>> this is the question of how much do you really trust do you think god is limited to the two-party system? he cannot fulfill his will on earth on the shoe vote for the republican i think the argument is tempting but dangerous and contributes to keeping a system in place that takes accountability out of the system and it is an easy way to bring evangelicals and use that that is the worst possible way.

t7 book tv on c-span2 television for serious readers we are at the libertarian conference in las vegas now former new york times reporter his most recent book is wild bill. what do we know about wild bill hickok and what should we know? >> that much and that is the motivation and their hasn't been one since the 19 sixties but mostly what we know that he was a famous outlaw.

was one of the most dynamic marshals and that is true to some extent and was a great gunman the only way he died is somebody shot him in the back. there's so much we don't know he spent two years in the civil war spying for the army. we had the rumor the love of his life was calamity jane. that's not true. it was the rival of barnum & bailey. what we don't know it is waiting to be unearthed to be as interesting or more interesting. >> with genome can temporarily?

>> he was. as you make the argument for george custer but as a western celebrity he had a resume built up by gunfire but the monthly magazine sent to interview him and thousands and thousands of people back east read about it in a distinguished him as the iconic original loan gunman on the american west frontier. a lot of the stories were made up but some were true so everybody has an image of this archetype with the individual gunman of the entire wild west a lot of that was true and

then they found out about it. what did he do quick. >> really he was the winner of the first reported gunfight they were called a dual and in 1865 to square off and then you can see which one is still standing. now this happened in the town square he had stolen his watch and that he walked around to parade and he said don't do that so he actually called him

out so they forgot what they were doing and watching this display and it would spread like a prairie fire. so then the others came along to rival him the undisputed heavyweight champion. >> as a gambler he enjoyed gambling but for the individual he got around a lot he was in kansas, missouri, nebraska, aria and he would gamble.

also talked about the years as a federal marshal the best he ever made was as a broadway actor which is where buffalo bill cody came to him when hickok was out of a job to say they wrote this play for you and me in a couple of other people and we will do this play sitting around the campfire so hickok thought this was the silliest thing he ever heard but then they offered him $100 a week he took it it was a huge hit lines were around the block month after month but increasingly he was uncomfortable and then one night he finally had enough he

shot out the lights walked out into the next train back out. >> so how did they become friends quick. >> when they first met he tried to make money to support his mother and sisters one day cody went to beat him up and hickok came in and said and during the civil war. after the war with that contingents and then to have kids and then to be embraced

by the family. >> was he ever part of the wild west show quick. >> he didn't live long after that he died in south dakota he was shot from behind at a poker game buffalo bill did not really get going. >> deadwood south dakota why was that a place in 1876 quick. >> the expedition led by custer and at that time to protect the sacred land and

administration did try very hard but then they got overwhelmed and then what happens in most boom towns now the towns spring up saloons where the banks will set up shop and then it sprang up up almost overnight but hickok was fine he enjoyed it because now we're suddenly getting rich. >> so that was home to him. >> where was his wife at this time quick. >> they had gotten married in wyoming two or three months earlier then went back to cincinnati where he had family

and had their honeymoon and said i will go to deadwood and make a lot of money i will retire and come back to you i will send for you and you will come to me. that was the plan and unfortunately that was interrupted because they had loved each other for years but they both have very different lifestyles and finally decided to get married and then at that unfortunate moment that he was killed. >> some other famous names come into your book like calamity jane or george custer. >> frank and jesse james. >> but what was remarkable to me is that he kept encountering these people you would think how much do you

cross the past with these people? he was almost always on the move he would keep encountering them again and again. >> how much of that original harpers article and the exploits contribute to how we thought of the west? >> about the same time that article came out the new york tribune they tracked him down and then got to that point so right after that article was published and wanted to go back and do a sql that i have to send you to africa but it

contributed to our view of the west because we start to see that not only as a front tier but it wasn't as lawless but there were deputies and sheriffs and hickok was both a gunfighter so that there was the american west to make the attempt and hickok personified that so just like when he was growing up. >> this is your second book on the west the new york times veteran who lives on the east coast.

>> this wasn't intended another book came out called dodge city was a fun story sitting in the dodge city days and it was supposed to be a one-off. dodge city was the biggest cattle town on the front tier all those coming up from texas the destination was dodge city cap boys get paid off then the american west that the reputation this was supposed to be a fun book a one-off the first week so i get back and have lunch on my ed - - of the editor he said the book you're working on forget about it

bookstores are asking for it is there another iconic figure quicksand hickok was the first that popped into my mind and i said i don't know anything about him though. he is played by charles bronson. [laughter] so that is what happened i said okay and it turned into a much bigger story than anticipated. >> so the portrayal of deadwood. >> i watched the first season you know that he was twice his age at the time and then when he died in the sixth episode i lost interest. but i know the deadwood series.

and then that kid that type of thing one day you will have a chance to tell people the real story. >> how do you research a book like this quick. >> i compare that to gold prospecting so at the end of the day there was so much out there that is not true the whole calamity jane romance is just one example and the gunfighter for higher if you read everything possible newspaper articles at the time magazine articles some are self-serving you just try to read as much as possible and

only include what you feel comfortable is true. i didn't want to do another book that repeated the same exaggerations. >> i wrote a whole variety of things because i learned a lot more about landfill in deadwood than i ever wanted to. i got to introduce very interesting people is after 15 years like a utility plan i was no cy young winner. >> here is his latest book the

true story of the american frontier first gunfire thank you for previewing on the tv. >> my pleasure >> a pretty powerful weapon 762 caliber bullet you could take a bear down with that. when i saw the size of the bullet later that they showed me i said how amaya life? it really does make you wonder but a lot of miracles that day and that is one that a detailed in the book i have a strong faith in a help to get me through it and the prayer is helped but i chronicled

some very specific things that happened on the ball field you may say the first one or two was a coincidence but by the time you get to the fifth there was a larger presence. >> and the congressman usually did not stay for these practices. >> normally he has a meeting at 8:00 o'clock then he showers and gets ready but that morning he found out it was canceled so he decided to stay for extra batting practice that he was in the batting cage so he was out of the line of fire but could see what was happening and then the skills took over he knew he had to check on me to see what had happened if he could do something.

most days his schedule would've brought him somewhere else. . . . .