decided to invest millions, billions of dollars in making sure that washington worked we well. they made a bad investment and it's paying off. [applause] fellow booksellers and thank you for coming to this special event. i know what a long day it has been for you and so i have that much more appreciative to be here with you this evening. i am the president and chief executive officer of simon and schuster. ..

>> >> deeply reflective as the the thing she has written before in because you will hear her as never before giving is the unique take and analysis of recent events in the dishes and we all have the gorgeous picture book edition of it takes a village with the two-time caldecott honor winner so tonight hillary will be interviewed by cheryl. [laughter] of course, she is also

familiar to you as a hugely popular number one best-selling author in her own right that her own book has touched many readers helping them to navigate their own personal journey. before we bring the amount amount, no matter where you fall on the political spectrum remember 65 million people voted for hillary clinton last november. [cheers and applause] ended just a small fraction of those purchase of book. [laughter] we will still have the biggest book of the year. we welcome your help to achieve that milestone at simon & schuster. please join me to welcome hillary rodham clinton. [cheers and applause]

[cheers and applause] hello. >> we day cup of coffee or a glass of wine. >> let's try chardonnays. >> one of the benefits to be a writer is a the president you can drink. [laughter] so i have some questions for the audience but the most

moving question i got from somebody in the audience was do you know how much you mean to us and how much we love you?. [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] i am really touched by that event faq for that kind thought and i am glad that cheryl is here with us as one of my favorite authors and one of the people i have gotten to know over the last couple of years. and i have to tell you as booksellers i hope you know, how much you mean to me because it has been the

central part of my life for as long as i can remember libraries and bookstores are at the top of my favorite things to do. >> you have been quite busy you have two books coming out in september so let's start with it takes the village so it was hugely influential and now you have decided to release it as a children's book edition. what inspired you to do that ?. >> was published 1996. so the reason why i was motivated to do it may sound deja vu but if you remember there were people in

politics in congress making credibly harmful proposals to say hurtful things and at that point newt gingrich said we should take four children away from their families to put them in orphanages, i was beyond doubt -- upset and outraged as a children's advocate working for the children's defense fund, a mother so i thought there has to be a different way to bring people together around our common responsibilities and what it means to be part of the community. of course, you are in individual and as i say at the beginning of the book of it takes a village that the most important people and a child life are the child's family but the community

plays a very vague rule not just providing education and health care but law-enforcement, and with religious instruction and everything that goes into making a community. so i have been taken by that african proverb "it takes a village" so that is why i wrote that book. so it was a password to talk about what we meant by community and our obligations and it was politically controversial in some circles in the topic of a number of speeches from the rnc 1996 attacking me for, i never know what for. [laughter] but the long line of that so it has stayed with me so i

thought it is time to bring those concepts of community in citizenship and cooperation for kids into a children's book and how lucky was side that marlow was available to do the illustration. it is a beautiful book and i am very proud. >> remember our moms would tell us of a boy is teasing you that means that he likes you may be that is what republicans are doing. [laughter] >> if that's the case. [laughter] i think enough is enough. [laughter] >> you have another book coming down in september. what can you tell us about this book?. >> for meeting it is a really personal, deep

experience that i of'' -- also have a say in a rational catharsis i have collected quotations that were meaningful to me to capture a thought or to help me when i needed it to share with my friends over the years and even have a little book that i carry around to have a tough time or a funny time and i am reminded of what they meant to me. that after the election i was thinking how that would spur my thoughts about the life i have led from those great opportunities the disappointments and with the campaign someone who shares their own stories with me.

so those treasures there is a lot that you see that is very difficult for row and then a total stranger comes up to tell you that story or their understand you are going through like the first question today it is incredibly meaningful to me and then to reflect about the country and my life and why it happened in this election minister to put my thoughts down on paper it is and just about meet the resilience and getting back up when you are knockdown

because everybody is. find the courage to do that so that has proven to be an extraordinary personally meaningful but painful experience. there really is painful. >> we have seen you get up many times after being knocked down. saudia muster the strength to the one after the election? where did you find solace? and though you have taken a lot of walks in the woods. you know, that i love that. [laughter] we were talking backstage in hillary does not yet have a title for this book in my suggestion is a really wild. [laughter] the of walking in the woods with the large shipping and resilience ceramic idiocy

that in bookstores it came from cheryl. >> so those moments we feel we cannot go one youth said he felt it was cathartic but tell us about that. >> but i guess that i believe resilience is one of the great attributes and gifts that you can be given through family and friends and faith would never gives you and courage that it takes to keep going and i have spent blast to know so many people that have faced difficult and painful

experiences whether the death of a loved one, a diseased, in the midst of a horrible weather conditions in like a hurricane, 9/11, i have seen in my own life and others that i have been able to get to know the most extraordinary drive to keep going so i don't compare myself with the difficult terrible times others have gone through. i have a great friend here in the city, two of them that i made after 9/11 who were grievously injured the most horrific burns in one case and was in the induced coma over two months in the other was struck down by

part of the landing gear of one of the planes hitting the tower i have been honored and humbled to see how they have kept going. what happened to meet at the end of publican a personal way and what i try to do and the book is explain what it is like to break through barriers knowing how hard it is in it and he will make mistakes and there is all kinds of challenges every step of the way. but to explain but i have relied on never hope and courage and resilience in a lot of this story meet is rooted in my family, friends , because i have been very lucky with both but also because i have

a determination, or stubbornness but you just get up to do the best that you can. literally one flat in front of the other. when you're fighting for something larger they undersell than yourself. even when you are feeling down and out. so it covers some of those experiences from my perspective as to how that felt so to have that riding area in the farmhouse so if i work on that with colleagues who were doing

research helping me to think about how to present things it is so exhausting a half to get up and go for a walk or go to bed. >> the hearts of men more is subject to the of what that felt like to me you the most memoirs don't have that story in what memoir demands they be full or take risks but to be such a public person so are you going

further in this next book?. >> absolutely. and i am going a lot further because of the experience and the choices that we face in the future demand that we go as far as i can so what you said resonated with me. this is my truth. people achaean disagree and they will i'm sure but this is how i experienced being the first woman or stand on the stage for debate with all of those incredibly odd and bizarre happenings and i am very clean air with that.

you may think you know what happened and to a certain extent based in what you perceived or how you process but i will tell you how i felt and what i thought. because you cannot make up what happened. [laughter] [applause] i think that is part of the reason why was such an incredible experience to try to write it because even i forgot some of those wacky things said and done to pull all of that back out and try a to be personal but dispassionate as possible and to explain not only for my mental health but to come

to grips with what we need to do in the future is a wonderful coincidence on during a children's book at the same time because that is rooted in the idea of citizenship. how to give them the tools they need and to cooperate with people and all the lines that were drawn is important to say this is how i experienced a. a lot of people hike the pacific coast but this was your truth they in your experience and it will shore

power because you could feel that somebody could hike that tomorrow and not have this experience or in four years. >> please also many else run for president tomorrow? [laughter] >> that is a long tomorrow. that is how i'm trying to convey the unvarnished view of what typing happened to put myself into these different events and pull the curtain back so readers can say what was it like to stand on the stage debating your opponent? what was going through your head? [laughter]

and you will find out. [laughter] [applause] >> i'd think i speak for all of us when we say we cannot wait to read it. you say sometimes you have to walk out and go for a walk or take a nap so to me about some of those challenges when it comes to writing the book. >> there are so many but here is how i would talk about it is the painful experiences honestly to understand what i did not do well or row enough for the shortcomings were we missed an opportunity in retrospect

did not do what might have worked better and that is painful but that is part of being in politics i have one and i have lost but i have never felt the way i feel about this which brings me to the second piece because the more you dig in understand what we're up against to take me out of the a question so it isn't about what happened to you but what happened to us and how much more alert to we need to be as a nation and particularly concerned about the role that russia played and a very serious interference that we know they were responsible for in the most fundamental democratic act.

that in some ways is even more painful. i write a little bit busy in 2008 it was hard but it was a hard fought contest with respect for barack obama. it was not fun losing but did not worry about my country but i went to work to help him get elected and surprisingly was asked to ruby's secretary of state. youlou zander hurts your feelings and you hope to have done better but they did not worry about my country. i am really worried and not just because there are partisan differences but we are living in such a an aura -- abnormal time looking at the way this white house is behaving about some of the biggest challenges we face, dishonesty, fabrication

, a fake news or lies, it is deeply troubling and worrisome it could cause lasting damage to our institutions a part of what i am writing is i will talk about what was in my control and row we could have done better in which we had also but happened that was totally unprecedented in american history in what will we do about it? and our responsibilities whenever philosophy you have you cannot be all right that a foreign adversary try to influence the outcome of our election isn't it to me that is a challenge we will face as a country for gore talked about that's and try to explain what that means for

us to warm citizens to give a simple explanation to speak up so they can have their debates but that should be among us and americans not with somebody influencing the information they got or those conclusions are those decisions. it is that tension between the personal disappointment and that comes with the territory and i said i you find as a person but worried as an american that is what i am trying to explain as well. >> it is interesting with your writing in your career has always been balanced with your experience with

your experience of the world . for your 1969 speech in wellesley talking about the meaning of your life talking about what was happening socially and politically so where does that come from? talk about all the books you have written there is no separating you from those political realities. where does that begin?. >> really does begin with my parents. i had a typical suburban 1950's upbringing. my dad was a world war two veteran, a small businessman , working hard scraping every penny that he made and trying to make it

successful to have a nice house and give us a good solid middle-class life a hint my mother had a very sad and difficult life abandoned by her parents bin road out of her grandparents' home and went to work at the age of 13 working in somebody else's home. so they have very different experiences. but together, they had such a deep conflict -- conviction and how lucky we were to be in this country even though my mother cancel out my father's boat every election in. [laughter] they would talk about the news we talk about it at dinner, my dad would ask if we have opinions. so literally from the time

of childhood to be an american was part of my identity with great public school teachers kindergarten through high school food instilled that sense of civic responsibility and citizenship. it may sound old-fashioned now but the glue that held us together in the neighborhood that i lived in all the of fathers that served in the of military all the mothers stayed home they did pta, a volunteer activities and that a very early age in listed us as part of our responsibility to put up the of lemonade stand for this kid in the off hospital so it was a

very open time because the world seemed like it was out there waiting for us and america was coming into its own that was tangible even to wear child in the fifth grade my teacher after sputnik went up marches into our classroom and says we are supposed to do better in math and science because president eisenhower wants us to. that is what would happen in our classrooms. okay. we are supposed to do better than we get to junior high a and president kennedy is there now we are tested on physical fitness because we have to be physically active to be good americans. that was part of the whole ambiance of how we were raised not his family is the

schools and elsewhere and i always thought it was part of who was and it is a big part of what i care about. >> when you were doing situps for kennedy. [laughter] what were you reading? what books were influential?. >> i got in trouble during the physical fitness part because we were supposed to jump. >> the broad job?. >> and a the vertical jump. they kept coming around and said job that i said i did. [laughter] >> are you athletic?. >> i was when i was growing up. softball, tennis, softball, tennis, swimming, diving, but it was really

wild. >> to be on the pacific coast trail. >> i think that is a great idea. >> i always loved reading and i think a lot of young girls from my time i read every nancy drew book i like the earlier ones better than the later ones but the idea that she seemed like such a go getter and smart and

brave. >> kind of like somebody that we know. >> but it was like a model for me and my friends. when i think back i a read a lot of books but that had a big impact on the bed dare i say a little bit of a role model? i felt bad because her mother died. she was taking care of the house, as solving mysteries mysteries, going to school. [laughter] >> there is a real tradition in literature which young women and girls whose mothers are dead because the main protector is:that they are forced to be into the world and be courageous though nancy drew was an inspiration to so many for that reason. what about those post

election months did you turn to literature for consolation?. >> i do. also total destruction i have kept a record of every book i have read during my entire adulthood. >> how many?. >> i don't know it is just a book. i have been tracking them. but after the election i read a lot of mysteries. i and a devoted mystery reader but i have some favorites.

and i have a great joy of a couple of months after the election to meet les and i was so into her characters and of the locale of three planes that made a big impression so it was fun to talk to somebody who was written a theory using the same characters although there was a murderer, and i just love that. and i read a lot of mysteries that it was somebody else's problem. [laughter] >> so when you are writing, who is your most trusted leader aside from your editor?. >> my husband. >> does he read everything you write?. >> he reads a lot.

he is a very tough critic. and cross-examined me on why something is in or out. but really we started dating in law school and i worked my way through law school and i had a job editing and then to give grated vice with the critical and most courageous reader. >> that is what husbands are good for. so go back to that wellesley's speech.

you pointed out the troubles in the world with a great sense of hope as you mentioned that something different has happened to america that has never happened before so those principles of democracy are at risk. and the royal printer's yes and how dewy move forward with less division and kindness?. >> been thinking hard about this the was the first student speaker 1969 and i spoke at the wellesley graduation last weekend.

i went back to read this speech from 1969 and by a thought hard what i wanted to say to the graduates but also the of broader world. the bottom line is i am hopeful but i think pope needs to be linked to a strategy to deal with what we're facing. summit that is very personal as you mentioned clinton this that is a much overlooked attribute and the shelling kindnesses and support for one another and still second what happened in portland with the two young men coming to the rescue of those young women who were being consulted and

-- and so divided that a rights on the train when they attempted to reason with the man and intervene he killed them both and wounded a third man who tried to speak up. i am deeply troubled by that it isn't the only incident we have seen where all of a sudden it appears there are attitudes and feelings that are bursting through the veneer of civilization. i think we have done a lot in the last centuries to deal with these problems not just race or sex is a more ethnicity and religion but inappropriate way to treat a fellow person. i love living in new york it is elbow to elbow with people from everywhere so

how'd you accommodate that and work with that? it really does call out a level of behavior that should be expected of everyone. in this election is sought a deliberate effort to blow the top off of that to say whatever feeling you have, whatever resentment however angry express that and it is okay to take that out on other people verbally or physically as we saw during the campaign. that is incredibly dangerous unleashing a level of vitriol in defensiveness or hatred that i don't think we should tolerate. [applause]

i travel the world on behalf of our country as a senator and first lady and have been incredibly lucky but i will tell you it doesn't take much to rip-off the politeness and accommodations to keep people working and living together. where they deliberately intended to inflame neighbor against neighbor in rwanda and many other places where political leaders for their own purposes or power or greed in ideology or religion white -- white those claims and then to see

them as a zero sum game and those were very much present in my mind to say to a the graduates to eating out of that great education you have been given during a lot of time of turmoil something as simple as wherever you end up go register to vote and get involved. with those that you agree or even if you don't agree. and with truth and reason.

with that philosophical underpinnings with the greatest man-made invention in the history of the world and we cannot give up on that or be discouraged the we have to keep going. >> affrays people love reason i have never been so nostalgic for so many republicans in my life as i am now. because that is what we are missing out on. so last may i introduced you is san francisco to say that hillary clinton made the world ready for hillary clinton.

one of the reasons that you inspire me is that to blaze a trail standing on the soldiers -- shoulders of those before year. and then even to get to the place to blaze the trail and things did not turn out the way we hoped for what has given me is the work that you did what you accomplished really will help the next woman who comes along to because our first woman president. [applause] thank you for that and i do

have a little side business that's the advice giver you can ask me after i will not give you advice but what i would bike you to do is a magic and that woman who will become our first female president so what words and do you have for her?. >> read my book. [laughter] because i want her to fully understand what she is getting herself into. it is unlike any experience she will love ever had maybe a governor or senator or a writer. yes. business executive, who knows. but our system in our

country is the most elephant -- difficult political environment in the of world of any democracy. why do i say that? looked at a lot of the women who become heads of government you kay, as chancellor merkle in germany, of all the my year, benazir bhutto, those names that we know well they often end up by from a parliamentary system when you read in a small constituency where people actually know you to evaluate you bbc at the garage restorer or they come to one of your evens or your children are in school together than you are selected by your peers to be their leader.

so your colleagues see that cheryl is a great worker and can get things done so you move up the scale. but with our system you start from scratch it doesn't matter the you are or where you come from or how qualified you are. it doesn't matter. you can say i will run for president then you have to go out and talk to the entire country and raise a lot of money and go through the gauntlet of the presidential campaigns and what they are so there is some benefit to that because it is the hardest job in the world or at least it used to me. [laughter] [applause]

and you have to be prepared for what that means to literally be brutalized the we were treated for what it said those with the territory. not to say that men don't get harsh treatment you are carrying the of burden of the double standard and you have to know that. so in my book i take on the issues of sexism and misogyny and talk about it because we need to pull that out to put it into a bright light. of may be uncomfortable for some people for what i experience are believed but that is a conversation we need to have. so for the future woman candidate i hope i am still

around, it will be my great privilege to say i will give you my best experience and advice that everybody has to find his or her own way. i hope it is sooner instead of later. >> and that she will be progressive. >> just because you run doesn't mean that is turned. >> so now i will open to questions from the audience. anna from kansas city, what is your favorite book from childhood purviews said the into true but you have a favorite?. >> obviously a was a young teen mom negative -- a young mom and then i read some years ago it was also the

favorite book of laura of bush i found that fascinating but that is one that stuck with me and has to this day. >> what is currently on your nightstand and grandchildren's nightstands?. >> i have stacks on the floor. they have of lot of books but i just finished a terrific book and i was totally captivated by called jersey brothers. three brothers during world war two all in the navy one is a prisoner of war in the philippines the other is in the fleet working with the admirals' who are waging the war in the pacific end of the third, and the admiral

started off in the white house says the naval aide to roosevelt and the book itself is a great read and the author has done an amazing job to recreate dialogue that seems so of the antic -- authentic. she researched over 10 years so that imagination in the amount of work but i do have a personal connection because when i was first lady the map room where roosevelt had all the maps of the wall and churchill would come and stay there would go into the map room and in addition to the main character of jersey brothers they talk about a young lieutenant named george elsie was an aide to

roosevelt and that was important to me because i said this was so historic now is like a waiting room or a meeting room do you think there is anything left from the map room? in research we could find was already in archives but then george elsie by that time an elderly man came forward and say i did roll up some maps and gave us a map from the european peter and we put it above the fireplace. sorry reading the book totally entranced then all of a sudden a personal connection so that is at the top of my nightstand. >> please visit us again at our bookshop in rhode island

. this is an important question for me so what is the role of the independent booksellers and the current political culture?. >> more important than ever i love book stores and independent book sellers is those that so many of you own or run or working in and it is more important than ever and i hope it is true what i reading that day are on the upward trajectory? is that true i hope? [applause] it is really encouraging to me that they're going back to the bookstores to buy real books that they can hold a and touching and turn down the quarters and what we do with our books.

we cannot have enough discussion and one of my age your friends who live in san muscatine they own politics and prose in washington that not only have of the events but now they have discussions about the environment or health care to pull out of the of paris accord or immigration or what does nato really mean? so using the independent bookstore as a gathering place as a community center to discuss these issues to bring in the author whenever possible so i think the role has always been important but even more so now so if you ask about my grandchildren, we take seriously the advice to read to your children so we have

been reading too sure lit and aid in from the beginning and chelsea has a wonderful book out about american women. so i was over there the other day said even as a mother or grandmother to see my daughter reading the book that she wrote about american women to my a granddaughter and grandson does not get any better than that. children's books for sure. [applause] >> just so happens the next question as she said she just published a new book you -- if ever thought about writing a book together like a mother/daughter relationships or a strong feminist child? have you discussed that?.

>> no. but i will now. [laughter] >> we will have the book deal by the end of the night. >> that is a great idea. >> i do to. >> we touched on this but during the campaign did you have time to read or just reading the news constantly constantly?. >> i did not have a lot of time that is a big loss for me because i usually read every night before falling asleep but i would be so tired i did not really other they and the briefing papers i had the old fashioned idea that the policies that you propose would be important to govern your country. [laughter] so we spent a lot of time and many nights going over

what we would do to increase wages and jobs and all those issues we were concerned about but i didn't have much time for pleasure reading. >> have you read the john lewis march trilogy?. >> i have not. but i know of that very well . john is a long time dear friend of mine. >> so if not certain the you know, his work and his message so how do we continue to apply that vision and a message? how do we continue that struggle ?. >> john is the first person

that i ever heard used the phrase beloved community. and one of his early writings or his speeches and is motivated by his faith and courageous witness as civil-rights leader and activist and as long as i have known him, how do we bring people together and crossed a divide? so part of what i am doing in the book is think of practical suggestions that anybody could do because we are divided living in separate political worlds and the partisan divide has gotten higher and higher in deeper

for people to crossover we live with people who believe like we do every listen to them and we get into the echo chamber is exacerbated by what we watch on tv or read online or listen to the radio you don't have a conversation with anybody that disagrees with you. i did. but i would seek them now. fatah the most poignant experiences i write about is i went to a cold country and sat there and listened to the fears and the anxieties that people had. the we had to take that out of the political realm to put that into the us citizenship arena. listen to each other and learn from each other with a

sense of openness and effort to see what is motivating somebody else. that doesn't mean all the sudden to forget your values or beliefs, i do think some people espouse horrible points of view. . . i don't have any reason.

i'm going to do everything i can to support the resistance. [applause] you can go online and learn about it and i took my leftover campaign funding. the young people dot walkabout for the election got people to say we have to run for office, train them, go to town halls. and it's been thrilling to me because it is exactly what should be done so i'm going to do everything i can to help out and support it and especially to

find and hopefully see when candidates not just in the big ticket offices but from the ground level up library boards, school boards, city council, county commission they are critical in this time we will have to continue to find ways to work together and fend off whatever damage may be coming from washington. so i am not going anywhere. i'm going to be as active as i can because as you said, that's who i am, that is my dna. [applause] hillary has left a little surprise at the door. i want to say thank you for your

service to the country and being such an inspiration. [applause] ♪ [applause]

♪ tonight i had the distinct pleasure of intci