joining us and leading that discussion, moderating that discussion is william cronon who studies american environmental history and the history of the american west at university of wisconsin in madison. gentlemen, thanks for joining us. >> great to be here, thanks. >> thanks very much for having us. >> your book is just out, "the republic of nature." what do you mean by that title? >> it's a book about the centrality of nature to american history but to events that we never think of as having much to do with nature. so the declaration of independence, for example, or the life of abraham lincoln. or the supreme court decision, brown v. board of education. these are the kind of mainstream events that would appear in a textbook that most people would think of when they think about american history but they usually don't think about in environmental history terms. so that's the origin of the title, "the republic of nature." >> let's start with the declaration of independence. give us an example how your book ties into surroundings of environment hift in that. >> sure. a way of trying to unde

and william cronon, who is an environmental -- american environmental historian and the history of the west taenks the history of the west at the university of wisconsin. gentlemen, thanks for being with us. >> thanks very much for having us. >> yeah, thanks very much. >>> this year, c-span's local content vehicles are traveling the country, exploring american history. next, a look at our recent visit to wichita, kaps cancel. you're watching american history tv, all weekend every weekend, on c-span 3. >> we're flying over downtown wichita, the air capital of the world. >> there is just a genuine excitement about aviation. it was something new. the feeling that it was going to take us to higher places? is that fair to say? we are at the kansas aviation museum in wichita, kansas. our mission is to preserve and present kansas aviation heritage. with a real focus on wichita aviation heritage. you look at the history of aviation from basically the wright brothers moving forward to today. about 70% of all general aviation aircraft have been constructed in wichita. and that's a huge number wh