imaginary map for me was cancer to it ends with james baldwin whom i feel is a true progeny of mark twain but it begins with mark twain's huckleberry finn, goes into sinclair lewis babbitt, and heart is a lonely hunter. >> how do you tie those books together? how do they make america's? >> well, you know, reading all these books i'd read so many times before, i realized how much american books special beginning with huck finn, baby a reflection of america's moral compass. that those he was most an outcast and most of them not searching for materialism or money or success but like huck finn deciding that it is a edit to go to hell than do the right thing. i felt america today needs to be reminded of the fact that it was based on an idea and no space on the dream. and if you lose that dream you will never have the other aspect of it which is the material aspect. all of these books are talking about the greatest danger to america's conformity and complacency. and this hole ideological division that we are creating today. and it makes me uncomfortable. i now love america enough to make it my

browns' general manager speaking of twain's we had a good thing going to night twwets... we've got sometweets ... save you and pass to get a shallow pam should know something add to. >>gary: margin pleasantville is this simeon and to. if you're upset that i set grant up for ridicule placed with us there and i'll take the fall some nitwit where pate said it would turn out tweeteritter

he is basically one of the twain characters in "huckleberry finn." [laughter] this manly man.out having a former boxer lube him down every day after his workout as a minister. billy graham was much more subdued, but if any of you have ever heard billy graham preach it is very masculine. he looks straight at you and points. he created a slogan -- look them in the eye. malcolm x learned how to speak by watching billy graham. if you see videos of malcolm x speaking, and you put it side by side with billy graham, it is the same. malcolm x is brilliant at borrowing from billy graham. martin luther king, who is also this virile, masculine preacher his big flaw is that he was a womanizer. this hymn, this poem becomes a masculine song, even though its origins were feminine. at a time when julia ward howe is forgotten. aside from battle -- elaine showalter, one of the great literary scholars of princeton is now doing a full book on julia ward howe, solely as a poet, making the case that her poetry in general will stand up to any poet in the 19th century, one of the great poets in the e

this ship is named for the hometown of mark twain.e have a whole set of books that they gave us. one of them has got to be tom sawyer, one of them says. huckleberry finn? where all the christenings take place. what is it that makes american guys give these names to planes, tanks, trucks, even railroad engines? suddenly brought up a serious problem. somebody else yelled, hannah bella. the ocean was getting to look a little different to us. so far it had been all smooth sailing. this cannot last much longer. low on the horizon, we pick it up on the pacific a toll. one of those island paradises that they made how on earth for our marines. it is a normal, circular chain of islands, part of an extinct volcano 30 miles across. inside it hits the deep laguna bluewater, protected from the open sea. as we rounded the point we saw ships of every size, type, and shape. warships and merchant vessels as far as you can see. this is over there the carrier sager -- carrier saratoga. seagoing workhorses with long gray tankers with transports and cargo

thor rou, melville, awe thorn or mark twain? >> mark twain. >> yes. which of the following is not a job teddy roosevelt held prior to entering the white house as president? not a job. new york police commissioner, dakota territory sheriff, park ranger, governor. >> b. >> that is incorrect. >> c. >> that is correct. park ranger. he was not a park ranger. two final questions. president franklin roosevelt reportedly suffered from a phobia, fear of what? fear of children, goests ghosts, children, the number 13? >> number 13. >> correct. on the way to a campaign stop in 1912, this happened and yet teddy roosevelt went on to deliver his campaign speech. confronted and killed a bear, helped give birth to his child -- >> he was shot. >> that is correct. nice job. jake, got all four correct. four points for jake. go back to your team. 20 points for each correct answer. >> your moment is gone. >> let's take a look at the scores. right now in third place, chris and don have 40 points. erin and john, 140 points in second place. taking the lead right now, jake and

it might seem a stretch to connect alexander hamilton with mark twain, but as a matter of history, we do it all the time. jim barber is a historian here at the national portrait gallery. jim curated our current collection about the city, its intrigues and operators during the lincoln administration, and organized an exhibition of original art commissioned by "time" magazine for their covers about half a century ago. you could visit these shows on the second floor well jim puts the finishing touches on his next exhibition about babe ruth. please welcome jim barber. [applause] >> welcome to the national portrait gallery. we are in the third oldest public building in the city of washington, behind the white house and the capitol. the fourth oldest public old incas across the street, the post office. it is really a museum of history and biography that uses art as a medium. we are going to look at a conscious -- pocahontas. what is a painting? it is an oil painting. we don't know much about either to be honest with you. when we think of pocahontas, we think of several things. we think of j

it might be a stretch to connect alexander hamilton with mark twain or carnegie with booker wa, she do it all the time. >> there's almost 500 indians in -- in virginia, not far from james helm. so i'll talk about the the portrait for her life a little bit. talk about the portrait, where it came from, why is it here. and then i'll make some sense of the other two portraits that will follow in this series in february and march. i mentioned individuals that we think of. john smith in particular. john smith, in particular. pocahontas saved his life. the history passed down from the indians is a little different than the version that captain john smith wrote about after the fact. to england. they don't always agree. there's a language difference. a lot to work out. another individual that we think of in relation to pocahontas is john rolf. and john rolf will be another member of the virginia company of london. and this is a commercial endeavor. jamestown wasn't -- it wasn't a tour boat that came to america. it was a commercial endeavor. and the -- the people that signed on for this, they di

and it was learned he had taken $670,000 from a lawyer who hoped to sue vaccine makers, but as mark twain once remarked, a lie can travel around the world while the truth is putting its boots on. underline that in the age of the internet as vaccination rates dropped in some places and measles came back. with an elect coming, no surprise that the right not to vaccinate became an issue one sid, some of these candidates were afraid of losing the anti-science group. there is more than science lesson here, it's a reminder that the internet is the first medium to deliver news on worldwide scale that has no editor. the worst newspaper has someone who knows where the stuff comes from but not the internet. information, true, false and in between just appears from who knows where and once out it's as hard to kill as crab grass. sometimes, more dangerous. we'll have more on this story from dr. anthony fauci of the national institutes of health and our own dr. jon lapook come up next on "face the nation." meet the world's newest energy superpower. surprised? in fact, america is now the world's number

browns' general manager speaking of twain's we had a good thing going to night twwets...ve got sometweets ... save you and pass to get a shallow pam should know something add to. >>gary: margin pleasantville is this simeon and to. if you're upset that i set grant up for ridicule placed with us there and i'll take the fall some nitwit where pate said it would turn out tweeteritter >>gary: the club said you doing fine of brian jones lebron james wanted to come off the bench that out much as coach said know. snowed dog has a son who plays footballsnoop dog.. >>: and of backing up a thousand percent on go on the ucla got a thousand times cordele brought this is a wide receiver. >>pam: coming up next the cell phone whale failed day sale ending? but mattress discounters has the largest selection of memory foam mattresses under one roof! comforpedic... icomfort... posturepedic hybrid... and wow! get up to four years interest-free financing on the entire tempur-pedic cloud collection! and, get a queen size serta mattress and box spring set for just $397. the presidents day sale i

sherman left atlanta on his way to savannah on his march to the sea, grant says after the war to mark twain that he had received instructions from washington to stop sherman, don't let him cut his telegraph wires, don't let him get out of touch with us and go off on his observant through georgia. grant tells mark twain i stopped sherman for 24 hours and thinking that was deference enough to the government, i started him up again. [laughter] this kind of thing would be unthinkable today of course. i was really shocked and stunned to the extent to which grant ignored not only stanton's order to hold these people at the lines, if you recall stanton had sent that wire saying keep them right there. grant comes back from north carolina, waves them through immediately, sends his chief aide to get them and escort them to city point. his headquarters. and their passage through lee's lines to grant's i think is quite an event, which is described at greater length in the book. this is one of the union forts on the petersburg seize line. the war department called it fort sedgwick and its residents call

and it is with james baldwin who i feel is the true progeny of mark twain. but it begins with mark twain's huckleberry finn goes into -- [inaudible] and then carson mccarter's "the heart is a lonely hunter," ending with -- [inaudible] >> how do you tie those books together, and how do they make america -- >> or money or success. but like huck finn deciding that it is better to go to hell but do the right thing. of thethe rest belong to the blackakes hats, you know? we don't even watch the news channel that disagrees with us. why the democracy is vital when you confront and challenge and accept that you should also be challenged. you should also be questioned. in huck finn come in each of these great american novels we have a democracy of voices where even the villain has a voice you know? and it goes understanding and not condemnation. i think ideology that is willing over america today is very dangerous to the health of our country. >> azar nafisi, how did reading lolita change your life? >> well, you know, it changed my life in the sense i rather always do

. >> kind of the mark twain of our time.ues and focus people's attention with that. >> he did. he's like the mark twain of our time. >> i can't do that sideways. ben smith. i bring you back in here. an interview with president obama. what was your big take away if you would like we request get you the park twain straw hat while you respond. >> i thank you for your work on that. i think you saw the president was very who by the way is on the tour of new media outlets. >> we saw that. >> i think you can see how combative he is surrounding a legacy he is starting to shape, including picking a bone we are counting an anecdote around same sex marriage and supporting this same sex marriage and very very combative about the retailer staple trying to limit employee hours in a way they won't qualify for the affordable care act. obama went after him very hard shame on you, i wonder what the ceo compensation was, which i found pretty striking. >> so the president with you, with others he's untethered isn't he? i mean he's got two years

on this date in 1885, mark twaine published the ad ventures every huckle berry fin. >> oh! >> well, since we're talking about this day in history let's put life in perspective a little bit. because it was one year ago this date, february 18th 2014, that we got 3 inches of snow. little more than the 3 inches yesterday, but that was the 14th snowstorm of last season, so we were at 40.6 inches of snow for the season so far last season, this season, we're at 10.2, that's all we got. putting life in perspective our issues have not been snow like they were last year, it has been the cold, and there is more arctic air on the way for tonight into tomorrow after this clipper system comes through with some snow showers. they will be widely scattered you may sleep through them, but what's happening, it is another arctic invasion. where the air comes from not canada but further north from the north pole. so that starts tomorrow. now, how about this? the snow for tonight if you're driving around tonight and you run into one of these snow showers or snow bursts, it could be a temporary p

. >> saim famous quote mark twain said?r a colder day. >> a winter day or something like that. >> which is what happens to the tourists when they come here in the summer, thinking it's going to be nice and warm in san francisco and they end up with those pier 39 sweatshirts. >> exactly. >>> a baby sea lion in their backyard in ayla hoya family. it stayed there long enough to see the pup. >> we said, sherbert. he's very cute and -- and very, very nice. >> seaworld officials say they have rescued nearly 200 stranded sea lion pups this year. they also say if you do come across a strand sea lie yorngs you should call sea lion. do not approach it or feed it. >>> happy birthday, youtube. this year marks ten years since youtube first went online. it was founded by three former paypal employees. it's the place to go for blooper reels and most watched video is gangnam style. other favorites include charlie bit my finger. a home video of a baby laughing uncontrollably. that is a good one. it's hard to beat a couple who has been celeb

a poet, 1912 writes "the convergence of the twain." in this poem he writes, as these smart ship grew in stature grace, and hughew and shadowy silent distance grew, the iceberg, too. reference to? the titanic. very good. the sinking of the titanic was, to some, symbolic. symbolic of too much innovation, too much flaunting our ability to transcend nature's limits. flight. the panama can now. automobiles. the harnessing of electricity. and now perhaps nature had struck back. maybe god had struck back. thomas hardy in his poem also describes "the pride of life that planned her." meaning all of the modern technology and innovations that went into building the dazzling showcase of the passenger ship and all of the hubris that seemed to accompany its building. what is hubris? good liberal arts college word. what is hubris? excessive pride. yes. good. ok. we will get a sense of where we are headed in terms of this clash. this leads us into really what we are going to wrestle with tonight and that is the rise of modernism. modernism is a kind o

mark twain detested them. in his 1872 book, "the gilded age," he named them they were that is a corruption of the french verb meaning to have arrived. these people had suddenly arrived in society. he characterized them in one family patrick o'reilly, his wife and daughter. patrick o'reilly made a fortune selling nails to the government during the civil war -- overpriced nails to the government during the civil war. when the war was over, he toured europe with the purpose of learning to speak english with a foreign language. he returned to washington to take his new place in society. he was now the honorable patri cke, and his wife was a lady. they change thed spelling of o'reilly to what he thought was the french spelling, who was actually the french were that meant year. he continued to pronounce his name o'reilly but with french. pardon his -- the parvenous were considered crass and not accepted by the cave dwellers. larz's moved to washington. in 1880, they contracted the famous architect to build this hous

a fake college degree because it's not mine but -- >> didn't last week you not know that mark twain and same person. >> i was repressing that memory and it was a deep place that allowed me to speak on camera today. >> a distant cousin to foghorn leghorn. >> why are you clutching the teddy bear. >> there's one week left until valentine's day. looking to dominate with your gifts this year then why not take your inspiration from the upcoming "fifty shades of grey" movie. >> i love it sara. >> this makeup set which you'll see is guaranteed to make your loved one blush. literally a compact cheek colored feature in a velvet rope bag. >> i love it. >> this is like nighttime qvc and nail polish set in various shades of gray and why not get your paws on this guy from vermont teddy bear. smoldering gray eye, satin tie, eye mask and mini handcuffs. >> sara i just painted my nails. >> who is going to fit into this. watch out, barbie, he's coming. >> but we also notice the striking recentral ambulance to dan today. >> oh. >> you did dress alike. >> we do have the same rock hard abs as well. >> this

it's like mark twain said an expert is just some guy from out of town. and before you get to testify, your credentials have got to past the smell test and in this case the judge decided not quite close enough for this jury to hear with this psychologist. >> dr. zaff talk about the difference between the legal definition of insanity. here you have a diagnosis of schizophrenia, but that in itself isn't good enough in an insanity defense. >> right. that diagnosis or mental illness is a foundational construct that needs to occur. but then there's also a legal test or a legal standard typically. and so in this case and many other jurisdictions, it's whether the defendant knew right from wrong at the time. texas has a very narrow or limited standard. so there's not as much latitude in their standard. it must be shown that the defendant did not comprehend, was not able to comprehend right from wrong at the time of the crime. >> what are you hoping that people might take away from this, what our understanding is of schizophrenia and ptsd? >> well these are major

crony capitalism of the sort that mark twain made fun of in the guilded age is back of us again todayk -- and there are many other reasons why i think it is useful to ask and interesting to try to figure out why there isn't the same degree -- anywhere near the same degree of mobilized resistance to that concentrated wealth and power, especially when you recognize the sub version of democratic institutions which our guilded aged an seventy seventiors been ancestors were angry about. >> and you write about the language of talking about inequality has completely changed and become very vanilla. you talk about fdr and woodrow wilson and teddy roosevelt talking about inequality with truthful and honest language. and you write several decades have come and gone during which we've learned 23409 to mention carl marx andin polite company or vocabulary and exiling suspect or nasty phrases like class warfare or the preserve army of labor or even something as apparentlyin oculus as working class. >> it has to do with the loss of a kind of alternative vision of how so site might be -- society migh

we were at the mark twain awards with you. >> right, right. >> seth: your wife is also an incredibly> seth: are you intimidated by how well -- because i am sometimes when i'm putting together my outfit, i'm a little like, "i can't keep up." >> right, right, yeah. i'm very intimidated by that. and she's really good at -- she just has a flair, it's like a french thing. you know how french people, they can like, throw a scarf on but it's that fine line of looking stylish and homeless. [ laughter ] you know. and she pulls it off. >> seth: yeah, yeah. >> i'm like, "wow. good for you." but yeah, there's a lot of times i have to go back and go, "i better go change." you know. >> seth: i always do -- my wife tells me i can't wear a scarf any more, because i feel like i just use it functionally to cover my neck. and she says i look like someone wearing a neck brace, that i just got whiplash. like a car rear-ended us. and then they just undo it. and they go, "now it looks good." and then you go out and you're freezing, because it's not covering your neck any more. >> right. but you look like a

sky 9 is there right now showing us the twains -- trains between east and west falls church.tracking because of cracked rails. right now let's go to the map and show you how drive times are shaping up. right now, on it looks like the outer loop of the metro from the bw parkway to it looks like 66 westbound. you're looking at a 26 minute commute. back to mike and andrea. >>> all right the odds makers are making this tough between bradley cooper and michael keaton because bradley could win big at the academy awards. so much praise over "american sniper" and pretty passionat. has a local cheering section. >> as in the d.c. area, tommy mcnigh joins us live, good morning tommy. >> hey guys, bradley cooper does win. it would be an upset but a huge local win for washington. he has d.c. roots. maybe you didn't know this, he actually went to georgetown university. and while he was there, he worked has way through school at cay fa in georgetown. this weekend they are having a local cheering section viewing party for bradley cooper. rooting for him hoping he brings home the oscar. and h

mark twain has a great novel called the inventors of tom sawyer and one of his tricks is very close to chinese strategy. yes to whitewash the fence, but he tricks his friends into painting the fence for him. so how does he do that? and oh, only the best person can paint this fence. so they did what in chinese means control through nonaction. part of another concept we can say sure you are smart it is flux or situational and they are getting people to paint the fence for them just like tom sawyer. and so i tried to show in "the hundred-year marathon" how some of the defectors told us that this is what china has been doing. >> and extract from the book. americans don't see china the way that they see us. balancing this all within most practical terms hiding in plain sight. this is an essay from ancient chinese folklore designed to use the opponents own strength against him without him knowing that he's in the contest. >> the reason the title of the book "the hundred-year marathon" this is not an openly declared strategy. in fact, i use a line from the american movie called the fight club

but because he speak s ins in the satirical ways, he has unbelievable impact and he may be the mark twainthe time, and him stepping down is at least as much of an earthquake as brian williams. >> 1,000%. >> and he has people around him and john stewart has a litany of writers. >> and don, i am looking around the set, and i don't see the dozen of the writers here and giving you jokes, but it is a different median and john stewart had talks with nbc about taking over "meet the press" and so they were interested in him for that, and you have the believe that comedy central is going to be interested in brian williams. >> and look, the strange thing here is that brian williams has expressed the interest in doing more entertainment which nbc news kind of slapped down, and jon stewart for his part has clearly expressed the interest in doing more serious things like his movie "rosewater" which is a serious story of repression, and what is going nonegypt. he had the egyptian satirist on his show last night, and so they are wanting to twist places in a strange way, and that is the direction that jo

mark twain detested them in his 1872 book, "the guilded age," he named them parle vus, which is a corruption of the french verb, veneer, meaning, to have arrived. these people had suddenly arrived in society. he characterized the parvenus and one family patrick o'reilly, his wife and his daughter. patrick o'reilly had made a fortune selling overpriced shingle nails to the government during the civil war, so when the war was over, he packed up his family and toured europe with the sole purpose of learning to speak english with a foreign language. he returned to washington to take his new warranted place in society. now, the honorable patrick, and his wife was a lady, and they changed the name and spelling of o'reilly to what he thought was the french spelling of o'reilly, but is actually the french word arier, which i don't think he was aware of that year and he still continued to pronounce his name "o'reilly" but with the prevrn. the parvenous, were considered crass, tackless, and not accepted by the cave dwellers, official society or the military socially. as i said, lars's parents had move

the story goes he got some ghost writing for mark twain so you couldn't do much better than that. but that's a wonderful book to read even in the south. so i'd always direct somebody to grant's memoirs. as for biographies, there are so many. there's so many, and they keep coming out. you mentioned flexner's multi-volume biography of washington. chernow has a very good volume, the best one-volume if you want to cover the whole of washington. there's some great books about periods of washington life. washington's crossing is a really good book about washington crossing the delaware. i hope to do a little bit like that, i hope in my own short way dealing with another period focused periods many washington's life when i'm dealing with him is his return his period between his service as president -- as general and president. when you bring it up-to-date you know, i don't think there's a better a historian's historian than the current biographies or that are coming out about lyndon johnson. he is, you know there's nobody who writes -- nobody -- historians love his work because it's so d

and it's part of a larger story story that in our own traditions mark twain has a great novel called adventures of tom sawyer and one of tom sawyer's in mortal tricks close to the chinese strategy, he has to whitewash a fence, punished for it, it's very bad and very hot but he tricks his friends into painting the fence for him. how does he do that? he appeals to them only the best person can paint this event. you can't have the brush and they all do what in chinese is on action and to control through on action. it's part of another concept we can all say today like sure sure you all are smart. it is a situation or doing things earlier than the other guy can do them. so tom sawyer gets his friends to paint the fence for him and it's all part of the same idea. use the other countries for sore technology to win the 100 year marathon. and i try to show him here help some of the defectors told us this is what china has been doing. >> an excerpt from the book the u.s. doesn't see china the way that it sees us. in an ancient proverb that says across the sea in full view or in more practical

einstein described himself as a determinist just like mark twain did.ring how they got there. >> guest: you know, the issue of free will versus determinism is one of the richest, most difficult topics that people have wrestlinged with since plato -- wrestled with since plato and socrates, certainly einstein wrestles with it, certainly steve jobs wrestles with it. and i'm not sure anybody's ever going to resolve it. it's at the core of alan turing's imitation game question which is do we have free will in a way that's different or consciousness and free will in a way that's different from a preprogrammed machine? einstein was a determine cannist, but, of course, he wins the nobel prize for his quantum mechanics or quantum theory paper on the photoelectric effect which basically says that at the subatomic level things happen by chance. there's statistics but not determine city. and there's an indetermine that city which by the way means there's an indeterm city at the basis of the universe. so einstein, as much as he likes to believe in a deterministic un

some people felt that was a shallow and even a mark twain or others disparage the autobiography of ben franklin, how to succeed how to win friends, how to influence people side of ben franklin. i think it goes deeper to that and i tree to show that. >> host: ann in california you are the first call for walter isaacson. >> caller: yes. i've been reading the "innovators eye" and trying too figure out if there's any particular symbolism behind the design of the cover over -- cover of the book snooze no. i wish steve jones helped more. i wanted to show interconnected. i wanted to show that people wove together. i wanted to make it feel a bet creative but also show some of the pictures but there was not a grand secret design but thank you for ask. >> host: four people on the cover. >> guest: there's ada lovelace of course, at the very top. steve jobs, bill gates, and then allen touring. they're about 30 main characters in the innovators-but those four i felt were the ones that inspired me. >> host: bill, portland, oregon good morning to you, your on with walter isaacson. >> caller: good mor

we pay him and is part of a larger story than in our own traditions marc twain has a great novel called adventures of tom sawyer and one of tom sawyer's immortal tricks is very close to chinese strategy. he has to whitewash a fence he's being punished for it. it's very bad and scary hot but he scary scary hot but he tricks his friends and depending the fence for him. how does he do that quickly appeal to them. only the best person can take this fence. you can't have the brush. they all do what in chinese is called non-action to control the non-action. as part of another concept that we can all say today sure, like you sure are smart. sure is a flux for situation doing things earlier than the other guy can do them so tom sawyer getting his friends to paint the fence for him is all part of the same idea. you should other countries for support technology to win the 100 year marathon and i tried to show in here how some of the defectors told us this is what china has been doing. >> an extract from a book, the americans still don't see china the way it sees us a condition that has persisted

possible to patronage during the gilded age lobbying really took off and you can see that with mark twain how he tarkington -- talk about the cost of a representative of how much it would be in his book the gilded age. >> we were talking about your next book which is about another city you have written travel guides british interest come for cities where there is the quality you find in particular? >> read the washington d.c. again? i don't know if we need a sequel but more less it depends what your mind goes it is better not to think about it too much but if you go back to with fema does best to follow its. this book shows me because of all the research and the things i could uncover. also started to be a travel writer so that was part of it as well. >> thank you so much. [applause] please let your chair and come up to get a book signed. [inaudible conversations] >> [inaudible conversations] i.m. wreck the cursor the publisher of "harper's" magazine. many subscribers year? a few. i am delighted to welcome you to raise a series of collaborations between the culture and "harper's". a brand

we pay him in as part of a larger story than on traditions mark twain has the great novels called adventures of tom sawyer and one of tom sawyer's immortal tricks as close to chinese strategy. he has to whitewash a fence. he's been fun ash fork. but he tricks his friends into painting the fence for him. how does he do that? he appeals to them. only the best person can paint this fence. you can't have the brush and mail it to learn chinese nonaction to control through nonaction. part of another concept we could all say you sure are smart. flux or situation are doing things earlier than the other guy can do them. so tom sawyer getting his friends to paint the fence for him is all part of the same idea. he's the other countries for search technology to win the 100 year marathon. i try to show one year of the defectors told us this is what china is doing. >> an extract from the book are we americans don't see china the way it sees us. a condition for decades. nature proverb that says in full view for a more practical terms in plain sight. as one of the 36 strategies and essays from ancient chine

the story goes he got some ghost writing for mark twain so you couldn't do much better than that. but that's a wonderful book to read even in the south. so i'd always direct somebody to grant's memoirs. as for biographies, there are so many. there's so many, and they keep coming out. you mentioned flexner's multi-volume biography of washington. chernow has a very good volume, the best one-volume if you want to cover the whole of washington. there's some great books about periods of washington life. washington's crossing is a really good book about washington crossing the delaware. i hope to do a little bit like that, i hope in my own short way dealing with another period focused periods many washington's life when i'm dealing with him is his return his period between his service as president -- as general and president. when you bring it up-to-date you know, i don't think there's a better a historian's historian than the current biographies or that are coming out about lyndon johnson. he is, you know there's nobody who writes -- nobody -- historians love his work because it's so d

and it is with james baldwin who i feel is the true progeny of mark twain. but it begins with mark twain's huckleberry finn goes into -- [inaudible] and then carson mccarter's "the heart is a lonely hunter," ending with -- [inaudible] >> how do you tie those books together, and how do they make america -- >> or money or success. but like huck finn deciding that it is better to go to hell but do the right thing. >> it makes me uncomfortable. i now love america enough to make it my home, so i have to start complaining. >> but isn't division and argument, isn't that good for a democracy? >> argument and debate is great for democracy. ideology is very, very fatal to democracy because, you know, ideology makes you feel very comfortable. we all belong to the white house, the one that is -- [inaudible] and the rest belong to the black hats, you know? we don't even watch the news channel that disagrees with us. a democracy is vital. when you confront and challenge and accept that you should also be challenged, you should also be questioned. in huck finn in each of t

abe lincoln walt disney henry ford and mark twain among others. the thing about al sharpton in addition to his checkered past, he's an embarrassment, if he's such a great leader why doesn't anybody watch that show of his? >> david axlerod says he's a respected leader, if you look at al sharpton's past the tawana brawley case, throok at that. i'm not sure why the white house would want him hanging around. another important point, he owes, some say up to $4 million between his personal and national action network. this is the guy who says he helped pick the next attorney general. the attorney general will prosecute tax fraud and tax cheats. think about that for one minute. >> yeah, but the i.r.s. is not busy looking at al sharpton because they're busy still looking at the tea party people. >> we kind of need to connect those dots. >> coming up, it was a texas-size insult. >> i don't know about in your state, which i think is a crazy state to begin with -- >> now texas lawmakers say, yeah we're crazy. crazy about jobs. breaking down the numbers for y

and so i think that you know mark twain said history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.he way this played out in afghanistan, how do we learn the way this played out the last time and not repeat that? so you know everyone may say you need a jobs fair. obviously that's not the case. but much more complicated than the military challenge, as complex as that is is how do you create the kind of environment, the kind of political structure that will allow there to be something that replaces the current situation with something better where isis can't prevail. >> nancy, once again you put together a great issue. we talked about isis and the balance of power, "rising sun, california solar farm." madonna, a great profile on madonna. and my favorite story on page 40 of "time" magazine dogs on prozac. the new issue is out right now. nancy gibbs, thank you so much. >>> city ahead, energy poverty in america. the struggles some families face every day in the coldest months of the year. and the ingenuity helping the most vulnerable turn their lights back on.ip se asked people a simple

mark twain had said a long time ago that america's two best friends in the world are miss atlantic and mr. pacific. september 11, 2001 proved that that was no longer the case, that we were not a separate fortress onto ourselves and completely removed from the problems around the world. that was a -- as the previous speaker mentioned -- such an important event in my life and in the lives of so many people in their 30's and younger. as a member of this september 11 generation, i decided right then that i would devote my life to public service. the very next year -- september 11, 2002, began my graduate program in public policy and embarked on a path that about 14 years later has led here to serving in the halls of the house of representatives. attempting to make a difference, solve problems and do so on a bipartisan basis, and i know there are many people on the other side of the aisle, good republicans who feel the same way i do, that we can have our legitimate debates, that we can have our debates on public policy, but that when it comes of all things to the security of the american pe

who i feel is that true progeny of mark twain but it begins with mark twain's huckleberry finn, goes into babbitt. >> how do you tie those books together? how do they make america? >> well, you know, rereading all those books i had i have read so many times before i realized how much american books become a reflection of america's moral compass. those orphaned restless euros, most of them outcasts, most of them not from materialism or money or suspense, but like-deciding it was better to go to hell and do the right thing. she it was based on idea. if you lose that dream you

it ends with james baldwin who i feel is that true progeny of mark twain but it begins with mark twain's huckleberry finn, goes into babbitt. >> how do you tie those books together? how do they make america? >> well, you know, rereading all those books i had i have read so many times before i realized how much american books become a reflection of america's moral compass. those orphaned restless euros, most of them outcasts, most of them not from materialism or money or suspense, but like-deciding it was better to go to hell and do the right thing. she it was based on idea. if you lose that dream you will never have the other aspect of it. and all of these books are talking about the greatest danger to america as conformity and complacency. this whole ideological delusion that we are creating today. and it and it makes me uncomfortable. i love america enough to make it my home. i have to start complaining. >> but isn't division and argument good for democracy? >> argument and debate is great for democracy. ideology is very, very fatal to democracy. ideology makes you feel. we all belong.