my book begins in may of 1884, 29 years after appomattox. granted 62 years old and the most famous man in america. he is also on his way to being the most photographed man of the 19th century are going addition to his enormous contribution in winning the civil war, he has served two terms as president of the united states. grant was not in good health. among other things his slender stature had gained 40 pounds since his wartime weight of 146. he used crutches as a result of falling on icing new york sidewalks however no one, including grant, had any idea that he had only 14 months left to live. as we open on grant, he and his wife were living very comfortably in manhattan. they are able to afford this lifestyle because of the generosity of some rich new yorkers including jpmorgan. these men got together quite a bit of money so that the grants could have the same kind of lifestyle that they had come ane they saw in ulysses s. grant the same kind of determination, the same kind of vision, the same kind of concentration that it wrought them gr

my book begins in may of the teeny before, 29 years after appomattox. 62 years old and the most famous man in america. it's also on his way to be the most photographed man of the 19th century. in addition to his enormous contribution of winning the civil war, yet served two terms as prez didn't have the united states. grant was found in good health. among other things this man a slender stature had gained 40 pounds since his wartime weight of 146. he used crutches as a result of falling on a seamier exciter. however no one, including grants, had any ata he'd only 14 months to live. as we open on grant, he and his wife were living very comfortably in manhattan. they were able to afford this place because of the generosity of some rich new yorkers, including jpmorgan. and these men had got together quite a bit of money so that the grants could have the same kind of lifestyle that they had. and they did this because they thought in ulysses s. grant the same kind of determination, the same kind of vision, of vision, the same concentration that it brought them great success in entirely diff

freshmen -- an introductory class in american history from the founding to -- i hope we get to appomattox. >> richard norton smith, bring us up-to-date. >> i am teaching a graduate course at george mason university on the american presidency. still working on the nelson rockefeller biography. in between, oral history project. >> mr. cannon? >> i am washington editor of real clear politics. i am writing a book. we have been e book that is out called "campaign 2012, the battle begins." >> how many words is the first one? "the publisher wanted 20,000 but it came in about 40,000 or more. >> if it is only $2.99 on amazon. go to amazon, google my name, and it will pop up. ,ou can get it for kindle computer. your >> jean baker, can you get yours as an e-book. >> yes. >> richard norton smith -- the reverse of who is the best, who is the worst figure you can think of who succeeded in being president? >> gosh. succeeded as president? >> no, got elected. >> warren harding and h.l. mencken invented a phrase -- warren harding. h.l. mencken invented a phrase. it is a lot better than anything harding ev

happen at fort sumter and 146 years ago, today, ready lisa rented the army of northern virginia at appomattox so this is a very patient moment. we need to discuss what really was the most dramatic event in our national history and there have been thousands, tens of thousands of books written about the american civil war. half were written by harold. but in doing this project it gave me -- the reason there are so many is there are so many facets of this experience that were investigating and useful to consider today in our own troubled times and in doing this project, i think i and my partners realize that reading of the war through the eyes of the newspaper and particularly the paper that was becoming the paper of record for the union, new york times gave yet another perspective on this because events were encountered not necessarily as they unfolded but as you read about them in the paper. today of course we have a wide variety of media sources to inform us what is going on in the world but newspapers were pretty much the only game in town in 1861 to 1865. and as harold mentioned they tended

freshmen -- an introductory class in american history from the founding to -- i hope we get to appomattox. >> richard norton smith, bring us up-to-date. >> i am teaching a graduate course at george mason university on the american presidency. still working on the nelson rockefeller biography. in between, oral history project. >> mr. cannon? >> i am washington editor of real clear politics. i am writing a book. we have been e book that is out called "campaign 2012, the battle begins." >> how many words is the first one? "the publisher wanted 20,000 but it came in about 40,000 or more. >> if it is only $2.99 on amazon. go to amazon, google my name, and it will pop up. you can get it for kindle, ipad, or your computer. >> jean baker, can you get yours as an e-book. >> yes. >> richard norton smith -- the reverse of who is the best, who is the worst figure you can think of who succeeded in being president? >> gosh. succeeded as president? >> no, got elected. >> warren harding. h.l. mencken invented a phrase. it is a lot better than anything harding ever said. mencken gave us the word "boviatin