so i told my wife about the idea about the underground railroad book. sometimes in a marriage you have to talk, make conversation -- [laughter] to kill the silences. and so -- [laughter] she said i don't want to say that the book you're working on now about a brooklyn writer going through a midlife crisis is dumb per se -- [laughter] but this other book sounds pretty interesting. so i was like, huh. so i went to my agent i've worked with for 18 years and told her, and she said, well, both ideas sound good. which is not very helpful. [laughter] but then she mailed me on a sunday, which she never does. and usually your agent tries to contact you on a sunday, you've done something wrong. but instead she said i can't stop thinking about that other idea. so i was like, huh, two. so wednesday was shrink day, so i told my shrink -- [laughter] and she said, what are you, crazy? [laughter] i mean, we both know you're crazy, but it sounds like this is the thing you should be working on. so my editor, who i've worked with for a long time, and i sold this other ide

the underground railroad and it's not much of a premise and not much of a story so i added the elements where each state our character goes through as she runs north, south carolina, north carolina, the different states in the american possibility for the trial, the turn of america and it's a weird idea but i knew that i wanted to stand up so i wanted to wait for maybe a better writer, a little more mature but as i finished the book i would look at my notes and think am i ready? so about 2 and a half years ago i decided to pitch the book idea to my editor and i was feeling a little bit unsure so i told my wife about the idea of the underground railroad book and sometimes in a marriage you have to make conversation to kill the silences so she said i don't want to say that the book you are working on now about a brooklyn writer going through a midlife crisis is dumb per se but this other book sounds pretty interesting so i went to my agent, worked with her for 18 years and she said both ideas sound good but then she emailed me on sunday which she never does, usually the agent tries to con

. >> he assisted the underground railroad. >> he and his father and uncle regularly traveled back andentral illinois and the southern shores of lake michigan delivering slaves that got to be free. >> he probably helped hundreds of slaves escape. >> wild bill hickcock was a hero of the underground railroad. >> during the civil war, hickcock was a spy for the anti-slavery union army, later becoming a law man in a notoriously lawless outpost in kansas. >> he was not, per se a gunfighter, but he was someone who did know how to protect himself and he was a dead shot. >> in 1876, hickcock was murdered during a game of poker in deadwood, south dakota. the cards he was holding have become known as the dead man's hand, as and 8s. >> kareem's next choice is a veteran congressman who was at the forefront of the civil rights movement. john lewis. >> i think john lewis is unique as a civil rights activist because he actually marched with dr. king. he's the only person left, i believe, that marched with dr. king and he has served as representative from his district in georgia. >> he's a lieutenant

[applause] [cheering] the underground railroad, doubleday. [applause] [cheering] and doubleday.at read and constant work of art. taken together they test the range and fertility of fiction. the others remain in accord even when earlier today we made the difficult selection from these extraordinary books. the work that impressed us with its breaking ethics committee's formal inventiveness, its use of fiction to eliminate a history for the sake of its troubled present our novel of the year and winner of the 2016 book award for fiction is the underground railroad. [applause] [cheering] ♪ i will buy that for a dollar. [laughter] the last four months since the book came out had been so incredible. i guess the model for acceptance speeches is the first one i saw was like 77. i was crushed and i never thought that i would become a writer. i've been with doubleday for 18 years. [inaudible] [laughter] is my sensibility to the readers and booksellers and critics and i would like to thank alison rich, susanne mayer for translating my dear ms. -- weirdness. i had an agent that sh but she e

history, the underground railroad and the abolitionist movement, martin delaney is a prominent individual. researcher,riter, a he published a newspaper. he attended medical school at arvard and he was known as very determined abolitionist leader in pittsburgh. this figure of delaney is during a speech he was giving in september, 1850 shortly after the passage of the fugitive slave act. it was at an allegheny city market which is today the north side of pittsburgh. mr. delaney in his speech was challenging the president of the united states that even if the president came to his home, looking for fugitive slaves or runaway slaves, then mr. delaney would lay him at his feet and if deny his body a grave. that tells you about the determination of the pittsburgh abolitionist community. they were very militant about their work in ending slavery in the united states. we talked earlier about charles avery as the owner of the eagle or cotton mill. avery was also a prominent abolitionist leader in pittsburgh but he also owned textile mills not only in pittsburgh but also in new england. coppermine'

john: then you escaped again there was an underground railroad. >> yes to go to south korea which wasoss the desert. john: you got to south korea and that was a shock? >> all lots. i thought freedom meant to wear jeans without getting arrested but it meant you could think for yourself and what do you think about this? what is your favorite color or your favorite food? tell me what to wear. john: you started to read books. >> everybody told me i was a loser because i had no knowledge and said you can do it so i read animal farm and that changed my life. i saw a mother and grandmother. john: once you were in america the movie came out called the interview is a stupid movie. >> is that real? >> it is a gift from my grandfather from stolen. >> you went to see this movie? >> the very first day i think it was christmas day i was amazed the freedom back and watch a movie making fun of the leader. [laughter] [applause] think about it. if i was in north korea would be executed. john: you will watch the rest of the show you see people talking about to be a victim they are not paid enough for yo

so we can really think about what a hero, people in the underground railroad. >> this is not even a headline adele and car pool karao karaoke. it was one of those things. >> there's a lot we should catch you up on. from the last year, there's a lot of stuff going on. before i let you go, best gift you have ever received, allison? >> i am actually wearing it. these were given to me by my best pal scooter. >> i think you should wear those year round. >> best gift ever received? >> as a kid, my sister and i got the barbie dream house with the elevator and you put her in and it went up to the third floor. when you were a kid and you freak out, just the spirit of the holidays overwhelming you. >> thank you for being here, merry christmas to you both. >> merry christmas to you. and the kiddies. >>> straight ahead, a special treat on this christmas morning, a performance from james taylor, plus some of our favorite moments including our most valuable player of 2016 a brave little boy whose dream came true at a big league game after a double hand transplant. >>> plus a man who went for a ride when h

regular basis and people can really think about what a hero and people who are part of the underground railroad love that one because it's a light in an ugly year otherwise. >> this is not even a headline but it's adele in "carpool karaoke." you could just rock out to it. >> tre's a lot we should catch you up on from the last year. there's a lot of stuff going on. before i let you go, best gift you've ever received, alison. >> i'm actually wearing it. >> hey. >> this was given to me by my best pal scooter. >> i think you should wear those year-round. >> hey. >> best gift ever received. >> as a kid, there was one present left and it was the barbree dream house with the elevator dream house. >> that is a good one. >> when i was a kid and you just freak out, the spirit of the holiday overwhelms you. >> you two were here on christmas, so thank you to you both. hallie, we'll see you in just a minute. >>> straight ahead , a special treat on this christmas morning, a performance by james taylor. >>> and the brave little boy whose dream came true at a big league game after a double hand transplant. >>>

it's like an evil version of the underground railroad, the point is they can get around in all of theseneighborhoods, there's one in particular that we remember in brussels, it's not just in germany, that's called molibek, i believe, one of the terrorist responsible for the perisian bombing hid in plain sight. >> there are dozens of neighborhoods in germany that fit that description and i point out that just listening to the report that you just had, one of the things we haven't heard is how did he get out of germany. the fact is he was killed in milan, he's obviously heading south, probably in the hope of getting back to tunis or some place in north africa that's an isis stronghold, but the point is he was able to make his way out of germany notwithstanding that he was supposedly, you know, the most wanted man in all of europe. david: out of germany and crossed two frontiers, france and italy from there. muslim leaders in the united states say that couldn't happen here, muslims who come here even from areas where there's civil wars and where isis is active, muslims here assimilate in a

anyway, underground railroads were built so that you could load it onto wagons and take them to be drawn up to the surface. the hard rock gets to the surface, the question is, how do you get the gold out? it is no longer any good to use the panning techniques because the cost per million is very small. there wasn't a lot of goals and there was a lot of rock. instead, you had to use a crusher. on the right, a waterwheel. imagine fast flowing water turning the wheel. it is attached to this device which is an axle bearing -- and as they go past these rods, they are attached to heavyweights. so it is said through here on a conveyor and these devices stamp it to reduce it to powder. that is how a stamping meal works. the next thing is to combine the powdered or with mercury. who has seen any mercury? it is a metal that is liquid at room temperature. this is another way you could get poisoned. andnow now that it is toxic you mustn't work around the compounds because it was too dangerous but that wasn't known at the time. this reddish rock here is mercury oxide. it appeared int these reports th

theology so is break the law, from the 1600's when we came about with draft resistance, the underground railroad, the sanctuary movement. the only thing we do in an organized way is break the law. and so, in our museums we began to redefine the way people look at organized crime as a struggle between american moral certainty, the thou shalt not rule and the liberty, yes, but it's our right to. and organized crime has always come out of that intersection between these two great concepts that are always at war and define us and one of the great, great characters in this story. one of the true geniuses to come out of this is al capone and it's so wonderful to have a new book that delves into him as something more than stereotypes and car soon figures. enough from me other than housekeeping, if anything horrible happens the emergency exits are here and here. if you have anything that will make noise during the talk, cell phones, beepers, small children, dates from new jersey, please do turn them off now. also, please do not take any film or recordings of the talk in progress. very important. without

little underground railroads were built so that you can load the or onto wagons -- ore onto wagons, and have a drought -- brought up to the surface. when the rock gets to the surface, then the question is how you get the gold out of it. it is no longer good to use the panning techniques. the parts per million are very small. there's not a lot of gold and a lot of rock. this is a crusher. on the right you can see a waterwheel. device,tached to this which is an axle bearing cans. as they go past these rods, they are at -- are attached to great heavyweights. it to reduce stamp it to powder. is to combine the mercury.ore with who has seen any mercury? it is a metal that is liquid at room temperature. this is another way in which you get poisoned in the gold mines. we now know it is very toxic. that was not known at the time. this reddish rock on the left is called cinnabar. that is mercury oxide. it appears in these reports that minds of quicksilver are found in the vicinity of the gold mines. quicksilver is another name for mercury. cinnabar mining becomes as important as gold-mining. mix

underground railroads were built to load the wagons, take them to the pit shaft and have them drawn up to the surface. to thee hard rock gets surface, the question is, how do you get a gold out of this? it is no longer good to use the panning techniques. the parts per million are very small. there is not much gold, a lot of rock. you had to use what was called a crush her. you can see a waterwheel. fast flowing water turns the wheel. it is attached to this device, cams.is an axle bearing as they go fast, these are attached to heavyweights. it is fed through here on a conveyor, these devices stamp it to reduce it to powder. that is how a stamping mail works -- mill works. next thing is to combine the powdered or with mercury. who has seen mercury? it is a metal that is liquid at room temperature. it is another way to get poisoned at the gold line. it is very toxic and you must not work around mercury or more curing compounds. that was not known at the time. is a mercuryrock oxide. he says, it appears from these reports that minds are found in the vicinity of the gold region. silver is a

president, our novel of the year, winner of the 2016 national book award for fiction is the underground railroadlaughte >> i'll bite that for a dollar. it's in my wallet, sorry. i'm very superstitious. so i guess the last four months since the book came out have been so incredible. just like the make a wish foundation, and i diagnosed and they in? is nice to me. it's all so confusing. i guess my model for except as beaches is the oscars, the first one i thought it's like 77 against in a hall. when annie hall one i was really crashed. i never thought i would become a writer. it's all really neat. i did doubleday for 18 years. i was going to say who gave that and then robert caro lake had this whole thing. well done, sir. my first book was the intuitionist. [applause] said the word job of translating my sensibility to readers and booksellers and critics. so i'd like to thank alison rich, michael goldsmith, suzanne mayers, lauren for translating my weirdness to a larger world. i wrote about 20 years ago, everyone hated it. i had an agent, she dumped me and i talked to tina pohlman has an editor tha

:00 with national book award winner colson whitehead talking about his fictional book "the underground railroad", that happens tonight on c-span's book tv. >> so welcome, everybody, i'm the co-founder of civic hall and civic hall i should say is, we've been here now almost two years. it grew out of an annual conference that we do called personal democracy forum, which is focused on how technology is changing politics and government that we've been doing since 2004, which is in fact how i know both of our guests. we've traveled similar paths for a long time. two years ago we opened civic hall to be a year-round gathering point for the same people and conversations, focused on civic tech, how tech can be used for public good. and so, it's a pleasure to welcome everybody here. let me just say that i'm really excited for the chance to get into this conversation about rules for revolutionaries, how big organizers can change everything. because we are living in a very unusual time. and it isn't just the moment after the election, it's actually that we are living in an age where mass participation in

black folks on every level took avenues or whatever, whether it was the underground railroad, etc. a lot of them were murdered for trying to escape from slavery, etc. but they take every avenue that they could to try to get out of slavery. this is very important to understand that, because what abraham lincoln did is he said, "in these five states, the rest of them are confederate. i cannot get any more people from the north to come down here to be soldiers. so, i'm going to make all the blacks in these five states" -- the emancipation proclamation. emancipation proclamation. it read that our the very next line is every black man will be taken into the union army. says what? all the able black men will be taken into the union army. whoa, we have a chance. they are the ones that abraham lincoln said that if it had not been for the black man, we would not have won this war. what i am saying is, wait a minute. the confederates got their ass kicked by the brothers -- [applause] >> they haven't got over it yet. seale.her i want to talk about these images up on the screen. these images a

i will trust [ applause ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> could there be a modern underground railroading to me about? >> "20/20" on abc. ♪ when you don't give the answers snowe. >>> "good morning america" is brought to you by ashley homestore. this is home. [ applause ] >>> awesome performance. good luck at the grammys in february. >>> tomorrow ryan seacrest is stopping by before new year's eve's rockin' celebration. >> see you tomorrow. >> announcer: it's "live with kelly." today, from "doctor strange," benedict cumberbatch, and "america's next top model" host, rita ora. plus, we get a visit from actress gabrielle union, and scott wolf is our cohost. all next on "live." [cheers and applause] [upbeat music] ♪ now here are kelly ripa and scott wolf. >> kelly: oh, hi. oh, hi, scott. >> scott wolf: oh, hi. >> kelly: oh, hi, scott. >> scott wolf: got a chair. >> kelly: oh. [cheers and applause] hi. hi. >> scott wolf: whoa!

.♪ >>> could there be a modern underground railroad, a network that helps children hide from their ownu don't give the answers snowe. >>> "good morning america" is brought to you by ashley homestore. this is home. [ applause ] >>> awesome performance. good luck at the grammys in february. >>> tomorrow ryan seacrest is stopping by before new year's eve's rockin' celebration. >> see you tomorrow. k;,t afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me. >>> good morning, i'm natasha zouves from abc 7 mornings. frances dinglasan is in for mike and bringing sunshine in today. >> and a milder start. temperatures in the 50s. san francisco 50 and half moon bay 59 and santa rosa freeizing at 32 degrees. this afternoon temperatures above arth to the low 60s. and enjoy it because we have some changes on the way, cooler by this weekend. alexis. >> good morning. and yeah, we have some really light volumes out there tod

. >>> could there be a modern underground railroad, a network that helps children hide from their ownyou don't give the answers snowe. >>> "good morning america" is brought to you by ashley homestore. this is home. [ applause ] >>> awesome performance. good luck at the grammys in february. >>> tomorrow ryan seacrest is stopping by before new year's eve's rockin' celebration. >> see you tomorrow. ♪ good morning i'ma edwards, 8:56 a.m., thursday, december 29. let's go to the schuylkill expressway, matt pellman. >> reporter: the last time around the schuylkill expressway eastbound was jammed solid. turned out it was dog's day out. they got him corralled and pushed off to an appropriate spot. all lanes are open and delay by montgomery drive has thinned out. >>> crash in upper more handle byberry road at short lane. in the lehigh valley, there's wintry weather, it's starting to change over, 222 is at the changeover line and speeds in the teens. a crash on 422 westbound is off to the side. emergency construction in south jersey on the turnpike southbound, stick with 295 southbound instead.

we asked the novelist who won the national award for his book, the underground railroad, to write about of the details was a story of his son, 2 years old, to whom he sings ashes to ashes as a lullaby. the kid says, what's a junky? because the word is in the song. he said it's a person who likes garbage. the kid, his son, he loves garbage trucks, as many kids do, so he accepted that as the definition. >> okay, so you have prince here. also, i mean, for all of us hoar at the table, for sure, gwen ifill. that was a shocker for us. a lot of us didn't know she was so sick. >> and she, you know, i mean, again, a person with such impact. and she, of course, really important journalist. correspondent at "the new york times" before she moved to television. first african-american woman to host a major political affairs show. a vice presidential debate. she was such an inspiration to so many young women and young women of color. that's what we chose to tell the story of, which is the story of this young woman in newark who really idolized her and got a chance, who wanted to be a newscaster and go