so it's a great pleasure to introduce john ferling. [applause] john: thank you, thank you for coming out on this very hot evening. i feel like i'm back in atlanta again, as if i never left. today, your temperature topped anything that we've hit this year by five degrees, but we can beat you on humidy. i want to talk a little bit about my book on independence. and let me say irblely that the book actually had its origin in an article that i wrote for the smithsonian magazine that appeared back in 2004, and i was working on a long book on the revolutionary war. so i couldn't take that article forward and make a book out of it and then i got sidetracked with george washington and looking at how and why he became an american icon but when that one was finished, i wanted to get back to the book on independence. and this is a book that looks at the last 30 months before independence. it starts with the boston tea runs in december, 1773 and down to july of 1776. and i try to look at both sides. the subtitle is the struggle to set america free

year marks the 240th anniversary of the signing of the declaration of independence, next, author john ferling discusses his book "independence, the struggle to set america free." those who sought reconciliation with great britain and those who pushed for independence. he labels them the