and to my father left we have john taliaferro -- to my farther left we have john taliaferro and his book is called content about the statesman john hay. so i thought what we could do is start by asking each of our authors starting with h. w. about his subject and why they wanted to write it right now. h.e.w.? >> yeah, thanks, erica. thanks all for coming. i wrote a book about ulysses s. grant because i had music that he said i was going to write a history of the united states through biographies. i had written my way up to the middle of the 19th century. then i had a gap and i picked it up again at the end the 19th century and i'd been avoiding the civil war for a while for a number of reasons. one is there's lots of subjects about the civil war. secondly, there was a lincoln bicentennial that was coming and it was pretty clear, it was 2009 and it was pretty clear stuff on lincoln was going to suck the air out of all the rooms on the general subjects i wanted to give it some clearance. when i eventually came back to it i wanted to write about someone -- i had a very specific need. i need

. >> from the 18th annual texas ts book festival in austin, texas, a discussion with john taliaferro author of "all the great prizes: the life of john hay, from lincoln to roosevelt," and h. w. brands, author of "the man who saved the union: ulysses s. grant in war and peace." this is about 45 minutes. >> thanks to all of you for coming out this afternoon. we have with us to historians who have written two new books about a couple major 19th century figures in american history and politics. to my immediate left, h. w. brands has written this book about ulysses s. grant called "the man who saved the union: ulysses s. grant in war and peace." and to my father left we have john taliaferro -- to my farther left we have john taliaferro and his book is called content about the statesman john hay. so