novel. i show how popular culture transformed him. how did he also stay alive as an energizing force of the progress of reforms? i mentioned langston hughes and w. e. b. du bois and alex haley who did routes which was the uncle tom's cabin of modern time. he appreciated "uncle tom's cabin" in a way that many other african-americans of the 1960s and 70s did not. used the same devices in routes which creates a >> and popular culture and racial attitude. >> one thing that struck me as i mentioned in my introduction about your work about this book was howard you demonstrate in a number of ways stowe's subversive techniques and how also through popular culture and the afterlife of uncle tom in a subversive way. talk about that for the audience. >> when we read the novel today perhaps we don't feel it's subversiveness as much as if we lived in the 1850s but when it was first published it created outrage in the south. there's a political cartoon reproduced in the book, a picture of hell. what that

. >> i think it is our national novel. if there was a national novel of week, this would be it for the united states. i think it's the favorite book of almost everybody you meet. >> the first time in my life that the book had sort of captured me. that was exciting. i didn't realize that literature could do that. >> i remember reading a copy of my aunt's in jamaica queens. it was the first book ever written by a white writer that discussed racism in ways that was complicate and sophisticated. -- complicated and sophisticated. >> a touchstone in american literary and social history. it's a story gently tugged at the issues of racism. >> she was a champion of people who helped us get liberated from racism in this country. >> harper lee's first and only novel. >> a masterpiece is masterpieces not because they're flawless but because they tap into something essential to us, at the heart of who we are and how -- >> a masterpiece and a mystery. >> of course, one kept hoping and waiting for the next novel. sadly, that never came.

i'm a teacher, i'm not supposed to cry over a novel. anyway, anyone who wants to be emotionally moved should read or reread uncle tom's cabin. there are many wonderful edition s that are written. it's great to have joan here, by the way. the edition that katharine mentioned was called the splendid edition because there's 117 illustrations and seven in the initial 1852 edition, and what's neat about these is that they are not caricature representations. so many later versions that came out during the jim crow era really are stereotypical in their representations of many of the characters. i will guarantee you what's great about this edition is that we hope it was here today, by the way, but the printer just messed up at the last minute so they will be here very, very soon. what's great is that, you know, you really capture the essence -- it's true in the first edition and it's funded in the edition later and it's more true because he captured the essence of the story, and i see my other book, my other new book, mightier than the sword, u

and you are writing a novel. and you do not know how these stories will connect. >> no. >> rose: and you only find out how, how did you find that? >> slowly, piece by piece. for example in that story when i returned to it, that story that i opened up in the novel, the first thing i did was to put two words in the front of the story. and the two words were your honor. now with those two words, in a way that voice came to life, that character nadia came to life. they're now almost the first words of the book, begins with talk to him. and then your honor. yeah. and i knew this that moment that nadia who was speaking, this writer, that she was filled with guilt. that she was to confess herself, that she was to unburden herself, to expose herself in some way, that she needed to be heard. i didn't know who that judge was. i didn't know if it was an official judge, if a courtroom, where. i simply knew that about it it took me pages and pages, not quite as many pages as the reader who only finds out maybe three quarters

that i probably will never write, it will be a courtroom novel. and scott didn't invent the genre. neither did john grisham. earl stanley gardner was writing courtroom drama in the 1930's and 1940's. "anatty of a murder" came out in 1958. first we have "to kill a mockingbird," which most lawyers and most lawyer authors will tell you is kind of the seminal work of why we got interested. and i started writing a novel as i was approaching my 40th birthday. i wrote most of it on a ferry going to and from work every day. it took me three years. and that book became "special circumstances," story of a murder in a big law firm. it came out in 2000 and spent seven weeks on "the new york times"' bestsellers' list. so for those of you who have bought my books, i thank you, because now i don't have to practice law full-time anymore. >> but all kidding aside, you know, i think crime novelists and readers of crime novels whether it's lawyer books or whether it's private detectives or cops, you know, in my world i'm like -- unlike tony's, i can control the outc

i think what's interesting about the novel is america was a deeply divided place. especially in the deep south. segregation was still not yet against the law. and particularly for white southerners, this novel, which caught on, you know, famously and quickly, it gave white southerners a way to think about how they were raised and to think about the system in which they were raised. it did so perhaps in a way that a political speech didn't do because it was told through the eyes of a child. it was a popular story that wasn't just about race, it about growing up in a small town. it was about coming of age. it was about love. it was about lonliness. it had all the suspense. the novel had so many elements with which to draw people in. >> so the tremendous amount of -- about harper lee. i know she never wrote another book. it was a pulitzer prize-winning book, and the film won the academy award. and yet she never wrote another book. what did you learn about harper lee and her reasons? >> well, i was fortunate enough to get great access to two very close friends of her.

verse was banned in russia because it was considered subversive novel, but then it was the favorite novel and directly influenced in 1861 and it will leave behind the russian revolution those on of the influences on the russian revolution. anyway, the play when kind is everywhere. in america there were so many different versions. it was played in chicago, and instead of the bible it was being read on state so it became an infinitely kind of play there was even roman catholic version of the play even though harriet beecher stowe happened to be a protestant she was a protestant, but in the catholic version and italy first was abandoned italy because of the protestant novel. they did a little bit of tinkering and then there was one approved of by the pope about the consumption. [laughter] so that is a novel and by uncle tom's candy and five restaurant items and a little bit of the case of the impact. >> there's a subway station in berlin called uncle tom's cabin, today. so, david, what do your contemporary students think of this book, teaching it since 1981? >> you know, very, very funny. i

i write novels about the types of cases that lawyers like tony handle. in the daytime i work for a big law firm of the type that tony probably would not hold in the highest of esteem, but i'm delighted to be here. you know, i think if you talked to most authors, they will tell you that there is something hot-wired into our system that says we need to try to tell a story. there is nothing at all in my background. i am an absolutely accidental writer. there is nothing in my background which suggests i should be writing novels. i grew up in chicago. i write books about san francisco. i studied accounting at the university of illinois. i have been a corporate and securities attorney for 28 years. i've now written seven best-selling novels about murder trials, death penalty cases, and courtroom drama. i have never handled a criminal case in my life. [laughing] so all of you out there who are thinking of writing novels, there is hope. but i did have this feeling a long time ago, probably from the time i was in high school, that at some point i would like to tr