because of overgrowth and lack of fertlization and in gave the weevil and savannah was back to being poor. lady aster said savannah was a beautiful lady with a dirty face. by the '40s and '50s the old houses in downtown savannah were worth more dead than alive just to get the bricks to build new houses. one city planner said savannah was so poor she was not able to destroy herself unquote. progress did make some hideous inroads in putting highways through one part of the old town and a street through three of the pressures squares. at one point they were going to extend lincoln street through colonial cemetery which is where

the founders are. in 1954, come to the rescue was the historic preservation society who had enough when the old city market was destroyed and they built an incredibly hideous looking parking lot. so, they band together and formeded what some called it hysterical save savannah foundation. literally seven old ladies, some in tennis shoes, went around throwing their bodies in front of the wrecking ball to stop the progress and a revolving fund started to buy a house for $5,000, restore it to what it

was and sell it for $25,000 or something. you got $20,000 and you do it and do it until at some point savannah now has the largest restored historic district in america which is quite an accomplishment. what has been done since 1954 is an accomplishment. and i will not name any of those seven little old ladies. they are not twittering old lady. they have clout and it showed. historic savannah is sometimes nogs meaning north of gaston street. my wife and i live on gaston street.

we live on the south side actually so we are sogs. we just can't quite break into the inner circle. tourism in the port and savannah college of art design all added up to what is a sparkling savannah that we see in the present. just a few more words before closing. some people, not without justification, have gotten fed up with savannah's insular nature. the editor of the savannah georgian who wrote in 1818 just before he left, which by the way was two years before savannah burned to the ground twice,

wrote this parting shot. may all your free citizens, wealthy or poor, be bribed for their votes as they have here before. may every quack doctor be patronized and his talented be judged by the length of his bill. may all your quack lawyers find phenes for their tongues and their brains get the applause that is glued to their lungs. may your miserly merchants steel from their pents and with scarce brain show a good deal of sense. now to finish my curses upon your ill city and express in few words all the sum of my didy i leave you a savannah a course

that is far. the course to remain as you are. however, we certainly had our people that have been charmed by savannah. one of them being john bearant two in the early '90s wrote midnight into the garden of evil. one of the best-selling books in the history of publishing. matter of fact, tour tourism is the economy went up 40% a year after midnight in the garden of good and evil came out. he wrote the following on savannah. a softer look. to me, savannah's resist to change was a saving grace. the city looked inward and sealed off from the noise and distraction of the world at large. it grew inward in a way that the people flourished like hot house

plants tended to by a gardner. the ordinary became extraordinary. every nuance achieved greater brilliance in that inclosure than would have been possible anywhere else. thank you so much for your attention. [applause] >> if anybody would like to ask any questions i would be glad to give it a try. yes? >> when you talked about the conversation movement in the '50s you mentioned a bunch of little old ladies in tennis shoes. john williams was involved as well. i know the gay community -- >> jim williams. >> the gay community was very involved from early on as well.

has there been a thriving gay community in savannah for a long time or did that just start in the past part of the twenteth century. >> you know, in terms of chronlogical i don't have a feel for that. but i think there is a thriving community here in that regard. i am sure they have done many positive things in that regard. yes, lisa. >> can you tell us a little bit about the native americans that were found when they arrived in 1773. >> these were the yama crawl creak people a lesser branch of the creak nation which covered the southeast. and the charokees appeared in

they home state. the chief is said to be seven feet tall but we know better. well we don't know. he was said to live a hundred years old. he was open minded toward english settlement with the creak indians with the leadership of thomas chichi were helpful to the earliest colonist with planting. in fact, chichi was savannah's first historic hero. he died in 1740 and was buried in reynolds or which square? right. right. thank you. there is a story about being buried there and say in the n19h century a member of another family was buried.

the founder of the girl scouts in 1912 is julia gordon lowe. during her reception when she was married, carla rice, subsequently over the years she became deaf in one ear. since they put that giant gordon monument up over the grave every time they have bad luck they think it is the curse getting them again. the creaks were not part of the trail of tears. they kept going westward. >> preston, in your opening, you used the phrase that i read in your book and heard before that savannah is owned by the jews

and run by the irish and enjoyed by the crackers. i like you and the hillbilly from the hills of north georgia not tennessee. i have always wanted to add and the work was done by the african-americans. you made the indication when it became economically important to have cheap labor that that was the case. both savannah and atlanta, georgia's main cities, came through the civil rights movement in a much better position than any other cities in the south. birmingham was tarred by its response to the civil rights movement obviously. do you have anything to share about how the civil rights movement was received in savannah? >> i was not here. this would been in the 1960's.

i do remember, let's say in the georgia chronicle, in the last ten years there was a story about the integration of savannah and it had a pickup like atlanta the city too busy to hate. and savannah was too busy to what? do you remember lisa? the city to -- it was a positive statement about the comparative peaceful integration during the 1960's of savannah. two people i do know of were malcolm mcclain who was the mayor and ww law who was a postman and head of the naacp. they worked closely together to open swimming pools and all kinds of things to get things done in a quiter way. as a matter of fact, in the article, which i cannot

remember, martin luther king junior was quoted in 1964 by saying savannah was the most integrated city in america. not just the south but in america. so -- yes? >> could you tell us a little bit about savannah's famous song writer whose 100th birthday we just celebrated? >> it is johnny mercer but i don't have much to tell about him. i don't know much about him or have any good stories about him. sorry. anybody else? yeah? >> one thing you have not mentioned that plays a big role in savannah is the military beginning with hunter army airfield. and also fort stewart's follow-up. but the history of hunter army

airfield is quite interesting. i am sure you have some stories about that somewhere. >> yeah. they are not in the book in the the 94th air force was stationed there. they did the day time bombings. something like 32,000 airmen died during those year bombings germany. a great tribute. and related to military and the economy this was a significant station during the spanish-american war in 1798 for troops gathering here along with tampa. there was a significant role here concerning that conflict. and like maybe a lot of other places, certainly shipping was built a lot during world war ii

here which must have helped the economy as well. >> when did the ports become so important to savannah? >> i am not much of a maritime historian. i don't really know. it was certainly beginning in the late 19th century like the 1880s. they had stuff like naval stores and turpentine and i am a physician so i don't have much practical mind on, you know, imports and exports. but it was definitely the late 19th century when all of that began and just kept growing and growing. we keep climbing up the ladder we may or may not be the second largest port on the eastern seaboard if not the third. we are doing pretty good in that

regard. >> i heard one reason sherman didn't burn savannah is they needed the port of savannah and the machine shops that were here in savannah. >> he came because he needed to be refitted with the northern navy. ne needed supplies and everything. that might be a factor. sherman loved this place. it was the winter of 1864, the war was pretty much over, savannah was the first city in the south to officially rejoin the union that took a pledge even before the civil war was officially over. yes? >> also the 40 acres of the new thing started here? >> isn't that like what the field order or something? you are up on that? it todd still here? that is correct. they put a marker down at

madison square that covers that background. >> i think was it at the green meldrom house? >> yes, right, related to that house. >> one thing about sherman's march to the sea is he needed railroads all the way from atlanta to savannah which is why the railroad museum here has the only intact pre-civil war turntable still working. it is because the chairman needed. he cut the rail lines going to either brunswick or to south carolina but left the lines from atlanta to savannah open with the turntable. >> interesting. i was just watching something on the history channel in terms of the magnitude of the rail system. starting at the american civil

war the north had something like 160,000 miles of rail. lots and lots of miles. whereas, the south had 28,000. huge disporportioniate of rails >> can you tell us about the gray brick history. i think it was lost from generation to generation. >> i don't know how they were made. >> nobody knows the source but they are the most sought out. >> the savannah graves are sought out but unfortunately i didn't cover that in our book. thank you for your attention and for coming tonight. [applause]

[inaudible discussions]

>> and you are watching booktv on c-span2. this is live coverage at the savannah book festival. in about 30 minutes the next author event will begin. but in the meantime, here is more from our 2011 visit to this city.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> this weekend booktv is live in savannah, georgia landmark historic district for the ninth annual savannah book festival. let's look at authors who called savannah home. born in 1889, conrad akin pub x

published his first book of poems. aikin served as the poetry consu consultant to the congress. critically acclaimed short sfoer story writer flannery o'connor was born in savannah. by the age of 20, she published several stories including a good man is hard to find which was a finalist for the 1956 national book award for fiction. she battled the autoimmune disease lupus for many years. she was awarded a book award for her collection "the complete stories of flannery o'connor" james alan mcfearson was born in savannah and earned a degree

from morris brown college, harvard law school, and the university of iowa. his pulitzer prize was awarded for a collection of short stories. he wrote essays and books about his culture identity such as crab bangk crab cakes. bruce eiler is the author of walking the bible and abraham that looks like weekly lives of religious people. that wraps up our list of some of savannah's native authors. >> joining us is the northwestern professor of law. you have written a book we are going to discuss today. what is shaking baby syndrome?

>> shaken baby syndrome is a diagnose with extreme criminal liability. it is basically murder because it proves murder or child abuse where the child lived. despite the fact it imminates from doctors it is a criminal issue >> you don't see shaken baby syndrome as a medical issue? is it a legitmate issue? >> that is an interesting question. it really is about diagnosing child abuse and finding a cause in abuse, finding a perpetrator, as opposed to a treatment.

it is a consulation of symptoms that doctors have said and continue to say can prove a baby was abused and can prove who abused the baby. >> when was it first used as a medical term and a legal term? >> we see it in the medical literature going back to the early '70s. in the united states it first came up on appeal in a criminal case in the early '80s and exploded in the 1990s. >> why? >> it is probably a variety of factors. the rise of child abuse as a speciality in the area of doctors, a greater attention to child abuse and rightly so, and training on part of the prosecutors. it became an idea in the

prosecutorial community and took hold in the '90s. >> what has been the legal affect of shaken baby syndrome? >> caregivers, sometimes parents but often caregivers, have been sent to jail, more often prison, on the bases of this diagnoses. that is what we see in the criminal justice system. in family court we see the removal of children from those suspected of shaking babies. >> you tell the case study of jennifer del pret. who is she and what happened to her? >> she was a caregiver in illinois and was caring for a young baby. she was a parent of two children herself and had had raised these children on her own. she was accused of shaking this baby in a case that i describe as pair dimmatic of this

diagnose meaning it is representative of the kind of facts we see why look across this category of shaken baby syndrome and we look to see how the legal system treateded the diagnosis. she was convicted on the three neuro logical systems that define this diagnose. she proclaimed innocence throughout the proceeding and she was sentence to decades in prison. where her case takes a twist is in the past few years when the diagnose has come under attack jennifer del pret was able to convince a federal court judge here in chicago that she was very likely innocent of the charges against her and she was released from prison pending the resolution of her case. she still has outstanding legal claims that need to be resolved

but she convinced a judge she probably wasn't guilty of these charges and should be at the very least not be incarcerated while finding constitutional claims. >> she is released? >> she is >> is she working? is she allowed to be around children? >> i don't believe she is. i believe a condition of her release is she can not work with children. she has grown children of her own. her children were young when they she was sent to prison. >> in your book flawed conditions you describe jennifer. what is her background besides being a caregiver? >> she was a real mom, active in her church and active around taking care of the children in the church, she was very involved in her children's lives and those of her children's friends as i understand it.

her home was a gathering place for kids. i should say she never had any trouble and was never accused of doing anything hurtful to a child or having a temper and this is based on witnesses who testified for and against her at her trial. >> what is the medical evidence of a shaken baby that is used? >> the classic evidence is the triad of symptoms. the first is bleeding beneath the outer most membrane layer of the brain. retinal hemorrhage which is bleeding beneath the back of the eye or in the back of the eye. and cerebal adema which is sweating. so those triad proves violent

shaking by the caregiver left with the baby when the baby was lucid. >> so the legal community, or some in the legal community, have challenged this. what else could have happened to that baby if the baby has the triad of symptoms? >> the doctors recognize a number of causes can bring about this triad of symptoms. sometimes they are referred to as mimics of abuse because you can not distinguish them from the classic triadf of symptoms we are talking about. there are natural causes, metabolic disorders, autoimmune disorder, bleeding disorders, a child can have a stroke or seizure and they can bring about the three symptoms that were once thought to conclusively prove abuse. >> in your research, how many people do you think are probably implies -- imprisoned

wrongly -- because of shaken baby syndrome? >> it is so hard to read because for decades no one was keeping track of this. it is only recently that the project here at northwestern has started to collect data on a national bases and they posted this online. they collected upwards of 3,000 cases i believe of shaken baby syndrome over the past decades. certainly not all of those cases have resulted in a criminal conviction. but we can assume based on their data, based on reported appellate cases, hundreds and hundreds. >> what is the midel justice project? it >> it is a project out of the journalism school here at northwestern and shaken bear

baby syndrome is only one project they work on with the take of improving the justice system. >> how did you get involved with shaken baby syndrome? >> i am a former prosecutor and worked in the manhattan office and handled domestic violence and other cases and child abuse cases. so i was trained on this triad of symptoms and its significance. i learned from my doctors and expert witnesses what this was supposed to mean. then i left the d.a.'s office to become a law professor and think about shaken baby syndrome not much, if at all, until a read a case coming from the appeals court in wisconsin in 2008,

audry evans, was convicted based on the triad of symptoms and she had her conviction have vacated. evans was probably someone who likely did nothing to this child she was alleged to have shaken. i wondered about whether this was right; this reasoning was right. i was concerned because i knew based on my training as a prosecutor that so many cases were factual indistinguishable from evans. the same triad of symptoms convicted her convicted many others. t so if the court was right that the science shifted and there

are so many unknowns such that audrey evans needed her case overturned i wondered how the system would adapt to looking into other cases like hers. i want to figure out if the shift in scientific thinking had really occurred and what the p implications for criminal justice would be. >> are there legit cases of shaken baby syndrome? >> those in the bio community would say someone cannot shake a baby and only bring about the triad of systems. you would see neck or spine involvement or bruises. and then there are those who say maybe you can, and maybe it is a real diagnoses but we cannot feel confidant about diagnosing

it based on these three symptoms alone. no one denies that babies are abused and that abusers should be held accountable. i should add that. there are certainly cases where a prosecutor should go forward based on medical collaboration beyond this triad of symptoms i am talking about. the cases i write about in my book are triad-only cases. >> and you are saying there are thousands of those triad-only cases? >> well the database online now doesn't break the diagnoses down into triad-own as opposed to triad-plus. i don't know if there are thousands but i know hundreds. >> why are so many of these cases ending with guilty pleas? >> the evidence against these

defendants was seen as overwhelming. the prosecution was able to present expert after expert who would testify with certainty that this triad of symptoms meant abuse and abuse by the defendant on trial. until recently there wasn't a whole lot the defense could say in response. it wasn't until recently the defense was able to find experts who could challenge that viewpoint. it wasn't until recently we knew about alternative causes of the triad. with the overwhelming evidence against even innocent defendants i think would be enticed by some kind of deal that allowed a plea of guilty with a much lesser sentence than the sentence that those defendants would face if they were convicted after trial. so some of the cases i write about involve a very steep

sentencing disparity with the sentence after trial being up to life or 30-40 years. the deal offered by the prosecutor in some cases was time served so plead guilty and get out of jail now. it is not simply in the shaken baby context we ought to have concerns about those kinds of pleas. >> we talked here at northwestern with professor robert burns and we talked about the plea bargaining. do prosecutors feel pressure to offer plea bargains to get this case off the books? >> absolutely. a prosecutor feels that pressure, defense attorneys feel that pressure, judges feel that pressure. it really is sort of the way that the criminal justice system as it is now constituted keeps moving, keeps running, keeps working. without those pleas there would

be a drain on the system requiring resources that to date we just haven't invested in our system. so in some jurisdictions up to 90% of cases are resolved in guilty pleas. the effects of that are felt throughout the system >> northwestern university professor of law debra turk hiemer thank you for being on booktv. [inaudible conversations] >> we are back live at the 2016 savannah book festival. next up you will hear from veteran travis mills. he will share this recovery from

an ied explosion that left him a quadruple amputee. this is booktv's live coverage from savannah on c-span2. [inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. welcome to the book festival. we hope you are having a good day so far. [applause] >> i welcome you back to the

ninth annual book festival. there is not a better place to be than this beautiful, historic trinity united methodist church which is made possible by the generosity of bob and gene and south state baj bank. we could not keep this fesival free and open to the public without our individual donors. if you would like to lend your support to the book festival, we welcome your productions and provided yellow buckets for book deposits at the door. please take a moment to turn off your cellphone. and we ask for no flash photography. for the question and answer portion we ask you to line up in the center aisle with the mike here and our volunteers will

help keep you in line. immediately following the presentation mr. mills will be signing copies of the book. we welcome the "tough as they come" today. the u.s. has been involved in a war in afghanistan for more than 12 years and our next author retired staff sergeant lost almost everything in fighting in afghanistan. he is one of five soldiers to survive a quadruple amputation. through willpower, endurance and no small amount of fate he has

lived with a capital l. living by the creed never give up, never quit. he swims, dances with his wife, rides mountain bikes and drives his daughter to school every day except on days when he is inspiring folks like us. i want you to know he has a better introduction for himself. i am proud and honored to welcome travis mills. >> thank you so much. that was a great introduction. i tell people when they come out and see me and someone

introduces be i say what do you call a guy without arms or legs in the ocean? bob. travis mills. nice meeting you guys. let me start off with my thank you to the savannah book festival. thanks for having me. my father in law and brother drove down so we are happy. the hosts are the most phenomenal people. if you don't know them you need to. a couple things about me everybody needs to know. one, i am awesome. two, i am humble. in that order. you get the idea there? i have pretty cool tricks. yup.

and i wrote a book so i'm an author, too. what? [applause] >> i know you are not supposed to read from your book so luckily i didn't bring one up on stage. i was told not to do that. they said don't do that. this book, "tough as they come," documents what happened to me, my family and what why did to get through it. but random house took a chance on me. random house publishing, crown, penguin, took a chance on me telling my story and i was able to tell it in a positive way. i am not a pity story. i live life to the fullest and i am thankful for being alive. i have been able to do some pretty cool things with this being on the top of the list. being here is awesome. i want to express my gratitude for everybody that serves. the first thing you will read is thank you for your service if you served. i didn't serve anymore or harder than anybody else.

i just had a case of the mondays. rough day at work. bomb. oh, no, monday. the next thing it says is i don't think my problems are worse than anybody elses. we have thinks to deal with. visu visually i like different. if i catch you starring i know what you are going to do. but it is a train wreck so you wait for me to look away. oh, no, he caught me. everybody thinks i am a great person which most days i am. i am not above anyone else. the worst thing i did with this injury is a little seven year old was looking at me drinking a subway cup, she looks and keeps starring, i didn't want to be starred out and her mom looked in. and i leaned in and said you know who did this to me?

the boogie man under our bed or the monster in the closet. it gets worse. i said and they are coming for you next. granted i don't know if i would do that again. well, no, if i didn't do it in the first place i still would. it is a great story. but no, "tough as they come" documents everything. let me tell you a little about myself. i am from michigan. go blue. anyone from ohio? it is impressive it takes ohio with two people. someone says oh you think of ohio. michigan is an eight letter world and i can tell it for you. 18 years old i went to play a little bit of college football. i had a girlfriend who vinced me i should move home and thought it was a great idea. i met her boyfriend collin

randomly. i wasn't supposed to. he was a secret. it got awkward after that. so i joined the military in 2006 and i was in basic training in fort benning, georgia. i wanted to come back as it was the only time i was here. i hated coleslaw. all they wanted me to do was eat it and i could not say no. sorry, it takes me back there. i went to fort brags in north carolina and served three deployments. my first deployment i met a girl here on my space, i know crazy, and we decided -- she was 18 and i was 20 -- that we were going to mexico first time we ever met. i have a little girl -- i would kill that man. but luckily my brother-in-law, who was my a medic overseas,

chased me with a knife and wanted to kill me. how do you get a medic who wants to kill you when he is a medic? we got married shortly after and i only took four showers that year -- by choice. all right. you guys are with me. we are still doing this. a lot of fighting, came back, bought a house, had a baby -- well my wife had the baby. i was part of the process but we will not get into that. nobody? okay. whatever. i will keep going. i just talk. my wife gets really annoyed at me by it. but on my third deployment you guys can probably guess i was wrestling sharks and -- not at all what happened actually. stepped on a bomb. became a triple amputee right away. two days later they cut my left hand off and on april 14th, 2012

i woke up for the first time in germany who my brother-in-law who is in the room and explains what happened. and my mom and dad's favorite day of the year this day because their middle child was born. me. let me tell you about the process. first kid was born, whoops, let's try it again. that is my older sister. not that great. next kid, me, perfection. right? no, it was. and then they were like let's have another one. third kid -- whoops. let's drag these two along until 17 and the middle is our favorite. they will not admit that but it is definitely true in my eyes. but, no, i hit a bomb, had to recover. on april 17th i went to walter reed, on april 18th, i told her to take everything we had and

go. i had a four month old at the time. i said i will support you anyway i can. i will pay for everything you need but i cannot -- i don't know what to do about this and she said that is not how this works. she wanted that close parking. yeah, no. she is like you are going to try to deprive me of close parking? i am part of the vip team. little blue tag! front row wherever i go. i love it. you know, i said you saw me on facebook you might have saw i stepped on a bomb for $10. i came out ahead. if you didn't see that you will come across it maybe. no, i am thankful for the opportunities i have. my recovery was 19 months long. the first thing for my first wok out was i got in an argument with my doctors and said i wanted to work out and they said i couldn't. there is a wheelchair next to my

bed. a powered one. i was trying to make a statement. i went over to my occupational therapy and after four hours of calling him every half hour, he let me lay on the table and stretch out and i fell asleep for 20 minutes. best regimen every. i keep it to this day. check it out. and i do karaoke. i can step up here and ramble and tell jokes. first time i met george bush i was so nervoused i pulled a forest gump. i was like i am so nervous i could pee right now.

as i am leaving to go to the library walks ms. bush. and she said you are coming in. had you are you? i love your work, barbara. and she said the name is laura. no, i didn't mess that up really. maybe i did? i don't know. but i really am very appreciative of the exposure i get. i tell people it is all about perspective with me. people wonder how i have such a good attitude and keep smiling and i have had a lot of friends not make it back home. if you are in the service, you know what i am talking about. seven months after i was hit my buddy got hit in a hum vee and all five people died.

he had a three year old and a wife. he will never hold his wife's hand again, take his daughter to school, or see his mother for the holidays. i think it would be selfish if i didn't keep going forward. i have the ability to take my daughter to school, go to the gym, take my wife on dates. nobody wants to hang out with me because i lost my arms and legs -- that is a joke. the book is near-time best seller. khloe kardashian is beating me in my bracket right now. and i am all about winning. we can do it all together. remember when you buy "tough as they come" we are beating khloe kardashian. so let's only talk for 20 minutes. if you have questions nothing offends me. i am setting the precedents.

ask whatever you want. no? okay. keep going. the book is not politically based. it has an underlining tone of faith but i didn't push it. it is about overcoming what happened to me. surgery, nine doctors, seven nurses and two nurses are seven hours pumped air into my lungs. i met 6-9 doctors and thanked them for their service and what they did for me and my family. i don't considered myself wounded. i have scars, awesome scars. ladies, i am married. gentlemen, i am married. i am sorry. i have had really need experiences. i am a peer mentor and people

through situations. i run a non-profit that was supposed to start off just giving care packages overseas. they want peppered beef jerky, peanut m&m's, and orbit gum. as the president, i don't pay myself and i will never pay myself or board members a salary. we bring people up to maine, where we live, which by the way i am grateful to go in the south. we raised about $900,000 and we can bring families up for 12 weeks of summer, more like eight but whatever, we are doing great things. check out travismills.org. i guess i will take questions now if anybody has any. if you don't, it will hurt my feelings. if anyone wonders why i am

dressed like this think about if you take these legs off they are pants. yeah, i know. that is a long sleeve right there. any questions on how this works? >> when you want to take questions you have to call on somebody and force them -- >> you have a question? yes, ma'am, what is your question. >> you and i have met before and shared a commander in chief. i wonder if you could tell

everybody more about meeting president bush when you came back. and also a little bit about your foundation. it is doing great work and there is a lot of different foundations doing great work but what do you think would be the best way to try to streamline that work so we are reaching the most amount of wounded warriors who need our help because it feels like some are falling through the cracks. >> president bush is thankful for our service and took the sacrifices are being hard. he hung out until i said i have to go, sir. and he said you don't have to go but i said no, i have other plans. he is helping with moral. we brought all of the non-profits together to fix things. my website has a bunch i am a

believe in. separate five fund and garrison niece, by the way, if you text him, he does a lot of emojis. i am an ambassador for him. in new york city, i just walked a 5-k, and this is five months after my exposure. i fall on the ground. a body guard picks me up and he is trying to help me stand and he is doing the heimlich. and my legs don't lock unless someone does it. then i said buy me dinner this is getting awkward.

find out in my story about the experimental -- second in the nation, 30th in the world that worked out really well. so i quit all medications, and my prosthetics are done somewhere else. they support me at the va in

maine. if have nothing but great things to say about them and walter reed and the nation. also, keep paying your taxes because this stuff is expenses. sometimes that joke works. at colleges it doesn't. yes, sir. [inaudible question] >> from the time you were wounded how quick my were you med-evacked. >> i was at 4:30, within ten minutes i had a helicopter there so my medic and i platoon sergeant put tourniquets on me reside -- residual limbs. the left leg was hanging off, and my left hand was there pinky and ring finger were gone and my wrist blown off.

i was on the ground with my left side of my face and i rolled over and looked and said, this is horrible. what do i do? i just hit a bomb. i need my medic. my medic came running up, told them to leave me areason, and save my guys. i wasn't suicidal. i thought there's no way i'm going to make this itch i wasn't going to go out crying. he said let me do my job. fixed me up and within ten minutes i was in a helicopter. from there rushed into surgery. kept trying to sit up on the bed, telling the door -- doctors i can get back up. and i thought i would never see my little girl again because she was six months old. from that time to after the surgery i was shift to bagram afghanistan, then to germany, on the 13th we arrived and i woke up on the birthday to find out what happened to me, happen 25th. we sent to the states on the

17th. and then five weeks into the explosion i was outpatient. had me left hand put on and seven weeks and four day is was taking my first steps around walter reed. so i was very fortunate in my recovery. [applause] >> thank you. >> i'm jamie nichols. i'm an ohio girl in savannah, and i understand you like -- i wonder if we could help you get set up. >> i hate to admit this. i have to get to miami but i would love that. something, i don't know about the ghost stories. my wife doesn't watch scary movies so i'm stuck by myself watching them. so scary. i can't run away. my leg is usually off so that's okay. that would be great. i plan on coming back with my wife and showing her this great city. >> the hotel conference, the con

-- glad to hook you up with the ghost scare. >> i appreciate that. am i going to get scared? >> one trip josh, he didn't trip you, or she? no. whatever. okay. thank you so much. i appreciate it. >> happy valentine's day. >> aim married, but thank you. >> i'm married, too. i wanted to find out -- you don't get paid through your foundation so you make money from selling books or how too you -- >> selling books, speaking. i'm also retired from military so i do that. so we have a different -- couple different avenues to make sure i can take care of my family, but as far as the foundation that's correct all about giving back. never want to take a salary. we have to pay our staff but the board members never get paid. it's all about giving back. some foundations need to but

this one we don't. [applause] >> another buckeye. >> the worst. >> we're going gang up on you. and you know, your coach at the university of michigan is a buckeye. i can keep going. anyway, first -- >> made a great switch, then, obviously. there's more presidents from ohio than anywhere else? >> that's correct. >> they want to change the world they had it so bad. [laughter] >> on a serious note, on behalf of everyone here ex-i'd like to thank you for everything you have done for this country. >> thank you very much. i appreciate that. [applause] >> thank you. i appreciate that. i was just fortunate to serve my country. i love my job. i would never get blown up again but would still sign up for the

army. it was a great ride, and i am happy with the way the government takes care of my medical needs and my family and things like that, my retirement and my wife and stuff like that. so we have been blessed with living in a great nation. >> not to keep blowing smoke, but also -- >> build me up. i love it. >> miss perino said earlier, i'm really impressed be the fact of your foundation and you take nothing, especially after reading a recent "new york times" piece about the wounded warriors program and how little money is going the warriors versus what is helping make it go. but my big question is, do you have another book? >> not right at the moment. we're thinking of what i can do for the next book. aim a mentor with a lot of ptsd guys in the army. i take a different spin on it so we're thinking of a hard truth bit or fitness by forecasts, where we eat a lot of cheesecake. some barbecue, and then figure

out how we can make this work into our diets. spoiler alert. never works out. except for happiness, that's what you get when you eat cheesecake and barbecue. we're work that out right now. maybe you get excited and we'll have a movie and then you can play me in the movie. you look like -- you got it? you stand in the mirror and flex and then eventually it comes. i actually ripped my skin open lifting weights. now it's my soon to be girlfriend, i never met in person, so i had to look good. not the brightest guy right here. i got a truck big enough where i couldn't get into it from the ground. i had to put run can boards on it to get into it. idiot. i know. no one claimed i was the smartest, but i love chess. who wants to play me in chess?

let me no. i'm that good. just kidding. i'm trying to hustle you out of money. >> i have a couple questions. just because i didn't introduce you the way you wanted me to. >> you nailed it. i was just giving you options. >> all right. as you travel for speaking engagements, to different states what are the best ways you see communities helping local vets? >> having vet centers, getting where they have job fairs and they understand what the veterans have done overseas and understand their jobs in the military and how they can plug them into society and having resource officers that are veterans that know what the balance is between the militarys' civilian life. when people get out you would never guess i had great custodial duties. i could cut grass like nobody's business, with scissors. management skills. i was in charge of 700 lives and told them where to go and how to

do it and if it made a mistake it was their life on the line. so how somebody knows military speak and i have seen communities in the u.s. trying to do that more and get veterans back to work and understand how to plug them in. >> can i ask you another? >> you got it. everybody is like, oh, my gosh, aim going to catch what he has some. >> we talked about that the foundation is raising funds for national retreats. are there other foundation projects going on? >> right now we're doing the programming for -- to raise 2.7 to have programming for five years. kayaking, boating, tubing, fishing, bro -- pro bass and they catch fish. we want to build a network that people can get back out there and do things and chris everyday activities with their families because i do it every day, but someone might be less inclined

to try something new if they're not around people in the same situation. so the foundation is very -- has been very helpful in showing people what they can still achieve and building confidence. we have had two proof of concepts which made us decide that this was a direction we wanted to go, and we had four families and then we had seven families come up to maine, the last two years, and just been such a great support from everybody around maine and the nation, plus the people that get to come benefit from it, can go away a skill, they can go and do things. we don't just show them how to do and it send them home. we give them tools to night their own house and their own area. i'm out there hopefully encouraging people, and they know they can call me if they have an issue or problem. the wives are in this together. my wife and i text messages with six other wives. they talk about nothing in general. they're all, bling, bling, bling. i'm like, it's 11:00, but she

said, daniel danielle and page sis this -- i'm like this, stop. that the right ones. good style. it's a joke. well, it's not. i really do -- impressed. i was just trying to tell jokes to keep everybody entertained. uh-oh. he found me last night so i know it's coming. >> an easy one. we spoke last night, and i know your agent pretty well. i wondered, just share with the audience the process of how you sold the book and your reaction when it actually was sold. >> absolutely. so, we went to a couple meetings where we had five meetings scheduled, random house, and simon some schuster and other big names and went to random house and my literary agent said there will be one or two people here to interview.

i walked in the room and there was seven elm he said don't talk to fast, which you can tell i do already. when i shake people's hand is tell them, our, it hurts or i spin it in a circle. and he said, don't do your slapstick humor, and i did. he said don't talk too long. we were there for an hour. and then i left and when i crossed the street, and as he was telling me what i did wrong, we got an offer to talk all the other offers own the table. i said what did i do wrong? he said literally everything but you can get away with it. i play golf and my handicap -- that's how it went. when i went to another meeting the next day i met with the sales force and with barnes & noble and amazon and walmart, and a bunch of other people. no one liked me until i cried, and then they said, whatever. want to have your book.

it was pretty cool process, seeing how it comes together. took eight to nine months in total with editing and revisions and i had someone help me with my writing because -- i used to be right-handed. now i'm left. but it's a fun process. the worst part before the the process is when i had to narrate it. that was the worst three days of my life. nine hours a day in a hot booth. talking too fast. it was a fun process and looking forward to future projects with random house or anybody that wants to partner up and see what we can do. >> i'm originally -- my name is m.j. learner and i'm originally from michigan. >> that's right. >> wolverines. >> that's right. go blue. i get it i-i'm al from maine and i heard you speak at a rehab hospital several years ago, when i was there rehabbing from

something, and you were with -- >> you look familiar. >> you withwith the governor's wife and had just gone skydiving with her. you should tell about that. >> the governor's wife is onboard wife verns in maine and is a great friend. you call her first lady but a she wants to be call anna banana. and i got an option to skydiven into event and i said i'll only it if ann does it, thinking i would get out of it. ann said, sure. so the next big event i'm going to challenge her to go great white shark diving in a cage with me. they can't bite my arms and legs off. i'm not that worried. because they're gone. but ann is a very great supporter of the foundation, an advisory board member, and i'm thankful to have them six miles down the street from hi mouse. i go in the service entrance, not the front door. wanted you to know that. and then they come out and treat

me like i'm family, i guess. they're like, sit down, quit. they're great. yes, ma'am. i like your boots, by the way. >> my name is mary alice and i used to work -- my old boss used to have -- he had lost his arm -- i'm not sure how -- but in army, trying to detonate a bomb, and he has -- i'm curious how your arms work, john used to wear a vest and had hooks and they would open -- >> tom -- come on up here. i need your help. >> i remember he couldn't get coins or -- >> come on up. demonstrate. ladies and gentlemen. mary ellen, right? >> right. >> my demonstrator. >> ladies and gentlemen, how this works. ever rode a motorcycle before? >> no. >> moped? okay. make fist like this now. rev the engine on a motorcycle.

that's down go up -- let them here the noise. i need you right now. i need you right now. >> vroom vroom. >> the muffler right here, i have my arm up to right here, so the muscle right here on your hand, when i you flex it toward the ceiling slow it flexes and opens. now rev it up fast. i can't hear you revving it. fast. vroom, vroom, vroom. >> right. so you picked it up fast, rotates to the left until i stop the flex. now make a fist and drop your hand to the ground the other way. make a -- errr. so the mussel down here, you -- the muscle down here -- hit he brakes hard. i can't here it. >> crash? >> no. >> that's why i don't ride a motorcycle. >> don't forget the brake. don't just crash.

>> errr. hitting the brakes. so that's how fast and slow i switch the muscles. that's one way. ladies and gentlemen, there's new technology out there, so this technology is actually horrible. walter reed has three guys trying to step out -- wait, wait. you can't go anywhere now. you have to hang out, mary ellen. so walter reed has all this technology and voice activated control, like, hey, siri -- they have voice activated control. so click this button, blue light is on. it's engaged. now i'm like, open. close. how cool is that? >> super cool. >> a cup of coffee with shorts on. and someone says close spills all over you in your white shorts. to be fair i said close, and i was cover -- anyway, my mom and dad's house at my daughter's birthday pear, we were living in

michigan, and she had a big remodel done. we had a machine and i was like, open that window. and it was beige carpet that came out. how bad do you think i felt. i want to show you, give it a close. i just did it. your hand worked fine. [laughter] >> just saying. >> i'm opening. >> open. >> one more time. >> open. >> usually works. give a little growl. baritones -- >> are you kidding me? >> no,. >> open! >> try one more time. do a little growl, raspy, ike open. >> open. >> really loud. really loud. ready? open! >> open! >> so ladies and gentlemen, you realize i said open three times. so, mary ellen, i appreciate you coming up. this button right here, on-off switch.

this one, that's my battery charger i have left. it's not voice activated. thank you for playing. [applause] >> i have to be honest. i've gotten peyton manning with the same thing. he kept yelling, "ohama." he didn't get it. and a couple other people -- thank you for playing. we have a -- two rows. craig, my father-in-law right here. yes, sir. >> hi, travis, drew brook. ptsd is a huge problem with guys coming back from the war. what's your take on that? what do you think will help? >> i know it's definitely out there definitely real. account call it the invisible -- i don't suffer for it but i do

counseling and instead of asking for feelings i'm like, look at what you have in front of you, your wife and two kids, why are you dwelling on the past, and see them what their future holds instead of dwelling on the past, i reminisce the past but as soon as there's more studies done and people nor more about it we'll open up programming for that at our foundation. i'm fortunate and i know that, not suffer from anything with ptsd or flashbacks or traumatic brain injury. so right now, try to mentor and counsel the best i can with my limited knowledge on what the situation is. but i definitely hope that people that need help, get help. that a big problem. very prideful and don't want to ask for help. and anybody can e-mail my web site and reach out to me, but i don't suffer so i don't know the symptoms of causes well enough to have people come to the camp and try to help them reform right now. we're hoping in five to ten years when more research is done, we can help people in those kind of situations.

thank you for the question. >> hello, sir. >> how's it going? >> one statement. i'm from bangor, myself. my one question is, why did you move to bangor? >> oh, yeah. it's not c-span so i can't tell my normal jokes. actually we had the ability to build a house anywhere in the nation we wanted. my body, when the heart boats it pushes the -- normal people get to fingers and toes and comes back cooled down mitchell goes to residual limbs and comes back warmer. a thirds of my body has three layers and it's caps off so i overeat very fast. also last week you really see from your body, head, hands and feet. i'm missing four of the five. you can't tell that but i am. so my wife and i moved to texas because she grew up at texas, at

age 11. wanted to go to dallas and that would have been great but i didn't want to have six amongst a year i was in ac and crying all the time. i'm a whine. then she is originally from maine and i told my wife to leave me, sell everything we had, and she didn't. she has huge family base up there, 140 people met in one day. had item press them. that's the first time we met, back in '08. they loved me. just like you guys do. but if she could sacrifice everything and help me through my recovery, sit by my bedside, i was in a medically induced coma for five days and she sat there until she was forced to go back to the room and come back itch thought my family is great, love. the. i i can fly out and see them. my mom and dad are retirement stage can visit me as much as i'll see them. we're meeting up in miami tomorrow, and my wife deserves to be around her family and we want to have more children. like i said no problem there. so, how great would it be if she

had that. not every day is roses in this situation she faced with, that she has decided to be in. she married me but that was in 2008 when i was 6'3", 250 pounds, and a different man. same person upstairs but she stuck with me and knew it would be a long road to recovery. so i thought why not move to mississippi for her -- move to maine for her? and we did. now i'm thinking, oh, crap. it's like, what, 40 below tomorrow or something. i'm not there, though. ha-ha-ha. pick tiers of me on the -- pictures of me on the beach. yes, sir. >> since you're up there now, do you find that you get great support from the politicians, the public figures, and also, since you're up there, do you find that you can bring more

support, more encouragement to the vets that are currently living up there? >> ly. the politicians are very gravity. i have no probable -- are very great. everybody is nice to me because i'm so pretty. on top of that, with helping the vets out and things like that, i'm able to be a voice because right now in this society everybody says, you're a veteran? and you must have the ptsd or problems or issues, and i'm hoping to get on the platform and stay not all veterans have issues weapon don't need a negative, what's wrong with this one? i'm here with a positive message, telling people never give up and never quit and keep pushing forward. it's anywhere i go. i feel thankful that i'm able to have the stage to tell people, don't pity me. i'm not a substory. i know i sound like marco rubio, repeating myself. i'm sorry. [laughter] >> that's not a good job? trump '16?

no? i like to help vets throughout the night. i travel quite a bit. we were just in san antonio at the alamo and now we're in miami and then st. louis, vegas, and orlando if you want to catch my next show. i was joking about the trump '16. i don't know if i was joking. whatever. yes, sir, a commanding voice. >> faced with the -- do you still interface with the active duty military? talk about that and -- >> absolutely. i talked to my old soldiers, my friends. we still get along. but the military has asked me to do a few things and i've been able to accommodate that. general odierno asked me to stay in the military and go around with him. i said i appreciate that about i don't want you to move me. i'm building a house in maine. he said we wouldn't move you. i said, i know because i'm moving. i broke down and said i can't do

my job anymore, which i love, infan tri. i enjoyed my job and i said if i can't do my job i don't want to put the uniform on anymore. i'm going to retire out with what i have and be thankful what i was able to do. i'm still active with supporting, still counseling soldiers. if they call me up for an event i can make, die it, and i talk to my friends regularly. throughout the nation. matter of fact one guy -- two guys got hurt with me the day i got blown up and they went home with me, and ryan has since had a child and named is phoenix travis after me is that correct was cool. in the book, you can see that there is a nice letter written from the flight medics after i yelled at them. i was yelling really loud and making them take their helmets off. i told them to take care of my buys and they couldn't believe it, the situation i was in. i hope everybody buys the book, and check it out on travis milts.org. i am not going to-for-you to buy it but you should feel awful if

you don't. i'm not an orthodox. buy it. i can see the timer is going you're in charge, not me. >> well, speaking of your book that we want everyone to buy dish jive you want, to don't feel obligated. >> travis will be out in fair square at the author book signing as soon as we leave here. he's going out there and signing books. just want to say, i am very honored and blessed to be here today, and i want to thank you for being here with us. >> thank you so much, everybody. i appreciate it. have a great day. don't forget to be back for dana. she is phenomenal. [applause]

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[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> that was veteran travis mills talking about his book "tough as they come." in a few minutes former white house press secretary and fox news host dana per recent know will talk about her most recent book and "and the good news

is... " first here's former seal team six member. he lives in savannah and this is from our 2011 visit. >> seal team six is a tier one counterterrorist movement. you have other seal teams. seal team six has additional funding, logistic tall support and training that means they're a temperature one unit which means they been called out at a moments' notice and go anywhere in the world. >> what sets them apart from the other teams, where they're sent or the training? >> there's some enhanced training. the big thing, cqb, close quarters battle is the biggest thing that sets them apart from the other teams, close quarters

battle, room-to-room fighting, like in this house, aboard a cruise ship, airplane, inside a building. that is taken to a whole new level at seal team six. >> what exactly does their training entail? first day of training. >> you have to understand you're already dealing with an elite caliber warrior. ail the seals have gotten all the land warfare training, winter training, warfare, skydive. >> have an elite warrior so the training that goes into fine-tuning these guys for a specific mission would be the cqb. more skydives, for example, more skydiving then in the other teams and learn to stack their canopies. so they get a whole team on target. >> and can you tell us about your time during the seals. what was your experience like?

>> well, you know, my experience overall was good. my career ender was during the whole blackhawk down where i was shot, but everything up to that was great. i had a lot of good ops as sale team two, and at seal team six in somalia, a lot of great ups, including helping other people and work with the cia everybody remembers the one bad in october 3, 18993. >> can you tell us about that battle? >> yeah. basically we had been in somalia for two or three months and we had been working trying to find the bad guy, the bad clap -- clan leader, and on that day we had intelligence threshing delta for guys and rangers had some intelligence he would be at a certain hotel. as it turns out, i think, and i think commonly -- most people think that it was an ambush. so during that combat, 18

americans were killed. 72, i think, were injured. and it was really bad day. the worst thing about the battle is, while we had broken the back of the al qaeda-backed clan, we tucked tail and left that unfinished over there which gave. the an eight, year incubation period before 9/11. >> and to go back a little bit, after you were -- completed your seal training you joined -- went to a sniper school? what is that like? >> yep. actually when i went to seal team two after my seal training, and i actually went and screened, went to seal team six before i went to sniper school. i didn't go to sniper school until i get to six. i was in six as an assaulter, door kicker, and then found out we need more snipers and volunteered for sniper school. the sniper school i went to is just south of you guys in quantico, virginia, the marine

corps scout sniper school. the most storied, prestigious -- i goo have went to any sniper style wanted to the. i chelsea that school because i felt that was the best sniper school at the time. >> what exactly is sniper school like? >> oh, gosh. you know what it's like in the summertime? imagine laying in the middle of the field in the summer time will have request clothes on crawling the ticks, red ants, mosquitoes and everything else and doing that for three or four hours a day, and without trying -- without get can seen, still making your shot, sweating profusely, and -- even when you're not doing your shooting, your range skills, you're still observing, doing field sketches, taking notes, observing, and keeping the hot suit on, moving around. that was tough. i tell everybody, sniper school wasn't as bad as hell week but pretty close. >> when someone who is a navy seal and wants to join team six,

first is there just a certain number in the team and how many people go out for it. >> there's manning requirements for seal team six just like any military unit. i'm not at liberty to tell you how many people are at six, but how many people are accepted depends on how many people they need. how many people are rove tating out because -- rotating out because you can't do that job forever. not and be an assaulter, be an effective one, and if you tried to then you're pushing the age limit, timing is going to slow down, et cetera. you stick around and be trainer or something like that but you have too have the fresh group of assaulters the door-kickers coming back in. so based on the needs, how many they screen for. they will screen more than they need because invariably somebody will get hurt or dropped from training. >> if somebody doesn't make it a thirst time is this a test someone can take over and over. >> never heard of someone being dropped from green team at seal team six and that training and then being allowed to woman

back. -- to come back. this is a one, shot deal. not saying it hasn't happened but i'm pretty sure. never heard of that. usual i live don't make it, you go back to wherever you came from. and i've never heard of anybody coming back again, unless, like i said, it's a medical injury that -- medical thing that you had no control over. maybe then go heal up and come back. that's the same way in buds. if you get hurt in buffeds and it's not your fault, for example, a guy got slammed nobody the rocks and hurt him. really hurt him. and he stayed around about six or seven months rehabbing and then continued his training. >> if you can, say around how long does someone stay in seal team six? >> this is what i've brain stormed and what i think. i think from six years to maybe eight years, in my opinion, would be the maximum amount of time because you can't take that tempo, that day in and day out

grind, that beating every single dale, and undown stairs, carrying equipment, training perpetually and having no real personal life to speak of. we're talking bat lifestyle -- about lifestyle. you have to mam doing your job for a living and being involved every day and being called up any time of night to too the job. i would say six to eight years would be your shelf life for being at that team. >> and that would be my next question. for home involved in such a covert opses group, what impact does that have on their family? i assume they account discuss it with their families. >> yeah. i mean, that's tough. when i went to seal team two, somebody told me the divorce rate among seals is like 70%. okay? so if you're looking at a unit whose divorce rate is already 70% and now going to a unit where you're away from your family more, doing more classified stuff that you can't talk about, for example, when i went to desert storm, my wife

back then knew i was going to desert storm. when i'd leave to do something from seal team six, she never knew where i bass going. she found out i was shot when the red cross called her and said, guess what, you husband has been shot three times. i think that people who go there have it harder in their family life and personal life than regular teams. so you have to take a break. >> when people heard the news that bin laden was shot and it was seal team six, everybody wanted to know who the people were but a they wanted to stay in the background, is it because of the nature of the seal or the mission. >> definitely the mission. you hear about seals two ways. something goes really, really bad, like me 0, some going ogoes really two. the two times you heard about things going good, when they shot the somali pirates and when bin laden was killed.

i can guarantee you with all the intel these guys got, when they raided that compound in abada bad. there's stuff gone on since then that number of us know about and don't need to know about. here's the sad thing. there's probably been a dozen becomes written on seal team six, minimum a dozen books by different members and et cetera. but nobody really cared about it until bin laden was killed. so, these are unsung heroes, so it's okay to read the books and that's -- first of all, reed the book so people can see the amount of training, preparation, dedication, and sacrifice, that these young men make, and the other thing is, overcome adversity. hardest thing i ever did was leave seal team six and come back so civilian life. almost cost me my life. i was in a really bad place. it's okay to know about them and talk about them. just don't try to involve yourself in their personal life. i heard there was a group of people trying to find out who they were and stuff like that.

now we're crossing the line. it's okay to talk about them and i think that america should be glad that we have people like this that are willing to go there and do that. >> when you've made that comment about transitioning into civilian life, how does somebody go through that intense training, make that transition and are some of them not able to make it? >> yep. here's what i understand or what i think most people do that leave that -- first of owl, coming out with a unique skill set. it's not a like you're coming out with anything that's like really marketable. so a lot of people go to a s.w.a.t. team. some letter team like fbi, dea, some people go to work for organizations like blackwater or whatever they've changed their name to now, which is what i was about to do until my wife talked me out of it, luckily. because i'd their be older and less tactical or dead in my case, coming out -- i'll give

you this. it was harder for me because if had three bullet wounds that cost me my career. i was going through a divorce. i had ptsd and wasn't willing to admit it because i'm a navy seal. i can't tell you that i'm -- and i viewed it as a weakness. ptsd. the other thing i had that i didn't realize i had, putting on my doctor's hat, was survivor's guilty. how come so many good guys, one guy in particular i talk about in the book, how come these good guys identity and i was allowed to live? and you think that you should just be grateful for that, but it really weighs on you, sometimes even now i'll still find myself thinking how come this guy died and i was allowed to live? so having all that weighing on me, coming back into society, was really hard, trying to assimilate back in. i was lucky. i melt the right woman. went back to school, became a chiropractor and now i have a job i love. that's the thing about seals.

they have to have a job they love. can't be lukewarm. and have to be making a difference. that's the whole thing in a seal's heart is making a difference, being someone special. >> at one particular point can you talk about the missions that you were on? >> yeah. that's a point because my book couldn't be written until now. we finished a year and a half ago but we had to wait for everything that happened with the cia in somalia to be out in the open, declassified, and the chief of station didn't interview the "washington post" and laid everything out so i was like, whew, now we can talk about it. mark bowden talked about it with the blackhawk downing? that's the cornerstone in my book. that op there are other ops i did in desert storm and stuff. once something is declassified, then you can talk about it but you still don't talk about tactics and techniques. the seals that reed my book will good, we wouldn't do it like that. exactly.

these the way it ills. -- so that's the way it is. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> the savannah book festival is held annual my in the landmark historic district in the downtown area. is attended by 10,000 people each year. this is the ninth year for the festival and in a few minutes we'll be back with more author talk from trinity united methodist church. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

this weekend booktv is live in savannah, georgia's, historic ticket for the ninth annual savannah book festival. let's look at some authors who call savannah home. born in 1889, conrad aiken published his first collection of poetry in 1914. his many awards include the pull litter prize for poet -- pull -- conrad aiken serveds a the poetry consultant the library of congress between 1950 and 1952, the precursor to today's u.s. poet laureate. he died at his home in savannah in 1973. flannery hoe connor was born in savannah in 1925 she published a

store, a goodbye man is hard to find, which won the award for fiction. flannery o'connor struggled with lupus before her death. she was i awarded the book award in 1972 for her collection, the complete stores flannery o'connor. the 1978 pulitzer prize winner for fiction, james allen mcpherson, was born in savannah in 1943. he earned degrees from morris brown college, harvard law school and the university of ohio. his pulitzer prize was awarded for a collection of short stories help has also written essays and nonfiction books about his life and cultural identity such as 1998's crab cakes. he is a prefer emeritus at the university of iowa's college of liberal arts and sciences. bruce filer ills the author of six consecutive "new york times" best sellers, including "walking the bible" and "abraham."

he also writes a weekly column about families for the sunday edition of "the new york times." that wraps up at our look at some of savannah's native authors. >> here's a look at upcoming book fairs and festivals happening around the country. on march 12th and 13th, booktv will be live at the university of arizona for the eighth annual tucson festival of books. the following week is the virginia festival of the book, held in charlottesville. then on saturday, april 2nd, the fourth annual san antonio book festival. and later that month, look for our live coverage of the 21st 21st "los angeles times" festival of books from the campus of the university of southern california on april 9th and 10th. for mr. information click the book fairs tab on our web site, booktv.org.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> this is booktv's live conk of the savannah book festival. former white house press secretary and fox news host dana per recent know will be up next. you're watching booktv on c-span2. [inaudible conversations] good afternoon. i aim chris aiken and i welcome you back to in nip annual

savannah book festival presented by georgia power, kelly, and the estate of ralph e. handsman. this beautiful historic trinity sanctuary has been made possible by bob and jean faircloth and south state bank. we'd also like to thank our sponsors, our members and individual donors who make saturday's free festival event possible. if you would like to lend your support to the festival, we welcome your donations and have provide yellow bucks for books buckets at the doors as you exit. before we get started i have a couple housekeeping notes. please take a moment to turn off your cell phones. we also ask that you have no flash photography, and for the question and answer portion, we ask that you line up down the center aisle and one of our volunteers will be there to assist you at the microphone. if you do not come to the center aisle, you will not be on c-span and c-span can't hear your

questions. so, please, please, come up to the microphone. immediately following the presentation, dana perino will be signing festival-purchased copies of her back, and let's thank our sponsors, safer vanna state university, jim and dana scavo and jeff and tracy skyberg. [applause] >> dana perino as an optimistic -- as other long-serving washington, dc press secretary, including many years for former president george w. bush, she has been the steady voice answering the gauntlet of questions during some of our nation's most tested years. in her new book, "and the good news is...

" she shares lessons and advice from the bright side. the one she earned and learned in the trenches from the white house to fox news, "the five" and she managed to keep a level head. please welcome, dana perino. [applause] >> wow. anybody here watch "the five"? [applause] >> thank you. chris, i am honored to be here with new friends, jim and dana scavo have been my sponsors spod jeff skyberger is here who is an older friend, and older, and tracy sky berg have become our good friends weapon met because our dogs met at palmetto bluff. jasper and grady, and if you follow us on facebook their name

is grasper. in. in i'm also honored my husband could join me. a lot of time outside have to travel to these event bid yourself but peter is here and you'll hear more about him as i talk about the book that came out last april, and i have also -- before i start i want to thank robert bin gold who -- robin gold. who has the cutest pink jacket on. she has been holding my hand through all the scheduling changes. did you know we're in the middle of a primary season? she made all of this work for me so i'm just really honored and thank you for coming out on a chilly but really beautiful saturday, and one of the best cities in america. [applause] , in. >> savannah, georgia, -- i grew up out west, and have lived inlets of different places, and

i found that this area, the low country, is the closest i feel to home. so thank you for welcoming my husband and i and jasper, and if you come to the book signing afterwards the real attraction of the day is going to be there jasper will bev outside. -- will be outside. all right. i was going to tell this really funny joke about being at a podium, when i was at the white house and i was a deputy press secretary to tony snow, and he was 6'5", and i was obviously not. tony snow, you might remember as one of the best press secretaries the nation has ever seen. [applause] >> yeah. what you myth not know is after he passed away in 2008 from complication of colon cancer, his daughter came and just graduated last may so that family is doing great and we should give them a round of applause because without tony snow i wouldn't be here.

[applause] >> so i'm not going to tell that funny joke because i looked at my husband and i said, i can't tell that joke in a church. so, peter is agreeing with me. so i'll tell you, it's in the book, and when you -- if you come across and it you figure out the joke could i not tell you in a church, send me a note on facebook and i'll respond. i'll tell you this joke instead mitchell book is called "and the good news is." i'm going to explain why. the book is about lessons of gratitude and humility and character. humility being one of the most important things you can learn because i've had all these amazing experiences. the first republican woman to serve as the white house press secretary and i served during times of terror threat and financial crisis and all sorts of other things that were going on in the world, as any press secretary does.

and i had this transition into television. and i had an opportunity to go up to new york and be on "the five" and it's a little traumatic to leave washington, dc. weed been there eight years. i really wasn't sure what i was doing to get to new york. before there was a jasper there was a henry, which you will read bat in the book, and i get to new york and i'm out of place. i grew up on a cattle ranch. so new york is so different, and i was a little frantic, and i wasn't sure what i was doing with my life. and i got invited to the jets' owner's book, woody and susan johnson, invited peter and i to come. peter grew up -- well, kind of an air force brat, royal air force brat. that what we would have called him. but he i british originally and came to america and became a citizen in 2005? -- 2006. he remembers that day very well. and he loves any american event.

so, parades, sporting events, dinners at the white house. he would go to any american event. so i came back and i said, peter, want to go to the jets' game? you watch the five you know i don't know a lot about sport us but i enough it would be catered by nobu. so, we went to the game. and i walk in, and i'm not really sure what i'm doing. i was just the white house press secretary and now i'm not sure what i am doing and i had show but didn't know it would be a success. that was five years ago. nobody knew "the five" would be a thing, and i walk in and this guy sees me oh, my gosh, love you've. i watch your show every day. i think you are amazing. you are so smart. i wish that every young american would listen to you. we would be so much better of. wow, you're amazing, and i thought, wow, maybe i'm finally accomplished something. this is great.

then he says, and could i say, you look great after the baby. and i realized, he thinks i'm megyn kelly. [applause] >> and i i didn't tell him i wasn't. and i tell megyn that story now and she says i'm going to take that as a compliment. i said so will i. mistaken identity is something that is funny if you have also public notoriety, you can be humbled if somebody mistakes you for somebody else and actually happened to president george w. bush. the first day out of office, 2009, think about it. he had security for 16 years. he finally gets back to dallas. he calls the promised land, and mrs. bush calls it the afterlife

and he said to the secret service team i want to go to the hardware store like a normal and shop around because i'm going to make a man cave and paint things and it's going to be awesome. so he asked the secret service can we do that? they said, yeah, okay, sure. so they dress in khakis and particular it out. they're going incognito which is funny because they went in three suvs. but they're trying. so he gets there and the secret service melts into the background and he says, thank you so much. pipe going to shop around. so just on his own. and this guy is walking by him and says, nip ever at the you that you look like george w. bush? and the president said, all the time. and the guy said, sure must make you mad. [applause] and he says, oh, you have no

idea. [applause] ... a tree, what kind of tree would you be? it was like a hard-hitting interview question. president bush says well barbara, i am not a tree.

i am a bush. [applause] >> and i said i am voting for him. so living life with that gentle, witty human it has been a plus to be around him and embrace my own humility and the importance of character. elections are about character. the people you surround yourself with their character sticks out. i didn't realize i wrote a book about this until megyn kelly's husband said this is a parent book about living with character and surrounding yourself with people of character. so i had worked on many other books. before i was a white house press secretary i was a deputy. i always say take a deputy job. you work holidays and weekends

but you get to know the boss and learn the job so when there is an opportunity you can step up. i left the white house and i was called upon to work on doing publicity for karl rove's book, laura bush's book and i got a call from 43 and he asked if i could help him with a public tour. and worked with charles krauthammer. i was an editorial director on that book and i liked being behind the scenes. i never thought of writing by own book although every press secretary thinks about all of the experiences they have and want to tell the stories. i remember on a train between washington, d.c. and new york where wrote downtown if i wrote a book what would it look like and at the top in block letters it said not political because i didn't want to write ak