law school who was given the holmes papers to finish the biography of great american jurist oliver wendell holmes. and he never completed the project because he developed such a distaste for holmes that he simply didn't enjoy his company anymore, and he abandoned his research. what's it like living with winston churchill these, was it six years? >> well, in a sense it's 30 years because this is the fifth book i've written about churchill, some aspect of him. but that actual book that i wrote, churchill: walking with destiny, was three in the writing. i spent six years writing about nelson -- about napoleon, i'm sorry, six years writing about salisbury. you know, it's pretty much par for the course. it was the exact opposite of your friend and oliver wendell holmes, actually, because i wound up liking churchill more than when i started. and so that's the rather pleasing thing. i have written books about people i wound up despising, but i've never called off the book. what you do is you write the book about the way that you feel, you know, about the person. what you're scared of, of course, is star

john dewey, oliver wendell holmes. this book is a delightful read and a look at the cultural life of the cold war mainly the united states partially as well and europe. any moment when american foreign-policy and national forn policy and national security policy was about containment, the american artistic and cultural world kind of exploded. he explores composers and novelists and artists and painters and essayists. each chapter it is a lengthy book around 800 or so pages and each feels like a mini book in itself or for any other number of art forms that were prevalent in this period. it's the weirdest thing because i didn't want it to end. i wanted it to keep going. i feel in some ways it spoke to his prior book. in moments when it's having second thoughts, when the country is going through cultural and intellectual shifts and he's able to kinda zero in on those moments, so that was a book that i very much enjoyed reading. >> host: another book before we close the discussion, nicole hannah jones, the importance of th

john dewey, oliver wendell holmes. this book is a delightful read and a look at the cultural life of the cold war mainly the united states partially as well and europe. any moment when american foreign-policy and national forn policy and national security policy was about containment, the american artistic and cultural world kind of exploded. he explores composers and novelists and artists and painters and essayists. each chapter it is a lengthy book around 800 or so pages and each feels like a mini book in itself or for any other number of art forms that were prevalent in this period. it's the weirdest thing because i didn't want it to end. i wanted it to keep going. i feel in some ways it spoke to his prior book. in moments when it's having second thoughts, when the country is going through cultural and intellectual shifts and he's able to kinda zero in on those moments, so that was a book that i very much enjoyed reading. >> host: another book before we close the discussion, nicole hannah jones, the importance of th

john dewey, oliver wendell holmes. this book is a delightful read and a look at the cultural life of the cold war mainly the united states partially as well and europe. any moment when american foreign-policy and national forn policy and national security policy was about containment, the american artistic and cultural world kind of exploded. he explores composers and novelists and artists and painters and essayists. each chapter it is a lengthy book around 800 or so pages and each feels like a mini book in itself or for any other number of art forms that were prevalent in this period. it's the weirdest thing because i didn't want it to end. i wanted it to keep going. i feel in some ways it spoke to his prior book. in moments when it's having second thoughts, when the country is going through cultural and intellectual shifts and he's able to kinda zero in on those moments, so that was a book that i very much enjoyed reading. >> host: another book before we close the discussion, nicole hannah jones, the importance of th

it was the exact opposite of your friend oliver wendell holmes, actually. because i wound up liking churchill more than when i started. and so that's a rather pleasing thing. i have written books about people i wound up despising. but, i've never called off the book. what you do is you write the book about the person, what you are scared of of course as far that you think is going to bet some people and you wind up actually despising them. that doesn't mean you're going to write any less a good book, it strikes me. soon when there are some questions from the audience and going to go too. the first one says, many people on the united states are advocating for the removal of confederate statues because they represent the tragic legacy of slavery, despite any of any contributions they may have made to shape military leadership. do you see criticisms of churchill and his potential toppling -- i think one of the statues essentially deface the square, as a similar situation? >> guest: no, it strikes me that some of the confederate statues at least were put up in

oliver wendell holmes was on for a long time. until he was 90 or something. but i think that all relates to the question of stoning the moment that you have constitutional amendment to do this. -- assuming the moment that you have constitutional amendment to do this. assuming that. at the states, the people might adopt it. i want to get your gut reaction. right now, the status quo favors the republicans. anytime you have something with a partisan inflection, you are to have partisan conflict over it. i think it is very unlikely that republicans would want to give up the advantage that they currently have. because with strategic retirements, they can maintain that more or less indefinitely. >> i agree. i think that once you talk about the constitutional amendment, 2/3 of congress -- both houses of congress, i think that basically tilts republican. even if it doesn't, it is hard to imagine two thirds of congress agreeing to anything. i think there's a sufficient division about the composition of the supreme court. i think there is certainly a public debate abou

it was the exact on which your friend oliver wendell holmes, actually, because i woubd up liking chuvl more than when i started, and so that's a rather pleasing thing. i have written about people i wound up despising, but i didn't call off the book. you write the way you feel about the person. what you're scared of is starting off a book that you think is going to be about someone you like you and wind up despising them. >> we have some questions from the audience i'm going to go to. the first one says, many people in the united states are advocating the removal of confederate statues because they represent the tragic legacy of slavery despite any contributions they may have made to shape military leadership. do you see criticisms of churchill and his potential toppling, i think one of his statues was defaced, as a similar situation? >> no, i don't, really. it strikes me that some of the confederate statues at least were put up in a deliberately provocative way back in the 1920s to sort of establish -- undermine at least jim crow, whereas that was never the case with winston churchill.

united states supreme court one was edward white the confederate in louisiana and the other was oliver wendell holmes antietam. every other anniversary of antietam homes would present them with a fake rose not in a romantic gesture and his response was this, my god he said if we had succeeded. that was the estimate of the confederate and he was right. >> its reflections and the counterfactual of and longstreet in particular saying no at that point. there are so many great questions but he was quite an passable figure after the war and having another direction after that with everything else at the beginning but can you talk a little bit about during his life his post-war sentiment his tenure at washington college and when he was no longer a confederate general? >> there are so many surprises in the life of robert e. lee but there's nothing more surprising than what occurs in the last five years of his life. when the war is over he is indicted for treason. he doesn't go to trial but is indicted for treason so he's looking around for some form of employment but he also wants the ground for employment i

one of them was from louisiana louisiana -- louisiana and the other was oliver wendell holmes. year on the anniversary of antietam homes would resent him with a red rose. it was a romantic gesture. white's responsehe was this, my god he said if we had succeeded. that was the estimate of the confederate and he was right. >> some post-war reflections and you get the counterfactual that we just discussed and you also get the rationalizations as mentioned longstreet in particular saying no. there's so many great questions. as we said earlier we had abbreviated to civil war activism. they had heart attackshe at that point. nevertheless quite an intractable figure after the war and having a resurrection after that with monuments and everything else he discussed in the beginning. he talked about his post -- during his life his post-war sentiments and to touch on his tenure at washington college in who is robert e. lee when he was no longer confederate general? >> there are so many surprises in the life of robert e. lee. there's nothingg is surprising than what occurs in the last of hi