>> henry wade was the da? >> he was the longtime dallas da for almost three decades, and a lot of people remember him from roe v. wade, of course. i call them in the book the prosecutor who was denied because while the polish off the ruby. a lot of people have a great a fight for every week. i'm sure the legacy he left was due to him being a man of his time. times change.

there needs to be equal justice more so in the state. i just want to mention what we're talking about justice, don't you believe that america is crying out for justice in some form or another all over, whether it's ferguson, missouri? whether it's isis and beheadings? you see americans crying for justice. they want justice in some way or another, and that brings me to my longtime thesis, justice can open the door to even but we have to get it first. >> what was king's great quote, the arc of justice -- know, the arc of history is long but it tends towards justice speed back thank you. nobel peace prize winner from 50 years ago october 1964. almost coming up on 50 years exactly when he made that announcement of the youngest man at that time, i believe 35 years

old, to be awarded the nobel peace prize for his beliefs and nonviolence and his beliefs that we could be a better nation without all the bloodshed. where has that philosophy and principles on ?-que?-que x we could use it right now. >> i hear people always talk statistics about america, and we need this done and that done. i never hear anybody say how do you do it? come up with any partial solutions. ideas don't. you're always throwing out statistics, which we all know by heart now. but if somebody does try to do something, it seems late people,

what do you think? >> i agree and disagree. i would have to say that our people posing solutions and actually working towards solutions if we bring it back around to the innocents discussion and the causes for all these wrongful exonerations would be and 75% of the more than 300 cases were looking at the fact that witnesses ms. identified people. was he light skinned or dark skinned? the way that you saw the issues to address that issue. a lot of laws have been changed. things have been done. on this conversation i would have to say yes. >> you all have done great. am not talking about this, but generally when you put on the tv you see people always talking about, they say 90%, so many blocks were unemployed.

they come with all these dread statistic to show how bad america is i guess. are we're not doing enough to help the poor. tava smiley, he toured the country, him and a guy named cornell smith, what he calls an apology tour and figure out how is that supposed to help somebody? be going to her and you ask how does it feel to be poor and put them on camera? >> i understand what you're getting, and i will talk with you after we wrap a personal one on one because i consent go to president obama in 2012, not a very angry letter, not like the guy you charged up at the white house, but i did write a letter that probably should've concerned the secret service and temperature to because i sent my resume. i sent a 100 page screenplay to prove i can write, mr. president. in that letter i told him of my deep concern that the

middle-class in this country is vanishing. we are the glue between poverty and the very rich, the 1%. and without us there's not that bridge that they cross over into. i did not expect to get an answer, but mr. obama did write to me in 2012. and so i really appreciated him doing that. but there's more than enough work for any one of us to do that and that starts at the committee grassroots level. i'm going to have to ask, we have one more question. do we have time for one more? >> we will transition. >> thank you but let's give him a chance. hi. >> the whole tracking in the '60s went on into law school, about six of them, it became prosecuting attorneys during the '60s and '70s.

i stayed in touch with these people over the years. one of the things that bothered me when the this hole exoneration thing came up was, since i was cocaptain with bill hill on attracting and eyeing him real well in a lot of circumstances, texas i think integrity was missing in bill. when i was talking about things being down at the court when i would go visit, he didn't make any excuses for trying to prosecute cases when he didn't have valid evidence. it was part of the system to prosecute people so they can get victories. it was all about winning rather than about justice. so i would question him about that and we were talking about it. when the exoneration thing came, i guess what occurred to me and what bothered me was i've never

seen anything in which we go after the system or after people like bill who who were responsible for doing these injustices. i was thinking why has that not been dealt with in the media? why don't people do with, i mean, i spent one night in jail as a mistake, and it wasn't like years or something. i have tiny little feeling of what you get treated like for you one night in jail. but to be treated that way for years and then nothing ever goes back to the person responsible for putting you there, i've never understood that. i never see anybody talk about the prosecutors and the lack of evidence and how they could get away with it. i just hear about reparations and the attempt of justice and so forth.

>> a quest to schlepping the question you're asking me, let me answer this way, and say why not? prosecutorial misconduct is one of the reasons for the wrongful exonerations besides giving problems with identifying from witnesses. misidentification is no one but right behind is ask you to misconduct, not sharing evidence. in james case, he is a trial one week before the trial, investigators learned that the murder victim gotten into a car with three men. james woodward was not one of three men but the prosecutors in the trial hid the evidence from probably a very inexperienced court appointed attorney who did not have addition with the jury or the judge, and james was locked up. no physical evidence connecting him to the crime whatsoever. i agree with you that prosecutorial misconduct needs to be done for all of the damage that it has done. no one has seen the prosecutor

come forth and apologize to the men. and a lot of them are still living who prosecute these cases. i would like to say in michael mortons case, we did get a slap at the judge in that case. the michael mortons hot in texas was established. i have not met mr. morton but i have written about him. i think we're starting to see a little more progress in that area. i remember bill hill's tenure if that's what you want to call it. it was very troubled. but thank you. power and privilege those a lot to do with it. these people protect each other. [inaudible] >> the reconciliation. [inaudible] >> to have immunity from crime.

[inaudible] >> we're going to transition and going to invite people to purchase your book and then you're going to go over there and senate and signed and speak to us and talk with us about your book. if i may end with the final question but it won't take you long i don't think to answer it, but this book has a purpose. and it comes from james himself, right? when he said promise me that you will tell my story. >> it was really pathetic. >> what is it you -- prophetic. >> what was a want you to tell?

>> for some reason from 2008-2012 our living together, the love, james would always say to me on a weekly basis, please tell them how hard i tried. i would be like, tell them you're so. he would be like no, no. you to understand. we had an agent in new york to want to james and i to write a book together, how we fell in love, why we were attracted to each other, why we stood together and all this. james kind of knew he was not going to be around to write that book. he stayed after me. he did after me. one of the last things he said to me in august 2012 right before he was arrested that last time, somebody came through the store and offered me a billion dollars for you, i wouldn't take it. i said, you know you wanted to. -- you know you would. but i was joking with him because i would not have taken a billion dollars for james

woodward either. so in my grief i stayed in bed about six months which caused people like bill and emily to very be concerned about me that i disappeared and i wasn't coming out. then the promise struck me. i kept hearing james' voice, you said you tell them and now you're just going to give up on the? you are not going to do. you will go on election forget me. then when james guide to what he did and i kept playing it back, i thought i'm not going to let them throw him away. it's what's wrong with humanity right now in this country. we should not get to decide because someone lives in a different zip code or has less money if the bank account that their lives have no value. what if it was your child or your husband, your loved one? so i started writing. i would write all night.

when i couldn't set up anymore i would like to have on my back and put the laptop and write this way, and i could hear james place, that's it, now you are on, keep writing, keep working. so i wanted to do this for him. i just want to had, when no one else believed in this book, not only to the dallas institute believe in it, i believe in it enough to sell all of my worldly possessions, including my mercedes that i loved, i sold designer shoes, clothes, books. my house, who lives here? nobody. against james bennett that much to me, to give my word and to tell america, which i will do. he was good. he was kind. he was loving.

he was generous. he was a human being who left a legacy in texas. and 2011 who was responsible for helping to persuade the legislaturlegislature to pass a double-blind sequential law. so james left a legacy, and that's what i want him remembered for. not that he died in jail and that's all there was to win. he was loved by these men and bite me. and i just want to thank all of you for being here to share that with me. [applause] >> every weekend booktv brings you 48 hours of nonfiction authors and books on c-span2. keep watching for more television for serious readers.

>> starting now on booktv, tom zoellner discussed his book, "train," about history and current impact of train travel around the world at the texas book festival in austin. >> tom and i know each other foy a couple of years. he's i'm a big fan of his. he's written for previous nonfiction books, all of which are wonderful.ay he's currently, i should say is a former journalist so he's not, making stuff up. to hear about e history of the railroads or really anything else related to the subject, tom is an expert. and he's currently professor of english at chapman university in los angeles. did i get that right? >> orange, california, actually. >> close enough. [laughter] he's the reporter, not me. what we're going to do is,

first, that brief little introduction, and then i'm going to ask tom to read. i'm thankful that i brought a copy of his book, because he forgot to today. so tom's going to do a brief reading, and then he and i are going to have a conversation, and then we're going to open it up to q&a from the audience for the last 15 minutes or so. so gonna let tom take it away. >> very good, thank you. there's actually a quick story about how i got to know brad which i think bears telling here. i'd just moved to montana after having quit my last job at a newspaper. and we all know what's happened to american newspapers in the last decade, and it is a tragic story, and i left the paper that i had last worked for just feeling very bleak about the future of journalism and my role in it and what am i going to do, you know? i'm too tonallist to bag groceries, i really have