it slowly began to sink can that there is something . that working in conjunction with this rising popularity of all things southern about the same time is going to make kentucky look appealing and another reason that the balance south was having a resurgence of popularity about this time in the late 1890s early 19 hundreds is because the daughters of confederate veterans are going all over the south and building memorials to the confederates. we got one in lexington. this is what started the entire research for me.

i wondered whyi wondered why we can have a guy a horse in front of an old courthouse confederate guy who actually was court-martialed always waiting for court-martialed to take place when someone often because he lost control of his men. his own army is going to court-martialed and. now he is made into a hero in lexington. he was raised here. he is on this horse and still is downtown. why could this happen when we were union state? we were not neutral, as they taught generations. we were only neutral for the 1st few months until the confederate army invaded the state. kentucky had make up its mind. i would suggest largely for economic and business reasons and the influence of henry clay who had wanted his country to remain together. he was known as the great compromise or.

he made all kinds of compromises in congress and with other states trying to hold off the civil war because he wanted the united states to remain together. so we wentso we went with the north. we were union state. what is a guy doing on a confederate produced prize memorial downtown? because these women 's the daughters of confederate veterans are going everywhere with this huge undertaking of monument building so that future generations were not forget the confederate army the confederate soldiers, the confederate states of america. it was an era of memory building. now we are getting this image of a southern kentucky cast forever and a bronze statue. it is no wonder people started thinking we were southern.

and so that helped fortify this image that kentucky is completely constructive. it never was at all but it helped grow the horse industry at a time when southern west was very popular. you have to understand that the horse industry is fragile here. we have the bluegrass, the soil's that people have always believed is very conducive to sound horses, strong horses. we have the knowledge the history the stallions great mayors. could that all be taken away in a heartbeat? well, maybe not a heartbeat, but by other states offering better incentives. we fought this battle for a long time.

there are multiplethey're are multiple reasons. you cannot take it for granted that the horse industry is here. people fought hard during the era of my book after the civil war through the early 19 hundreds. they fought a huge battle to get that money here to get that industry back here where it has been. i believe that it was in danger of leaving her permanently at that time being so fragmented to different parts of the country that we might really have been known as the horse f-uppercase-letter for that. >> for more information go to c-span.org/local content.

presidential candidates often release books to introduce themselves to voters and to promote there views on issues. here's a look at some books written by declared president candidates.

>> i stack them up next my bed make the stack a little higher. one that i'm reading what i am hoping to read the 1st book to my son gave me a really provocative story about debt and humans use of that over time.

in anthropology and economics work that is entertaining in the way it's written. i just under read that. i've been dropping hints. father's day is the sunday. i want to read the book the millionaire in the board. the soldiers were an industrialist in the 19 teens and 20s he and his wife developed an obsession with buying 1st folios of shakespeare's works. they did that and ended up creating the folger library which is an institution here in washington that i loved. a knew book is an published about his obsession and dispose to be exciting. >> book tv wants to no what you are reading this summer. tweet us your answer or post on our facebook page. >> here is aa look at the current best-selling

nonfiction books according to publishers weekly.

>> one of the things we like to do on book tv's preview some of the books that are coming out in the fall. we will be talking with some authors whose books are coming out in the fall. now joining us hunter college professor and author newestnewest book is called the guest of the shooters banquet. you open your book with a dream. why? >> i open the book with a dream, to dreams. because they are in part what began the journey of the book. both of the dreams of from childhood. one of the dreams is about being hunted down hiding terrified for my life. the other dream is about being a murderer and trying to hide the evidence. i had them for years as a

child. as it turned out i lined much later that my mom shared one of those dreams the 1st time. she was an immigrant from lithuania. she lived through the war they're with her dad and her siblings'. and as many people move through war and suffered trauma she had a dream with her sister sharing the same dream for years about being hunted down. somehow i inherited part of the stream life. and i think one of the curious things for me as a writer and just as a daughter is why have the 2nd part of the dream the 2nd dream and not just the 1st. >> when did you discover why you are having a 2nd dream >> well, i discovered it

about five years ago when i 1st learned that -- i come from a blended family. my father died ten years ago, and eastern european jew's. my mother is lithuanian catholic first-generation. about five years ago in a conversation with my mom i learned that her father, the lithuanian grandfather i loved was not just a resistance fighter against the russians. hehe had actually been a chief of security police under the gestapo start world war ii. and instantly i felt you no in. range of emotions the need to find out what that meant. importantly in lithuanian 95 percent of the jewish population was exterminated. that was when the moment i

learned that we had had this position during the war the 2nd dream began to make a little sense to me. >> back them up in conversation just five years ago. >> well, you know they're were many years where i thought that it was a dark thread's running through the lithuanian side of my family the narrative in my family had been that my lithuanian grandfather had been a hero. he had fought against the russians. he had save the children his wife had been deported to the gulags during stalin's purges prior to the german occupation. and you know as in many families those stories are not ones he tends to pick apart. you expect them.

their came a time in my life command i think in part the passage of my dad and part having an amazing adopted stepdaughter who is from a countrya country where it is difficult to find your birth parents and asking questions i thought to myself, you no command i --i -- if i have questions or need asked my one remaining parent, this is the time. so we sat down over coffee and i began to ask her questions about her mother father and the conversation evolved into this discovery. and i have to say that you know, i as soon as she told me. she did not use the word collaboration of course. i felt all this -- it has taken me all this time to

ask. i was stunned. my own reluctance to open a door. and i think that is not an uncommon experience. many people feel that way. >> did your mother feel relief for telling you? was the shame involved? was it secret? >> she certainly did feel relief. i think that there was reluctance. i think that's had she known that my experience of hearing these words would compel me to fairly relentlessly go about the business of researching who he had been during the war she probably would not have told me. but then i can't speak for.

>> how well did you no your grandfather? >> well, i you know he was my lithuanian grandfather. i adored him as a young person, child. i would say he was in my life as a fairly dominant figure until i was 13 or 14. for differentfor different reasons i drifted away from the side of my family. you know, he was a loud joyous loving grandfather. and it's you know they're were a few instances. there was one instance where he said something to me which in retrospect i now realize was terribly an appropriate that the time i was young and it did not resonate in a way. but i left them.

>> who was -- what was during the research like? >> it was starting from zero in ignorance. and really finding an amazing team of people every country i went who became not just you no's translators for hire the people who really were interested in the project and that was terribly important. i felt a lot like a detective. one of the many books that i read and obviously, obviously,obviously, you know, 400 pages of archival material in many different languages but it actually, a classic text and unsolved homicides, especially long unsolved homicides because one of the things i wanted

to be certain of was that i was not going through supposition, proximity to make assumptions about my grandfather and what he had or had not done's. i really wanted to source whatever learned very carefully and i also found out that in order to find out about him i had to really find out's about this area where he was partially in charge my region of lithuania they're was a very complex region. there was a total immersion. and my research involved polish material material from russia lithuanian archives archives and the holocaust museum here individual interviews, witnesses, survivors. and there were dead ends. and then something would happen and i would start

again. there were many surprises along the way. >> give us a taste, one surprise. >> early on i went to the holocaust museum in dc. i had asked. i was completely inexperienced. poetry is what i teach. so i had 200 microfiche reels waiting for me none of them in english. i'm embarrassed to say although now i can read and speak a little at the wayne and little german from a tiny bit of polish from the midwest. that is my only excuse and a bad one's offer not knowing more languages. anyway i took for microfiche reels. captured german records during the occupation lithuania that had originally been part of the

soviet trove of archival material, and in the soviets had returned it to lithuania cold when he is a given its of the holocaust museum. so i knew the spelling of the town of my grandfather was based. i began going through the german documents. and as it turns out with the germans over two hours it's one of those languages that actually is easily noble. i began to understand what i was reading. i was distracted. so much material. i was taking notes on many different people who had nothing to do with my grandfather, but all of it was fascinating and horrifying. and then after two and a half hours i was exhausted and i felti felt foolish. you know, what am i doing here, what am i looking for. i didn't have any background grandfather's history during the war.

and it really felt like a fool's errand. i remember my got up to use ladies room, came back and said ten more minutes. and i put in last real. i started hitting the fast button and i toldi told myself know, no cheating. you have to look at each document one a time turning the dial turning the dial. all of a sudden there's my grandfather's name. this is handwriting. there's a report lithuanian and is another report and another report another report. and that was one of the beginnings. >> without giving away what you did discover about your grandfather and his connection to the gestapo now that the book is done where are you with this? are you result? >> no.

in terms of my you know, family history and my grandfather i don't want to say too much because it will give too much away. i think you know, they're is an excavation of a mass grave going on in belarus right now that has been three different generations of war. i'm very interested in going they're and reporting and writing about that. and i think that is part of my lack of revolution. i feel like this is started me on a journey and it has not ended's. i also hope and suspect that the publication of this book will actually give me more information fill in some of the gaps which is already

started happen little bit. i'm hopeful level in more. >> is your mother still live? >> years. >> as you read the galleys of the book? >> she is not. she has asked for a copy of the book when it comes out, but you know this is painful for her. i'm not sure how much is going to read. i made a pact with early on and told her that i would not share any material with her unless she specifically asked for it. so what she will do with the book, you know, i don't know i honor her choice whatever that may be. >> final question,question, what is the jewish side of your family saying to you about this project? 's. >> in the beginning my wonderful jewish and surely davis clarified.

don't keep silent. silence is the big -- it is the word of there generation, but she has become an incredible ally and it is really not just proud of me as her niece the feels that this is an incredibly important part of history and honors by effort to uncover what i have managed to uncover. >> the book is called a guest of the shooters banquet. my grandfathers as has passed, my jewish family the search for the truth that comes out in the fall of 2015 published by bloomsbury. rita gave this is the author. >> on sunday august 2 book tv is live with medea benjamin my cofounder of the political advocacy group

code pink on in-depth, live monthly: show. she is the author or anger of nine books including her most recent an investigation into the use of drones for military purposes, drone warfare other titles include the meaning of the revolution which examines cuba's use organic agriculture and stop the next one now on how to create political change their activism. her other booksher other books cover topics such as how to eight people living in the third world profiles of inspiring women and further examinations of cuba live on book tv sunday august 2 on in-depth. you can participate by sending your questions or comments to facebook .com/book tv on twitter for colin. >> and now on book tv we want to introduce you to northwestern professor john marquez who is assistant professor of

african-american studies and the author of this book black brown solidarity racial politics and the knew golf south. professor, before we get started on the specifics what was your goal? are we trying to accomplish? >> i think there were a series of goals that i tried to accomplish. the book begins -- my interest in the book begins around 2,002. there was an incident of police brutality in my hometown which is the blue-collar suburbs of the houston metropolitan area. forty-five -year-old mexican immigrant was beaten and choked to death but for what police officers. the incident was caught on videotape. a grand jury was convened to decide whether or not charges we will be pressed

against the officer. a grand jury decided not to press charges. the videotape revealed it was a clear act of police aggression. the medical examiner report that was released by the harris county medical examiner's office ruled the death a homicide by mechanical association and repeated -- repeated blunt impact trauma. as a result of that ruling by the grand jury and activist awakening transpired and in my own community. i was interested in that activist awakening for a variety of reasons other than it being in my hometown it was the 1st monumental time the people of color in the committee specifically african-american and latino people organize themselves in the fine ask a protest against the judicial system and police. secondly, it involves a coalition of african-americans and latinos working together spearheaded largely by african-american leadership.

and i found that significant for a variety of reasons that are cover our conversation. the 3rd thing that i found interesting about it was the strong role that women played in establishing some of these coalitions and maintaining that voice of protest in the committee when in fact the condition that they were organizing against disproportionally affected boys and men of color specifically black and brown boys and men that i found be an interesting and unique opportunity to write about gender dynamics. >> who is luis alfonso torres? >> the victim, the 45 -year-old immigrant from mexico that lost his life became the celeb in the committee's for residents to kind of organize for the 1st time in the history and vocalize affiant protest against what they felt was systemic injustice. >> baytown is a blue-collar suburb of houston formed

largely around the oral refining industry. baytown his home to the exxon mobil refinery's which throughout most of its history is one of the largest refineries of its kind in the world. has a complex history industrial boomtown type of history behind it as well. african-americans and latinos have grown in number in the committee over the years and relationship to the expanding oil industry. there is this global local endemic. as us interest and access to oil reserves across the world has grown since world war ii so have us refineries grown as a way to process the oil. refineries no that they need workers. so as some of these corporations have moved more toward seasonal contract laborers african-americans latinos, and other minority groups have moved in to assume those jobs and are largely responsible for the

booming population in houston up until this day. >> the intention between african-americans and latinos? >> absolutely. there is tension between african-americans and latinos in every space's where they coexist across the nation. one of the things i want to capture in the book was the solidarity between groups and with regard to political solidarity is much more number of than a noun not something that one accomplishes, not a milestone or condition of one reaches for something that is practiced in our everyday experiences within justices to how we view social relations in our committee. as there is not a comprehensive or monolithic solidarity within the black or brown population they're is aa comprehensive or monolithic solidarity across the two populations either. one of the things i want to.out in the book was to

settle led -- showed a light on the dynamism and complexity through which those two groups relate to each other's experiences. one of the things i was bothered by and wanted to critique was the work of social movement historians who look into archives's of archives' of social organizations, activist organizations, political organizations be the african-american or latino and are able to pinpoint where the groups did not get a line where they failed to act in solidarity with one another. everything is historians say is true. they're has been tension between the two groups. having come from one of these communities and understanding the dynamic nature through which we understand oppression and respond to it i knew there was a much more competent story to be told. rather than just looking at archives and mix that with

ethnographic data, oral histories i began to literally read the writing on the wall, graffiti art murals, listen to express of cultures and see where the histories and the system ologies and the subjectivities of african-americans and latinos came together. the struggle was just one among many instances i found i found it in youth gang cultures, expressive medians such as the pop music coming from the south. in the visual medium that i mentioned as well. in an interdisciplinary way i mapped out this terrain that raised a differenta different kind of attention with regard to what constitutes a black brown solidarity. >> okay. how -- in this case what was the commonality that brought these two groups together generally, and how did it manifests itself? >> violence largely. experiences with fears and awareness of state sanctioned racial violence. one of the things i try to do with the book was to

validate the activists struggle that emerged at a time whena time when it was being vilified in creating a division within the committee rather than raising awareness about a condition that was far more pervasive. in the history component what i do is traced back that moment of police brutality to a much more extensive history of disciplinary colonial racial violence that have been largely state sanctioned driving from when the committee began to take shape as slave plantations. african-american history and anti-black violenceanti- black violence was profound in the structuring of baytown and the entire houston area. latinos of grown in number and have been subjected to the same kind of social order and norms of the old south that at once targeted african-americans exclusively but now that targets african-americans and latinos in a quite common fashion. i traced the history of

lynching and baytown to the advent of police brutality as aa way to map out what i call a barbaric continuum of violent oppression of those two groups in particular. back to the case. >> what did these two groups do to combat what they saw as injustice? >> well, it is far better question to ask what are they been doing. and i think one of the things i try to do in the book is validate this much more extensive history of resistance that is often unseen and undetectable. but the activist awakening in 2,002 was quite pivotal. african-american side is an opportunity to raise awareness about a condition they have been suffering from for quite some time. they're have been different smaller sporadic acts of resistance in the past but the fact that they use the plight of mexican immigrants to galvanize what they saw as there kind of epic moment protest was quite telling in

terms of the history of that region and the complexities that these populations obtained with regard to how they understand oppression and respond to it. a coalition was formed. african-american latino leaders in the committee. my own family was involved. i felt sympathetic toward the cause because my scholarly evolution began in an activist oriented around in that very committee against conditions like police brutality. so it was something i felt compelled to write about. but the size of the activist awakening you can look at youth have pop culture houston and see similar critiques and motifs emerging with regard to black and brown youth in particular shedding a critical light on these issues of violence and understanding that they need the voice of resistance against the. >> in your book you describe yourself as marginal.

why is thatwhy is that important? what does that mean and why is it important? >> well, this is one of the many ways that i try to either significance or at least pay critical attention to the significance of african-american history within the community. houston has one of the largest latino populations in the country now. and yet the latino population that did not really begin to grow in terms of size and so after the 1970s. itit is far different from other cities that have a sizable latino population. having been born and raised in that region african-american history was vitally important toward understanding race and issues of white supremacy and colonialism. it was theit was the framework through which i learned how to critique race and racism. black nationalism was the kind of language through which i began my career as an activist as well. that particular history and

its relevance to the south is widely influential in terms of my subjectivity. when i moved out of houston go to college i began to understand that there was an equally complex history and tradition of resistance among mexican-americans specifically arising from the chicano movement. i learned much about the chicano movement through school, courses i would take where is my understanding of blackness, of anti- blackness, and black power and black politics derived from my lived experiences from when ii was five years old i can remember thinking about these things. i have always. that is something that came later in terms of understanding the way that connects to the experience i have. >> is they're a split down in the houston area between whites, african-americans and latin americans? >> i would say that the split between and among all

those groups. i think class dynamics are important thing to pay attention to. middle-class african-americans and middle-class latinos try to distance themselves from working-class blacks and latinos'. ii see the solidarity between working-class whites, working-class latinos and working-class african-americans in many parts of the city as well. and then i see this kind of old guard dedication to the confederacy toward the ways of the old south and the social climate that really does draw a line between white and what i see as this nexus of conglomeration of black and brown. and you see that play on a variety of ways. in mckinney texas just yesterday with the footage. in some ways i have been fortunate that the book that i published on baytown in the houston area is quite prophetic and telling and useful as a tool for

understanding things that happened in ferguson missouri are things that happen in other places in terms of people reaching a threshold of frustration against the division between black and brown, and white and engaging in defiant protest. i think it is quite telling that the fact that these protests that are often vilified is creating a problem are coming at a time that is considered this post civil rights era a moment through which we are indoctrinated to think that these problems are problems in the past that we have moved beyond that we have been able to reform society so as to prevent these types of things and that therefore people who are protesting against them are irrational or emotionally volatile people. i find it one of my missions to validate there experience and let people no that not only of those assessments of social protest is an accurate, but social protesters often have a far more complex and dynamic understanding because they have to survive those

conditions on a day-to-day basis. >> you mentioned a couple times that your awareness and your scholarly. >> guest: developed early. was they're a galvanizing moment in your history? >> well. you know, i think there was a series of them and this would be the case for a lot of black and brown youth from these kind of working-class communities. our entire history is a series of galvanizing moments. one of the problems with the repetition of these moments of brutality in our lives is that we numb ourselves to them as a way to survive and to be what you often see an protest movements such as what happened in ferguson in baltimore and what we we will continue to see in cities across the united states is used reaching aa threshold of frustration emotionally and psychologically with having a numb themselves to the day-to-day realities of exposure. so it is not any one particular case.

there are some very personal stories that i joined the book involving family members of mine in particular my father and his experiences and frustrations with these conditions with law enforcement and racial profiling in our committee in particular. they were quite emblematic for me thinking about the torah's case out the -- 2002. what2002. what i tried to do is lay out this genealogy of a series of these cataclysmic are transformative moments in my own life as a way to offer a tool for people to read and understand that it is okay to express ourselves and ask a protest. if we defensively numb ourselves that is one thing we need to do to survive, but if we don't advocate a voice of resistance, expressive voice of resistance we begin to participate in our oppression. >> you also write about the fact that women played a relatively outsized role in this coalition are

solidarity. >> yeah. i find that important because women of color in particular in particular african-american women and she can us are often not giving enough attention within the social movement literature with regard to the important, vital roles which is something we have been trying to account for more as scholars with an feels like ethnic studies as of late. i want to participate and further the dialogue by shedding a critical like on the important role african-american women and latinas many of whom are known all my life the role that they played in that activist awakening and the courage and sacrifice that they made as well and give them credit and link their struggle the struggles across the us and beyond where you see women in these important roles with the struggle of the missing 43 in mexico.

you see mothers and women playing an important role. you know,. you know, all of the different acts of protest against police patella the the coalition of women of color who have been organizing and spearheading initiatives. men of color often place before microphones to speak about these things. i am part of the dynamic being hear with you today but women do the important role of organizing and sustaining resistance and communities and deserve all the credit in the world for that. >> professor, what was your path to northwestern university? what department, what do you teach? >> i'm in the african-american studies department now affiliated with the latino latina studies program. like i say, path again in activism. i became interested in colleges and universities and coursework and scholarly dialogue as a way to become a better activist so as to have better tools to organize against these

conditions and not only in houston but other cities that have lived in. here in chicago i have been very much involved in the anti- violent struggle critiques of gun violence in trying to place it within the proper context. you know, in my role i try to bridge those two different worlds is much as i can, specifically for students in terms ofthere being able to understand that there is not this vast disconnect between the university and committee. vitally important for making those linkages and maintaining bridges. in a nutshell that as i got to where i am. >> what is the importance of ethnic study programs like latina studies african-american studies? why the necessary? >> because they offer i think a different kind of critique them what you can see happening in traditional disciplinary methods.

for example, my critique of social movement historians comes from a black studies perspective being ablethe able say, ever going to map out and theorize what constitutes the political or poetical solidarity with can't just go looking in archives to find that information. we have to look at art expressive cultures, blend all that data and factual matters together to have a much more complex reading of black indigenous lives because largely what we do is invoke a parasitic relationship with the press community that we go and study and analyze them and therefore publish the scholarly reports that almost a set of instructions for the oppressed on how to combat oppression. blackblack studies emerged at the university as a result of black protesting communities basically saying they needed a more solid

bridge between those two types of spaces so the black voices couldblack voices could not be denigrated and we could understand the complexity and dynamism and not give them instructions in terms of what they need to do with there lives. that is one of the many important roles. >> and we have been talking with northwestern professor john marquez. black brown solidarity is the book. racial politics and the knew golf south. >> thank you very much for having me. >> book tv recently visited capitol hill to ask members of congress what they are reading this summer. >> a couple books. i am a lover of biographies. i just found to. one is called rebel yell but stonewall jackson. it is a good one. it isit is insightful into the personality of someone who has become larger-than-life and how he came from his bmi background in teaching to become this amazing symbol that we have heard on both sides.

the other one is the crucible with grant and lee a, new one that just came out. we are excited about reading those. i still have been franklin. we're looking forward to a good summer of reading. >> about the civil war. >> i go in. civil war have enjoyed from the history perspective of our country but also the figures that were raised of there. i think it goes to show a lot of interaction where these men and many times women but interacted at west point and then went on to be separated for various reasons in and how they all come back. an interesting time for me look at. >> book tv wants to no what your reading. tweet us your answer or post it on our facebook page. >> your watching book tv on c-span2. this weekend andthis weekend and lexington, kentucky with

the help of local cable partner time warner cable. next, university of kentucky professor shows us the maysville road, historic highway used as part of the underground railroad. >> an important road because it was one of the bigger routes in the kentucky into the trends west. the inner bluegrass was regarded as the most coveted land west of the appalachian a lot of people interested in moving here. a lot of people from virginia had land grants here. this became the route way from the north passage by which they came. henry clay was a sponsor of the american plan command part of the american plan was internal improvement. you improve the economy by improving roads. he proposed that the maysville road from lexington to maysville is

supported by federal government money to turn it into a hard surface turnpike hard service meaning stone cover and an engineered road rather than simply a much track across the countryside. and his argument was that it would serve a larger area and it would serve commercial traffic. andrew jackson and his literal interpretation of the constitution did not see the argument that way. he said that the constitution said that any project that was essentially local in nature cannot be supported by federal money. and so andrew jackson saw the road the 67 miles of it from lexington to the ohio river as a local project even though the turnpike signs the later are going to list nashville tennessee and florence, alabama suggested is really a regional road if not a national road because

it ultimately will connect with new orleans. so we had to sides of the debate. aside this is the larger picture and sees the road is one section of a much larger highway is going to connect the pittsburgh area with new orleans on the one side and the literal interpretation of what they thought the constitution was calling for the other side. we are in the center of the village of maize lake about 14 miles south of the ohio river. it is a logical stopping. we're far enough south of the ohio river to the stagecoaches might want to water the horses or change horses on a stagecoach line. this is going to become a very important farming area. some of the richest land in the state of kentucky is in mason county where we are right now. as we leave and head south we will be on a section of the road that probably dates

from the 1920s and 30s. i'm right beside the road is going to be another small section of the old original limestone trace. it is called an alley now and it runs right in front of a couple houses well below the level of the present road. there used to be many businesses. they would have been 15 to 18 taverns or ends along the road. the tavern was built about 1806 as a rest stop a tavern, and overnight stay for people moving along the maysville road. there were between 15 and 18 taverns along the road between maysville and lexington. this particular building the main buildings on the left. the larger building which would have been the family home you will notice that

the lower building to the right has two different doors to it. those would have been individual doors to individual runs. you will also notice a stairwell leading up to an attic area where they're would have been another room so this building is a great treasure in a sense that it gives us a really good idea of how these taverns were erected how they were placed along the road for easy access and then how they were spaced out in such a way that it made sense for stagecoach companies have needed new horses every 10 miles or so. >> look to your right. this would have been a mill site. part of the old no still here. tobacco warehouse right here this became a major tobacco wholesaling center auction center by about 195-1910.

they would have been a major distillery standing right here, and that is the old warehouse right they're. that is all is left. and then weand then we have kind of a tobacco row, another tobacco warehouse. three vacant lots were they're were tobacco warehouse is all on. here's another one is still stands. it's now a nursery. and you can see its farmers warehouse tobacco company number one. there were a number of those in the other side of town that have since been torn down. by the 195-1910 they were starting to become major auction centers for a tobacco and by about 1925 lexington have become the largest auction market in

the world, certainly in the united states. one of the least appreciated aspects of american history and american geography is the infrastructure that has been built to make all is possible. this would be possible that roads the absolute backbone on which a national economy is built. nothing moves with the roads everything is moving by road if your not connected to the road your not connected. everyone when the trace was established in an upgraded everyone wanted to have access to the road because it meant you are connected part of the economy, the only regional but national. aa merchant could not have been selling chinese tea

without the road. the folks at read the book was a much greater appreciation for the role of the road and people's lives. .. >> you can also post it on our facebook page, facebook.com/booktv, or you can send an e-mail to

booktv@c-span.org. what's on your summer reading list? booktv wants to know. >> fox news anchor gretchen carlson recalls her life and career in broadcasting next on booktv. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> good evening. my name is john, i have the honor of being the executive director of the ronald reagan presidential foundation. i want to welcome all of you and thank you for coming this evening. in honor of our men and women in uniform who defend our freedom around the world if you'd please stand and join me for the pledge of allegiance.

i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands; one nation, under god indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. thank you. please be seated. before we get started there's a few people in the audience that i'd like to make sure we recognize tonight and i'll begin with the former first lady of the state of california, gayle wilson. of gayle? [applause] we also have with us mr. gary scheffer, the vice president of strategic communications for general electric. gary? [applause] tonight is a special night as we have with us a very special group of students from around

the country 20 ge reagan foundation scholarship winners and their families. if you all would please stand. [applause] they will be attending universities this fall backed by one of this country's greatest companies and, of course, one of its greatest presidents. thank you all for coming. people often ask me whether there's a criterion for someone who speaks at the reagan library. and as many of you regulars know, we have hosted a wide variety of political figures some of international importance and some who are presidents of the united states, for example. we also see here candidates for the presidency such as the 412 will be here for our september presidential primary debate.

[laughter] but we also host important book authors, hollywood stars historians academics media personalities, many of whom help shape the course of the nation. one thing that some of these specials special people have in common -- certainly not all -- is an important connection to president reagan in one way or the other. today we have with us gretchen carlson, an instantly recognizable pirg in america. she is -- person in america. she is important in her own right given she helps to inform or influence the opinions of millions of people around the world through her position at fox news. but in addition to her fame, her career and her very persona, i think, have a great deal in common with our 40th president.

now, how is that? well, there is a theory i have one type of life and the success of ronald reagan that is not much talked about, but is most certainly true. and that is i believe that people underestimate the value of underestimation. and i think this is something that gretchen would agree with, but let me explain. ronald reagan got very far in life and became one of our country's greatest presidents for a lot of reasons. he was smart, he had lots of talent, he was a great communicator, and he had a moral compass that helped him determine right from wrong. but one thing he had going for him is that people often underestimated him. this served to his benefit many times. let's see if you remember some of these. you know, he was a b-rated movie actor, someone not serious

enough to be taken for a president. he was too conservative to ever be elected to national office. he wasn't smart enough. he came from hollywood, and he shouldn't be taken seriously. be and the list goes on and on. now, all of these concerns about ronald reagan led many people -- his critics his enemies, his opponents for public office -- to just plain underestimate him every single day. i know the president didn't let these criticisms affect him. in fact, i think he enjoyed all the underestimation. it often allowed him to beat expectations and succeed in whatever he chose to accomplish in his life. gretchen carlson is a perfect shining example like president reagan of someone who has succeeded beyond her wildest dreams and the expectations of others because she too, has

been underestimated her whole life. gretchen has said it well herself, she calls it the bimbo factor. [laughter] well, what are some of the catcalls that she's experienced? the quintessential dumb blond right? she's just not smart enough. never mind the fact that she graduated from stanford university with honors and that she studied at oxford. she's a miss america type literally. don't take her seriously. never mind the fact that she succeeded in winning that contest from an organization that is to this day the world's largest provider of academic scholarships solely for women. talent counts for half of the score. and i know this to be absolutely true, i was a judge for the miss america pageant five years after gretchen was there and i can tell you i would have voted for her hands down. [laughter]

talent. well what talent? well, she was trained as a classical violinist and to this day play with just about any orchestra she might choose. i'm not exactly sure how management or boardrooms or even society at large have made the decisions to promote gretchen or to tune in, but it is a fact that like ronald reagan, she's become a tremendous success in great part because she's been constantly underestimated every step of the way. i have a feeling that that is fine by her. she's used it to work even harder and, importantly, to reach out to others who, like her, have dreams of their own. it's her story that provides the inspiration they might need to succeed as well. so, ladies and gentlemen if you would, please join me in welcoming to the stage gretchen carlson. [applause]

>> thank you so much, john. and i love that analogy to president reagan. i'm humbled by that analogy. i have to tell you coming here today for the very first time was bittersweet for me and overwhelming and nostalgic because i had the opportunity to meet president reagan in the oval office when i was miss america. probably the proudest day of my year as miss america. and i'll never forget what he said to me. he knew i was a student at stanford, and he said wow that place has really gotten liberal. [laughter] but i was able to say to him when i came to stanford from a small town in minnesota i had just turned 18, and it was the

first time he was running for president. and i got to vote in the presidential election for ronald reagan. [applause] so people may know me from television, but here's a couple things that they may not know. i'm 100% swedish. i was high school valedictorian. i grew up in the halloween capital of the year -- of the world in minnesota. i'm not the shortest miss america ever. i hate putting on makeup when i'm not at work. i don't know how to type. i don't know how to parallel park. i can't whistle. [laughter] i grew up a chubby teen, which i'll get to. and when i was a little girl before i had two pounds of braces, i could fit this finger between my two front teeth. [laughter] so why did i want to write "getting real"? i wrote this book because i wanted people to know the real

me. sometimes people get impressions of television personalities that are not completely accurate. they've never had any problems, they've never had any struggles. they got that golden phone call from new york one day hey, you want to come to new york and be a star? [laughter] it never happened that way for me. the real me, the child who was a concert violinist from the age of 6, the young woman who took on the challenge as a novice to try and become miss america the television journalist for 25 years, the mother of two who just like so many other women whether they work inside the home or outside struggles with that whole concept of having it all, a woman who is guided by her faith. and my mother who always told me at night after she said my prayers to me, you know, gretchen, you can be anything you want to be in this world. and i believed her. i knew with a tremendous amount of hard work and perseverance and pitfalls along the way that that was possible, that the

american dream was alive and well for me. and, you know, recently in reporting the news on a daily basis, in the last ten years fewer people actually believe in the american dream than before. and that's sad to me. and i wanted to write this book to let people know that if a chubby little girl from a small town in minnesota who happened to play a mean violin could unexpectedly become miss america and have our own tv show on the national scene 25 years later that if i can do it, i want you to get out your list of things to do that's been sitting there for a long time and feel inspired for you to be able to do it as well. be so here's what i tell my kids now in an excerpt from my book about working hard. we all have some luck in our lives. but i don't tell my children maybe you'll get lucky. i tell them to work hard and study and give every challenge their all. i make sure they understand what it means to have strong values

and always strive to do the right thing. my dream as a young girl was to play the violin on a world stage. no one told me i wasn't good enough or skinny enough or any other enough. my life stretched out ahead of me full of possibility, and i lived with the ever-present idea that i could do anything. if i set my mind to it and was true to myself. but, you know, in life what we learn is that it's actually the failures and the pitfalls along the way that actually build our character and make us stronger people and appreciate success that much more. i alluded to the fact that i was a chubby/fat teen. in retrospect, that was a blessing. because what it forced me to do was build my self-esteem from the inside of my soul and not worry about the exterior. and, boy is that an incredibly

great life lesson for young people today in 2015 when we have social media and technology and photoshopping and unrealized expectations of trying to be perfect. we need to go back to that idea of building who we are from our soul. my problem was my favorite hobby still today and back then was to eat. [laughter] i love it! it's my favorite thing to do. i still struggle with my weight today. it's just that i guess i know how to deal with it a little bit better. but when i was a kid, i didn't care. and the funny thing was my mom was a gourmet cook. now -- [laughter] that did not help matters. she would make this whole spread of food, and she would leave the house, and she would leave me with my babysitter, congresswoman michele bachmann of minnesota -- [laughter] and she would say now gretchen and michelle, do not eat any of the doughnuts that i made or any

of the chocolate chip cookies or the beef stew -- [laughter] and for sure don't let her drink any grape soda. and the minute the door would close, michelle would look at me and go, let's go for it. [laughter] it was during her share period when she -- cher period when she babysat me. her hair literally went right down to her and i idolized her for her beauty back then. hard to believe she's 10 years older than me, but we grew up in the same town, and she was my babysitter. my mom would come home then, and she'd say who ate all the food? [laughter] and sometimes when my best friend was over with me, molly i would point to her. i'd go, molly molly, it was her. the only problem was molly kept getting thinner, and i kept getting rounder. [laughter] do you remember levi's jeans or corduroys for those in my generation? why did they put the waist size

and the height size on the back for everyone to see? [laughter] i would immediately get out the sharpie and cross it off, because i was worried that my waist size would actually be a higher number than my height size. [laughter] so what finally changed me to actually want to lose weight? well, it was a boy. [laughter] tenth grade, and i overheard the high school senior who i liked i overheard him say, you know, she's a really great girl, but i just can't date her because she's too fat. and that day i finally went on a diet. and i lost 35 pounds. and, no, i didn't go out on a date with him after. [laughter] so for me it was really the violin. and that's where i built my self-esteem.

i just want to share with you sort of the conundrum that i had in my life growing up with this talent that i was so lucky to have my parents foster and help me cultivate and how i really sort of lived a double life. many times with people not really understanding me. this is from the first chapter that i entitle "sparkles," the nickname my grandfather gave me. my heart was beating in my throat my hands felt clammy. waiting in the wigs for my name to be -- wings for my name to be announced, i repeated the words to the lord's prayer again. at 13 i was about to give the biggest performance of my life. the minnesota orchestra was on stage at a orchestra hall playing the rousing piece "fanfare for the common man" by aaron copeland. the music was fast-paced and uplifting. i was up next to play a solo, the first movement of edward lalo's symphony espanol. the soundproof doors opened, and

i began the long walk across the stage, violin in hand. i was a chubby girl, awkward in my floor-length white dress. but on that day i was also a concert artist who would lead an entire orchestra in a performance. the audience rose to its feet when i was done. i heard "bravo is, bravo." the applause seemed to go on forever as i left the stage and returned twice more for encore bows. it was a thrilling moment, and then it was over. normal life resumed. back in the dressing room i changed out of my long white dress, and then my mom drove me to school. i got there in time for math class, and lucky for me there was a test. [laughter] my fellow students had no clue where i'd been earlier that day. to them, i was just one of the kids. they didn't understand the other

me, the one who had just performed at 13 with the minnesota orchestra. so that's what i thought i was going to do in my life. and then at 17 everything changed. because i just liked too many other things. and i realized to be a famous concert artist i would have to give up everything else in my life. it would have to be tunnel vision. so i went to my parents and told them i wanted to quit. and they were devastated. because of the immense commitment that i had put into this for my first 17 years. so my parents made me promise that i would somehow come up with another way in which to use this talent to achieve some sort of other goal. so in the meantime i went off to stanford be university and concentrated on my academics and while i was studying at oxford, i got a phone call for my mom, and she said i found

something for you to try. i said, what? she said i got a brochure in the mail. it's from the miss america pageant. 50% of points are based on talent, and they interview you. they want smart people, gretchen i think you should try this. and i said, are you nuts? [laughter] mom, remember, i grew up a chubby kid i was a tomboy. i was much happier outside playing army and football with my brothers than anything else. i didn't watch pageants. and she said, gretchen, i think you might be able to try this. well, let's just say that my mom's an incredibly motivational person and over time she convinced me to try this. keep in mind i was a total novice. if you haven't noticed i'm short. i was from a state of minnesota that wasn't known as a great pageant state. i played the classical violin. it had never won and still never has again.

my own grandfather, who was a lutheran minister in town who i revered so much and he gave me my religious foundation and my hard work ethic and he even said to me, gretchen you know that i think you're a fantastic granddaughter, but you're never going to be miss america. [laughter] i said well, why not? he said, because you're too short. so i went to the library -- this was before the internet -- and i looked up and found out that the very first miss america ever, margaret gore match bless her heart -- gorman, bless her heart, 5-1. [laughter] and i ran back to my grandfather and said grandpa even your words are not always god's words. [laughter] i have two and a half inches on her. so i left stanford to try and accomplish this dream. and i told no one. you know why? because when i went to tell the dean at stanford that i was stopping out to try and go home to try and become miss america

she looked at me and said, that's the stupidest thing i've ever heard. [laughter] so i went home in silence and went back to my violin and worked out like crazy. [laughter] and studied everything that i could get my hands on for the interview. when i got to the competition in atlantic city, there was this guy who would become really well known for doing this computer program, and he would pick his top ten based on really dumb things, speaking of dumb like hair color eye color what state you were from, how tall you were and what your talent was. well, guess what? on the morning of the pageant it's published and i am nowhere in any of his predictions. and i'll never forget my mom coming to the hotel lob lobby at six a.m., last time i'm going to see her until midnight, and she was shaking me saying, you can do this. you have worked so hard.

forget that computer guy. well, you know what happened the next year? the computer guy was out of business. [laughter] and he's actually quoted in my book as saying, jeez these contestants keep getting more talented and more smart. it's just too hard to predict who's going to win. [laughter] so becoming miss america was this wonderful achievement that i had worked so hard on but i have to tell you that it was a shocking revelation very soon after about how people would just try to take you down because. it was almost as if my entire resumé evaporated overnight. at first, in the first couple of hours, i was dubbed the smart miss america. i thought wow, this is a great headline. this is going to be a good year for me. that lasted just a matter of hours. i went to my first press conference in new york city, and another female reporter -- a well known reporter -- deliberately tried to take me

down and give me a test. she asked me who's on the $50 bill, what year did the vietnam war end, and finally, have you ever done drugs and have you ever had sex? [laughter] at which point the entire new york press corps booed her and the two reporters from minnesota in the front row passed out. [laughter] that minnesota nice thing, they were like, whoa. [laughter] it's true, by the way. they could not believe -- i couldn't believe she treated me with such disrespect. i learned right then and will that i was going to have to develop some really tough skin that year. and it didn't stop there. i had a really famous celebrity judge, william goldman who i just found out also judged in 1994 with john. why the heck did they ask him back? because wait million you hear what he did -- until you hear what he did to me. he directed the princess bride.

well known guy. well, he decided to write a book about me the year after he judged. and here's what he said published in 1990. i say this: it's a good thing i didn't know about the book until later, because it might have shaken my confidence a little to read page after page about my inadequacies wrapped around the title he gave me "miss piggy." he also called me a god clutcher because i said my faith was important to me. to goldman i was also too chunky at 108 pounds. too chunky to even make the top ten. he seemed downright offended that talent should count as half the score, and he didn't much care for my winning violin performance, which he referred to as fiddling. he admitted to favoring miss colorado. still, his criticism of me throughout the book was a little over the top.

his objectification of me and the other women in the pageant was demeaning. rereading it recently, i was surprised to find that it still stung. i was embarrassed, even ashamed. it made me realize that shaming is a potent force. for decades i hid my feelings about goldman's takedown because it was so belittling, but i certainly have no reason to feel that way. now i understand that this kind of degrading talk is what keeps young women from being fully themselves or even trying. knowing yourself and not letting your detractors get you down is the message of my book. miss america toughened my skin and, boy, did i need that when i got to fox news.

[laughter] before i get to that, i also want to share with you about why i have great empathy for anyone who has ever been fired or lost their job is, because it happened to me too. a week after i got married in cleveland, ohio, we were part of a revolutionary two-female anchor team. we were the first to do local news with two women at 6 and 11 p.m. and it didn't work out. and so i got called up to the general manager's office the week after my honeymoon, and here's an excerpt. my instincts were correct. the two-female anchor concept isn't working, he told me bluntly. unfortunately, we don't have another position for you at the station based on your current salary. oh, my stomach clenched as i realized my worst fears were being realized. well, what's going to happen to the broadcast, i asked? well denise is staying on, and

we're replacing you with a man he replied. then he added: now that you're married, you'll be fine. >> oh! >> i was too stunned to respond but later it was those words -- "now that you're married you'll be okay" -- that upset me. i was so disappointed that after i had spent four years at his station, he still had no idea who i was. i was a professional who had dedicated years to establishing my career, and he had brushed me off. i never heard of a man losing his job and being told, don't worry, you're married you'll be okay. my career had zero to do with whether or not my husband also worked. it had everything to do with personal identity, personal goals and making the most of my life. again, another example of for years i never spoke publicly about being fired. i was too embarrassed and too ashamed.

it was a huge failure: but i tell the story openly in the book because i want to help people get back on their feet, and i want them to know that i've been there. so i give advice in the book, mainly to get close to every family member even if you're on bad terms because you going to need -- you're going to need them. network with every person you've ever known in your whole life, not even just in your own career path. call every person you've ever known. and be willing to take a job that may not be the job that a you really want. you might have to take a step back. and then you've got to work tripoli hard at hit, and that's how you get back in the game, and that's what i did. the second year of my marriage i then spent away from my husband, and i move today dallas, and he stayed in cleveland. back to getting to fox news. and the thick skin having been

miss america and being used to that. i coin a phrase in the book, you heard a little bit about it from john, that i say that i reached the bimbo trifecta when i got to fox. [laughter] here's an excerpt from the book. former miss america blond fox news host. i can joke about it because it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that the labels have more to do with silly attitudes and stereotypes than with who i am or whether or not i'm smart. i still scratch my head trying to figure out how being blond became synonymous in some people's minds with being dumb or why some people assume attractive women are not smart. but i don't waste my brain cells trying to figure these things out. i've learned that sometimes when people don't like what you have to say and don't want to debate you on the smart ideas of the day, it's just easier the call you a dumb blond from fox news.

one of my greatest joys in life is my children, and i am one of those people who no matter how much i've worked hard for my career, i always wanted to have kids. and another thing i share in this book is my struggles with infer tillty. and at -- infertility. and at age 35 when i finally thought the time was right in my career to start a family being told i had a 3% chance. and i remember the exact park bench in central park where i called my mom and cried my eyes out and said, mom, you've known how much i've always wanted to have kids. and that's sometimes a silent struggle that many couples have, and so i also wanted to share my husband and my struggle with that. we've been blessed miraculously with two children. i call it my miracle family in the book. what comes with that, though, is this whole idea for women and for men, quite frankly about having it all. and i say in the book that i think that's a bit of a curse because whether you work inside

the home or outside of the home, let's face it, that's an expectation that puts immense pressure on women, and it ultimately makes us feel like failures. so here's what i say. these days there's an ongoing debate about whether women can have it all and i've been asked that question time and time again. in fact, the first time was at the miss america pageant. i was the only one the only contestant who said no. i didn't mean that women shouldn't fully pursue their dreams, only that we need to be honest with ourselves. i'm a person who likes to give 100% to everything i do. be i want to be the best at my job and as a mom. but i realize i can only give 100% in the moment. if i'm at work, am i giving 100% to my kids? no. if i'm at home, am i giving 100% to fox? no. it's a balancing act but

worthwhile as long as we don't kid ourselves that we're superwomen. my kids are still liking me -- [laughter] they're 10 and 12 years old, and i can tell by my son who's 10, he still lets me kiss him on the lips when i say good night to him. i know that's going to change -- [laughter] my daughter's 12, she's a little bit sassy now. [laughter] now that i've been on the book tour and away from home, they like me a little bit more. [laughter] i just want to share some funny stories that i know we can all share if we're lucky enough to be parents, and it's really all that matters right? the most wonderful thing about children is their great curiosity and complete honesty. i would love to capture those priceless moments in the years before they grow up and become guarded and stop sharing every little thing that's on their minds, even when the questions elicit chuckles or embarrassment

on the part of adults. like kentucky ya, my daughter at 3, when we would end our nightly prayers with "amen," looking confused saying, mommy why at the end of our prayers do you always say "old men"? [laughter] or at 5 on my parents' 50th anniversary my daughter asking grandma karen, my mom, are you going to have any more bane byes? -- babies? [laughter] or my son@cq)istian, at 8q observing that he thóá!q a woman at the pool had fake boobs. [laughter] he explained, i knew that they weren't real because like yours when you bend over, they fall all the way down. [laughter] and hers, when she pent over at the pool, mom they didn't move. [laughter]

christian is always bursting with curiosity. [laughter] asking questions we don't necessarily want to always answer. like this time when he saw an ad during a baseball game and asked, mommy what's viagra? [laughter] so the moral of the story about my book is that through hard work and perseverance and a bunch of putfalls along the way -- pitfalls along the way i've accomplished some great dreams. and i just want to inspire everyone out there, young middle-aged or old that you're never too old to continue to challenge yourself and learn. i often see the best golfers in the world and the best tennis players, and they're changing their swings. have you ever noticed that?

and i ask myself, why would they be doing that? they're number one at their sport. but they're doing it because they want to continue to be better. and that's how i've lived my life and how i want to inspire others to live theirs. thank you so much for having me here tonight. it's been my great pleasure. [applause] >> well, we have a few minutes and gretchen's been kind enough to agree to take some questions from the audience. if i could just ask if you have a question to raise your hand and wait until the microphone gets to you so that we can hear what you have to say. so if we could we'll start right over here.

>> how did you get to fox? >> i just celebrated my ten-year anniversary with fox this past week. [applause] i can always remember that because i went when my son was three months old. so when he turns 10, i'm like, oh yeah, ten years. [laughter] i got there, i was at cbs news in new york for five years before that. i started as a correspondent for cbs news. in fact, i just ran into my old boss this morning at the local fox station. he's now the news director there. television is a tiny, tiny world. but i was there and then i got promoted at cbs to do the saturday morning early show, and then my contract was up, and i got a call from fox. they wanted to know if i was interested in potentially coming to do a five-day-a-week morning show, of course, "fox & friends," which i did for eight years and have had the great opportunity now to do my own show in the afternoon. so that was my story and it was

the best move that i've made. >> great. over here. no? okay. all right, one over here. >> yeah. >> i noticed this your book that you said that you and your family always enjoyed the traditional swedish food at the holidays. do you still eat -- [inaudible] >> oh, yeah. [laughter] oh yeah, you betcha. [laughter] i'm 100% swedish as i mentioned, and being 100% of anything was like incredibly -- we were so proud of that growing up in minnesota. and the only bad thing was that we had to eat all the food. [laughter] it was actually the thing that you could stomach. does anyone -- do you know what it is? it's a potato pancake that's rolled out -- it actually has no

taste, and you lather it with butter and sugar and roll it up like a tortilla. i thought you were going to ask me about -- [inaudible] cod fish a delicacy for swedish people during christmas time. it's soaked in lye, which is what you make soap out of, and you go and get it at the butcher shop and you have to actually keep it in the garage when you bring it home, because it stinks so bad. [laughter] and then you have to cook it in a tinfoil pan because it blackens any nice pan you might have. and just to give you a general sense, it's the consistency of jellyfish, and it has bones in it. [laughter] so you get a big slab of it on your plate, and you douse it with either melted butter or this white pasty glue-like sauce. [laughter] sounds great right? [laughter] my grandfather would go to dinners at every church all across minnesota every day in december, and he'd eat it every single night. [laughter] and so as kids we'd be like oh

grandpa, we really loved it, this is fantastic. [laughter] so you finally develop an acquired taste for it. maybe it was just, i don't know peer pressure inside the family. [laughter] but it was definitely something that i'll never forget. [laughter] >> over here. >> hi. >> hi. >> gretchen, since you're an insider at fox -- >> uh-oh. [laughter] >> i've got a two-part question. part a, you've vetted you guys across the board for truth? [laughter] you know, everything you say is it checked out to see whether it's correct? >> oh, you mean, like are newspapers, other people checking us out? >> yeah, because -- >> well, yeah, i'm sure they are. >> other people i've talked to not of my ilk say they don't tell the truth. the second part is juan williams

for real? [laughter] >> i love juan williams. he's, you know, he has a different point of view than some of the other commentators at fox. he's the lone guy recently on "the five." but as far as the truth goes, look, that fits into my whole narrative in the book about detractors. you can't give all that a lot of time of day because you've just got to believe in yourself and what you're doing. nobody's speaking in my earpiece telling me what to say, in case anyone thinks that's what happens at fox. they're all my questions it's all my own research, you know, it's all my own ideas. so is, yeah. i mean i guess people have different definition of the truth, and that's their own personal objective to have that, but i'm telling people what i've learned and what i've read and what i think. >> great. over here. one there. >> i have two questions for you. one, have -- in your experience,

have men or women been the ones who have given you a harder time, and how do you understand that? and the other thing along those lines i wanted to ask you is who have your true mentors been? >> thank you. a lot of times you hear or read about the fact that women are not nice to women in the workplace, and i have to say that i have been so fortunate to have amazing female role models starting with my mother who now actually, at 74, runs our family business. so i have a great role model in her from a work point of view and a mother point of view. but i had great female bosses in the tv world, and my first boss in richmond, virginia, she actually came in six months after i started there she made me the political reporter overnight. and this was 25, maybe more, 26 years ago. i was one of the only women covering the governor at the time. i was 23 years old. i had no idea what i was doing. [laughter] and she basically was a believer in the philosophy sink or swim and she believed in me.

and it really was influential in me building self-confidence in what i was doing in television and believing in myself. another woman boss at the station where i was fired she ended up going to work in dallas, and she's the one who eventually rehired me a year later at that job. believed in me as well. i've also had fantastic male bosses, one of them who we just ran into earlier this morning. as far as, as far as mentors, definitely those women and men who were my bosses, but most importantly i believe so strongly now in being a mentor to young people. because i had help along the way, and my assistant today was my intern on fox and friends. and because she had the same hard work ethic that i did, i said i'm hiring you. so i'm a huge believer in helping young people and directing them and giving them advice, and i always say quite literally, my door is open.

>> great. right up here in the front. yeah. >> hi, gretchen. it's an honor to be here and listen to you. i feel like we live in a nation that's so polarized now and both socially and physically where do you consider yourself on the political spectrum? >> so i actually say in the book so it's not going to be a big surprise, i'm a registered independent, and so is my husband. and i think that being in the news business you have to be that. and so i do see issues from both sides of the spectrum. i don't know if it's a gender thing, but i don't know, i have a sneaking suspicion that some women believe more in trying to find some common ground, some things that we could work out. it kind of bugs me that they don't get anything done on capitol hill but that's because i'm a doer. [laughter] and i know some people say,

well, we don't really want them to to get things done, because we don't agree with some of the things they might get done. but ronald reagan got things done, you know? he found a way to get things done and to find some compromise. so i do think that we have great leaders that we should look back on and maybe try to model what they did because washington's really broken right now. and it doesn't serve any of us if they're not going to get anything done. and by the way, we don't like any of them. the polls show they have a 13% approval rating. so, you know, i really feel like if we actually did get some things done in a bipartisan way that we would have a better feeling about our country in general. just my personal opinion. >> right over here. >> hello. we were wondering when you said that you told your counselor that you were leaving stanford? when did you end up going back to school? >> oh, thank you for asking. it was so important for me to go back to get my degree. and i did have tv opportunities after i was miss america where i

would not have gone back, and that just wasn't an option for me. the greatest joy in my life from the scholarship money i won from miss america buzz being able to call -- was being able to call my parents who had four years in college and say, mom dad i'm paying for the rest of my stanford education. i graduated with my freshmen, because i had been gone that long the year before, the year of being miss america and then some time after. but getting my degree, that was an automatic. >> right over here. >> hi, gretchen. my name is brandon. i'm from minnesota as well. >> wow great. what town? >> [inaudible] >> all right. wow, you really know what cold is. [laughter] it's the icebox of the nation, isn't it? >> that's right. >> that's right. >> [inaudible] >> wonderful. congratulations as to all of you. >> thank you, thank you. well, my question was i also am a concert pianist actually, and

so i've had my pressure as well playing with symphonies and stuff. and i was wondered how you balanced the life of being a classical musician transitioning into the college era. >> i didn't play in college. that was during my quitting phase. [laughter] funny story in the book is that i went to stanford. i brought my violin but i left it in the locker the entire time. my parents didn't really like that. [laughter] but i went to play for the violin teacher at stanford. i think he also conducted the orchestra. and, of course, he had never heard about me because i was trying to be anonymous. and so i played some really technically difficult passage -- [laughter] and i can still see the look on his face. he was like -- [laughter] why have i not heard of you? [laughter] and i said, because that's the way i want it to be. and i put the violin back in the locker and never played it for four years. >> over here. >> hi, gretchen.

my name is allison and you are here on the west coast at 3 1:00 in the morning -- 11:00 in the morning, and it's about after i drop off my children who are here with me today from at school and do some work around the house bills whatever i get to watch you and it's such a pleasure. >> thank you. >> i feel like you're just with me in the house and wanted to know if the format of your show this year in september if there will be any changes different time anything -- >> do you know something i don't? [laughter] >> i hope you're not leaving me. so that's my question. >> i don't know about any potential changes but we're always changing the format, you know? it's another big lesson of life, right? always try and improve yourself. some of the things that we've tried haven't necessarily worked out, but one thing that i started incorporating almost a year ago now was this one minute my take that i do every day, a

story that i feel particularly passionate about whether it's politics or cultural or family or kids or graduation speecheses or anything like that that i'll give my take of the day. so i think we're going to stick with that. but you never, you never know. i mean, now we're getting so much into the political season, yesterday i had donald trump on the show and it was fantastic timing because he was very controversial yesterday. [laughter] and, you know, so we broke news yesterday which is the exciting part of doing the news business every day, is that it changes every day. so if you want a desk job and doing the same thing don't get into tv. because sometimes we can plan an entire show and put so much work and effort into it, and then we have solid breaking news and everything goes out the window, and you have to be able to just go with it. and oftentimes talk about stuff you really don't know that much about and make it sound like you do. [laughter] but i think i'm going to still be at 2:00 at least for the next couple of months.

>> over here. >> there any specific points that you would give -- have given to your children about self-image or perceptions you'd like to share. >> >> yeah just the whole idea of building their souls and their inside. for example i never told my daughter i was miss america. somebody else finally did. and she was 8 years old. and i was waiting for as long as i possibly could because i didn't want her to have some weird perception of what that was or feel inadequate or that that was something she had to try and attain. and she came home from school one day, and she said, mommy, somebody at school told meow did some america -- me you did some america thing? [laughter] i said, well, yeah what else did they say? so then she wanted to see everything in my closet, you know? i have my gown.

it was solid beads. it weighs more than ten pounds. i have it in a shoe box because you can't really hang it up because it's too heavy. and at my 25th anniversary of miss america, i got this hair-brained idea about five days before i was going to give a speech maybe i could get my big toe into that thing. [laughter] so i called up the designer who made the dress and we're still friends, and i said, do you think i could wear that thing? there was dead silence on the other end of the phone. [laughter] i was, like steve why the silence? he goes, well, he goes, there is something called spanks now. [laughter] so i met him at this special bra shop on broadway, of all places, where all the actors go and we put a bunch of contraptions on, and i got the darn thing zipped up, and when we opened the curtain, he goes, oh my gosh, your boobs look amazing! [laughter] yeah, i said i've had two kids.

[laughter] so that's a round about way of saying that i want my kids to build their self-esteem from playing the piano and practicing sports and doing well in academic life and going to church and figuring who they are on the inside first. >> very good. over here. >> hi, gretchen. do you miss steve and brian? >> oh, my work husbands. [laughter] i do, but i run into them all the time. i still do radio with brian kilmeade, so i see him frequently. and i actually go down to the same area -- fox is huge right now because we have fox business as well, we keep growing, but i still go to the same studio area to get my hair done in the morning, so i see them, just at a little bit of a later hour. [laughter] and, yeah, i used to joke that i saw them more than i saw my real husband. [laughter]

because i did. i mean, three times five, 15 hours a day -- a week. so i miss that, but i don't miss the three alarms at 3:30 a.m. [laughter] and my kids love my new schedule. and the only thing they cared about was mommy, can you sometimes drive us to school now? [laughter] >> over here. >> hi, gretchen. >> hi. >> thank you for being here. you are an inspiration. >> thank you. >> my question is the news is so horrendous today. does it ever affect you, what you have to report and what you actually witness? thank you. >> it does, and i have to be really sensitive to that, because when you have small chirp at home -- children at home, i realize actually through their eyes how bad the news really is. sometimes when i have it on because i have to have it on, especially my son the 10-year-old, will say, mommy mommy, will you turn that off please? i can't hear that.

so i have to be very sense ty to how much i'm paying attention to the news when i'm actually home. but i will tell you about a horrible story that happened in connecticut where i live, the newtown shootings two and a half years ago, and how that story has turned into a positive for our family. my daughter, it's in the book, she actually gave a piano recital at 9 years old of 11 classical pieces but she told me mommy i i only want to do it if i can help people. and this was right after the newtown shootings. and she researched and found occupant that there was a little -- out that there was a little girl whose family had set up a charity for the arts, which was fitting. and then she said, mommy, do you think my of the kids who passed away that day loved animals? because she loves animal. and lo and behold, we found out that another charity was being set up to build an animal sanctuary in newtown. so my daughter gave this piano recital and raised $10,000 for them. and so we took this horrible tragedy. i have to tell you, it was my

proudest moment as a parent be, watching this recital, because those families came to the recital and watched my daughter play the piano and now she serves on the children's advisory board for that animal sanctuary. so she is learning firsthand about -- [applause] what it means to give back. [applause] >> that was great. we have time for one last question. we'll come right back here. >> dear gretchen, thank you so very much for what you're doing. the way i see it from this generation, it's so needed in america to remind about the dream, the passion, the let's go get it and do it again like ronald reagan did. and the question i have today is could you please share how your faith in god has played into who you are today. >> it's everything. and, you know, i'm one of the few national news anchors who speaks openly about my faith on the air and, trust me, i have a lot of critics.

[laughter] but it started happening when i came to fox actually, because cable in and of itself is just more ad lib, and we're on 24/7 and i felt comfortable talking about it one day on "fox & friends," and i realized that the reaction that i got from people who i might meet on the street was that nine times out of ten they would say to me thank you so much for speaking about the foundation in which you were brought up and your faith and the way in which you choose to live your life and the values. [applause] and so is i figured i i -- so i figured i was doing something right. [applause] but luckily i grew up with a grandfather who was a minister and, you know, going to church was like, you know, seeing a rock star in the pulpit. i just thought he was so great and so neat. i feel blessed that my parents made those decisions for me early on, and then as an adult i have continued with those decisions. and i joke now that that judge who called me a god clutcher back then, what would he think now if he knew that my husband

and i teach sunday school every sunday together? [laughter] and i also joke that that's the one hour every week i know i'm going to actually see my husband. [laughter] so faith remains my foundation. i think it's the greatest gift you can give children with a close section to whom much is given, much is expected, and that is teaching children how to give back. [applause] thank you so much. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> booktv is on twitter and

facebook, and we want to hear from you. tweet us, twitter.com/booktv or post a comment on our facebook page, facebook.com/booktv. >> presidential candidates often release books to introduce themselves to voters and to promote their views on issues. here's a look at some books written by declared candidates for president. in his book "immigration wars," former florida governor jeb bush argues for new immigration policies. neurosurgeon ben carson calls for greater individual responsibility to preserve america's future in "one nation." in "against the tide," former rhode island governor lincoln chafee recounts his time as a republican in the senate. and former secretary of state hillary clinton looks back on her time serving in the obama administration in "hard choices." be in "a time for truth," texas senator ted cruz recounts his journey from a cuban immigrant's son to the u.s. senate.

carly fiorina, former ceo of hewlett-packard, is another declared candidate for president. in "rising to the challenge," she shares lessons she's learned from her difficulties and triumphs. south carolina senator lipped day graham released an e-book on his web site. in "my story," he details his childhood and career in the air force. ..

florida center -- florida senator marco rubio outlined his plan to advance economic opportunity.