other bad poems of whitman's. [laughter] >> then when i was in college, i stumbled into a class where we were reading a lot of whitman and again, we read a lot of the poems of the o indiana, o nebraska school. and when was the excitement about this guy? and it wasn't until some years later that i realized that we were reading poems exclusively out of the death bed edition. many of you know whitman was this rare poet who appeared to write the same book over and over again. couldn't get it right. but he was editing out his poetry as he went so that the death bed edition that he signed off really on his death bed was in many ways the least exciting and most censored version of leaves of grass. so i went back and read the first edition in 1855 and i was electrified. the guy is speaking right to you. he's leaping off the page. he is so hungry to make human contact with you. it's a powerful force. and the 1860 edition which i think is the greatest -- another early one is replete with very, very vivid and moving sexualiz

>> because walt whitman was gay. whitman literally adopted borrows. he had these extraordinary matinee idol looks. they basically had love notes to each other. he became a great student of walt whitman. whitman could have picked anybody. it was borrows. and yet their relationship was one of a platonic nature. but he became borrows almost -- a son to walt whitman. >> all right. we're in this archive facility here at the national center, conservation center for training. how much time did you spend in this room? >> i would come down here -- i didn't spend that much time in this room. this is a place where they keep the art facts. so we're getting special access. mark madison, a historian would come show me items here, which really informed my writing. for example, behind me there's a bag that says biological survey poison. there was a period of time when the biological survey's job was to do pest control and predator control so farmers wouldn't lose livestock with wolves. on the other side of that mission was farmers would sometimes just shoot birds wil

the became the great student of whitman. whitman could pick anyone. it was john burroughs. their relationship was one of a platonic nature. but he became almost a son to walt whitman. >> we're ines archive facility at the national center conservation center for training. how much time did you spend in this room? >> i would come down here. i did not spend much time in his room. this is a place where they keep the artifacts. the historian mark madison would come to show me items here. that would inform my riding. for example, there's a bag behind me that says biological survey poison. there was a time when the biological surveys job was to do pest control and a predator control so farmers will not lose livestock to will spirit on the other side of the mission would be the farmers shooting birds. the fish and wildlife service said you have to keep the birds. they are controlling the miskitos and other insects. much of the time writing about was the biological survey, putting out information for farmers on why the wildlife is important to keep on your form, but you don't want t

and walt whitman is always careful not to claim he was a nurse but he was. he carried bedpans, assisted and operations, is that with hundreds of young men as they died, roach thousands of letters to bereaved parents he was a very hard-working years. i calculated 40 or 50 hours per week in the hospital in these art civil war hospitals in washington d.c. some of the more terrible channel house is. i was moved by bad began to work on it when the iraq war was going bad and reading about the soldiers at walter reed coming back and i felt that i wanted to learn more about walt whitman i stumbled onto the fact he had a brother he was an ordinary soldier who had written a hundreds of letters to waltz and his mother a very, very faithful correspondent wrote many hundreds of letters. there is a body of correspondence and it opened the door to the family that was a great experience for me. so why whelps that although whitman has been written about, there was a great potential story about this family during the war and experiencing it in many different ways. his brother

>> whitman was gay. and when burrows was a young man and had a historical love look, and they had love notes. he became the great student of whitman, and their relationship was platonic. and he became, burrows, almost a son to walt whitman. >> ok, we are in the conservation center for training. how much time would you spend in this room? >> i would come to this room, and i was shown items here. and behind me is a bag that says, biological survey poison. there was a period of time that the biological survey's job was to do pest control. and farmers would sometimes shoot birds, willy-nilly. and it was the survey that said not to destroy them. they eat pests. and the biological survey is putting out information to farmers why wildlife is important to keep on farm. you don't want to get rid of birds, you want to attract birds. remember that scare crows were to scare birds. but the sophistication and the soil erosion and for the help of ecosystem to stay alive. it was issue of deforestation. i don't believe t

what is your work flow like to put together a book like you did with walt whitman? >> gosh i do not have a good answer to that. [laughter] what is compelling about this subject, parts of it dictated the structure. it becomes a questionable most telling the natural story. sometimes the editor will read it and say this is quite complicated and very untraditional but it is really not because i set out to do something that was formally invented. >> did you feel you have all of europe materials assembled before you sat down to write or did you figure it out as you went? >> and had to continue to do research but pretty much. i set in a chair and read for two years at the end of those two years i have a bunch of old fashioned notebooks in which i made notes. and then i realized one day it is getting so voluminous seven have to start taking notes on the notes. then i realized that is where madness lies. [laughter] so really the next day i wrote it because it frightened me. >> i am curious to your process but has that changed over the years? are you still doing it the way yo

former ebay ceo meg whitman, who recently got the endorsement of john mccain, trails with 10%. insurance commissioner john praisner has 11% in that race. a lot will change between now and that primary. finally today, and connecticut, the new haven register and other papers reported today that chris dodd, who had been rebounding, i think, from a tough series of developments in his reelection campaign for 2010, now looks like he is set to endure another round of bad press over a lingering controversy to which he has been linked over the past year. the federal government yesterday charged countrywide financial ceo and two other executives with civil fraud, which ensured that chris dodd, who had been getting a -- who is accused of getting a sweetheart financial deal from countrywide -- he himself has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but shortly after reports emerged last year of the sweetheart deal, he was forced to ignore the comments are a lot of questions about it, and shortly after that, former congressman rob simmons was going to run against him. simmons now, according to p

as late as 1855, walt whitman proclaimed with a verbal plurality, oh, the united states with vain to pull up political stuff, most in need but what. as opposed to the needs poets. abraham lincoln bearing the union at gettysburg finally change the grammar and the perception in the 18 '60s. in 1825 to see to shining sea continental nation a patriotic song will still a drink of the land was asked, access to and control of it was limited. the louisiana territory had been purchased two decades earlier that remained mostly on organized. mexico's north stretch from the sabine river on the gulf of mexico to the 42nd parallel on the pacific ocean encompassing all of what are now texas, new mexico, arizona, utah, nevada and california as well as part of colorado, oklahoma, wyoming and kansas. the pacific northwest was open country. backbeat the appalachian mountain range guarding the interior from south carolina to what only recently have become main, threatened to confine the great american experiment to the atlantic seaboard. the allegiance of the several new trans- montaigne state was unpro

the word did not exist for of course, there has been a long scholarship the nine that walt whitman was homosexual with than saying he sublimated that urge to be with other men i discover he had a very active love life while he was a nurse. . . and walt in the period of 18583 teen 60 lived with another man in his mother's house. every night they wind up together to the same bedroom so the idea that they did not know what was going on was unthinkable. once i saw that, it is the human drama. i can see them, i can see them in the room and i can see the fights that they had and i think it is quite natural to think of something like that. >> let me say well i am in los angeles that i would love to see a film. >> note to anyone here. [laughter] and they are just so many one example i remember we always ask the lynching of a friend of hers in memphis, she tells blacks to leave memphis, a city that conover protect salmon and oklahoma territory as opening up in this time in 92 and blacks began to leave. they begin to leave for oklahoma, 20 percent of the back population moves memphis in this tim

the mother had been written about in the biographical literature as walt whitman's embarrassing salamother, electorate mother back in brooklyn. and i was puzzled because i went to an archive and i found hundreds of letters about this illiterate salameh mother. they were not only letters but they were long, stream of consciousness, extremely funny and perceptive letters. she was writing to reyerson, who was this nurse dealing with amputations. walt wood reichert, mother i have to tell you about a soldier i saw yesterday. his wind is already being grannis and i know he is going to die. he is beautiful like a god. i watched him, i combed his hair. i can barely hold back the tears i am so sad about this. she would write back, she would talk about mountain is 32 cents a pound, and then there would be a paragraph saying, you can write me about the soldiers. i understand that you love them and it becomes a fascination. there is nothing wrong with that. i understand. she would not say i know what you are going through but she would encourage him and hearing that from his mother really bucked

as late as 1885, walt whitman proclaimed with morality of the united states remained full of poetic stuff, mostly poets as opposed to need poets. abraham lincoln declaring the union at gettysburg finally change the grammar and the perception in the 18 '60s. in 1825 the seed onto a cd shining sea continental nation of patriotic songs was still a dream. the land was vast, access to and control of it was limited to the louisiana territory had been purchased two decades earlier but remain mostly unorganized. mexico's north stretch to the 42nd parallel on the pacific ocean encompassing all of what are now texas, the master, arizona, utah and california as well as parts of colorado, oklahoma, and kansas. the pacific northwest and open country. back east of the appalachian mountain range guarding the interior from south carolina to what only recently have become main, threatened to confine the great american experiment to the atlantic seaboard. the allegiance of the several new trans- montaigne states was unproven. of their settlers looked westbound rolling river valleys toward the mighty missis

state but sought a states were a constitution limited federal government and as late as 1865 walt whitman and proclaimed with verbal plurality, the united states with a useful political stuff most needed poets, as opposed to needs poets. abraham lincoln declaring the union as getty. change the back -- at gettysburg changed the verbiage. in a sea to shining sea continental nation the paychecks are still a dream, the land was harassed and access to and control was limited. the louisiana territory had been purchased two decades earlier but remained mostly on organized. mexico's north stressed from the saban river on the gulf of mexico to the 42nd parallel on the pacific ocean encompassing all of what are now texas, new mexico, utah, nevada and california as well as parts of colorado, oklahoma, wyoming and kansas, the pacific northwest was open country and back used the appalachian mountain range guard in the interior two what had become maine threatened to confine the great american experiment to the atlantic seaboard. the allegiance of the several new transmontane states was unproven, their

brooklyn is the home of creators and has a literary tradition dating back -- dating back to walt whitman, richard wright them and these days we have many best sellers living in brooklyn so it was a very natural place where a big book fastball and i contacted borough hall and was able to help them to realize this vision of a big book festival and has quickly become the city's best book festival. this year sunday september 13th will be the fourth annual brooklyn the bequest of all, we will have over 150 authors participating in programs, 150 exhibitors and publishers, literary magazines, literacy organizations, it's a very committed the based book festival and international book festival but with a strong brooklyn flavor. >> johnny temple, founder and publisher of akashic books and founder of the brooklyn book festival. >> thank you very much. >> this summer booktv is asking, what are you reading? >> c and then the wolf blitzer, what will you be reading this summer? >> i got the books i hope to read beginning with the emperor's new clothes, a book by richard who is a very well-known washin

the whitman family were a family of carpenters that built that houses. the father, walt, george all build houses and sold them and they lived in these very small dwellings. a lot of questions have arisen about, to the family note that walt was what we would now call? that were did not exist in the 19th century. of course there had been a long scholarship denying that some walt whitman was. i discovered that he had a very active love life while he was a nurse, but i got back to, i actually needed to understand how big the house's work, how they were built and the walls with up that. the rooms were quite close. and walt in the period of 18583 teen 60 lived with another man in his mother's house. every night they wind up together to the same bedroom so the idea that they did not know what was going on was unthinkable. once i saw that, it is the human drama. i can see them, i can see them in the room and i can see the fights that they had and i think it is quite natural to think of something like that. >> let me say well i am in los angeles that i would love