>> and that was deanne stillman live from the savannah book festival. now, in just a few minutes it's the final author of the day, ben blum, and he reports on the life of his cousin, alex blum, who was an army ranger who participated in an armed robbery before he was set to deploy to iraq. and we'll be right back with live coverage. [inaudible conversations] >> here's a look at some upcoming book fairs and festivals happening around the country. on march 10th and 11th, we'll be live from the university of arizona for the tucson festival of books with author talks and call-ins. this year's festival features msnbc's katie tur and charles sykes, max boot, investigative journalist david cay johnston and many other authors.

later in march it's the virginia festival of the book in charlottesville and the national black writers conference in brooklyn, new york. in april we're headed to texas for the san antonio book festival, and we'll be live once again at the los angeles times festival of books. for more information about up coming book -- upcoming book fairs and test values, click -- festivals, click the book fairs tabben our web site, booktv.org. >> let's dive in a little bit more. who is eric garnersome. >> eric garner -- >> excuse me, who was eric garner. >> yeah. the reason i wrote this book, let my back up for a moment, is because on the day that the grand jury decided not to indict the police officer responsible for or his killing -- and i'll use a different word, but i can't legally -- but i went over to staten island, and i started talking to people in the street

asking, you know, what was he like. and i immediately found that everybody had a story about this guy, and he was, he was just interesting and funny and complicated and flawed, and i thought he, he was a person whose story would be really powerful to tell if i could somehow do it. everyone had seen the video, everyone had already had this emotional reaction to the video, but i pretty quickly found out that he had this whole narrative that led up to that moment that if people knew it, they would be so much more invested in his life that they would reexperience that video in a way that would be even more horrible and even more meaningful, you know? and he was just an interesting guy. i mean, i could give a million examples about what he was like. >> i mean, i've read a ton about this case. i did not know until reading this book that he had a new baby. >> right, yeah. >> at the time of his death.

i think about a week old? >> six weeks, something like that. >> six weeks? >> yeah. >> born three months early, two pounds, one ounce, right? and all the parents and aunts and uncles will know you have something like that at home, you're stressed. >> right, yeah. >> so he's sitting on the corner trying to make money to take care of his large family, and he's got a new baby, a premie baby, and i could see why that might be one of the things that pushed him over the edge. he'd also been arrested several times. talk about, like right before the end, talk about all the things that were sort of going on within and around eric garner that made him finally say stop today, i'm tired you have guys messing with me, i'm not doing this anymore. >> right. yeah, i mean, the interesting thing about that was that eric garner was exactly not that person for his entire life. he had, he had a completely different attitude towards how to deal with the police for most

of his life. he thought of himself as a businessman, and he thought of the police as just a cost of doing business. when he got out of prison, he had started off dealing crack in the late '80s and early '90s, and when he got out, he found out about this new business of dealing untaxed cigarettes -- >> from his wife. >> yes, that's right. and he immediately saw the possibilities in it. and something in him, like, some entrepreneurial thing kicked in, and he started a crew. he was suddenly organized. he had been kind of an incompetent drug dealer, but, you know, when it came to doing the cigarette thing, he was really good at it. and he had everybody, you know, he had mules driving back and forth to virginia to pick up cigarettes -- >> to american indian reservations finish. >> exactly. exactly. but he, and he had an expression for the, how great this business was. he said it was felony money,

misdemeanor time, right? because you made real money, but if you were doing it correctly, it really wasn't even a misdemeanor. they basically just had to write you a ticket. >> you could make, what, a dollar for a pack, but $2 on a lucy. >> right, exactly. >> not bad. >> yeah, no. and he had lots and lots of customers. he was probably making, you know, $300 or $400 a day in profit at one point during this. and it was, it was a great business. and he, again, he saw the police as a cost of doing business. like, if i have to go do a few days in jail, whatever, you know? as long as i keep my money, you know, i'll put up with whatever the punishment is because the law says that this is all they can do to me. unless they catch me driving across the state lines, this is all they can do to me, right? and what happened was the police, i think, became frustrated with the limitations of the law.

you know, for once -- unlike the, you know, crack and powder cocaine where there's this huge sentencing disparity and they can drop this million pound hammerer on people, with this they couldn't really do anything to him. so they started to stop him and get at him in other ways. they would stop him on the way to a supermarket, and they would search his or car and take his money, right? and they would say if you can prove you made this legally, come down to the station, pick it up. and they were doing that to him over and over and over again. and when he was getting arrested, suddenly the bail wasn't $50 anymore, suddenly it was $1,000, right? so the costs were going up. he got robbed on the street a couple of times. he had to borrow money to reup twice during this period. so there were a lot of hinges going on in his -- things going on in his mind. he just felt the police were going -- they weren't playing

the game the way it was supposed to be played. they were sickling him out -- singling him out. >> the game is the game. >> yeah, exactly. >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. >> booktv tapes hundreds of author programs throughout the country all year long. here's a look at some of the events we'll be covering this week. monday we'll be at poll ticks and prose bookstore -- politics & prose bookstore in washington, d.c. to hear lanny davis share his thoughts on the outcome of the 2016 election. on tuesday we head to roosevelt house in new york city where former white house official and cabinet secretary joseph califano will examine our democracy and share his views on how to bring back trust or or worthy systems -- trustworthy systems of government. later that night, the presentation of the penn america literary awards given annually since 1963 which recognize books in a range of categories from biography and science writing to essays and poetry.

and on wednesday at the green light bookstore in brooklyn, investigative journalist vegas -- [inaudible] reports on white nationalism in america. thursday syracuse university professor danielle thompson will be at saint anselm college in new hampshire to discuss why moderates might be less likely to run for congress. later that night we'll be at the free library of philadelphia where rutgers professor britney cooper will examine the power of what she calls eloquent rage and how it can be harnessed as a resource to bring about change. and on friday, former clinton administration labor secretary robert rice will be at the first parish church in cambridge, massachusetts, to talk about the economic and social cycles societies experience and their effect on the common good. that's a look at some of the events booktv will be covering this week. many of these events are open to the public. look for them to air in the near future on booktv on c-span2.

>> visions and values were compelling to me, offering a clear pathway away from my past, a chance to contribute to the greater world out there and still retain my family's love. if mario cuomo could do it faced with a different set of challenges -- like not speaking english until he was 8 years old -- then so could i. how, then, could i tell mario cuomo that a story would appear in the press the next day linking my brother, our name to john gotti? how do i talk about organized crime in my family with the one italian-american elected official who personified the complete opposite? i picture myself on the 57th floor in the press conference room at the world trade center tower number two telling reporters that any notion of mario cuomo having mob connections was bullshit, because the mob was in my

family, and the inside word about cuomo was that he was unreachable. in my imaginary press conference, i resigned and condemned the rumors. instead, i condemned myself for not protecting mario cuomo from my family and from being unable to resist the pull to work for him in the first place. looking at my work for cuomo as penance for the sins of my brother and the mobsters who marred our lives, i would do good through public service. i would clean up the family name. i got up and paced around my office. finally, i sat down and wrote out a script that i would read to the governor. and this is the script. governor, i have some very unpleasant news which i feel obligated to share with you. my brother was sentenced to three months in prison for tax evasion today in federal court

in uniondale. the judge in his decision also expressed the belief that my brother had some association with organized crime. two newsday reporters were present, one of whom -- irv long -- i knew. i anticipate there will be a story in tomorrow's paper, so i don't want you to learn of this secondhand. i read over my little speech, hands trembling. there was no escaping now. no neat rationalizations. i could not pretend that everything would be as it was. the phone on my desk rang. it was the governor. i placed the script in front of me, clinging to it like a life preserver. hello, governor, i said shaking. what's going on, steve, mario cuomo said, as he usually did. i read my script word for word. the governor was silent as i read. i finished, closed my eyes and

waited for mario cuomo's response. my heart pounding. this is mario cuomo. i don't see how it should affect you, he said without hesitation. i certainly feel for you, but i don't see how it affects you. you are a superb public official, and i don't think it should have any effect on you. stunned, i thanked mario cuomo. i looked at the photo on my office wall, a large framed color photograph of the world trade center, a self-contained world where is caped each day for 12 -- is caped each day -- i escaped each day, a world of my own sealed off from my family which no one could take away from me. >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. >> here's a look at some books

being published this week. yale law school professor amy chua examines how parties impact our political system in "political tribes." in "the common good," best selling author and former clinton administration labor secretary robert rice argues for restoring the common good in your economics and politics. chris hughes shares his upbringing and argues that the 1% has a responsibility toward the economically impoverished in "fair shot." major scott hughesing details how his marine regiment survived the deadliest city in iraq in "echo in ramadi." in "it's better than it looks," greg easterbrook explorings the environmental issues affecting our globe. britney cooper provides analysis of the role of african-american women in "eloquent rage." in "the watergate," political

consultant jost rodata recounts the history of the hotel including the scandal connected to its name and shares stories of many of its notable residents. subsequently earning a ph.d. at cambridge university. best selling author michio kaku looks at innovations preparing man kind for space exploration in his latest book, "the future of humanity." and an award winning journalist reports on the growth of the white nationalist movement in america in "everything you love will burn." look for these titles in bookstores this coming week and watch for many of the authors in the near future on booktv on c-span2. the