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

one of the odd things about the harper's ferry story is it's almost a casting call for the confederacy. rob e. lee and jeb storm lead the troops in a counterattack against john brown, stonewall jackson turns up there. it's almost a prequel to "gods and generals" which was a prequel to "gettysburg." but jefferson davis is leading the charge in congress. you see all of these figures 18 months before the civil war. but in the final twist is at john brown's hanging, one of the guards is john wilkes booth, who later writes about being quite inspired by brown or talks to his sister about it. she writes about it. he calls him the great man of the century. here's a man who took an act that changed the course of american history, and that's ultimately what john wilkes booth then does in assassinating lincoln. >> chill bumps. i got 'em. i hope you all do, too. >> yeah. >> when you read this book, you're going to get more, because i'm going to tell you something that you do so remarkably well, and that is these names, they're names on history book pages for most people. but you actually open up their hearts,

stonewall jackson takes harper's ferry a awe few days before, and that's why the battle happened. the union realizes lee has divided his army. they attack, and as a result of antetum, which is seven miles from the kennedy farm, lincoln issues the emancipation proclamation. so, you know, this incredible journey in our history all occurs in this very tight geographic area. i mean, it really is quite stunning. this is the irony while i was sort of bashing lincoln but suggesting that he wasn't the great emancipator initially that people imagined. he actually was on the conservative end of the anti-slavery spectrum, and this comes through again very much in his attitude towards brown, the great irony is that he eventually comes around to brown's position and that slavery -- this must become a war against slavery and ends up, you know, taking the south that begins to fulfill brown's mission but like brown becomes a martyr through the cause. here's a final strange twist in their connection. one of the odd things about the harper's ferry story is it's almost a casting call for the confederate see. they lead the

lee. cole hamill got a five game suspension. he threw a first pitch fastball to the back of the 19-year-old calling it his way of welcoming harperthe majors. mike rizzo among those to take exception saying yesterday, quote, cole hamill says he's old school. he's fake tough. he thinks he's going to intimidate us after hitting our 19-year-old rocky who's eight games into the big leagues. he doesn't know who he's dealing with. mike rizzo. the nats will face off against the phil lease, by the way, in two weeks. >>> coming up on "morning joe", rick santorum finally offers his endorsement of mitt romney in an 11:00 p.m. e-mail with the actual endorsement coming deep into the message. president obama's stalled evolution on gay marriage among the topics with our "morning joe" crew. >>> when we come back here, we'll watch andy cohen talk up his new book with stephan colbert and colbert challenging andy to the quiet game. we'll see how that went when "way too early" comes right back. [ female announcer ] thir kids are getting a dependable clean in the bathroom? [ gasps ] think again. try charmin ultra strong for a clean with fewer pieces