction books are reviewed by journalists, public policy makers, legislators and others familiar with the material. ..

the. >> i am and the moderator of this panel. i may have a shot to say a few things as well but you come here to hear people that are much well qualified than i to talk about this. connected to use the author a and know him better than i do but i did a review of his books for "the new yorker."

and have admired him from afar that this is the first time we have met. i am very happy to be here. we have a distinguished group of panelists that are well-known to you and the distinguished scholar of literature starting with sean wilentz professor of american history at princeton. sari. i am still out of press. literally running. [laughter] he is well known to all of you as author of numerous books the rise of american democracy jefferson toots' jackson and also a political commentator in to in "the new york times" we will talk about the feedback from that peace. we also have robert reed who

is also known to all of you his specialty is career studies in the latest book is once you go black, black intellectuals of america. and also a distinguished scholar. we have brenda wineapple who is a neighbor of mine. [laughter] living on the upper west side the author of the static nation of a book about the pivotal years as civil war reid makes it self. to talk about culture a.m. the various ways that went into make the american nation. i think we are supposed to

have 10 or 12 minutes a piece? and then david will respond. we are here to celebrate his work of the american a renaissance after a trip to five years jews see the enormous influence the book has had of cultural studies and history and politics. and sean wilentz has a four word? you wrote to go forward as well to get it started. thank you very much. >> can you hear me? is that all right? it is great to be here to celebrate david's book i can do this twice. two years ago i had the

privilege to write the foreword of a new edition of his book. but my main point it shifted the focus of reading of the great american writers of the pri's civil war years. first the buck expanded the cannon to include edgar allan poe also within and a thorough. in to talking about the vault read the suns did odd things but with the sensational and rational of stories of cool brilliance who could uphold morality against a of a moral criminal. of the period also experienced before but never as steeply gave britain's

literary renaissance and at times much weaker of the didactic romance less cheery that helped to inspire dickenson in shocking images. seconds implicit from what i just said the expansion of the terrain of the areas popular that in turn offer the sense of the greatest connection to america's culture. to ago against gentility that these authors of the joke was much richer and less cut off from the rest their previous critics had imagined. drawing upon of the enormous popular literature, and no one has read more bad things

[laughter] and david reynolds. i say that as a very high compliment. [laughter] trying upon this literature rebellious what he calls the subversive imagination these writers were far more rigid in righty than the standard accounts of their rejection of what gentility had allowed. not just against america but part of what it was. the other america. they stood up to naysayers' or the big immoralism bands with human depravity or urban horror, politics and social carnivores said they would raise levels of what seemed to be a previous

generations in many contemporaries the impossibility. the democratic literary art. i conclude in the introduction was brief remarks about how his book has offered as never before of the thing to understand the american origins so much mentioned of contemporary writing of the and the subversive items that have been added. have little to say. i could elaborate on on some of that today just how wide the he would range in his readings with visual as well as literary examples but called the presentation forepart of these subversive imagination cannot that you

necessarily read the words of a front-page. instead of a like to offer personal reflections about the world of the american renaissance emerged. 40 years ago and a graduate seminar i wrote my first research paper. i stumbled upon an odd a volume called the mysteries and miseries of new york i was already deeply interested working in new york city but i had to do something. i seized upon this book to make sense of it as a priority of social commentary. then either and the real blind that would go above

all i also learned how the work also documented in the world of the happened ranging from the plays to the social description of the experienced george foster. i learned something of a european background subjected myself to read being much more than i could ever care to remember include the ladies of paris coming up to the episodic new york slums it is superior but the paper never quite came together i've wandered about to the grubs street potboiler and once the seminar was over but where i gave up