and one of the writers i went back to was stephen crane, whom i had not read since i was a teenager.ks who don't know him, stephen crane died very young in his late 20s�*... 28. ..of tuberculosis, but had already written some extraordinary books that perhaps the most famous of which was at take on fighting in the civil war, the red badge of courage, which he wrote, never having been a soldier, and certainly born long after the civil war was over. yes. but nonetheless a book which matters to many americans. yes. and clearly matters to you. yes, well, i think it's an extraordinary book. in any case, i started reading crane again, and i was astonished by how fantastically powerful and original it was. and then i got interested in his life, which was a fascinating life, full of all kinds of adventures, and i decided after a while that it would be a good idea to write a little book about stephen crane, an appreciation to explain why i cared about his work and why i thought people should read it and to pay more attention to than is being given to it now, and the little book grew into a big

stephen: "because the japanese are better at folding things than we are. it's called origami, and tojo and his boys want to turn our christmas wrapping paper into decorative cranes. but why am i here?" >> somebody asked me why are you here? i'm here because these colors don't run. >> stephen: "but they do blink in a festive way! and every year when you take 'em down, you plug 'em in before you put 'em away to make sure they work, but then next year when you take 'em out to put 'em on the tree, one of the strings is burned out, so you have to run down to the cvs to get a fresh string, but the new one isn't quite the same color as the ones from the year before, because now they're all l.e.d. and you have to throw everything away and start over. you win this time, hitler!" you win this time! ( piano riff ) ( cheers and applause ) we've got a great show for you tonight, my guest is michael b. jordan. but when we come back, meanwhile! ( cheers and applause ) ( band playing ) ♪ ♪ tequila herradura. extraordinary awaits. ♪ ♪ tequila herradura. extraordinary awaits. ( cheers and applause ) ( band playing ) >> stephen: jon batiste and "stay human," everybody! ( cheers an