i had the opportunity to see david mccullough talking about this book. they give us each a copy of the book, for those of us who come to the event. it is a wonderful story. >> host: what drew you to that book? >> guest: hearing david mccullough talk about it and talk about the wright brothers, who are very interesting. you know, you think you know because we all learn about the wright brothers and they are the founders of flight, you know, then to hear david mccullough talk about the personal story, i discovered i didn't really know anything about them at all. the brothers had aces your who was dairy helpful in everything they did and they lived at her home. all of them live together as they were getting were older. they had a bicycle shot. they started out a bicycle shot. one of the brothers was just fascinated by flight and a study birds and then translated that to how to begin to build an airplane and a one to north carolina because that is where the wind patterns with the best. it is just a wonderful story and also not just about that family and thei

along the freedom trail is where i will be on wednesday with david mccullough. there are 16 sites that helps us understand the events that led up to the american revolution. and this is -- hall, where many of the important meetings took place leading up to the american revolution. seneca falls. seneca falls was mentioned -- there we go -- seneca falls was mentioned last week when hillary clinton accepted, or didn't accept, but was giving a victory speech. and seneca falls appeared in the video that was shown prior to her victory speech. and i'll be speaking at seneca falls in july at the annual anniversary of the women's rights convention, which was held in july 1848. what always amazes me about this story is that elizabeth cady stanton and lucretia mott and their colleagues, in early july, came together for tea and decided, finally, enough was enough. they were staunch abolitionists, they were progressive reformers, but they decided we will have a convention about women's rights. and we will hold it in three weeks. and we are going to draft a declaration of sen

they talk about their most recent books and i had the opportunity to see david mccullough talking about this book and then they give us each a copy of the book for those of us who go to event. talk about the wright brothers and who were very interesting. you think you know because we all know about the wright brothers and they're the founders of flight, and then to hear david mccullough talk about their personal story i discovered i really didn't know anything about them at all. the brothers had a sister who was very helpful in everything they did and they had -- they lived at their home, all of them lived together as they were getting older and they had a bicycle shop. they started out with a bicycle shop and one of the brothers was fascinated by flight and studied birds and translate that had in how to begin to build an airplane and they went to north carolina because that's where they thought the wind patterns would be best. so it is just a wonderful story and also about not just about that family and their relationships but also about america at that time as we were looking at, you

amy: that is historian david mccullough, speaking about donald trump. the two-time pulitzer prize winner for the biographies "truman" and "john adams" has historically refused to comment on contemporary election cycles, saying his specialty is "dead politicians." other historians involved in the group include ron chernow, whose pulitzer prize-winning biography "hamilton" served as inspiration for the hit musical, david levering lewis, biographer of w.e.b. dubois, and vicki lynn ruiz, former president of the american historical association. in britain, theresa may is becoming the prime minister today, as david cameron tenders his resignation at buckingham palace. this comes less than a month after britain shocked the world by voting to leave the european union -- a move strongly opposed by cameron. he announced within hours of the referendum that he would resign by october, although it had been expected he would stay in power at least through the summer. theresa may becomes only the second woman to serve as prime minister in british history. she has serv

spee2 well david mccullough's book about john adams i think is a wonderful book. 1776 is a wonderful book, less about what we wonderful book, less about what we do today in the senate, i have not yet read master of the senate which is the third book in the trilogy about lyndon johnson. i just finished the second book also that's my list to do and people tell me that it's a wonderful description of what happens in the senate and the process and how to make things happen which johnson of course was a master at. so that is one on my list for the summer. >> host: when you were growing up in missouri and going to school in mississippi did it ever occur to you that you were going to be the governor and senator from new hampshire? >> guest: no, never that was not on my dreamless of things that i wanted to do in the future. but i had this theory about politics and that was that some of us are born with musical ability and some of us are artists and others get the political gene. and so some of us that are drawn to politics because my parents were always interested in current events but neith

would james paterson and david mccullough be a member? >> guest: we have quite a number of well-known authors who are members of the guild. and we also have -- we have all kinds of authors. we have everything -- to be a member you have to have a published book -- too be a full voting member -- have to have published a become or have certain levels of income. we have associate memberships whether the levels are low and we do the income levels to accommodate self-publishers so there's an opportunity for publishers to also publish themselves or very, very small publishers, or some call themselves independently public, which means we're becoming our own publisher. >> host: how didout get into this work? >> guest: well, i have been a copyright lawyer for about 25 years. i have spent a lo -- worked at copyright offers, at the library of congress, a lawyer by training i spend a lot of time advocates for authors rights as lawyer and private practice i represented a number of authors and author estates and publishers, so i've been part of this wor

. >> how significant was david mccullough's book on the wright brothers and identifying what they did and meant for america's and the world's flight? >> well, he's a fine writer and maybe the most important part of that is that his books are wildly sold and read and so the word gets out to the public through that means, he did a lot of research with dr. crouch and dr. jacob and references them freely in his book so, yes, that's one of the things about this whole place is getting the information to people to spark that interest where they want to know more. so this question is the one we welcome because if we can get -- okay, let's figure this out, let somebody try to prove something different on this. so it's -- we're anxious to hear from folks. >> it's clear this still excites you after all these years. >> it really does, yes. >> let's hear from wayne joining us from massachusetts with general jack dailey. >> caller: good evening, general, and semper fi from a former marine, second marine, second recon battalion out of camp lejeune, north carolina, sir. >> hoorah. >> caller: [ laught

i wrote this book and david mccullough encouraged me to write the book that i would want to read. there were three reasons for writing the book. first was to encourage historical literacy. what do i mean by that? i don't mean memorization of dates and facts. the order in which the president are elected or when was the war of 1812? [laughter] that is a trick question. i'm not talking about memorizing those facts. i'm talking about historical context. how places and events and people relate to each other in their own time. and how they can be resources for us today. what is the connection between some of these historical places and these individuals we read about and our own times? how do they help us understand evene are as americans and giving us meaning in our lives? historical literacy is connected to citizenship. it is impossible to be a citizen in a democracy without knowing something about our history and it is impossible to have a democracy without having people who understand our history. especially in the year in which we will elect a new president, every headline we read

>> i believe that -- and i've seen several of those, ken burns, david mccullough and others and they'reviews is given the presidents they've written about and studied and created brilliant documentaries about, trump lacks -- my interpretation is he lacks the fundamental knowledge and temperament to be president and to some extent the rhetoric of the trump candidacy which is that there are walls to be built, there are doors to be closed, there are tariffs to be imposed leads to a closed america when in fact history tells us we've always become stronger the wider we've opened our arms, the more we've enlarged the mainstream the more powerful we've become and if we're trig to perfect our union the right way to do that is by expanding the definition of what it means to be an american not narrowing it. >> rose: then there's the question of understanding america and its values. what is it that all the presidents and the constitution and american belief is about? it is not about some of the things that he has said he has come out for, is it? i'm thinking about the ban on muslims and the freedo

history by looking back at a series of conversations we have had with the imminent historian david mccullough. >> there but for george washington, there is no america. >> that's my feeling. i think he's the greatest president we ever had. i think he's the greatest american of all because, if it weren't for him, as you just said, there would be, in my view, no united states of america, and he did it all right, particularly when he became president. he set the example, just as he was setting the example as the generals, the commander-in-chief of the very dark days of the revolution. >> rose: funding for "charlie rose" has been provided by the following: >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> the glorious ideals and ideas of the declaration of independence which we celebrate, as we should, every fourth of july and, as we know, our secular faith would have been nothing more than a declaration, words on paper, if it weren't for the people doing the

who are you to go against david mccullough and critique his history of such and such. with fiction i can say whatever i want. >> host: do the pressure publishers want to have their book reviewed in the "washington post." >> guest: they say they do. there are fewer outlets for book reviews. so, yeah issue think it's one of the important venues for book criticism. >> host: jonathan, we. >> guest: he retired. one of my colleagues for many years. every week, sometimes twice a week. now he still have michael greener, every thursday. another pulitzer prize winning book reviewers. >> host: how did you get interest this? i was an english teacher for many years, a job i love but the paper grading was wearing me down. and a student's mother suggested i review books instead. so i went to a book store, bought a book off the in fiction table, wrote off a review and sent to the ""christian science monitor"" and they bought and it asked for more. >> host: lounge were you there. >> guest: seven years, the book critic and the book editor there. >> host: can a good rescrew or bad review

i had the opportunity to see david mccullough talk about this book. then they give us a copy of the book for those of us who come to the event. so it is a wonderful story. >> book to be wants to know what you are reading the summer. we test your answer at book tv, or, or post on our facebook page, facebook.com/book tv. >> good afternoon, welcome to to the heritage foundation and are douglas and sarah auditory. we welcome those who join us on the website on these occasions. i would remind our guests in the audience that if you'll be so kind to check cell phones and mobile devices to mute or turn off that is appreciated. those online can send questions or comments on time by emailing speaker at heritage.org. we will post the program on the heritage homepage of following today's presentation. as we are aware, we are in the middle of what might be called an interesting political year. as a nonprofit organization heritage would prefer to focus on policy, not necessarily politics. we know some things will occur that go beyond that. just as the disclaimer, t

suppose i said to you, david, this is a good idea, but it is going to take 10 years of your life. mr. mcculloughlad i did not know, because i never would have done it. mr. rose: you never thought about quitting? mr. mccullough: no, never. i have been very lucky in my subjects, charlie. the more you learn, the more you want to learn. and every book -- i have never known a great deal about any subject that i have embarked upon right away, ever. mr. rose: there is discovery for you. mr. mccullough: if i knew all about it, i would not want to write the book. it is a journey. you learn so much by doing this, and you learn a lot about yourself. mr. rose: like what? mr. mccullough: well, this might sound strange, but i think writing history requires a great deal of imagination. i do not mean that you are making things up. but you have to be able to transport yourself into that other time, and into the shoes of those other people. get inside their skins, if you will. and that takes imagination. that takes empathy and sympathy. i do not mean sympathetic in the sense of feeling sorry for, sympathetic is,

delighted to have c-span here this evening to fill the of a lecture like another great historian david mccullough he hails from pittsburgh he hails his ap u.s. history teacher for recognizing his talented and encouraging him to write so this is part of the reason we welcome them here to discuss the book which was just released today and copies are here to sign after the lecture please join me to welcome our author. [applause] >> it is great to be here at mount vernon it is such a of a special place if you are researching and writing about george washington but to be here around vernon after writing this book it begins with washington in new york has a huge armada of warships and transports arrived in new york harbor with the 400 ships and 40,000 sailors and soldiers and more people in philadelphia the largest urban center in america in amazing force arrives at your doorstep he is there with the siege of boston the right about in my earlier book of bunker hill. washington never led the big gore me this is new for him. and it was after finishing bunker hill i realized i have to follow him to where