amount of research on this and it seems that when soldiers came back from vietnam, many of them came back hooked on heroin and offered morphine at morphine clinics and that became too expensive and moved to methadone and became too expensive and moved to suboxone. do you think that suboxone is the better alternative to the other two medications or think it's as harmful? >> i think that's a really good question. it depends on the person. that story, the vietnam story is a really important story. apocalyptic story because the department of defense became concerned potential-- how many soldiers in combat in vietnam were using heroin, which was cheap, high-potenchig

and they sent the question, what's the actual use and will they bring the addiction home? they said over 20% were using heroin, not shooting it, smoking it, snorting it, three to seven days a week and he also predicted they wouldn't bring the same rate back when they came home and his theory about that was that sometimes drug use is a way of coping with the environment that you're in and one soldier described that using the heroin as a way of making time go away, which is something pretty important when you think you're going to be killed by an unknown enemy that day and so you're living in the jungle and in a war that is not supported at home. so, these-- and in fact, the rates dropped, but they didn't drop to the normal population. and over the years, when we've often tried to find less toxic,

less destructive substances, like the progression that you described, to go from heroin to methadone to others, each is safer, but none is safe and none is a life without being under the influence to some extent. so, that's why i say keep an eye out, on this, it isn't a maintenance treatment, it is perhaps for some people the difference whether they're an addict or not. >> what one or two policies would you like to see the president or congress make to take a-- make a real dent in the opioid problem? >> i have no hope for this administration to do the right thing. that was one of the reasons i wrote the book. the states, many states are now trying to do the right thing in terms of prevention treatment,

but it takes a huge amount of federal money and you can think of the hiv/aids epidemic as a type of uprising around a public health crisis that was a move, became a movement and we still have yet to see that in this country with opioids and though more, far more people are affected. and a tremendous amount of money was mobilized than for hiv/aids, for treatment and anti-virals. and, but the amount of money that's been mobilized by the trump administration is what the new york times called the pittance, a billion dollars over two years, that's the amount of money that would need to be invested is 80 to $100 billion over the next two years. which sounds like a lot of money, but isn't when you think about how much money is being spent on emergency services, hospital services, disability,

family destruction, incarceration, that -- but that i have no hope whatsoever that that will happen. in fact, we're seeing the opposite out of the trump administration, declaring something a public health emergency and putting $50 million behind it or -- it's nonsense what's going on there and so, i don't have hope until na administration's changed for there to be-- and congress to be changed for there to be enough resources to make a difference. >> well, on that depressing note. [laughter] >> we are actually-- but families and communities are making a difference. >> we are out of time. thank you so much for coming today and thank you, dr. sederer. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

>> oh, right after this, dr. sederer is signing books at booth 10-a right around the corner there. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] and you're watching book tv on c-span2, television for serious readers. you've been listening to dr. lloyd sederer talking about opioid addiction. our coverage of the gaithersburg book festival continues in just a few minutes. s next up, authority on the influence of partisan politics on writing.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] book tv is on twitter and facebook and we want to hear from you. tweet us, twitter.com/book tv. facebook do facebook.com/book tv. >> but the point is i'm making here, i'm sure you've forgotten. miami is a wonderful city. new tourism slogan, come back to miami, we weren't shooting at you. [laughter] and if you think

about it, miami and rancho have a lot in common. miami's warm and sunny. rancho's warm and sunny. rancho-- i mean, excuse me, miami is hip. [laughte [laughter] >> rancho is hip replacements. [laughte [laughter] >> miami has a diverse population. rancho is warm and sunny. [laughter] >> the list just goes on and on. no, i actually-- no, i really do love it here, i love it here for nothing else, it's a wonderful audience here and i can rely on you year after year to forget the jokes i told the previous year. [laughter] >> for example, i told that joke here last year. but, also, i can relate to it because i'm getting old and i turned 70 in july so i'm now 70

years old. it makes me a septuagenarian, from the lat tn meaning everything hurt. i am 70 or as we say in rancho, jail bait. [laughte [laughter] >> and it's a big milestone. there are certain milestones you reach in your life as you age. the first one, like when you really start to feel old when you turn 50, those of you can maybe remember that. you turn 50 and then, it's like a horrible thing that happens, and it happens to everybody. you get a letter from aarp. aarp, which is the last sound you make before you die. [laughter] >> aarp. you know?

[laughter] >> hurry, doctor, he's aarp-ing over year. american association of retired persons asking for a discount for every freaking thing. i have nothing against aarp, a fine organization. it was hard for me to be asked to join it because i'm a baby boomer. most of you are-- many of you are baby boomers. the key to the baby boomer demogra demographic, no matter how wretched and incontinent we get we still think we're cool. it's hard to be asked to join an organization, the guys, and i i see them in florida all the time. waist bands are under the arm pit. in case you have open heart surgery, you unzip the fly there. [laughte [laughter] >> but the other thing about--

like when you are 70, when you're getting-- you certainly accept the stereotypes about being 70 are true. every joke people make about old people about young people when they get old people is true, the way old people drive, in miami, i don't know if you have this year. a lot of people here, i call it the seeing eye wife system. you know what i'm talking about, where the couple drives, they're always together, but the man drives, always the man drives. why? because the man drives. [laughter] >> the problem is the man can no longer see. so he's outsourced seeing part of the driving to his wife who sits next to him. it's an arrow, not that way, no, no!

. [laughter] >> i did one area in my life as a writer where i can see the, you know, the generation difference did most clearly. when you do a book signing and at the end of the book signing often there's a line of people who want to get their book signed, but they want their pictures taken with you. everyone's got a phone and they want a picture with the author and this can happen sometimes dozens and dozens of times, in a typical book signing. over the course of a year i'll have this same process repeated maybe thousands of times and there's -- here is how young people do it. they hold up the phone, and they take a picture. here is how old people do it. they hold up the phone. they pound at the screen for about 30 seconds. they say, something like, wait, i think it's on google. [laughte

[laughter] >> then they stab at the screen for a while with a forefinger and then they hold up the phone again and they say, okay, smile. and then they frown again and they say, wait, i think it's making a video. then they stab at the screen some more then they hold up the phone again and they say, okay, smile. and then they frown and say, wait, i think it took a picture of me. [laughter] >> then they give the phone to a young person who takes the picture. that's literally, i've seen that, i don't e edon'ten-- know, many, many times. >> you can watch this program and many others at c-span.org. >> books published this week. arizona senator and former presidential candidate john mccain recalls his career and shares his thoughts on the current political climate in "the restless wave." in facts

and fierce, former national intelligence director clapper reflects on his professional life. >> and "my father's business", dollar general, expanned the family business into a retail chain. jill norgren looks at how women have impacted the profession in trail blazing women lawyers. pulitzer prize winner charlie la duff, looks at the landscape. n bchlt krch nbc's al roker chronicles the rising tide. and there are current political and social issues and james coke explores the growing militia movement in the american west in "chosen country" look for these titles

in book stores in the coming weeks and look for the authors on book tv on c-span2. book tv takes hundreds of author programs throughout the country all year long. here is a look at some of the events we will be covering this week. on tuesday we'll be at the chappaqua public lie prayer in new york, the former president of planned parenthood and daughter of the late texas governor ann richards will reflect on her life. and sam cramer in washington d.c. to discuss a group of pilots who surreptitiously set up a base in burma in 1941 to defend china and one of the first americans to engage japan following the attack on pearl harbor. we will be in san francisco for the talk on the life of the late san francisco politician

harvey milk. one of the first openly gay americans there and assassination. and in pro's bookstore in the nation's capital to provide a history of impeachment and its role in politics today. many of these events are open to the public. look for them to air in the near future on book tv and c-span2. [inaudible conversations] >> starting now live from the gai gaithersburg book festival,

talking about politics in writing. >> welcome to the gaithersburg book festival on this sunny day. my name is ryan spiegel and it's my honor to serve as the vice-president of the gaithe gaithersbu gaithersburg, thank you, appreciate it. [applause]. >> guest: it's a city that proudly supports the arts and humanities and we're pleased to bring you this fabulous event thanks in part to the generous support of our sponsors and volunteers, so when you see them, please do say thank you. a few quick announcements, please silence all devices. we open you're following gbf on facebook, twitter and instagram and if you post about our festival please use the #gbf. your feedback is also valuable to us. surveys are here in the tent and on the website and entering into that you'll be entering into a drawing for a $100 visa gift card.

bill press will be signing books after the presentation, yes? >> yes. >> very good. with ted as well. excellent. and copies of their books are on sale at the politics and pros tent around the koerp. a quick word about buying books, this is a free event, but it helps the book festival if you buy a book. the more we sell books at the event the more publishers want to send their authors to speak to us. and it also helps support one of the world's great independent book stores, benefits our local economy and supports local jobs. so, if you enjoy this program and you're in a position to do so, please buy books here today. bill press is perhaps most well-known for his six-year run as the co-host of the iceyiconi program "cross fire". it chronicles the twists and turns of his life and career

against the book drop of news worthy moments and encounters with powerful and inspiring people that brought him to this point as one of our nation's most revered progressive voices. now, bill grew up in an idealic and conservative smalltown environment with a strong sense of family and community, not too far from here in delaware and on the maryland eastern shore, where a cardinal rule at his family's gas station, never to discuss religion and politics. what did he do? naturally, he went on to spend ten years studying for the priest hood and a lifetime as a political operative and commentator. after a decade of seminary in new york and europe, bill wound up in california and is an aid to a number of campaigns and elected officials, later the chair of the california democratic party. and eventually a nationally renowned journalist and commentator in radio, tv and

print. he has been a constant champion of the liberal world view. >> in this era of social media, echo chambers, fake news, an entrenchment so deep we simply disengage from those who disagree with usment and in some cases dangerously deny their humanity. the path forged, offers important lessons how to remain true to ideals and passionately and unatoll -- unapologetically enlighten and occasionally learn from those with whom we vehemently disagree. if there's hope for america's future, if lies in that approach, the respectful and democratic, small d, exchange through which the best ideas vetted by logic and experience rise to the top, not in the closed off tribalism we see today. or, put another way, as we

often say in gaithersburg, you can disagree without being disagreeable. this is a first principle of how we try to do things here in gaithersburg and let me tell you a secret, folks, it works. bill press knows this because he has spent a varied, exciting and highly accomplished career living this ploss if i. he's a fierce advocate for his views as he should be. but even his equally fierce sparring partners on the right acknowledge what a great guy he is. and while the auto biographical, the novel offers insights, even in the novel's plot and characters are fake news, it seems that mention and studies of human nature can be very real and that's why we're so pleased to also have with us

today spy thriller writer and new york times best selling author ted bell joining bill in conversation today. ted's novels include "hawk", "asass sin", "pirate", "warlord", "phantom" and characters with lord alexander hawk and ted's latest book is "overkill", and maybe we should have marketed this as bill and ted's excellent adventure. >> of la. [laughter] . we thought about that. >> they'll discuss their respective general ray -- genres, and finding ways to build bridges. without further ado let's welcome bill and ted. [applaus [applause] ryan, wow! . ted and i are going to take you

everywhere we go on this little book tour. >> on the bus. >> and how lucky gaithersburg is lucky to have you and your leadership here. thank you, thank you so much. welcome, everybody, ted and i both have to say, you are the real book lovers, come out on a rainy day to talk books. thank you. your passion shows through, and we also want to welcome and say hello to all of our c-span fans today. it is so exciting to us that you would choose to watch this rather than the reruns of the royal wedding this morning. [laughter] >> which people could be watching, right? >> this is better. >> this is a lot better. >> you know, what you said ties right into why ted and i are here together. i was doing tv in l.a. during the rodney king riots. in kt fa fact we remember the famous words of rodney king, can nt we all just get along, right? there's not enough of that

today. it's so hard to bridge the gap certainly politically so ted and i thought we would try to bridge the gap in the field of, loosely call it literature. at least books and reading. and so we both have a new book out today, we're both good friends and we want to talk about both books. they're different, fiction, and nonfiction. one is full of bloodshed. this one is just calm, reflection, right? one is the truth, you can believe everything in my book. you can't believe anything in ted's book. >> it's called fiction. >> it is. >> fake news. >> fake news? [laughter] >> but we think, and i hope you do, too, that they're both good reads, they're both fun books, they're both great books to take to the beach and both

of them, by the way, have a connection which we might get into, about switzerland of all places. >> there you go. >> and this is, ted, your number ten. >> number ten. so we're calling this segment-- >> sorry we should have actually-- welcome to cross-wise from the left i'm bill press. >> and from the right, i'm turker carlson. [laughter] >> no, no, ted. >> i like tucker he has good hair, but-- >> he does. >> i like tucker. >> you're better looking than tucker, don't tell him i said that. >> it's a bromance. >> let's start out talking. >> absolutely. >> from the left, this is my ninth book, by the way. the other eight-- this is quite different. the other eight books of mine have all been pretty tough political screeds, how the

republicans stole religious, bush must go, i'm working on a new book, actually now called "trump must go". >> surprise. >> one hundred reasons why trump must go. >> surprise, surprise, but this is a memoir. i call it memoir part one because as ryan pointed out, i've been very lucky, had a great run and have met a lot of great people and worked with a lot of great people and involved in a lot of campaigns and some big issues and i just kind of wanted to tell that story for my grandkids, five of them, and our publisher read it and he said this is a great story. i want to publish it so other people can read the story as well. it's sort of in three parts. pre-california, california and post california. pre-california is where i point out, growing up in a very conservative little town in

delaware on the delaware river called delaware city, strict catholic family, conservative family, all of my family were republicans and the rule was you never talk religion or politics. i've made a living and a career out of talking religion and politics and i got out of that little town as soon as i could, and my ticket out was actually studying for the priest hood, which i did for ten years. that's how i ended up in switzerland, we'll get back to that. then, i decided the priest hood is not what i wanted to do with my life. i wasn't sure, but i wanted to try something new. so i went to california. get this, i go from the seminary from the monastery and arrive in san francisco in the summer of love. [laughter] >> perfect. perfect. in 1967 and never looked back.

and i got involved in politics there and ended up working for jerry brown. i was jerry brown's policy director the first time in his first time as governor. that's when jerry was dating, i hope some of you remember the name linda ronstadt. >> linda ronstadt. >> so often i talk to people and they say linda who? linda ronstadt. that was a great run, worked in the state legislature and then i got involved in the media in los angeles and i ran for state-wide office in california and then one day i look up in the l.a. times and here is this show called "crossfire" which i loch. michael kinsley was leaving as a co-host. they were looking for another host on the left, and i looked at the list of people they were talking about and they were all, ted, from washing, new york or boston, same old, same old faces so i just called in cold and said, you need somebody from outside of washington, outside of the bos,

wash, carter. if you will. you need somebody maybe west of the potomac and i got in the mix and got that job as co-host of "crossfire" which was really fun. the post-crossfire and post-california days are in the washington area and on crosswire with tucker carlson, mary madeline, and i was the only on the left and five could he -- co-hosts on the right. and different one every night and i used to beat the crap out of them every night. [laughter] pat and i got fired from, and we went over and did a show-- and tucker carlson and i also had a show on cnn "spin room", 10:00 at night a lot of fun and pat and i went over to msnbc and had a show "buchanan on press", and since then when pat

and i got fired by nbc-- i've had a great history of getting fired. >> absolutely. nobody is better at it. [laughter] that's one thing i excel at. and i started my own show i do today, radio and tv called the bill press show. and my final political thing was being the early part of the bernie sanders' campaign and helping him get started so it's been a fun run so far. let me just close by saying, 'cause you'll see in the book, great run. ...

>> i'm thinking mommy is making pancakes for breakfast. what can i do? maybe not. imagine that message. just don't believe everything people in authority tell you administrative it is religious authority and certainly political authority today. i don't believe any politician, anything any politician told me, democrat or republican today without kicking the tires and making sure it is true.

question authority. the second lesson is go for broke. i mentioned getting started in television in los angeles after four years in the governor's's office, i would try television in the media. where do i start? i didn't go to journalism school. i had no experience in journalism, never been a reporter. so i thought start at the top and i went for the number one station in california which is in los angeles. i am living in sacramento and los angeles and direct the letter and said you may be number one right now but if you don't hire me, your ratings are going to go in the toilet. i know i sound like donald trump, concerns about readings. and by the way, the letter did the trick. i got a call back and he said

come down, i went down and got the job in the number one station in la which is how i got the job in crossfire. question authority, go for broke, live life to the fullest and it has been a lot of fun. >> i read this book, i love it. >> we will talk about yours in a minute. i have no rest. we are going to talk a little bit about questions and open it up to all of you. a couple questions for me? a question for you about switzerland? >> wherever you want. >> you have a switzerland story and i have a switzerland story. >> i was sent to switzerland when studying for the priesthood to study theology at the university of freeport.

a great country. it still is. one thing i learned about it which surprised me is all of these -- we think switzerland is the peaceable kingdom, right? pacifist country, stayed neutral in world war ii, everybody there loves peace, no war, no military presence and i remember on the ship going over, the uss united states, i said that to a guy, are you kidding me? wait until you see switzerland and when you get there you find every male in switzerland is a member of the swiss army their entire life from the time they are 15 until they are 65 or so. there are a lot of military drills going on and a lot of military presence which i discovered the hard way when we are coming back from being away

on summer vacation tracking all over france. a couple friends of mine and i decided the last day we had before classes started at the university we would hike to the top of the tallest mountain and we did. we had not been reading the paper, didn't see any notices of anything going on. we started out early in the morning. it was dark. we get to the trail ahead, it was pitch black, we didn't see any signs telling us anything unusual so we hiked to the top of the mountain, the sun was coming up, absolutely spectacular, a little picnic, sausage and cheese, and suddenly we hear - [side effects] i thought what was that? next thing we hear, closer to

us and realized the swiss army was shelling the mountain. the army had closed the mountain that day, hiking so they could do target practice. and here we are, one american, a french friend, swiss friend and a german friend on top of this mountain where the swiss army is shelling. we stand up and start, hey! the showing stops. it wasn't long before a swiss army jeep with a couple of very unhappy officers arrived wondering what we were doing there, didn't we know? no we didn't know. they didn't arrest us but were not happy. they put as in the jeep and took us off of the mountain. that could have been a big

international incident. i still love switzerland. >> you could have been dead. >> i would have been. it is a great spy read. i love getting away from reading political books for my work and one of my favorite escapes, spy thrillers, nobody better than ted bell. this is the 10th book in the alex hawk series, and it takes place, a lot of it, in switzerland. >> you talk about getting a break early on, follow up on that. >> i got my first break in my life in the third grade when i was 8 years old and all i like to do is read. i had a homeroom teacher that encouraged us to write stories. i don't know how to write a story. i barely passed the spot runs dick and jane, but what she did was she said write short

stories and if i like them i'm going to post them on the bulletin board. >> your short story. >> i am 8 years old. and i post a page where kids in the class consign the story out and take it home and come in the next morning and write a review which is how i got addicted to getting reviews and being totally paranoid about it. i would go in, if i had a crush on kelly johnson i would go in and see did kelly like my story? i like ted but i didn't like his story. i was heartbroken. the stories, they always say write what you know. what i knew was cowboys, the lone ranger, hopalong cassidy, rogers, dale who i had a crush on. i am dating myself. i love cowboys, horses, and i

was a big fan of ufos in the 50s. there were ufo sightings every afternoon in my neighborhood. saw one over the garage at 4:00. everybody believed it. they were throwing pie pans and taking pictures and putting them on the news. it occurred to me i could forge my two loves into a coherent story, cowboys and ufos, if i had my cowboys on a cattle drive out of tulsa, out on the range, when suddenly these little silver spheres appear and start sucking them off their saddles into the ufo with a tractor beam. where they perform horrifying experiments, which i thought was funny because cowboys don't take a lot from anybody. there's a lot of stuff going

on, a ufo of cowboys, trying to do experiments on. i am now involved in hollywood. paramount option the rights to all my books so i'm getting ready to make a movie and i am thinking i got an early taste of hollywood when 40 years later a new movie coming out called cowboys and aliens. how low can hollywood go than to go back in time to any-year-old kid who wrote a story called cowboys and aliens. they sold it. did i ever get a royalty check? >> you need a good later. >> ruby giuliani is available. >> did a better job for you than for donald trump. >> we could go off of that in a heartbeat. they planted a spy in my campaign, didn't know where he did, whether trump is telling

the truth or not. in an earlier show, absolutely. the crowd at the inauguration, the biggest crowd in history and rome, the crowds were smaller and the most successful 17 months of any presidential administration in history with maybe the exception of george washington who founded the country. that was pretty -- >> donald trump did not make -- >> i said -- go on and on.

>> >> i lived in florida for a while and i would go to mara longo, some cocktail party and shook my hand. don't -- i didn't know that. i shook hands. tell me about it. i don't remember a lot about him except his hair. that is hair. what do you mean? it looks like floating above his head. not connected to his scalp. a little pound of hair that is

like baked in, follows him around. does not have to do with ed. he loves that. saying something bad. that is the way it looks. >> you are not saying anything bad but something true. which is why i am so looking forward to the summit to north korea and the united states, the two men with the worst hair on the planet. this is all about hair for us. we talk about hair. that photo op, think about it. neither one would be where they were accept their father getting there and the biggest egos on the planet, and they are pushing each other out of the way for better camera

shots. and bigger than i don't know. he will say, his first -- i bet you we have the best ratings, and 3:00 in the morning. they are having the highest ratings in 3:00 in the morning they ever had. probably worth the time. he did say that. i feel i am on your side. say something nice about barbara bush. >> i loved barbara bush, she's a classy first lady in the best decision she made in her life was not to invite donald trump to her funeral.

i mentioned, we talked crossfire a little bit and tucker carlson. that was a great show. it was on 19 years, don't know how many of you have seen it. i did 6 years, the last 6 years of it. the biggest blender i ever saw on television was canceling that show. larry king was number one on cnn at the time, crossfire was number 2, doing great, great ratings come out doing all the other shows but they decided they wanted to go in a different direction, put it in front of a student audience at gw, i was up against 5 of the really smartest conservatives we have seen in terms of tv with bob novak and pat buchanan and mary madeline, tucker carlson.

that was the mcglocklin group. and at the time johnson knew was in there for a while. the question i would always get as i traveled around the country, audiences would always ask, is bob novak as obnoxious off the air as he is on the air? my answer was yes. which novak loved because we were really good friends. and the same with pat buchanan. i saw pat this morning, trying to bring back the mcglocklin troop, channel 7 locally, tomorrow at noon is the next version of the mcglocklin show. we taped it this morning. we were talking about that. we got into these issues

passionately, really making the best argument you could and trying to win the day but when the lights went off we were good friends and are still good friends today. we go out to dinner together, have a beer or whatever, there's not enough of that around anymore. the same with tucker, at the palm, we never talk politics because we want to stay good friends. >> can i go back to switzerland? >> please do and tell us a little bit, alex is a great character you invented. when you going to kill him off? >> he wants me to collect character of which means i have no more career. alex talk, even though he is

fictional, he is my hero. and english lord, 33 years old, looks like errol flynn, talk like william powell, then man. errol flynn, thin man, errol flynn meets the thin man, that is how they talk about it. he is a former royal navy pallet -- pilot shot down over afghanistan it is now am i 6 senior intelligence officer. he is 6 foot 3, he looks like errol flynn, in london, and annual -- he wins every year because in addition to the other stuff he is the sixth richest man in england. it is great. i love this guy and he is as

far from bond as you can get because bond had no emotion. of the woman breaks up with him he cries and tells jokes and bond never laughed and never cried. but hoch is somebody i have been living with for 10 months and he is growing. but the swiss bank when i discovered all the james bond books and read them all in a summer changed my life. i was honored to be a speaker at the reagan library to inaugurate the year of spies two years ago and the title of my talk is how james bond saved my life and i meant it literally. i was a kid in a small town, nothing going on, played little league, horrible at it, hated

it, like rough dirt on my knees, so i take paperbacks, and you take playing cards and put them in the front, i loved that. in fort lauderdale, florida, these giant trucks every afternoon coming through the neighborhood spewing great clouds of what it is a card? >> ddt. >> i knew i got that right. we would chase the trucks, inhaling the stuff. it felt really good. when this whole craze of mothers wanting kids to have helmets and i don't know what, we road with no hands, poison

gas -- >> where i grew up, and outside, planes buzzing over. i am a bigger fan of ian fleming than james bond. ian fleming was an amazing guy and i always wanted, when i realized i was going to write spy novels, want to one up it. he can't fight back now. i could one up him and he won't even though it. my favorite bond movie was goldfinger. i am 15 when it came out and i see this trailer for the movie and it is about this german guy who is going to knock off for knox and steal the gold. good luck with that with the entire u.s. army surrounding

that gold depository. no way is that going to happen but goldfinger got inside, not everybody out with sleeping gas and stole the gold was when it came time to write the 10th hoch book, time for me to one up fleming on goldfinger. i was thinking to myself, what would be a really hard place to steal all the gold? >> switzerland? >> 70% of the world's gold is in this without, buried underground with masses of armor defending it and protecting it. so what if my villain who is prudent by the way in this book, has been deposed by the oligarchs and on the run, they have been stealing his gold so he says i will mount an army and invade switzerland which even hitler couldn't do and steal all my gold back plus a

little more gold. that is the underlying thing. a lot of other things going on but war in switzerland is an intriguing notion since i want to get books made into movies because it is this fairytale, a lot of you have been there but everything is beautiful there in villages and rivers and you know, i thought so more in these little towns in the mountains, now they have machine-gun nests opening fire and jets having dog fights over chocolate box towns and you alluded to this, nobody understands the power of the swiss military.

they are huge. they have 1 million man army, a huge air force but you will never see an air force base or runway because all the jets, this is true, are inside the mountain in hangers and have high-speed elevators that lift them up and push the door back and catapult them to the air at 15,000 feet and they attack you if you are trying to come in. all the bridges and tunnels have explosives. the second you get your tanks on the bridge you are going in the river. so it is not a good place to invade but as vladimir putin finds out, he is not happy with the outcome but i don't want to spoil it. >> it is a great read. at the end of the book it doesn't end. alex hoch goes off chasing a character, one of the lead characters in the book.

you want to turn the page to see where he goes next, that will be book 11. we want to get some questions from you so let me wrap up with i mentioned the last political involvement i was in was bernie sanders. bernie, how that came about, bernie was a big supporter of progressive talk radio. the one sen. we could go to and say so and so on this network, they have a lot of radio stations but don't have many progressive voices, rush, sean hannity is mark levin, they want other voices, bernie was someone could count on to pick up the phone and call the guy and growl at him and try to get some action. i was visiting with bernie one day, march 2014. we are finished and i get up to

walk out and what is this rumor i heard that you might be thinking about running for president? he looked at me and says okay, bill, sit down, we are going to talk. so i sit down and bernie explains that he thinks there are important issues like medicare for all, minimum-wage $15 an hour, that ought to be debated in the next presidential primary in the democrat primary. he said i am not sure hillary clinton will ever raise these issues, somebody else has to run to raise these issues and bring them into the debate. i i talked to elizabeth warren about it and i'm not sure she is going to run. she would be great but don't think she's going to run so i think she doesn't maybe i will. he says what do you think? first of all we don't need another ralph nader who will

steal votes from the democrat and help the republican get elected. he said i will never do that. i will not run as an dependence with whatever happens i will support the democratic nominee. so i said okay, that is good. my word of advice if you are serious about this you have never run for president before, none of your staff ever work the presidential campaign, you ought to get some people together who have some political presidential campaign experience and find out what they are thinking. and bernie nods for a second, would you organize that for me. what can i say then. a month later, april 9, 2014, bernie and his wife jane, came to the house with michael briggs and i rounded up 12

friends of mine who had president of campaign experience and it wasn't easy, i recall people, i'm already supporting hillary, she had not even announced yet. others would say i like bernie but i am afraid when i came hillary would find out i was there or bill would find out i was there and i would be blackballed forever. that was the issue and this was off the record, private, no reporters, that doesn't mean you're endorsing bernie but just giving your advice off the record. got 12 of them to come. carol hook, beef stew, and the bottom line is bernie sanders for president campaign was launched in our living room on

capitol hill over carol's beefs do. at the time, we figured bernie might be able to raise $5 million online and get the message out there. he was more surprised than anybody else what happened. he raised $237 million online. all of its small contributions, average contributions, $27, we all remember that. he won 21 states, he got over 1800 delegates, and just a phenomenal phenomenal campaign. once hillary won he did everything to help her in the general election. the final point, very exciting part of my campaign. i talk about this in the book. i love to win and everything i get in i am in it to win it. i supported a lot of candidates

who didn't win. jean mccarthy, jerry brown ran for president. bernie sanders. along the way -- there is a pattern. i support a lot of losers. if i support you, you don't want my support. i realize i learned as much from the people who didn't win is the people who did win and sometimes it is good fighting the good fight. two books, fiction, nonfiction, my memoir from the left, life in the crossfire, ted bell, "overkill," both are for sale, the politics and prose tent. it is only good another 15 minutes which is you can buy both books for the price of 2,

limited supplies, you got to get over there. any questions? do we have time? thank you all. [applause] >> either one of us? >> first question, no runways? how do they land? >> good question. >> i really worry about post trump, trump ii. i find him despicable but he is clever. he has a decoder ring. can someone pick that up? >> here is the deal. good question. all of the autobahns and highways through the valley in switzerland are the runways so they come out and at night they have highways shut down and launching and receiving jet fighters all night long. that is the answer to that and

it is pretty amazing when you think about it but it is totally cool. >> in terms of the other question are you worried about trump 2, you should be worried about trump 2. anyone who thinks it will be an automatic four years only and he is out of their, don't recognize he is a brilliant political strategist, and 45%, 50%, depending to the democratic nominee is, he could win another four years. my new book i'm working on is 110 reasons trump must go and the one reason he should stay. the one reason he should stay,

mike pence. >> that is so bad. >> he would be worse. >> >> if you and trump had a beer, how would you find common ground with donald trump? >> 10! how would i find common ground? barbers? probably golf. golf is something we could talk about. other than that, couldn't talk about prostitutes. never paid $130,000, never paid

$1.30. i couldn't talk immigration. talk golf, that would be safe territory. how are you doing? all right. >> elizabeth warren decided to run for president, for the presidency, would you help her? and how would you help her? >> if elizabeth warren decided to run for president what i help her, and how? that question about 2020, i am not ready to commit to anybody for 20/20 right now. not even bernie sanders. i want to get through 2018. i want to see democrats win back the house. this is my view. i went to see democrats win back the house in 2018 and

hopefully went back the senate and a lot of governorships. look at 2020, to me there are so many potential candidates. i would want to see who is out there and to use jerry brown's phrase, who emerges. and joe biden, bernie sanders, elizabeth warren, about the same age and the next rank which is corey booker, amy clover char --klobuchar the mayor of los angeles, tim ryan, congressman from ohio. last time republicans had to have two debates, a varsity, if it polls this way democrats in

2020 will have to have a varsity, jv and middle school debate. we will see who emerges. if elizabeth warren, i like her a lot, if she was the nominee i would support her in a heartbeat and how i would help her, write her a check and talk about her on my show and maybe walk precincts. i walked a lot of precincts. >> we are out of time. can we give bill press and ted bell -- >> good guy! [applause] >> thank you for coming. >> we will both be signing books in the book signing area. >> they will be in tents a and 6.

[inaudible conversations] >> you are watching booktv on c-span2, television for serious readers. live coverage of the gaithersburg book festival in maryland. in a few minutes, another author, anne-marie ackerman -- ann marie ackermann, the german murderer who died defending robert e lee. we will be back with more coverage. >> we are looking at some offers recently featured on booktv's afterwards. the weekly author interview program that includes best-selling nonfiction books and guest interviewers.

>> it is very hard to face death if that is what you are like. i am not a buddhist but buddhists -- you have to lose your self, lose yourself in your work, your art, the movements and then death becomes incidental because i

consider my long involvement in the women's movement and the movement for economic justice. when i am gone, they are going to go on. other people will do things i have been doing or do them better so that is good. it is not scary. it is wonderful. one of my tasks in old age is to reproduce myself, to help younger writers, writers of color, people in poverty become journalists and get a start and those are like children to me and children are amazing so i

think that is one of the jobs of being old, passing the torch, taking what you know or haven't accomplished or one done and passing it on to younger hands. >> afterwords airs on booktv every saturday at 10:00 eastern and sunday at 9:00 eastern and pacific time. all previous afterwords are available on our website, booktv.org. >> very important to remember what is largely misunderstood. they didn't come to congress with the intent of reforming congress. as i talked to dozens of members and ask what motivated you to run for congress in the first place, they did not cite the need for reforming the security system or redistributing power among the sub committees are changing motion to recommit, that was not the reason, they were not aware of earlier reform efforts for the most part, the mccarthy marauders or julia hansen select committee or the

extensive reform proposals, they didn't know about that, that wasn't their motive for running. as i talked to them it was to end the war in vietnam and in four months they passed a resolution in the caucus, it cut funding for the war in vietnam. they were quite a successful group. let's remember why they felt so strongly about that, when the public criticism, the public attitude towards government was negative. they came in the wake of watergate, the resignation, investigations and surprising pardon. they came after a decade of all readily divisive war in vietnam. they came at a time when congress was just beginning to

clawback the powers abandoned to the imperial presidency in the 20century and they passed the war powers resolution in 1973 and the budget and impoundment control act in 1974. they had in fact passed more internal reforms to make the institution a more responsive one. they had the legislative reform act in 1946, 1970, pass the subcommittee bill of rights in 73 but there was a huge backlog of reform that had not occurred before this group had arrived and the major efforts in the early 70s, the select committees that were created under julia hansen and dick bowling failed. they failed in large part because although the democratic caucus had increasingly had a liberal tinge to it, congress

itself is controlled by the conservative coalition, the coalition of southern democrats which was why the democratic party was the dominant party in the reason the democratic party controlled congress for 58 out of 62 years from 1934 to 1994. it was the reason -- 32, 1994, my math isn't good. that is why i am not a political scientist. the conservative coalition of southern democrats and republicans was able to squelch most of the legislation and reform of the house rules that would have reformed the house and democratized the house. the conservative coalition was doubled down in the democratic caucus regarding this and you're ready system which gave itself a reform in 1910 which gave chairmanship based on how long you were alive. if you had a policy were the

chairman and the notion was to award chairmanship on a dispassionate basis so that you didn't just the speaker or was able to win support from the committee on ways and means, it was an independent way but as time changed and people live longer it evolved into a system that ordered that region of the country where people were likely to be reelected and that is the one party south and by the time the mid-60s rolls around, it is in the hands of 7 conservatives who are voting 70% to 80% of the time with republican so you have enormous tension growing in the democratic caucus between the seniority system which will that legislation the caucus was increasingly sympathetic towards passing.

in addition to that, it was difficult for the average person to discern. what was being debate on the house floor, and full committee markups. as recorded votes in committee. and in the 1960s, pretty elitist process dominated by a group that increasingly was out of touch, with the very group, the democratic caucus. >> you can watch this and other programs online@booktv.org. >> here's a look at some upcoming book fairs and festivals happening around the country. look for us in new york city at

the publishing industry's annual convention where we talk with publishers and authors about forthcoming books and then the printers role at first, and the american library association's held this year in new orleans and featuring a keynote talk by former first lady michelle obama. the fdr presidential library and museum hosts of roosevelt reading festival, a day of office programs on the life and tenure of america's 32nd president. from july 11th to the 14th, and the annual libertarian conference, freedom fest, in las vegas. and previous festival coverage of the book fairs tab, booktv.org.

>> beginning now, live coverage of the gaithersburg book festival, ann marie ackermann talking crap the german murderer who died defending robert e lee. >> i am the proud mayor of the city of gaithersburg and founder of this festival. i should have introduced myself. gaithersburg is a city that supports the arts and humanities, we are pleased to bring you this event thanks to generous support of our sponsors and volunteers. please say thank you. violence all your devices and

we hope you are following the book festival on facebook, twitter and instagram. if you post about the festival, use the hashtag dbf and tag us on facebook, twitter or instagram, please do, we are at g berg book fest. copies of "death of an assassin" are sale in the politics and prose tent. dbf is a free event, and the more books they sell the more publishers want to sell their authors to speak with us. and supports local jobs. and please do buy books here today.

ladies and gentlemen, this is an amazing, odd story to say the least, and to witness the actual closure of a murder case set in motion 183 years ago in the southwest of germany called burning am. who could have imagined this matter could finally be put to rest two centuries later in the city for thousand miles from gaithersburg, and before i introduce miss ackerman, i want to welcome cornelius van berger, the mayor of birmingham, germany, to the city of gaithersburg, given the great round of applause.

it was a wonderful honor to have you here. i am not going to spoil anything, steal any thunder. a former attorney, former prosecutor, and in germany, she came across historical records of researching and death of an assassin, the true story of the german murderer who died defending robert you me, she writes in german and english, to research archives in both countries. and the true crime -- she has written extensively about her

hobby bird watching. and that the book festival, welcome anne-marie ackerman. [applause] >> thank you for being here. if i am not mistaken, you will see a world record broken today for the oldest reward for solving a murder ever paid. the city has applied for a new guinness world record title, it takes guinness several months to make the decision and hope we will have that by the next gaithersburg book festival, you will see some history being made. what makes this case fascinating is that is not the

only record. this case -- this case is cool of records and that is a good way to bring you back to germany in 1835 and explain what happened and how that led to this moment in gaithersburg. first record, 19th century germany's coldest murder case ever solved. murder cases were usually solved within a few weeks and in the region where the murder took place. that is because they didn't have the forensic techniques we have like fingerprinting, photography, etc.. i researched volumes of criminal reports from germany

from the 19th century, between murder and solution. this is the recordbreaker. so what happens q here is the town that i live in now, the murder took place here, you see this salmon colored building is our palace and next to it, the gentleman's building, this is where our mayor lived in 1835. one day in october 18, '35 he was walking home from having dinner in a restaurant and somebody shot him with a string of pellets in the back. this is what the crime scene looked like with the picture taken out of the palace was the mayor was only four paces from his front door when a man standing in the corner of that green building shot him in the

back, turned and ran away. he eventually ended up in the united states. he was so horrified by this event, the new mayor hung up the old mayor's blood encrusted clothing in the city hall for over 37 years, as a reminder to the city that the crimes had not been solved. there was an investigator who handled the case. he ran down all sorts of leads. the investigative file runs up almost 800 pages but he could not crack the case. 37 years after the investigator had died, a letter came in from washington dc. this is just a snippet of it and it is written in the old gothic german handwriting so i don't expect you to be able to

read it except the very top line. what does that say you washington dc, april 29, 1872, a german immigrant wrote this letter. he left a year after the murder because the townsfolk thought he did it. he was never on the investigative radar but they made his life such hell that he and his whole family packed their bags and went to the united states. if that hadn't happened this case would never have been stalled because roque in washington dc discover the critical clue that cracked the case. the german prosecutor was able to find corroborating evidence in germany to prove that what roque was telling was true and

could close the case, solved 37 years later. that brings us to the next record. not only the coldest case ever solved but 19th century germany's only murder case ever solved in the united states. next one, first use of forensic statistics. we had a very frustrated detective in this case who could not find any good leads and out of frustration, he took the shock pellets the doctors autopsied from the victim's body and discovered funny little scratches on them. this is what police call striations, inside the barrel. what is unusual is the murderer uses a shotgun to fire shots, a

rifle to fire bullets but this murderer happens to use a rifle to fire a shot and that left striations on the bullet. he was able to tell by these striations this did not come from a normal rifle. it came from a finally groomed, rifled gun. most guns have 6 to 8 grooves, he collected all the rifles and he and a gunsmith testfired them and were able to eliminate suspects weapons which i used to work as a prosecutor the alarm bells went off because i knew forensic ballistics was supposedly invented in france in 1888 by a french path all just, i am thinking what is going on here? i did the only thing you could

do in such a situation, i called the german police and i ended up in the state police crime laboratory where the ballistic technician got so interested in this case, he thought he saw a narrow exception where somebody in 1835 given the technology we had then might have been able to use a ballistic analysis. this is him in the state crime laboratory trying to set up conditions similar to that of the murderer and he came to the conclusion this was possible, the detective in this case probably realized he was first to use forensic ballistics. the next record solves a riddle

in american history. of this was only a german case i would not be talking to you today but the funny thing is the murderer led justice in germany and went to the united states, joined the army and thought in the mexican-american war at the siege of veracruz in 1987. this is where they set up naval guns on land to try to break down city walls of veracruz and this battery was handled by a young captain who was so impressed with a person who died at his feet that he wrote a letter home. a whole half page describing the valor of one soldier hits twice with cannonballs didn't die, suffered for hours until

he got hit by a cannonball from a giant spanish cannon that was used to fight pirates and that killed him instantly. in the very end, the captain wrote, went too far? i don't know if you can read that. i doubt whether all mexico is worth to was the life of that man. this letter may have been forgotten if the captain didn't happen to be robert e lee. the virginia historical society acquired this letter from private position in 1881 and since then, the biographers haven't discussed this letter. why did he write about somebody? was he trying to balance the suffering of one man against the military goal of the united

states, never mentioned the man's name, he probably didn't know the man's name, but it turns out it was the assassin from germany who killed our mayor. if you read my book i will tell you how i came to that conclusion with documents from the national archives. i had to go through all the desks in the battery. ..

>> identification of the killer. this was written -- this is a city council minutes from germany written on the day after the mayor got shot offering in german 500 golden, 200 golden for information. the reward never got paid. i'm pretty sure i know the reason why. the city minutes got misfiled. the detectives in this case wrote an appeal in the newspaper for people to offer information and used the city council minutes as basis for his article and when he got done, he forgot to give it back to the city and he filed it in his own file and

when the case was solved, that got filed in the state archives so when letter came in 1872, there may have been people who remember the reward but they couldn't find the documentation that would authorize them to pay such a hefty size of money. when i discovered this omission three years ago, i went to my mayor and i said, why don't we pay it now. and he said, he didn't think the city was legally obligated to honor a reward from 1835, but wouldn't it be the moral and diplomatic thing to do? and that leads us up to the real event today, the reward from germany. i am going to turn it over to

mr. bombergo, and this is the moment to watch history being made because i think we are about to break a world record. [applause] >> thank you, ms. ackerman. i'm happy to join you today with my son and ms. ackerman. this is my first trip to your country. [applause] >> and my first impression is it's a wonderful country with wonderful people. [applause]

>> many things unit german cities not only immigration, unusual crime and international intrigue. my predecessor in 1835 -- [inaudible] >> issued a reward of 200 golden for information leading to the assassin's capture. the murder but --

[inaudible] >> top-notch investigateor trapped down and people had suspect and one was 25-year-old maker frederick. we now know he didn't do it but wronged him. does he turn his life into a nightmare and force him to immigrate to the united states a year later. began a new life in washington, d.c., then he found a crucial clue in 1872, the evidence that cracked the case. the german prosecutor could corroborate and close the case as solved, but we never paid the reward.

that was because the city minutes originally documenting it in 1835 got misfiled. we weren't even aware of our error until ackerman discovered 183 years have passed since the murder, 146 have passed since he should have received reward that is a long time. the city has applied for new guinness world record title, the oldest reward for capturing a murder ever paid. if guinness grants us the honor, our two cities will also have a new world record. the passage of so many years

makes no difference to me as a mayor. the assassination of the top city administrator will always remain a black chapter off history. and i say bernikime should pay the reward even after so many years because justice is important to my town. the truth should always come out in the end and so should the recognition and the money. my gratitude goes to mayor and the city of which this presentation can take place. you were the first americans who believed me and this story. [laughter] [applause] >> your sponsorship gave my city

the credibility to convince descendants and the press that this story is real. your hospitality has enabled me as mayor to undertake the city's first diplomatic trip to the united states. [laughter] [applause] >> but my highest gratitude go to my descendants of fredrik, with the payment of this reward, i want to do more than just write wrong from the past. i'm also conferring on you the unofficial title of town heros. [laughter] >> if you ever come back to your role, bernakine will receive you

as local celebrities. [applause] >> your ancestor became a champion by solving the worst crime in our history and the best way we can honor him today is by honoring you. patricia of maryland, great, great, great granddaughter. jennifer, great, great, great granddaughter of fredrik. great, great, great grandson of frederick brook. robert l. and charles johnson of

naples, florida, great, great granddaughter of frederick, will you please receive this check as a small token of my city's appreciation, yes? [applause] [laughter] [inaudible conversations] >> we have photos. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] >> thank you. chuck, if you would come to me, please. i want to thank you so much for your invitation and i congratulate for this very organized book festival. it's perfect. [cheers and applause] >> thank you. >> in our city, we have a lot of wind yards and i took one for you, it's traveled thousands of

miles in the plane for you to test it, 1225 year's old. thank you so very much for you and your staff, thank you. >> thank you so much. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> thank you. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] >> i can take some questions but i thought first it doesn't make sense that we come all the way from germany and not show you a little bit of how beautiful our town is, so i will go a little bit further. like mayor said, we live in a town in the vineyards. our town lives primarily from the wine harvest and as a matter of fact fredrik and his family used to be a vineyard.

this may have been where he worked. that's what the vineyard looked like in the fall. palace, our city gates. we were hoping that this might entice you to come visit us. [laughter] >> oh, yeah, we don't have not only palace, we have a castle, this one dates back to the 1200's. pretty timbered homes and i offer city crime scene tours and if you -- [laughter] >> if you -- if you come and tell me you were at the book festival, i will give you one for free. [applause] >> it's a tradition in our town that the person giving the tour has to dress up in historical outfit and no produces in europe

produces a mexican-american uniform but there are tons, it's unbelievable, there are tons of american civil war reenactment clubs in europe, several in germany so it's easy to get a confederate outfit. i have with me a minstro who was a professional singer, germans had this great true crime story-telling tradition, they did it through songs. they would do tourists, show pictures and tell the story in songs, so i combined the story with old german tradition and we do the tour together. and then my credits and i'm opened to any questions. yes?

[inaudible conversations] >> was it ever determined why the assassin kaled the -- killed the mayor, was there a motive? >> oh, yeah, i reveal the motive at the very end of the book and that's the one thing i won't tell you because i want you to go out and buy the book to find out why he did it. [laughter] >> hello. after 37 years of the deceased mayor's clothes being hung up in the palace or city hall, why did they remove it?

>> after 37 years of the mayor's bloody encrusted clothing, why did they remove it? actually they didn't remove it right away. i found an entry in archives that the clothing was still hanging in the city hall in the early 1900's. unfortunately our city hall was hit by a bomb in april 1945 and the entire city hall and most of the archives were destroyed. i'm not sure what happened with the mayor's clothing, if they had been removed beforehand or burned during the bombing. >> thank you. how many years did it take for you to research all of this and put all of the puzzles together to solve the crime? >> about 3 years. i discovered the case in 2013 in

a forester's dairy because he talked about the murder and it took me, i think, two years to get a book contract, some of the research went on but i didn't do it all myself, i can't afford to fly to the united states every time i had a research question so i hired a couple of researches out here. one of them an extremely talented archivist from washington, d.c., she used to be the librarian for the washington historical society, gail mccormick, she knows the library of congress like her own backyard and was able to dig up a lot of this information. my thanks goes to her because she helped shape the book to what it is today. >> you described the recreation of the monument or the marker on

the grieve site that they created or put back where it had been standing in the beginning. >> yeah, the question is could i describe the creation of the monument to the deceased mayor? in germany, graves are reused. they're not like american cemeteries where once you're buried it says there forever. after 30 years, if the family doesn't renew the plot, the grave will be reused and the tomb stone removed. in a case like a celebrity like the mayor, they made an exception and his gravestone stood in the cemetery until the 1970's when the city decided to redo it and use it for grave. they kept the tomb stone in the attic of the fire department. when my research brought the

case back to light, the city decided to take the tomb stone out of storage and monument to the mayor pretty close to the place where he got shot n the same courtyard. >> the detective, the early detective who found the forensic federal, did he ever get credit historically? >> did the detective ever get credit for forensic discovery, no, at least not until now when my book came out. you have to realize, usually the person who publishes first gets the credit and it was alexander who published first about his discovery of forensic ballistics but a detective is morally and legally obligated to keep the details of an investigation confidential. what would have happened if the detective had published an

article in 1835 saying, hey, i discovered a really cool new forensic technique and i know that the rifle in this murder with one that had brass roots, what would the murderer have done, i would i would have buried the rifle in the woods. he was not allowed to say anything. we need to give them credit that he wasn't allowed to publish and i claim now that bernakine, germany is the origin of ballistic,i ask people if they know what it means, germany scored a goal against france. [laughter] [applause]

>> how did the 200 golden reward compared to the 1,000 euro and will the guinness book nitpick that as not paying the original reward? >> the question is how does the 200 golden compare to 1,000 euros and would the guinness world record committee would argue about it? i hope not. what do you use as your standard, do you use the price of gold, do you use the price of housing, do you use the price of food? the german bank came up with a rough estimate of 5,000 euros in

today's money, but it depends on what standard you use. our city is not authorized to just give out 5,000 euros without some kind of reason. the reward that you have today is partially from the city, 200, private individuals and bank have contributed to it to raise it to 1,000 euros, about $1,200 and the citizens of bernakine are so behind, mayor's trip, they even paid for part of this trip. this is our city's gift to you. [applause] >> we are not a very rich town, therefore, it's not very exactly changed from golden to euros and dollars. i hope you understand. [laughter]

>> this is not a question. this is appreciation. the biggest reward that i received was the work that you caused to be done, genealogy of my family. today i know where my grandmother and grandfather are buried and i have a much more complete record of -- of the ancestors and where we came from in germany, so i thank you very much, i appreciate it a great deal and that's my reward. [applause] >> how has the publication of this book impacted your life personally and professionally? >> it's enabled me to attend great events like this and

speak, that has been a fun aspect of marketing the book but i feel like in my town, the fact that i have uncovered this fascinating story has made me feel more like of a member of a town. when you're an american and move to a small german town at the beginning you can really feel like an outsider, maybe even more so than what a german might feel, if you dig up a fascinating story like this that the town finds interesting, suddenly you are one of them. i've noticed an increase in the town's acceptance of me as inhabitant and that has been really neat. [applause] >> a question over here. >> behind you.

>> i was wondering what made you move there from the u.s.? >> question is why did i move germany, i married a german. that isn't perhaps so strange as what it sounds because i'm german american. my father was german, immigrated to america. i have blood relatives there, but i married a german 22 years ago and we moved to bernakine about 20 years, a place coast to where he worked and had a great school system for the kids and i had no idea there was this murder case waiting, it seemed to me it would take an american in my town to cover the full depth and breath of this case. it was waiting for me. that's what it feels like.

[applause] >> where are you from in the united states? i know that you have family here with you today? >> yeah, i do have family, born and raised in indiana, lived every summer in new jersey. my mother lived in gaithersburg for a number of years. i practiced law in the state of washington for ten years before i got married and my family comes from new york, one is from -- two are from maryland and one from indiana. they've come all the way out today to see me and we are going to celebrate tonight. [applause]

>> can we give our author another round of applause, please. [applause] >> right after the presentation she will be signing books and tent a, line 4, if you are interesting. thank you again for attending the 2008 book festival. the date for calendar is already on books so mark your calendar for next year. thank you for coming. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> that was author ann marie ackerman, starting in a few minutes hoffman, this is book tv on c-span2. [inaudible conversations] >> this weekend c-span's city tour takes you to selma, alabama with the help of spectrum cable partners we will cross the bridge arriving in a town known for its role in both the civil war and the civil rights movement. today at 5:30 p.m. eastern on book tv, we will visit the home dr. martin luther king, jr., used as selma headquarters as he planned the selma to montgomery march. it's featured in the book the house by the side of the road. >> there was a photographer here, frank whoke