"scars of independence" by holger hoock, he is german but he's talking about the american revolution and this is a history of the violence of the revolution. sometimes we kind of sugar coat the revolution like betsy ross and some people didn't get it. more americans died in the revolutionary war than on the battlefield. and if one is an extremely violent period of time and this is the history of the violence come a sobering look at the revolution. one of my favorite historical novelists, steve sailer, writes about ancient rome and they are all mysteries and it's a wonderful series. he's one of my favorite fiction authors to turn to for respite and great history. he gets his history right, which is wonderful. in the period of history in great britain cj has written a series of books, this one about the period and he also has a sort of character who solves mysteries, but the history is superb and the writing is a joy and i recommend him as an incredible writer. matt hastings is a british historian. the secret war of espionage and spies during especially world war ii. he comes to a conc

the new york public lie area and it's my pleasure to welcome you in for the conversation between holger hoock. the book is fascinating and for sale outside. and it tells the story of the american revolution that is rarely, if ever, told. we're also grateful because holger did a lot of research for the book here. he was a research fell flow 201-2013. the new york public library has a short-term research fellowship that supports scholars from outside the new york metropolitan area who ared gauged in graduate level and it's always our pressure to highlight the work done here. i want to quickly say that i had the distinct honor of working under lewis lappum at lappum's quarterly and one our my great professional and penalize so i couldn't be more happy to have him on hand to steer the conversation. he is recording this for an episode of his pod cast, and i -- prepare your thes for q & a. so join me in welcoming lewis lapham and holger hoock. [applause] >> ready to go? >> yes. >> shy tell you that i think this is a wonderful book and i hope you all go out and read it. it's a dish thought i knew so