you've written nonfiction. you've written novels. how do you approach historical fiction. >> i always tell people who are contemplating writing it if they haven't written before, don't read too much about the period that about the writing about. read more from the period. if you really want to know how people thought, how they spoke, the way their minds worked, read what actually came out of the period. in other words, eliminate the middleman. i think this is why some historians are not very fond of historical fiction because it tries to do something different. you know, historians always have to hedge their bets a little. they will have to say, well, at this point it is not unreasonable to suppose that richard nixon might have thought, et cetera, et cetera. if you're a novelist you go inside his head and have him think it. it is not history. it is more entertaining than it is educational but it's one thing i think that the genre can add to actual history. >> what is your day job? >> i teach at george washington university. i direct

[applause] >> is there a nonfiction of your book you would like to see featured on book tv? an e-mail. or tweet us. >> augusta, the capital of maine, home to bowdoin college, colby college, based college, and the university of maine against a. book tv explored the areas literary culture our recent visit with the help of our partner, time warner cable. >> the book is lincoln's forgotten ally, the judge advocate general joseph holt. and the author and lincoln prize winner is elizabeth leonard. elizabeth. tell our audience who this man is. >> a kentucky native who came to washington in 1857 after a career as a lawyer and ordered and became a member of james began his cabinet and serve in his cabinet until the very end of buchanan's administration. his last post in that administration was to serve as the secretary of work, so he was the secretary of war during the session winter. he then in '86 to after lincoln became president and about a year-and-a-half into the work became his judge advocate general which means he was the head of military justice and oversaw all of the court-

now, we are a nonfiction work. how do you write a novel about watergate? how you approach that? >> the reader will find that the agreed upon facts, most of the big ones are still intact. president nixon resigns in 1974, the same basic time line. it is not what sometimes it's altered, the history. but i think what they can do with the existing history is in certain things in between. and then try to get an inside the heads of some of the peripheral players as well as some of the main players. >> a republican operative in the nixon white house without a business card bought in the white house directory. it fell to have to be the man who coordinated the payments to the burglars. >> historical fact. >> is this historical fact. and a very small softspoken intriguing man. he had a tragedy in his life when he was young, when he was in his late 20's he accidentally killed his father while they were out hunting. and he was an intriguing figure. i remember thinking he had the kind of personality i want to think about and export. he becomes a main player in the novel even though he was a r

booktv streams live online for 48 hours every weekend with top nonfiction books and authors. booktv.org. >> you've been watching booktv, 48 hours of book programming beginning saturday morning at eight eastern through monday morning at eight eastern. nonfiction books all weekend every weekend right here on c-span2. .. >> between the candidates for new hampshire governor. and later a fellow with the new america foundation shares his insight on the political unrest in the middle east following his recent trips to egypt, syria andlibya. also today retired supreme court justice john paul stevenses speaks to a conference of attorneys in washington, d.c. about gun laws, gun violence and his dissents in the court's cases involving the second amendment. this event is hosted by the brady center to prevent gun violence live coverage beginning at 12:15 eastern here on c-span2. >> host: well, our goal on "the communicators" this week is to look at the philosophies of both president obama and governor romney when it comes to tech and communications issues and to explore any possible polic

nonfiction books all weekend every weekend right here on c-span2. .. >> later, a live discussion on china's incoming government and that nation's growing international role. well, the issue of an internet sales tax has reared up again and, in fact, the u.s. congress and many states are looking at this issue, and that's our topic this week on "the communicators." now, we want to start off by talking with the chairman of the california state board of equalization, jerome horton. mr. horton, california has recently changed how it manages or its taxation policies when it comes to the internet, hasn't it? >> guest: yes, peter, it has. it broadened the definition of what's taxable in california to include online retailers who meet certain criteria. >> host: now, you said you've broadened. how was it before, and now who is included? >> guest: prior to the law, the sales tax didn't apply to companies that had affiliates and worked through various different groups here in the state of california. the law broadened the definition of who actually qualifies to include those individuals. so now online r

it is my great honor and privilege to present this evening the anisfeld-wolf book award for nonfiction friend and my teacher, david blight. [applause] ♪ ♪ >> my goodness. skip i actually just wanted to keep sitting there and let you keep going. i don't want to talk about the book. let's listen to skip. if i may borrow a word from isabella, suppose, what a beautiful word to start almost every line with. suppose there was a place that celebrated books, suppose there was a book award in cleveland that drew hundreds of people to come celebrate books. suppose there was a place you could just love and embrace books. suppose, well there is. so i actually celebrate you. this is an amazing statement of the love of books and there is almost nothing better i can think of them that. [applause] i often start my lecture course at yale by holding frederick douglass is narrative in my hand and walk out -- it has two or 300 students and i walk out into the audience among the students and embarrass myself and i make them squirm. i hold the book like it's a newborn child and i try to get them to think ab

[applause] >> is there a nonfiction author or book you'd like to see featured on the tv?an e-mail at booktv@c-span.org or tweet us at twitter.com/booktv. >> i would say that i'm working from nine to three. most writers who say that they write for seven or eight hours a day, they are exaggerating. you just can't. you sort of lose it after a while. you certainly lose it when you're working on a novel. because the edge of your imagination starts to blur. i would say, for the best case, about three hours. even when you are writing a nonfiction book, you know, you may be putting three good hours away and the rest of it, the research, the e-mails, making another cup of coffee, that sort of thing. it usually begins with a theme, fiction usually begins with a theme for me. identity, redemption, art, things like that. but the whole process really picks up when i start to ground some of my thoughts in a character that will become the protagonist, and that becomes a church or that is important to me. i think that it is a permanently good, only because it leaves a piece of yourself b

[applause] >> you're watching the tv on c-span2. 48 hours of nonfiction authors and books every weekend. >> you're watching booktv. coming up next, historical novelist ken follett presents the second book in his century trilogy that focuses on high families. american company goes, german, russian and welsh as they traverse the social and political landscape of the second world war. this is just over an hour. >> thank you. good evening all of you. you and i've never met until about 10 minutes of practice a that i feel like i'm now you, reading your books. >> thank you. >> giftgiving and i'm sure of course the folks tonight ak tremendous pleasure of i think as one critic said, being able to get lost in a wonderful storb and come out days or weeks later feeling as if you've learnedsto. something. so you can do both things. i can appreciate what you do so much. >> we who are -- [inaudible] something like a historical trilogy. this is -- what i heard today on the cbs morning news that you,hb too, were in day to day journalism into your car broke down. is that true? >> it's close to the truth

and the ardela literary composition prize in creative nonfiction. her work has been published in several an tholologies including our cheers to muses. in addition to writing and performing she published and hand bound artist books and is a photographer and print maker. lives and creates in oakland. i would like to introduce ahmwa. [applause] flesh of my flesh. the woman who invented clothes was a woman. she knew the power of a well placed leash. knew there was no looking back. once man laid himself upon her he was cleave into her. need the clay of her. she knew then shield always need a sheath. a shield from shame. the early pain of having been divided. >> first sin. forgive me for coveting my mother's breast until it bled iodine to deceive me. 165. you cried when i left for california. you and bastand figure the driveway. i didn't expect that from you. wasn't prepare for the weeping that would last until i cross the the state border. when i got to oakland my emotions leaked like a wildfire. they are the kind that destroy you, your security your she

. >> this is nonfiction, nonisraelites encounters. these are nonisraelite characters that have encounters with god either direct or historically and they run from igar and abraham's concubine and jobe and the other is a novel, slick, a political satire of the middle east and ties in, insofar as the protagonist actually is jewish although he never found that out until he was 40. >> jennifer. >> my book is a memoir and it is it is not fish nor fowl and half poetry and half personnel stories. i am very honored to have been published by cappa press, wonderful cappa press started in 1969 and just relaunching now with my memoir. and my memoir is divided into 7 sections, what i call family or my family of origin, marriage, children, body, faith, outside or the outside world, and work. and there's a prol ogue and epilogue. it is a book about love and thankfulness and explains the title, when i was a freshman in college, i had a terrible very real feeling that i was not going to have a good life. this book is an extended rift on my surprise, m

>> science nonfiction. >> starting 10, 12, 16 foot back from the screen, we can be accurate when pointing. >> john actually created technology you can in a manipulate with the use of your hands. you see in this video, gloves with sensors on fingers and backs of the palms of the hand. watch what he can do. >> moving left, moving left to right. up and down and in and out, control. >> it looks like the skyline of downtown los angeles, and he is maneuvering just using his hands and his fingers. it's just like what we see in movies like "iron man." robert downey jr. standing there, manipulating, bringing things together just with the move of his digits. >> i need the sound going -- >> gross level remote control here just with the hands. backwards. >> utilizes this technology to go through and play videos. >> how cool is it, for our show. >>> clumsy cat. [ laughter ] >> saying that sex sells. apparently that is also the case in the real estate industry in queensland, australia. here's a few examples. >> so hot, take your gear off before you get inside. check it out. >> nice. >> scantily clad re

. >> no, no, both are nonfiction. >> jon: okay. we'll see. so you got killing lincoln, killing kennedy, i assume killing garfield. >> no. >> jon: the president or the cat, whichever you want to do. what is the next one. >> killing colbert. >> jon: oh that's not-- no. i cannot abide. you have stepped over the line, sir. >> i heard that he was your-- . >> jon: we're still going down saturday night. now you have angered me. now you have angered me. (cheers and applause) you have angered me. >> i heard he is your debate coach is that correct. >> jon: he is my debate coach. >> and he brought out a chicken last night. >> jon: i wanted to work on speed and chased the chick earn around the studio. and there was a bread hen and a does il one and it didn't go anywhere so it was easy. >> that is how you preparing for-- prepping for the rumble with colbert and a chicken. >> jon: yeah, that's right. that is how i prepare for most everything. >> and i'm supposed to be worried about that. >> jon: are you not supposed to be worried at all. will you not see i

but even when you are writing a nonfiction book, you know, you may put a net three hours of pounding away. and then the rest of it is research, looking at e-mails, making another cup of coffee, that sort of thing. fiction usually begins with a theme. you know, identity, redemption, art, fame, things like that. but the whole process really picks up steam when i start to ground some of my thoughts and a character who will become the protagonist. and that character becomes sharper and sharper to me. i think all lighting is affirmatively good. if only because it leaves a piece of yourself behind. let's say you are blogging all for your 20s, and let's say almost no one reads your blog. but 20 years from then you have children and you can show them what you wrote and they will understand things about you that they might not understand otherwise i always say even in its most basic form a letter, of holum to someone, it is a immortality. we've all had that experience of loving someone and of losing them and opening a drawer and finding a card that they've signed or a letter that they wrote a

booktv streams live online for 48 hours every weekend with the top nonfiction books and authors. booktv.org. >> booktv is on facebook.

a columnist for "the washington post" david is a renowned writer of fiction and nonfiction in the blood money published last year his most recent in the best selling works of fiction. he's known for his command of international affairs and his insight in the workings of government and other actors. with these gentlemen we are poised for an illuminating conversation about the world, the future and the revenge of geography. bobbit and david, over to you. >> i think you're probably not supposed to see the serious moderator by but i love this book. it's ridiculous how many yell will post its i've put in it. i'm not just doing it to flatter the teacher because i really like it and i want to try to walk the audience through this or have him what the audience through and i would like to start with a provocative opening comment. you said my reporting of for three decades convinced me we need to recover the sensibility of time and space that has been lost in the information age's when they dash across the continent which allow us to talk a lot of the distinguished columnist tom friedman labeled

i very much enjoy reading, not so much fiction anymore, more nonfiction, i'm interested in that, especially things like memoirs and biographies. i have a stamp collection which i pay less and less attention to but it's a vatican collection now, used to be u.s. but i got away from it a bit. >> do you have any winners in there? >> a couple but that's it, old ones. but the -- i like -- i very much like films. i very much like seeing especially what can be done abroad in other countries, you know, as well as u.s. made films. so i enjoy that. i love classical music and i love listening to it and i love it playing in the background. i think -- not that i think mozart would want to be in the background music but he is sometimes when i'm reading. >> do you go to davies and the symphonies and that kind of thing? >> i do. and i'm going to the opera, actually mozart in a week or so. >> you're not a golfer? >> no. i didn't catch that gene from my dad who loved golf and i took -- i took two lessons and that was enough for me. i began to kid my dad, i would say, you know what golf spells backwards, flog.

let's now get to the finalists in nonfiction. >> okay, nonfiction. the finalists are iron curtain.er by robert krk aro -- and house of stone by anthony sadid. >> we have got ann's book here early and read it and this is the bound gally. it's an amazing book that goes back through a fascinating time, 1945 through 1956 talking about how the soviets basically crushed eastern europe. >> she has an incredible story. >> i don't know the it's just the work of a lifetime. >> he's won the national book award before. the incredible thing about this book is he actually -- it's really an incredible master work. >> poetry finalists. >> the poetry timists, david ferry, cynthia huntington, allan shapiro and susan wheeler. >> what's the process of winoing these down? >> we have five nonfiction judges evaluating nonfiction, they narrow it down to these five finalists and on november 14, they fly to new york, we give them lunch and we tell them you can't get up for lunch until you pick the winner then we'll announce the win they're night. >> let's do young people's timists. >> william alexander, car

they range from publishers weekly that says fairtive nonfiction at its -- narrative nonfiction at its best, that's 250,000 documents. in case you've forgotten or you're too young to know, the 1960s were the template for today's political divisiveness. seth rosenfeld chronicles how the book formed, and his book -- how the world formed. and even "the wall street journal" said that even though they were prepared to hear all kinds of things in their review, seth's work provides a unusual insight into what actually happened in america. and, hopefully, we have time a little bit at the end of this, i'm going to reflect a little bit about what i think, i myself think is going on, and you'll see we may even have an example from my fbi file before we get done. [laughter] so we have a lot of ground to cover. we'll do about a 45-minute discussion, then we'll have an equal amount of time for questions. there are microphones in the audience. i do ask two tings, that you -- things, that you identify yourself, and i'll repeat this when you ask questions, no speeches, please, and also seth will be sig

every week until it's nonfiction authors and books on booktv.ast programs and their schedules at our website, and you can join in the conversation on social media sites. >> the media research center recently celebrated its 25th anniversary with a gala at the national buig

thank you for coming today >> you're watching booktv on c-span2, 48 hours of nonfiction authors and books every weekend. >> coming up, booktv preps "after words," an hourlong program where we invite guest hosts to interview authors. this week legal journalist john jenkins and his book "the partisan: the life of william rehnquist." in it, the publisher of cq press details the early career and the 33-year supreme court tenure of the former chief justice. he talks with supreme court reporter and the biographer for justices o'connor and scalia, joan biskupic. >> host: welcome, john jenkins. >> guest: thank you. >> host: we're here to talk about "the partisan: the life of william rehnquist." i'm going to start with one general question just to give our viewers a sense of who the chief justice is and why william rehnquist was important. there have only been 17 chiefs, correct? >> guest: correct, that's right. >> host: tell us about the position, what does a chief justice of the united states do and the importance of william rehnquist, and then we'll go into his chronology. >> guest: well, the c

booktv streams live online for 48 hours every weekend with top nonfiction books and authors.booktv.org. here's a look at books published this week: ..

with butterflies and you wanted international latino book award in 2010 and this is your first nonfiction, this memoir. it's a very personal memoir. >> it's extremely personal. that is the only way i know how to write and even with my fiction, even though it is fiction, but it's also inspired by personal experiences. with a memoir, there were many times when i was afraid to go there because it was extremely personal and i wasn't just writing about myself. i was writing about my family and about my parents and they run many times when i felt that i was writing things that i shouldn't. but then i felt that if i was going to write a memoir, i needed to be completely honest with the story and to turn my pain and my fear into my strength instead of them being my weakness is. >> reyna grande did you write this book originally in english or in spanish? >> i always write in english first. unfortunately when i came to this country i got so obsessed with learning english that i neglected my native tongue. for many years, all i did was be and -- eat in brief anguish to the point when i got to colleg

" won an award in 2007, "dancing with butterflies" won an award in 2010, and this was the first nonfiction, this memoir. this is very personal. >> guest: it is extremely personal, yes. that's the only way i know how to write, and even with my fiction, even though it is fiction, it's also inspired by personal experiences, and with the memoir, you know, there were many times when i was afraid to go there because it was extremely perm, and i was not just writing about myself, but my family, about my parents, and there were many times i felt that i was writing things that i shouldn't, but then i felt that if i was going to write a memoir, i needed to be completely honest with the story, and to turn my pain and fear into my strengths instead of them being my weaknesses. >> host: reyna, did you write this originally in english or spanish? >> guest: yes, i always write in english first, but when i got to this country, i got so excited about learning english, i neglected my native tongue. for many, many years all i did was eat and breathe english, that by the time i got to college, i was a writing

two thousand and two thousand and two his second book the informant was called one of the best nonfiction books of the decade by the new york times book review and made into a major motion picture starring matt damon for its most recent book is the critically acclaimed five hundred days secrets and lies in the terror wars joins me now in the studio so honored to have you with us thanks for having me thanks for joining us. first of five hundred a question so let's start with nine eleven it seems to have been a pivotal point in fact i want to get into some of the before but first of all the nine eleven commission i'm just curious your thoughts on what they did how well they did that sort of i think it's. terms of you know outside commissions that are investigating government action i think actually the nine eleven commission is up there in terms of quality i mean the report they put out was much more detailed than i ever imagined it would be but also i mean when you're dealing in a political environment which it seems like everything always is these days you had democrats on the commission

every week and the latest nonfiction authors and books on booktv. you can see past programs and get our schedules at our website, and you can join the conversation on social media sites. >> democratic freshman congresswoman kathy hochul faces a challenge from republican chris collins. congresswoman coal-fueled clear the represents new york's 26th district that is running an the 27th because of redistricting. mr. collins is in erie county executive. their hour-long debate comes to us courtesy of ynn-tv. >> welcome to the special presentation from ynn. i'm liz benjamin spent over the next that we will be bringing you a debate between democratic congresswoman kathy hochul and republican challenger chris collins. nenew york the 27th congressional district. this is a larger district that includes or links, and wyoming counties. budgetary, niagara and ontario counties and even a little bit of monroe county spent the format is straightforward. we will ask questions of the candidates, then they have one minute to respond to it upon about 45 seconds to rebut

[cheers and applause] >> you're watching booktv on c-span2, 48 hours of nonfiction authors and books every weekend. >> full body burden is a book about my childhood in colorado. i grew up in arvada about seven miles from the rocky flats nuclear weapons plant and, actually, our first house was about seven miles away, and then in 1969 we moved to a subdivision called bridledale which was closer to the plant, about three, three and a half miles away from rocky flats. my sisters and brother and i, we had an idyllic childhood in the sense that we had horses and dogs, and we spent a lot of time outdoors riding our horses in the fields around the plant and swimming in the lake. and we never knew what went on at rocky flats. we had no idea what it really was. and we had no idea of the environmental contamination that was happening in the area. plutonium and carbon tet ro clear rise and a number of different things in the environment, we had no idea. later, like many kids in my neighborhood, i worked at the plant myself, and, um, got a sense of what it was like to be on the inside of the plan

his books and show people that like reading about the small town try to but i think we also like nonfiction stories about their state. people similar and i think they want to read stories about states that are landlocked. i'm not sure the typical reader, if i would see anything, their people to want a good story, you know? and not a pretentious story. you often see people in maine that have, may be wealthy but they will wear flannel shirts but they don't show off their wealth. i think people, if i could say anything about stories, they want people that are true, not flashy or showy. i can see them relating to the story about a simple, you know, simple people who go about their lives. i think the writers in maine, they take from what they know. i think writers will write about memoirs, families, historical things that happen in maine whether it's more about the sea and our connection to -- maine has a great fishing tradition as well so i think mainer are like canadians, they love their ski stories. those real stories about our past. joshua chamberlain, you know, who was courageous during the

. >> that was after words booktv's signature program in which authors of the latest nonfiction books are interviewed by journalists, public policy make is, legislators and others familiar with their material. after words airs every weekend on booktv at 10:00 p.m. on saturday, 12 and 9:00 p.m. on sunday and 12:00 a.m. on monday. you can also watch after words on line. go to booktv.org and click on after words in the booktv series and topics list on the upper right side of the page. >> it really was scary before we liberated, but say, baker county. [laughter] but to have this happen, i mean you are only trying to do the best that you can for everyone and to have someone take your words, to use the equipment that they have, to cut and splice to make your message appear to be the exact opposite of what it was and what it is, is just an unbelievable situation, and it is a waste to -- someone because you don't know that you will ever really be able to get through that. i was determined, even if i had to tell one person at a time, you know. >> it makes me think you know, this whole media ki

. >> is there a nonfiction author book you like to see featured on booktv?end us an e-mail at booktv@c-span.org. or tweet us at twitter.com/the tv. >> next on booktv, danny danon argues israel never reach its security and foreign policy goals while under the wing of the united states which he says doesn't always have israel's best interests at heart. this is just under an hour. >> shalom, good evening everybody. it's my pleasure to be here with everybody. it's my pleasure to be here with you. especially when you have such great with in washington. almost like a jew and this time of you. i'm happy to see so many people come and join interest in the book and liked in the next 20 minutes to share with you not what you're going to read in the book but what is behind the idea. the first i think we can all agree what's happening in israel is important to the people who live in the united states of america. wide? because we share the same values, the same principles, the same heritage, and the same enemies. and because we're in the middle east today, being attacked

my only nonfiction book, which was about the employee, ross perot and the employees that were put in jail and escaped and is kind of in a venture story across the country. i guess also those revolutionaries at first appear to appeared to be on the side of freedom but when they got into power, like so many revolutionaries throughout history, they were more impressive. tragically -- [inaudible] >> i was just curious as to whether, in your research you came across any change because there has been so much use over the past three years in electronic surveillance within the spy business or by governments, which has really changed i think the political reality dramatically. whether this has come up in your research and writing about various subjects? >> no, i haven't heard much about that kind of thing and the reason is that during the years of recent incredibly quick technological development, i had been writing about the middle ages and the first world war. [laughter] so i was able to, i was able to kind of escape from having to deal with all of that sort of stuff but i am sure you are r

are writing cut across every genre, from fiction to nonfiction, and the range of her knowledge was widend deep. she can truly be called a public intellectual, in the sense that lionel trilling defined it. one whose writing land at the crossroads of literature, the bloody crossroads of literature and politics. and west, like thompson, was among the very first to perceive the oncoming danger of nazi devastation. although by nature she was more of a moral philosopher and intellectual than a journalist, like thompson. she nonetheless traveled alongside her banker husband as he was an emissary with schroeder's bank, a german bank. and was commissioned by the british government to investigate and understand countries across eastern europe. on one of these assignments she went to yugoslavia, and the trip changed her life. from a distance she could see the disintegration of british culture. and its political -- at a time when great steaks were on the table, with more clarity than ever before. the result was her magnum opus, black lamb and grey falcon, a political military and cultural history o

i cannot imagine what it is llke to write nonfiction, are ripping tell. and you positive in 2005. hanging after, waiting for the -- waiting for the economic debacle of 2008, more -- more books ahead? >> i don't know if there will be a sequel for mr. farmer. i like working in the first person, and it was a lot of fun to get into that character and to write about that lifestyle. there is just so much great stuff to o with. the lifestyle for these guys, it's like -- there is a whole world that not everyone knows about. and if you go to a strip bar, for example, and you are the average patron yo and it throws you dollars. for these guys it could be a frequent and in customer you get that sort of good fellows walk that goes to the kitchen and the back doors and to the prime tables into rooms that no one knows about. so it was a fun time to explore this world that not everyone knows about 36 of want to tell you. at the kid is a terrific book. you have such an original turn of phrase. and that just want to compliment you on your riding as well. the story you tell us terrific. >> thank yo

forty-eight hours of nonfiction authors and books.this weekend, booktv is live from austin at the texas book festival founded by laura bush. in its 17th year. william cooper presents his book, we have the war upon us on the months leading up to the civil war. at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow, a discussion about affirmative action and its impact on students. watch this all weekend long on booktv.ou >> sir, we are a nonfiction wa network. now, how do you write a novel about watergate? how you approach that? >> well, we talk about thens agreed-upon facts. what alesident nixon resigning in 1974. the alternate history, i [inaudible] i think what fictionce can do is insert things in between. things that might happen in a eldition to what happened. trying to get inside the heads of some of the peripheral players as well as some of the main players.ard >> this was a gentleman who waso a republican operative, worked in the nixon white house, did a lot of work for the attorney general, johno mitchell, and it felt to him to be the man who coordinated the p

[applause] >> is there a nonfiction author or book you would like to see featured on booktv?send us an e-mail at booktv at these e-mail addresses. booktv.com. >> this is a book about my childhood and i have grown up in colorado. i grew up in nevada about 7 miles from the nuclear weapons plant. then in 1969, we moved to a subdivision called by novell, which was closer to the plan. develop 3 miles away. my sisters and i had an idyllic childhood. we had horses and dogs and spent a lot of time outdoors riding our horses roam a field. we had a lot of fun, and we had no idea of the environmental contamination that was happening in the area. a number of different things in the environment and we had no idea. later, like many children in my neighborhood, i worked at the plant myself and got a sense of what it was like to be on the inside. when i came home from working at rocky flats and turned on the television, there was a show on nightline that was talking about what went on at the plant. it was the first time i had an understanding in how extraordinary the contamination was. >> it