what did you learn about harper lee and her reasons? >> well, i was fortunate enough to get great access to two very close friends of her. a new york city couple who gave their friend, harper lee, money. they remain very, very close dear friends to this day. the other person i was also very privileged and fortunate to talk to was alice finch, harper lee's older sister. alice is one of the first women in alabama who was ever admitted to the bar. she -- at 99 she's the oldest practicing attorney in the state. she continues to practice every day, and she hopes to celebrate her 100th birthday in september at her law desk. she was quite a character and told me quite a bit about how the lee girls were raised. and her answer to that question is, she quoted her sister saying, she couldn't top what she had done. she had nowhere to go but down. and i think the combination of this kind of overwhelming thing, the somewhat autobiographical nature of what was written about and not to disappoint yourself let alone the other people out there waiting fo

harper lee hasn't given an interview since 1964, it not be the person who would change her mind. so when i started doing my own documentary, which is about -- i started it about six years ago, i read the novel again, i did a little more reporting, especially about, you know, the summer of 1960 when the novel was published. and i began to see the story i could tell was the story of the novel. not so much the novelist. and the credible impact that the novel had on the civil rights movement, on lives, on careers and on readers to this very day. so that to me seemed to be the story worth telling and that's when i started working on the documentary. >> and sort of tell us how did you arrive at your understanding of the impact that the book has had, particularly on race relations and, you know, the -- so many people cite the book as a reason why they went to law school. why do you think that's true, particularly in light of the fact that atticus lost the case? >> well, i mean, it is true that in the research i've done many people did say that atticus finch is the reason that they went

. >> harper lee's first and only novel. >> a masterpiece is

the illustrated weekly published in new yoristt frank was lee, harper's weekly and several others send war artisper' out a others to the front. they generally did what photat.raphers did and that was stay out of the way. going through the air in the o.anner craig described final day of gettysburg it was not a great idea to have your head buried in the sketchbook or under a photographer's hood. that they did create a remarkable record of camp life and the aftereffects of battime and they brought the war visibly of 2 people, the photographer and the artists. they were an extraordinary bunch. and i would suppose just leave it at the fact that homer, alone among them, evolved into a great american artist and there will be a museum exhibition in washington and the metropolitan museum between 2012, and 2013 on the art of the civil wang a ne lobur at photat.raphy and paintg as it much tours and goes from news medium to ier aressionisti medium and history medium. >> if you want to learn more about this you need to read two of harold's 218 books, the union s the age and the confederate i. >> wh