[applause] he's a great subject of thee dore roosevelt, and there was a tree in front of their house on second street that the city of washington was determined to cut down, and edmund was so determined that it not be cut down, that he climbed the tree and wrapped his arms around it and said, shoot if you must, this old gray head, but spare my favorite tree, he said. [laughter] he doesn't need an introduction. he concluded new morn three decades work, the bigraphical studies of american literature. his newest is colonel roosevelt covering a difficult, at times painful period in roosevelt's life when he missed the bully pulpit of the presidency, missed being the center of everybody's attention, was touring the world, was running into serious illness, suffered great personal losses. it's a dramatic story. nobody tells the story better than edmund morris, and it's really my great pleasure to introduce my old friend. [applause] >> that's completely untrue about me climbing the tree. [laughter] i tried to and went back to ground level. after that incident, that surprised even me, i'm here