expwhrnches him leaving home and pregnant teenage wife to come to america to throw in with the continental army so it read for a bit and then i'll take questions and i wanted to reads this section of when he comes -- when of his voyage to america and his early time, and then i'll read also tangent about a heroic book seller to pander to

the subject of the proceed physician. so at 1777, lafayette has absconded to america. bought his own ship to come here. king of france is trying to keep him at home. his wife's family is trying to keep him at home because as i once he make it is on to this ship, he's purchased across the atlantic, he starts sending his wife he says writing his wife audrey and these letters to try to explain why he has abandoned her. and ports coming child. i believe in a book while i say history might be full of great fathers recorded history is not where to find them. at sea unsurveillance to audrey and attempted to include her in it. he wrote i hope that as a favor

to me, you will become a good american. she is a teenage french aristocat from a family in france and lives in a mansion in paris when she isn't living in versailles. so ask her to become a good american is sort of baffling also he wasn't also in a position to ask her any favors. [laughter] nevertheless, he proclaimed to his wife the welfare of america is intimately bound up with the happiness of humanity. she's going to become the deserving and shore refuge of virtue of honesty of tolerance of equality and of a tranquil liberty to establish a fore land of deep the city who wouldn't shoot up english men if he wasn't one of them.

alass from this end of history there's a big file cabinet blocking the view of the sweet natured republic lafayette we're told, and it is where the government keeps the folders full of indian treaties, chinese exclusion act and nsa monitored electronic messages pertinent to social security all of them, including the wine in which i asked my mom for advice on how to get a red sharpy stain out of apull industry to offer my services to this intriguing republic i bring to it only my frankness and good will. no ambition, no self-interest in for my glory. i work for their happiness. >> you can watch this and other programs onis line at booktv.org. here's a look at the some of the staff picks from politic and

pros bookstore is in washington, d.c. olivia lank exabout ploars solitary lives of prominent artists in the lonely city. in novelist first nonfiction book, great derangment he argues climate change is being ignored. pulitzer prize winner examining the future of genetic manipulation in the gene. another staff pick from washington, d.c. politics and pro bookstore is grunt by mary who reports on the science that is being used to improve the safety and effectiveness of america's military. atlantic magazine contributor hamid argues slam is essential to understanding middle eastern politics in islamic exceptionalism. in ordinary well psychiatrist looks at the science if behind anti-depressant medications many

have appeared on book tv you can wawawawawa on our website -- [silence] this is booktv on c-span2 television for serious readers in 45 minutes booktv will be live from the southern festival of books in nashville. you can find the full schedule of the events on our website booktv.org, and follow pus on social media, on twitter, at booktv or facebook.com/booktv you'll get behind the scenes video and pictures as well as schedule updates. now, while we w5eu9 for the qait for the festival to start we wanted to air the program with speaker paul ryan. his book is called the way forward and it is his vision for the republican party. he's in conversation with 2012 republican presidential nominee, mitt romney.

[applause] thank you. >> thank you. [cheering] [laughter] thanks guys. thank you. thank you. thank you. [applause] >> it is great to be here. it's not where we wish we were. but -- [laughter] it's great to be here and it's wonderful to be with fall again. paul again. we had quite an experience, and i know a lot of you think it must be just awful running for president because you've got to go every night to a different hotel and you get debate after debate after debate in the primaries and then in the general as well. and then you have adoring press always at your heels, and yet the truth is it is a magnificent experience.

because you get to see the country person by person, state by state not the people who make the news. e people who make the if news are by and if large doing something strange and not good but people question got to see day in and day out are wonderful people and learned about their i life stories is and it was very, very touching and it made me more optimistic about our future. so if you get the chance to run for president do it. it's a great, with a great thing. [laughter] the third time is a charm. [laughter] >> they have -- [applause] >> i made a a couple of good decisions in my life. one was who i married. and the other it was two i chose to be my running mate and there was no better person to be vice president of state than paul ryan. and -- >> thank you. and if you're going to take a

shot at me you wouldn't be a bad president yourself. so we have an interesting -- [applause] yeah. but we have some questions about a book that you have written this year, paul and if i would note that i've read it and i hope some of you have as well so your questions can reflect that. but also i know paul pretty well. as i read it i recognized he actually wrote it. [laughter] most -- most of the books you read that are written by politicians who were not actually written by politicians but per politicians by professional writers but paul wrote this book i can tell because it is his voice and written like he speaks and that make it is more touching and personal been, but i want to begin by asking paul the american idea. the subtitle or maybe the main title of the book is the american idea. what -- will you bring down for us? what does it mean to you? the american idea?

>> it's a way of life . and it's a way of life that has been brought to life by some critical ideas and principles that the founded this country in a nutshell it's this idea that the condition of your birth does not determine the outcome of your life in this country. that no matter who you are or where you come from or how you got started, you can make it in this country. it's the land of opportunity. and it's a country that was built on an idea where our rights are ours naturally and then our government is designed to protect those right it is that we can live in freedom. and find opportunity and prosperity. no other system is quite like this one. no other country was created on an idea like this one. and the reason for writing the book in a nutshell is because a lot of people don't see it. they don't think it's there for them. they are worried that it is not