. -- eric foner. >> with that, i would like to introduce eric foner. eric when iuntered was a college student thinking about becoming an historian and had visions of riding a good book. then i read "freemen, free soil, , maybe ir" and thought ought to stop now. i will not be able to write a book that good. whatis is his first book, is he going to write? i ran away from antebellum history. you can't compete with people like him. i have come back to antebellum history and slavery and since then, i have relied on many of eric's more than 20 books. i would review the list, but we do not have that much time. i do want to say, and this is the fun of introducing a speaker, looking at his selected publications, i notice he has written a book called "dance for the city: 50 years of the new york city ballet," and i can think of no better preparation for giving a talk today at this moment on reconstruction and the radical republicans who helped reconstruct the nation than somebody who knows how to move quickly on his feet. and with that, i would like to introduce

capital historical society as part of its annual symposium. >> with that, i would like to introduce eric foner. i first encountered eric when i was a college student thinking about becoming an historian and had visions of writing a good book. then i read "free soil, free labor, and freemen" and thought, maybe i ought to stop now. because i will not be able to write a book that good. if this is his first book, what is it going to be like after that? from fact, iran away antebellum hry

next on american history television, pulitzer prize-winning author eric foner on the challenges of establishing civil rights for freedmen in the reconstruction period and beyond. the monday -- the 90 minute talk was hosted by the u.s. capital historical society as part of its annual symposium. >> with that, i would like to introduce eric foner. i first encountered eric when i was a college student thinking about becoming an historian and had visions of writing a good book. then i read "free soil, free labor, and freemen" and thought, maybe i ought to stop now. because i will not be able to write a book that good. if this is his first book, what is it going to be like after that? from fact, iran away ranbellum history and -- i away from antebellum history and became a contemporary historian. because you can't compete with people like him. but eventually, i came back to antebellum history and slavery and since then, i have relied on many of eric's more than 20 books. i would read you the list, but we do not have that much time. i do want to say, though, and this is always the fun of introducing a

i'm joined now by pulitzer prize winning historian, eric foner, and susan glasser, former foreign policyhief and the first editor of politico magazine. susan, was it significant, do you think, or how significant was it that the word democracy did not appear at all in that speech? significant but not a surprise. trump doesn't use the word democracy often. some people here were likening his speech to a european version of his american carnage and inauguration speech. that didn't also mentioned democracy. he has gone back to a clash of civilisations route rather than unification. a clash of civilisations, harking back to samuel huntington's 1993 work where islam replaces russia as the enemy of western domination in the world. does that tally with what you heard today? what was interesting was trump was laying out this apocalyptic vision of the world divided into the forces of light, darkness, and it gives you an insight into what you might call the intellectual origins of trump's outlook. it may seem absurd to put intellectual and trump in the same sentence, because he doesn't read books, h