i can see henry david thoreau in chapman. he layed dying in a cabin and thoreau was digging his cabin. for all intellectual independence, he was within easy walking distance of the world he always knew. even reflecting on life and the woods, thoreau was carrying laundry home to his mother. not so chapman. an article for the american heritage magazine in 18 -- 1789 it was suggested if there was a diary, he would be compared to the the great indian portraitist. i like that. it would have not been a relentless critique of the revolution, but chapman lived his critique, the nature he loved and gave himself to vibrated through his entire body. years ago, i spent a long night with the washington, d.c. emergency psychiatric response team, heroic men and women tepidding to the insane deemed institutionalized from area hospitals. most of those they treated that night were living in the city's parks, short walks from the capitol of the white house. these are women convinced they were man castrated by demons, men bane at the moon. one m

i can also see henry david thoreau in chapman living deliberately in nature. indeed at the very moment john chapman lay dying in william morse cabin in fort worth digging the foundation for his famous celebrated -- but for all his intellectual independence thoreau never hit cut the lifeline. he was within easy walking distance within the worldview that is now. even as he was rhapsodizing life in the woods thoreau was caring laundry home to his mother. not chapman. from his early 20s on and make it before he had no tether last. in an article from the december 1979 american heritage magazine edward hoagland suggested chapman had left a diary behind. he might be compared to john james audubon or george catton and the great indian portraitist. i like that. certainly diary would not have been relentless can treat of the industrial revolution. chapman lived his critique the nature levin gave himself over to vibrated through his entire being like walt wittman. years ago i spent a long night with the washington d.c. emergency psychiatric response team, heroic men and

>> yes, and a rose said -- and thoreau said people live lives of quiet desperation because they do nott they are doing, and i tell kids to be patient and not and hang on until you find something you really love to do and find somebody to love. i think that is the most important thing in the world. tavis: you said to be patient until you can find something you want to do. this does not seem to happen too much these days in this business. it is hard to imagine, but "the dick van dyke show" got canceled after its first season. how did it get canceled after the first season? how did it get back on the air? and how did it become so iconic? >> we did not get any ratings. we were heartbroken because we knew we had something good. our executive producer went to procter and gamble and said, madam, and talked us into getting back on. then we got a good airs thought, and people discovered us. -- a good air spot, and people discovered us. it was like a party. tavis: maybe you were right, and i was wrong. nobody gets canceled after the first season and comes back and again and goes on to be a legen

henry david thoreau said that there is a greater wilderness in new england than anywhere in the world. he said that when herman melville went to the islands in the pacific, he just went to the --, but i went to the woods. you can look at the world through reading. this book, "the tao of travel," is a guide to reading. not having a past board does not surprise me nor does it is mamie. people who do not leave home. -- not having a passport does not surprise me nor does it dismat me. there is a book called "travels around my room," by a french man. he wrote a book about traveling around his room. leaving the u.s. helps. american history, american landscape, there is so much to know that it is very daunting. tavis: i take your point. is it either, or, or both hand? even if you travel around the country, which i have done extensively, there is a great benefit that cannot be underestimated or undervalued of getting outside of our shores. i think that you appreciate the country when you get outside of it and look back. you can appreciate it and even critique it a more serious way from the ou

is as relevant today as when we did these interviews, but we also have to celebrate -- henry david thoreau, the great author of the 19th century, said it, "to affirm the quality of the day is the highest of the arts." and you have to include that kind of affirmation in your journalism or you wind of edging toward cynicism, moving towards -- skepticism is healthy, cynicism is poisonous. it is the artists and musicians, but painters, the writers, poets who provide the joy and insight in life, and you have to talk to them. even if you are doing a book about politics. tavis: i want to go back and pick up one thing that is really an arc that covers everything in the book, and that is this notion that you raised about truth and power. yesterday i talked about the fact that we find ourselves up against every day, we find ourselves in is a battle of truth compared with power. are you going to be a truth how teller or power grabber? you expressed the same sentiment and a powerful way, but as i read these essays, that is what it comes down to. truth versus power, unpack that. >> my own conviction on

he'd be forced to talk about thoreau and -- no, they all made great moves. john irving, the only really terrific wrestler to become a novelist and . [laughter] .so there you are. >> well, and i learn things from this little five-minute broadcast every day. >> i should hope so! >> well, i do! [laughter] i.i learned for instance something i did not know which was that tom wolfe's career writing the sort of books that we all read now was made possible by a newspaper strike in new york that cost him his job. >> yes, right. he got fired. >> right. >> .which is a good move for any of us. i.i've never been fired and i'm ashamed of that. [laughter] >> well, you still have time right? it's possible. >> yeah, right. >> well, that.that's a great little thing and i don't think peo.many people are as aware of that as they might be. they know prairie home companion much more but. >> mm-hm. >> let's.let's go back to the beginning before "a prairie home companion." as i understand the story, your start is really thanks to getting plucked out of the slush pile at the new yor

i can also see henry david thoreau and chapman commit two children new england living deliberately in nature. indeed at the very moment william wirth's cabin in fort worth was digging the foundation for his famous cabinet. for all of his intellectual independence, he never cut the lifeline. boldin was within easy walking distance of the world you do with a. even if he was rhapsodizing on life in the west, he was still carrying laundry home to his mother. not so chapman. from her early 20s on, yet no tether last. in an article for the december december 1927 that heritage magazine come he might be compared to john calvin, and the the great indian portraitist. i like that. certainly a story would not have been with the rosaries work on a relentless critique of the industrial revolution. chapman lifted critique of the nature you love to give himself over to vibrated through his entire being, like walt whitman chatman sing the body electric. years ago i spent a long night with the washington d.c. emergency psychiatric response team. iraq men and women tending to the certifiably insane who

realize walden pond was now a public park, but i spent a week trying to commune with henry david thoreau. then i hitchhiked down to new london, connecticut, and i found the bar where eugene o'neill wrote "the iceman cometh." from there i went down to see thomas wolf's haunts, "look homeward angel." then out to new mexico because i was a big d.h. lawrence fan at the time and actually met d.h. lawrence's widow. he had married, late in be life he'd married a much younger woman, and she was still live anything taos. so by now you can imagine i've got a full head of steam after a summer of visiting all these famous authors' homes. and finally wound up in san francisco checking out where all of the beat poets and larry farangetti. so now i'm off to college, going to bowden college up in maine. and, of course, i'm going to be an english major. and i was lucky enough to have some great teachers there, too, who would teach herman melville, and we'd go out to the home of the professor which was situated on the rock overlooking the atlantic. and he would talk about ahab and the whale. it was all ve