you see the quote here, as -- that was written by herman melville in the poem the scout toward aldi. it was about a union cavalry patrol that went into mosby econfederacy. written by herman melville, was essentially a true account of p the union patrol and throughout that epic poem there is this feeling of mosby and his men lurking off just on the flanks of that ridge line in the shadow. that was a feeling the union cavalry had when they would go through heading west from t fairfax county when they would go through aldi gap and plunge into loudoun county, but have now gotten into oz. t it was a nervous thing for them, the rangers would be up on the ridgelines watching them and mosby, it was truly in many ways mosby's confederacy, and again, he was never truly challenged except on two occasions for ownership. o he was the only unit northern or southern that stayed in that area for any great extent of i time. another tool that he brought to the table and he used was a partisan ranger act. now, when this is distilled down to its very basics, it says that partisan ranger units can be for

now i want to close with a quotation and since it is the strand it's a quotation from herman melville. the reason i'm doing this is because i want to make the point that this is a true book. melville said that the truest of all books with solomon's book of ecclesiastes because it was made out of the fine hammered steel of wool. he went on to say that if a person dodges hospitals and jails and has to walk fast to get past graveyards, that person is unfit to sit down with solomon. and then he says this. there is a catskill evil and some souls that can dive down into the blackest origins and sewer out of him again and become invisible in the sunni stages. i would submit to you that this book certainly does not hesitate to take you right into the hospital and the jail and the author is certainly a person who has gone down into the blackest gorges and again is still able to soar up into the sunny spaces in fact you can even see this depicted on the cover of the book. so for all these reasons i am suggesting to you, read this book. [applause] >> thank you howard and nancy thank you very muc

you can see here, that was written by herman melville in the poem "the scout to warden rivalry" and it went into mosby's confederacy. it was a true account of a union patrol and throughout that epic poem there's a feeling of mosby and his men lurking off just on the flanks up on that ridgeline and the shadow. and that was a feeling that union calvary had heading west from fairfax county and go through all of the gap and punch into loudoun county. they knew, as i'd like to say, they have now gotten into oz. it was a nervous thing for them because the rangers would be up on the ridgeline watching them and mosby, it was his confederacy and he was never truly challenged except on two occasions for ownership. he was the only unit northern or southern that stayed in that area for great -- for any great extent of time. another tool that he brought to the table and used was the partisan ranger act. when this is distilled down to its very basics, it says that partisan ranger units can be formed, be it calvary or infantry, they will be an official part of the confederate army. officers will be d

i actually have an edit book on herman melville. they were in conversation and very interesting ways. i will stop there. >> that he so much. he will not take some questions from the visitors. [applause] >> a comment first and then a question. thank you for organizing this. as a young man born in columbia who was raised in the washington dc area, that everyone was designed to be a basketball star or a rapper. i studied in chicago. my question is a relationship to lincoln and douglass. he was the first white man invited to the white house. -- black man invited to the white house. what are all of your thoughts on thethat is so involved on tub at a fourth of july, given what he experienced later in life? thank you. >> i have a revisionary chapter on the douglas, lincoln relationship in my new book. i think the story that has been told is kind of implicit in your question. douglasvery much admire but was very much -- he very much admire lincoln. they had profound interactions during the civil war, those interactions had an impact on most

actually, i have a book on douglass and herman melville. and they were in conversations in very interesting ways. i'll stop there. >> thank you so much. we are now going to take some questions from the visitors. [applause] >> is this mike on? i have a common and then a question of frederick douglass. thank you for organizing this. as a young man born in columbia who was raised in washington, d.c., not someone who was -- a basket all-star or rap artist, having studying the u.s. history in chicago, that that is related to the relationship between lincoln and douglass. douglass was the first black man invited to the white house. i want to know your thoughts especially on lincoln's tragic end, but also my believe it was this best the speech, the president second inaugural what your thoughts, all of you, about -- on the very topic, on the fourth of july -- indiscernible] thank you. >> you want to answer? prof. levine: i've kind a revisionary chapter on the douglass-lincoln relationship in my new books. so, i think the story that has been told is