hawthorne and longfellow didn't know each other well. they knew each other, they didn't know each other well at bowdoin, it was afterwards that they got in touch. and longfellow was probably one of the nicest men in american literature. very generous, very kind, and -- and really helpful to hawthorne in his early career. c-span: is there anything comparable today? is there an author today that would write a biography of a presidential candidate, an author today who would want an appointment to work in the government? >> guest: that's a good question. i wish i could think of something snappy offhand. but what -- what i do say as a counter, you know, to show how unusual it is, i would say that people in hawthorne and pierce's relationship would be as if -- or just sort of one is like j.d. salinger writing a campaign biography of george bush. i mean, one doesn't imagine that in that way. i imagine that there probably are people who might do it, but no one springs to mind, because we generally, i think, separate out politics and art. politic

spammer to longfellow, old mr.rime committed suicide yesterday by slitting his throat with a razor. there was a bright spot in mid february 1841, sam dashed off a joyous note to longfellow announces the arrival of his first son. two days later another know. this time barely legible brought news of an infection that had sat in and family had died. two days after that sam's son died, too. same as executor of his father several million dollars state, partnering out one of new york's most prestigious banking firms, guardian industry high-spirited sisters, a widower, father richard wrote little growth in 27 years old. what were sam is also one one of the sketches in new york in two years later he was caught by a beautiful young woman from new orleans named medora crams. her mother was a fortune hunting true with roger to spoil daughters to new york to find which has been. no one but sam and suzette crams believed that she was the woman for him. longfellow was impressed by herb doody up by little else and he told himself

henry wadsworth longfellow, from a whole other perspective, was a member of the bowdoin class. another very good friend of hawthorne's, horatio bridge, was a member of that class. so it was a famous class, still, i think, in bowdoin's annals. c-span: when did you first get interested in nathaniel hawthorne? >> guest: oh, it's hard to say. probably as a school child. i remember reading "the minister's black veil," which school children had to do, and being completely horrified. and i never forgot it. i was horrified because i didn't understand it. and later i realized it was all right not to understand it. so i think hawthorne grabs people at a certain point in one's life and never lets go. and long after i decided to write a biography of hawthorne, i realized that my previous book, which was on a very different subject, gertrude stein and her brother, leo, actually began with an epigraph from hawthorne, from hawthorne's "scarlet letter." so obviously, i had been

1400 block of sheridan street, 14th street and hamilton street. 7th and kennedy and 5th street and longfellow. police say in some cases these victims were beaten. while in others they were threatened with guns. but in all cases, they were either african-american or latino melds walking in either pairs or alone. students we talked to back at howard's campus say it's an unfortunate reminder of the importance for them to be safe. >> after awhile, you kind of get comfortable in your surroundings and don't hear too much stuff like that. now hearing it again it kind of puts me back on my toes. >> i feel like howard is a safe campus. the security work hard toeep the students safe and protect us, the students that go here. i feel it's a safe campus. >> howard is also an open campus. that has a lot of students feeling uncomfortable about the fact that someone was robbed inside of one of the buildings here. police don't have a lot of information in the way of a description. they're saying the suspects are most likely teens or in their 20s. they were masked men. sometimes they got away on foot, sometime