and i think that it shapes the kind of subject for the american democracy and harriet beecher stowe. but also enormously popular and finally he quotes around 718 being attuned to the culture from opera and skespeare to the religious sensibilities of the age and ihink all of those viues show up in this book. let me begin b asking a fairly simple question what is t differenceetween the cultural biography and t best biographies by david. what they do generallys follow his li, sometimes his litical context but they are kind of standard volume. michael does a wderful job then there's the kind of classic and donald says in the preface th is a biography from lincoln's point of vi because he didn't have much connection to the society and culture of his era. he was selfducated and donald even says he entered the pridency the least prepared of any president we've ever had and i guess i'm taking the opposite point of view emerson said of all the great heroes in history, lincoln stands alone and you mentioned this just now from the highest to the lowest. emerson felt the same way about shakespea

and i put them in this culture in the 1850s because the reason that harriet beecher stowe "uncle tom's cabin"ade such an impact, it was aairly simple thing. it showed enslaved people were human beings with rl feelings, family feelings, religious feelings, with the sense of humor, with a love of music today to us tt sense the old-fashioned or to tnk about at, but enslaved people were being treated as things come as property. legally they were property. they were not reall human beings. all of thisas supported by the pseudoscience of that era, some of which said tha african people were of a a different species and so forth. paula genesis, the was some of that going on and was all kind of pseudo-scientifically and even religiously supported by supposedly the curse of ham in the bible a all that stuff. lincoln contracted that in the pure speech and says these are humans. enslaved people are felw humans beings. even to say that he doe't go on and on about bute says that's a fundamental point of view. in the sense even thoh he progresses, he doesn't really move beyond the basic fundamental u

. >> and i put him in this culture in the 1850s because of the reason harriet beecher stowe uncle tom's cabin made such an impact, it was a fairly simple thing. it showed that enslaved people were human beings with real feelings and a sense of humor and a love of music. to us that sounds very old-fashioned or something to think about that, but enslaved people were being treated as things, as property. all of this was supported by the pseudoscience of that era some of which were of a different species. paula genesis, there was some of that going on and it was all even religiously supported by. and lincoln comes right through that in the speech and says these are humans. even to say that, he doesn't go on and on about it but he says that is my fundamental point of view and in a sense even though he progresses, he doesn't really move beyond that basic fundamental understanding of the humanity of enslaved people. >> before we see if there are any questions, how's you has yow changed over the years whereas you were writing this book? >> it did change a lot because i have read the the wonderf

by harry beecher stow, "uncle tom's cabin," she wrote her own vision called "aunt phyllis's cabin" in answer to this. that had to have been controversial. it's more interesting because harriet beecher stow summered in new york. these two ladies would have been circulating in elite elmira society. one wonders what those conversations were like. one of the more interesting figures in elmira was the commandant of the elmira p.o.w. camp henry colt, he also is kind of on the injured reserve, if you will. he was with a new york regiment, and he had been injured in battle, the 104th new york. and they put him on duty at elmira to run the p.o.w. camp. and it's really interesting that when you look at the memoirs of the prisoners in the years of the war the vitriol is quite thick. and some of that, i think, is guided by the controversy over andersonville at the time. but what is really interesting is although they have terrible things to say about the conditions and the food at elmira, especially the winters, they love this man, love this man. and in the memoirs, especially the memoirs of anthony kylie who we'll talk about, they talk about how humane and kind that this man was. so h

it's more interesting when you consider that harriet beecher stowe herself lived in the same part of elite elmira society. one wonders what those conversations were like. one of the more interesting figures in elmira was the commandant henry colt. he also is kind of on the injured reserve, if you will. he was with a new york regiment and he had been injured in battle. they put him on duty in elmira to run the p.o.w. camp. it's interesting when you look at the memoirs, the vitriol is quite thick. and some of that, i think, is guided by the controversy over andersonville at the time, but what is really interesting is, although they have terrible things to say about the conditions and the food at elmira, especially the winters, they love this man. love this man. and in the memoirs of anthony kylie, they talk about how humane and kind that this man was. so he's their jailer. and they write in their memoirs about how terrible a place elmira was, and yet they love the man that is in charge of it, which i find kind of interesting. in january, when he returns to duty, the prisoners give him

. >> and i put him in this culture in the 1850s because the rep that harriet beecher stowe's uncle tom's minimum made such an impact it was a fairly simple thing. showed that enslaved people were human beings, with real feelings, with family feelings, with religious feelings, with a sense of humor, love of music, and i mean today to us that sounds very old fashioned, something to think but that, but enslaved people were being treated as things, as property, as animals. legally they were property. they weren't really human beings, and all of this was supported by the pseudo science, thing know graphic sued dough science which some of which said that african people were of a different species, and -- poly genesis, some of that going on, and it was all kind of pseudo scientifically and even religiously supported by supposedly the curse of ham in the bible and all of that stuff, and lincoln cuts right through that in peoria speech and says, these- -- these are humans. enslaved people are fellow human beings. and even to say that -- he doesn't go on and on but says that's my fundamental point