Transcripts For CSPAN2 Book TV In Saratoga Springs NY 20171216

And his family was facing serious financial problems. At this point in his life, he was a man trying the take care of his family. And we get to tell a story here that most people dont know about. Welcome to Saratoga Springs on booktv. Located about four hours north of new york city, it has a population of about 27,000. Named for the numerous springs in the area, early settlers flocked here to experience the therapeutic effects of the natural mineral waters. Today Saratoga Springs is a popular Tourist Destination with its spas, revolutionary war history and horse racing. With the help of our spectrum cable partners, for the next 90 minutes well learn about the citys history and feature its Literary History including Andrew Mckenna on his battle with opioid addiction. Growing up, i thought the person who was addicted to heroin was under a bridge somewhere with, right . And was pushing a shopping cart around or Something Like that. Thats not the case. One of the most abused drugs right now on wall street among traders, you know, and these are elite prosecutionals, are professionals, are opioids. We begin with author field horn on the history of Saratoga Springs. Were standing at congress spring, and its recreated greek Revival Temple star portico, discovered in 1892. It was found to be beneficial for certain diseases. And i like to say that Congress Park is a city park developed because of constipation, because that is the disease that it was most likely used the treat. It helped to spur a Great Development of hotels, boarding houses and businesses generally here in Saratoga Springs. There was nothing here until the first spring was discovered. In fact, we think that the mohawk and mohican indians came here only for the mineral springs. It was not a place where they camped particularly. Perhaps they hunted here. Is so the first europeanamericans came here in 1771, probably finding the spring in the course of surveying for dividing land that had been very inappropriately taken from the mohawks. So what happened in the very beginning in 1771, 1772 was that the first people to come here built log cabins. And anyone who had heard about the medicinal qualities of the water made their way here, paid a small sum of money to stay this one of these very rough log cabins, and they bathed in a spring or they drank it. But the revolutionary war came, and this was very dangerous territory. So everything stopped for about seven years. Even when it started up, it started up slowly. It wasnt until 1802 that Gideon Putnam came here from connecticut and built the first Hotel Originally called putnams tavern. Later it was called union hall, and it finally game the grand union hotel. An immense hotel. The big boost was 1832 when the railroad was built. It came from albany by way of schenectady, and immediately the number of people coming here boomed. The next big boom was after the civil war because there were all the fortunes made in the war with whats called shoddy which was cloth for the army and petroleum which was just beginning to be exploited. And those nuvo riche loved it here, and they came in great numbers. And thats when the union hall was expanded into the grand union hotel. And United States hotel burned in 1864, was rebuilt almost a decade later, and those two newlybuilt hotels were each over 800 bedrooms. They were immense. They were six or seven stories high right on the sidewalk. In the 1860s and 1870s, the very, very wealthy did not build summer homes. They did that later. But at first they rented suites of rooms in those two big hotels or sometimes some of the other larger hotels. And certainly Commodore Vanderbilt was one of the famous people who came here. At the same time that this boom was taking place, racing was getting going. It started in 1847 with the state fair, but it was primarily Harness Racing for the first 16 years. In 1863 John Morrissey, a noted prize fighter and bam gambler, began the racetrack. And this was thoroughbred racing with jockeys. And things really took off. They took off quite successfully. There were ups and downs. The track was set in stone in 1902 when William Collins whitney acquired it with his associates. Ing from 1863 to today, the racetrack has been saratogas summer bread and butter. Because, in fact, by that time the use of mineral waters for Health Purposes was declining. The crowd that had come here to stay often for four weeks at a time in a great hotel no longer wanted to do that. They wanted variety. They wanted new sights. And they had automobiles. And, of course, that started with the very rich, and it trickled down first to the middle class and, ultimately to working people. So it was progressive. But the hotels did not have private baths, and in world war ii called a halt to racing for three summers because it was impossible to get horses here with the travel restrictions. They raced in new york city instead when they would have raced here. The rest of the world gave up on saratoga for a while. The United States hotel was torn down in 194344 right in the middle of the war. The grand union hotel limped a along until 195253, then it was gone. When that was gone, the Largest Hotel in town probably had 50 rooms. So it was really, really a change. And then in the early 60s, the town came together and really in a grassroots effort they pulled together to turn things around. And a number of things contributed to it. For one thing, the interstate highway was built from albany 196063 ultimately all the way to montreal. Well, that made traveling here a lot easier. And when i came here in 1978, people of my generation had moved in, had bought rundown houses, rundown commercial buildings, and everything was happening at once. It was an exciting time here. Thats almost 40 years ago. And today saratoga is a most remarkably diverse city economically. It is a college town, a resort town, a Light Industrial town and a suburb of albany. Its really, really broad. And that is part of the, part of the genius of its success. Its a complete place. And we love it here. Yado is a 4,000acre estate established as a haven for writers and artists. It houses over 200 artists a year which have included 74 Pulitzer Prize winners and is a Nobel Prize Winner and a Nobel Prize Winner. With the help of our spectrum cable partners, we continue to explore the Literary History of Saratoga Springs with the memoirs of former president ulysses s. Grant. When grant arrived at the overlook and here he is very ill, only a few days left before he passes away, and seeing this great beauty, this valley that once saw conflict and warfare and where our nation was born was now a Peaceful Valley where farmers were working he must have taken some satisfaction in the fact that he was a part of the Great American story. Were on Mount Mcgregor in upstate new york only a few miles north of Saratoga Springs. And the significance of this Historic Site is this was the final home of civil war general and president ulysses s. Grant. And this is the place where Ulysses Grant penned his memoirs in 1885. He was dying of throat cancer, and his family was facing serious financial problems. At this point in his life, he was a man trying to take care of his family. And we yet to tell a story we get to tell a story here that most people dont know about. After his second term as president , Ulysses Grant and his wife julia went on a world tour for two years from 187779. And he met many world leaders. He was well respected around the world. When they arrived back in the states in 1879, they were looking for place to settle because they had come out of the white house two years earlier. And for grant it was always an easy decision. Even though they owned multiple properties in the United States, the decision for grant because he was always a devoted family man was to be close to family. And so he chose a location where his adult sons were living which was new york city. And so the grants moved into a home in the Upper East Side of manhattan, and their children lived nearby, and they enjoyed a few years, you could say out of limelight, enjoying the winters in new york city with the family and then summers with the swire family at their with the entire family at their new jersey cottage. Grant, when he arrived back, was in need of income. Which is a head scratcher for most people because he was a general and a president , and people wonder why he didnt have a pension of any kind. It turns out that he had given up his military pension to take the presidency. And at the end of his presidency, he there was no pension at that time. So he was making his own way in the world, and he had spent a lot of money on the world tour. And his son, ulysses jr they called him buck, he was born in ohio, the Buckeye State buck had gotten involved in wall street investments. He got his father involved, and and they formed a firm, an Investment Firm with a man named ferdinand ward. They named the firm grant and ward. And investments went well for a while. The early 1880s were a very comfortable time. Money was coming in from the firm. But everything really started to collapse in the final year of grants life. He ended up having a slip and a fall on the icy sidewalk in new york city, and that put him bedridden for a couple of weeks, and and then early in 1884, in the spring of 1884 he arrived at the office of grant and ward and found out that there was a major financial crisis. He had to get a loan from his friend William Vanderbilt for 150,000 to the try to keep the firm afloat. He brought this money to their business partner, ferdinand ward, who had been doing the books the entire time for the firm and thought that maybe this would help the firm survive. And, in fact, he found out soon afterwards that ward was actually a crook, and he had been running, essentially, a ponzi scheme the entire time. And the grants, it hit the grant family like a bombshell. They were financially devastated because they had invested heavily in this firm, the whole family had, and now they had to fine a way to make money. And grant felt personally responsible. He had really encouraged his family and others to invest in this firm, and even though he was a victim, he felt personally responsible and wanted to pay back his debts. The grants were in a very difficult situation financially because of this financial scandal. They packed up and moved out to the new jersey cottage for the summer of 1884 to, essentially, figure out what they were going to do for the future to rebuild their lives financially. And grant was a approached by century magazine at this time, a big magazine company, to write some articles. Now, grant had been pestered to be an author for many years and had always resisted because other people had written about him, ask and he didnt think hed be much of an author. He was a very modest man. But most of all, he didnt need the money either, and they knew they had him in a corner now because he did need the money, and they offered him 500 per article, enough to keep the family afloat to pay the basic bills. So grant got started writing articles about the civil war in the summer of 1884 at the new jersey cottage. So thats when his writing career began. And that was a way to bring in some money, but there was going to have to be a larger work of literature to be able to bring his family out of the debt they were in. Grant started his writing career kind of shaky. His first article was seen as more of a dry military report. The editor even went so far as to remark that, essentially, it may be the second disaster of shiloh because it was on the battle of shiloh, and this may be the second disaster of shiloh. So it was a very poorlywritten article. But interestingly enough, this editor came down to visit grant at the new jersey cottage and talked with him freely. He said to grant would you tell me a little bit about the civil war. And so grant started talking and telling him stories and anecdotes of the civil war, and he told grant, he said that thats the material that people want to read. And so grant really came into his own as an author in the summer of 1884. But by the end of the summer, he started to have an idea that maybe this writing career could produce maybe some more money for his family. So right around the same time the century magazine was ready to make a push to get him to write a larger book that could be sold. And so the century magazine told him they would publish it, and he ended up starting to work on it as they went back to the new york city home for the winter of 188485. As grant was working on writing his articles during the summer of 1884, he ended up starting to have this throat pain. It started with a very bad sting in the back of his throat that he felt as he was eating a peach. He kind of shrugged it off as maybe being a wasp or something that was on the fruit when he ate it. But it kind of persisted. It kept coming back. He ignored it because his regular doctor was away in europe, and he really wanted to see his regular doctor. And so he kind of just, you know, ignored it and said he would see his doctor in the fall, essentially. They didnt think much of it at the time. He had been a smoker since the civil war of cigars, and maybe it was just smokers throat is what they called it at the time. So he continued on working with his writing career until the fall of 1884 when he finally went to the doctor when they moved back to new york city. To the new york home x. He ended up going to his regular doctor who knew there was a serious problem as soon as he looked at his throat. And he sent him to a throat specialist, dr. John douglas. And he went in to dr. Douglas office, and dr. Douglas took a look at his throat, and grant looked at douglas face and said, is it cancer . And, unfortunately, the doctor had to tell him, essentially, it was cancer. Grant worked on these memories on his memoirs throughout the winter of 188485, and towards the spring of 1885 it was really touch and go. He had a couple of neardeath experiences, and his doctors believed the only way he would survive long enough to finish his book was to get him out of the city which was humid and dusty and hot to a mountaintop environment. Thats what they did with a lot of ailing people in that time period. And so they were looking for opportunities, and a friend of the family, joseph drexel, approached the doctors and the grant family to offer them use of his cottage that he just purchase on the top of Mount Mcgregor just above Saratoga Springs. The cottage that mr. Drexel offered to the grants was fairlied modest in size fairly modest in size but did have six rooms upstairs and a few rooms downstairs. It had been originally a small inn built by the first owner of the mountain, duncan mcgregor. It was moved to accommodate the expansion of the resort in the early 1880s, and the resort was expanded to the point where there was a 100room hoe hotel just above the cottage. And the whole property was turned into a big victorian wilderness resort, you could call it, mountaintop wilderness resort with wonderful overlooks and pathways and, obviously, wonderful air. In fact, there was one advertisement for the hotel that said if we dont cure your hay fever be, your stay is free. So mountain air was really seen as curative at the time. When grant and his party left new york city on the morning of june 16, 1885, grant was in very poor condition. The day he arrived, it was the incredibly hot, and it was very difficult. Although once he got off the train and came up to the cottage, he immediately got changed, came back out on the porch, and the mountain air and the cool air of the mountain seemed to really revive him and seemed to have a good effect on him right away. Most importantly, he was able to be with his entire family here at the cottage. So well head into grants bedroom, and this is where grant would have come in from the outdoors. Now, one thing youll notice thats missing here is a bed. Normally theres a bed in a bedroom. Unfortunately, because of grants condition, his throat condition, he ended up having to sleep sitting up in these chairs here. So hed have his feet in one side and sitting up in the other, and this is where he would work on the memoirs when the bugs chased him in or the heat. This is also where his nurses or his doctors, which he had three doctors on call and two nurses, would administer any medicine or try to give him some nourishment. It was very hard for him to eat with his throat condition though. So most of these items you see are absolutely original, but they were provided for the grant family by mr. Drexel. These two chairs, however, that i just mentioned, these actually did come up from new york city with grants and, in fact, grant rode in these on the way up from new york city on the train. Because mr. Drexel left this to become a memorial, grants son fred actually left his fathers personal belongings here, and we have some very personal items here that show that grant was here and he was, and he was at home here and that he went through some very tough times here as well because we have his food bowl and his spitoon, we have hair brushes, toothbrushes, stockings, his clothing here, the beaver hat hes wearing in the photographs that were taken here. We also have the foodmashing equipment used to process his food so that he could try to take some nourishment. It was very difficult though. But whats really an interesting item we have in this room is grants original medicine is still here, the bottle with the original liquid and the original substance. And is most people guess that what they were using more medication is Something Like morphine or some heavy sedative like that. The only problem was that grant couldnt take medicine like that because it was just too powerful, and he wouldnt be able to concentrate on working on his book. So the doctors settled on a fairly new substance at the time, a little controversial. It was cocaine. So what you see in the bottle is actually cocaine, and they would stir that up, and they would apply it on his throat topically to give him a little bit of pain relief so that he could keep concentrated on that work of finishing his book for the sake of his family. When grant arrived, you can imagine this man was internationally famous. So the car the train car behind his familys train car was the press corps. When they found out that grant was die thing in march of 1885, they kept up a 24hour vigil. They followed him up to the mountain here and camped out across from the cottage in tents, and they would run up to the hotel and send telegraph wires down to new york city. They also opened the hotel early that year. Normally didnt open until about july 1st. They opened it when the grants arrived, june 16th. So there was a lot of activity up here. And people knew grant was here. Grant was in the papers every day. So he was a spectacle, you could say. And so before secret service, the only person that volunteered was a Civil War Veteran about the same age as grant, sam willet. He was a local Civil War Veteran in his early 60s, and he solen p tiered, and they volunteered, and they put a tent up for him behind the cottage. And then he ended up being grants bodyguard. He stood near the bottom of the stairs near where grant sat on the porch of the cottage, and he would tell people to move along and guarantee grants policy. Now, grant made sams job difficult though because grant, even in his condition, was such a friendly man that these folks who were passing nearby the cottage, he would always tip his hat and wave and was very friendly. Thats one thing about grant, he was a very unassuming man. You could sit next to him and not know he was famous. No matter how much money he had or fame, it never changed him. He was a simple man, very approachable at all times. But sam actually got frustrated. He told grants oldest son, he said to fred, could you tell your father to be a little less friendly . Hes making my job difficult. So sam went to fred, and fred went to his father and told him the situation, and i think what grant said next really shows his true character. He said i dont want to be exclusive, let them come. In the fall of 1884, there was a bit of buzz in the Literary Community about grant writing a book. And one of the people that was interested in publishing the book, other than century magazine that had already made an offer, was samuel column ins clemens, better known by his pen name, mark twain. He had just started his own Publishing Firm and had selfpublished Huckleberry Finn that year, 1884. So hes up at the grant he shows up at the grant household in new york city in the fall of 1884 just as grant was starting his memoirs. And he asked the general, could i take a look at your contract . He looked at the contract, and he said, later on he said i didnt know whether to laugh or cry, it was the worst contract i had ever seen. It was only offering about 10 of the profits. He said thats totally inappropriate for a man of your stature. He says ive got, ive got a Publishing Firm, i can offer you 70 of the profits, an incredibly generous offer especially for a man that was known to be ill. They didnt know he was dying, but they knew he was ill at that that time. So grant was reluctant at first, a very honorable man. He said, well, century magazine came to me first, and thats when twain pulled an ace out of his pocket. He said, well, general, if you remember a conversation a few years ago, i asked you to write your memoirs then. And so grant eventually did go with twains offer. It was impossible to refuse. Mark twained had his nephewinlaw running his Publishing Firm called Charles Webster. That was the name of his nephew, so it was called Charles Webster and company. Him and Charles Webster were, came up with a plan to sell the memoirs door to door instead of selling them in bookstores. So they would arrive and take preorders from folks door to door. Now, one of the things that mark twain wanted to do was provide an opportunity for Civil War Veterans to be salesmen. So he would actually request that Civil War Veterans to even done their uniforms or their grand army of the remix uniforms to go republic uniforms to go door the door. Grant himself was a focus of his time. He was a celebrity, so, you know, having him writing the book was good for sales but, obviously, having a Civil War Veteran come up to the door as well helped, you know, to sell them as well. So they it was doortodoor sales, and there was many, many thousands of salesmen engaged in this all across the country. So it gave hem them a way to make money more themselves and also to support their old commander in his final hours. Twain came to the cottage a few weeks before grant passed away, and it was a very important meeting. Twain was checking on the progress of the book, but for grant the most important thing was to find out how well it was selling, you know . He knew time was short, and he he wanted to find out if the book would be a success, and that was when twain was able to tell him proudly, i have already presold 100,000 copies, and i havent even canvassed twothirds of the country. So grant knew at least going to his grave that he had taken care ever of his family taken care of his family, that he had succeed ed. By the time he reached the cottage, mark twain believed that the second volume of his book, of his memoirs was completed. But grant was a perfectionist. He still had writing in him. As long as he was alive, he was going to keep writing, and he did. He wrote at least another chapter the his book to his book. It was a struggle right to the very end, but he kept on it, and he wanted the book to be as good as possible. No matter what his physical condition, he always tried to work on the memoirs. Some days he couldnt get out of bed physically. Other days he worked on it, wrote 3040 pages in one single day. To give you an idea of the scope of this project, the memoirs would eventually be 1200 pages and almost 300,000 words. So this was major project for someone who would have been in good condition, maybe an expert writer. But to have somebody who was struggling with cancer, this was an incredibly heroic effort for the sake of his family. Now grant worked up until the last few days before he passed away. He had finished his book, and he asked to be taken down to the overlook, eastern overlook for one last view of valley. By time they arrived back at the cottage here, grant was in very poor condition, and they knew he didnt have long to live. So his son fred said to his father, would you like the lie down . Hed been sleeping in chairs for months, so they brought a bet down from the nearby hotel and placed it here in the corner. And grant was surround by his loving family here on the evening of july 22nd, 1885. He saw that their faces were anxious, and he whispered to his doctors, i dont wish anyone to be alarmed on my account. His final wishes were that his family be comfortable. And so they went up to bed, but they came back down the next morning at just before eight to surround him as he passed away peacefully on this bed on july 23rd, 1885, 132 years ago. His son fred walked over to the mantle clock and stopped it at 8 08 in the morning to mark the time when his father passed, and it hasnt been touched since. Its a symbol of the time capsule that this place has been kept all these years. Other than leaving a legacy for the country, the history of his life and the civil war that he left, he also left his family an amazing legacy financially. The memoirs went on to sell over 300,000 copies and bring in almost 450,000 for the grant family, and in todays money that would be somewhere between 10 11 million. It was enough for hem to get out of dead and really live comfortably the rest of their lives. So he really did succeed in his final battle here at the cottage to, his final devotion for his family. Almost immediately after grants passing, the owner of the cottage, mr. Jost Drexel Joseph drexel, decided this place would be left as a memorial to u. S. Grant. So things were left just the way they were when the grant family left. And its been kept that way for the last 132 years. And thats why i think this cottage is so important to keep the way it is and to maintain it, because its just such a compelling story, and it really gives you that wonderful insight into a relatively misunderstood figure in american history, ulysses s. Grant. Cspan is in Saratoga Springs, new york, where were learning more about areas literary scene. Up next, we speak with david fisk about the life of a Saratoga Springs resident who was lured into slavery and whose memoir 12 years a slave inspired the oscarwinning movie. Were here in Congress Park in Saratoga Springs, and just across the street theres a Historical Marker about soll Solomon Northup. He was lured into slavely just about slavery just about a block or two from here. And, unfortunately, he ended up in louisiana as a slave until he finally become a free man again. He had been known to scholars for a long time, but the general public wasnt all that aware of it. When the film came out, that changed because, of course, they got all kinds of different awards including to oscars, and it just really helped to increase awareness of the story. He came to saratoga about 1834. He had been doing farming, but he and his wife decided to make a change and then come over. She was a very accomplished cook, so she was always able to get work as a cook at the Different Hotels over the years. He would do various odd jobs, sometimes he would play his violin for maybe parties or dances and so forth. He also would do some physical labor when they, some of the railroads were coming to town, he worked on those. And during the summers, there was work driving people around to the hotels and so forth. In the 1830s there were about 85 africanamericans in share saratoga. Saratoga at the time was just a village. By 1840 had just about doubled to about 190, so it had doubled. The population overall of Saratoga Springs was a couple thousand people. So, basically, close to 10 were black at that time. Not too much before the northups period here, there had been a process of gradual emancipation in new york state. So a lot of people who had been slaves were freed, and they wanted to try something different, and they would come to a place like Saratoga Springs and maybe get to be a waiter, or maybe they would do other service jobs for the resort industry just to help establish their identity now that they were a free person. Northups father had been a slave to a ships captain by the name of captain Henry Northup in rhode island. The captain was a lawyer during the revolution and decided to come over to the eastern new york state. Eventually he freed his slaves, he freed in his will his provision for northup to get his freedom. Solomon was born in the early 1800s, so by that time his father was free, so solomon was always a free person. In 1841 at the end of winter, some man approached him on the street and said that they had some employment for him if he was willing to go with them and connect up with the circuit that they were involved with. They needed a musician, and theyd heard that he played the violin very well. So solomon, at that point, was in need of some money because Saratoga Springs is very much a summer place, so theres a lot of money to be made during the summer, but the winters were a little bit harder. So he probably thought it was a chance to go and earn some quick money and be home relatively quickly. Instead, he ended up being taken to washington, d. C. , and they turned him over to the a slavetrader there slave trader there who put him eventually on a ship bound for new orleans, and there he was sold in the slave market and was a slave there for close to 12 years before he finally was able to get word back to people in the north who were able to go and locate him and bring him back to new york state. There was a law in new york state at the time because there were other kidnappings that had taken place, and the law provided that if a person notified the governor that a citizen of new york state had been kidnapped and sold into slavery, they could apply, and the state of new york would take care of the expenses for that person to go ordinarily to the south, obviously, to the try and locate the person and bring them back so that they would be free again. So another man named henry b. Northup who was a nephew of the captain, he was an attorney, and he was a friend of Solomon Northup. So he amid and got approval applied and got approval to go to louisiana and look for Solomon Northup. Now, a common theme when people were kidnapped was they would be given a different name which would make it hard for their friends or family to trace them a after they were, you know, enslaved. So in Solomon Northups case, he was given the name platte. And one of the men who tricked him went by the fake name of hamilton. On the slave manifest for the brig orleans that took salmon northup and a number Solomon Northup and a number of people of color to new orleans, theres a platte hamilton mentioned as well as a lot of the names mentioned in the book. And throughout his time as a slave, northup was known as plat. And that caused a little bit of a problem because when henry b. Northup went to louisiana to rescue solomon, he could ask around night and is day, and nobody would know who he is. Luckily, he managed to come across somebody that knew who he was talking about. He was a slave for just under 12 years, and northup by time he was freed, his family had relocated to glens falls which is in Warren County just north of here. So when he came back, he didnt come back to saratoga, but he joined his family up there. He worked on his book over four or five months. The book came out, amazingly, less than since months after he came back to new york state, so it was pretty quick work. About a year after the book came out, which came out in 1853, there was a man in Fulton County just west of here who read the book, and he realized that from northups description of the men who had kidnapped him that he was pretty sure he knew who they were. He had been on same trip to washington, d. C. With them and noticed that on the way back from washington, d. C. The they didnt have this black man with them, but they were very flush with money, and they had fancy jewelry and stuff on they had purchased. So he came forward, and they eventually went over and located these two men and arrested them and put them on trial in boston spa which is the county seat for share toe baa county say toga county. So he was interviewed by the magistrate in connection with that. He undoubtedly attended some of the sessions of the trial. But the attorneys in, for the various parties argued about different aspects of the case, so it really never came to fruition other than the two men wering confined in the Saratoga County jail for a period of time, but they never officially got convicted and sentenced. We dont know what ultimately happened to Solomon Northup. There are some articles that implied he fell on some hard times in the 1850s, late 1850 and maybe into the 1860s, but we dont know for sure he could or just become ill or become old and just passed away quietly. The plaque went up about 2000. Its right in front of the Visitors Center many Saratoga Springs. Having the marker right many Saratoga Springs, first of all, ties this in with an interesting historical story that now people are more aware of because of film. But it also for the curious, they may realize that there was a significant black population in Saratoga Springs. A lot of people come to saratoga for the racing, and theyre not aware of some of the history of it and especially the black history of this particular city. Were at Congress Park in Saratoga Springs, new york. Up next, we speak with author Andrew Mckenna on his book, sheer madness, which chronicles on how drug addiction took him there a career as a federal prosecutor to an inmate many federal prison. In federal prison. Host Andrew Mckenna, can you describe for me the first time you tried heroin . Guest i can. I hurt my back when i was in the marine corps, i injured it, and i treated it just how it should have been treated, with motrin, you know, heating pads, ice packs. I didnt seek out opioids at all. But when i left the marine corps and joined the Justice Department as a prosecutor, i went to a civilian doctor in washington, d. C. Where i lived and worked, and he prescribed me percocet. And pretty much would give me as many percocet as i wanted. You know, looking back over time as a child i never really developed coping skills, and i was the youngest of four, fairly normal or family near upstate new york. But i learned at an early age, at 12 or 13, tiffany, that if i smoked pot or if i drank, my feelings of insecurity would go away. I kind of carried that into my 20s and my 30s. So it was almost like this perfect storm, you know . I was performing at a high level as a prosecutor, as a parent, as a brother, as a son, but i was selfmedicating with percocet. My back didnt hurt that bad where i needed that level of medication. Eventually i left the Justice Department, i moved to upstate new york, got a job at a law firm, you know, good firm, good job. Holding the family together. But i couldnt find a new york. To prescribe opioids the way my washington, d. C. Doctor would. And i eventually turned to a friend and asked him if he could get something for pain, pain meds. And its an old friend ive known for years ask years, and he said, well, i can get oxycontin which is heroin in a pill. I mean, theres just no, theres no two ways about it. Theres an offensive term called, they used to call it hillbilly heroin when purdue pharm that first brought it on the market, and thats because in appalachia folks were taking the pills, crushing them, injecting them and overdosing, dying. So i knew, i knew about it as a prosecutor, you know . We had dealt with it. As i said, it had just come on market. They put a lot of up money into saying it a lot of money into saying [audio difficulty] out of a new england journal of medicine article that was completely fraudulent. As soon as i tried oxycontin, it was a completely different animal. Completely different from percocet. Percocet, when you run out of those, you feel like you have a cold for a day or two, but its manageable. When i ran out of the oxycontin, i started going through massive, massive withdrawals. I remember sitting in my law office in albany, and i had probably taken my last oxycontin a day and a half earlier, and my stomach started flipping, and my body started to cramp up, perspiring, nausea. I remember the waste paper basket right next to me. I had a client in the waiting room, a secretary saying are you going to see in this client, and im about throw up. I really didnt know what was happening because id never been through withdrawals before. So i called a friend and i say what am i whats happening to me in and he said, well, youre withdrawing from oxycontin. And i said, well, this is i mean, it was literally the flu times 30. And it was coming on fast. And i was panicking, you know . I didnt want to lose my job. Theres no way i could have sat in front of a client and given any type of legal advice. You know, and throughout this time i was trying cases in federal court, you know . And i was going to state courts and, you know, seeing clients. So long as i was on oxycontin, it was okay, you know . It wasnt great, and we me, you know, opioid we know opioid addiction in general is a house of cards, but this was a different animal. So when i called this guy, he said, well, there is something that can replace oxycontin, and i kind of in the back of my mind knew what he was about to say, but we didnt talk about it. And he said, well, come on over. And he was reluctant. He was reluctant to introduce me to any of this stuff. But he was in the throes of his own addiction. And i didnt know it at the time. Well, i should have known it because we were using oxycontin. He introduced me to heroin. And ill tell you what, as soon as i did that tiny little bit of heroin, all those side effects, all those withdrawal symptoms went away. The sweating stopped, the shaking stopped, the nausea, everything. It was like a miracle. And i was able to go back to work that day, ill never forget. I was able to see a client under the influence. I was able to prepare for trials. I was able to go home and be a parent. And, you know, a husband at the time. Host so when you started in the beginning, how often were you using heroin and then at your peak how often were you using it . Guest so right from the beginning heres the thing with oxycontin and heroin. And percocet and hydrocodone, oxycodone or theyre just as bad, you know . Oxycontin, as i said, is a different animal. It really is heroin in a pill. It started using every day, and it took me, once i started using oxycontin, about two or three days, and my body physically needed it after that point. Now, for the first few days, oh, this is great, you know . What a great high. So productive and life is beautiful. But its a lie, you know . And its unsustainable. So now after three days if you dont have it, then your body starts to, as i said, you start stomach starts flipping, nausea, flu times 50. Once i started using heroin, it was off to the races. At that point the house of cards had come down. Id lost my job, id host custody of my children lost custody of my children, id lost the trust of friends and family, and i started using a lot of heroin. Like, you know, like 5060 bags a day. If you can imagine that. So a bundles ten bags of heroin, and back then it was probably 130. Now its cheap, its probably like 40. You know, which is hard to get my mind around from a Law Enforcement perspective, is how did the price go so far down, but, you know, i know First Responders are doing all that they can to prevent it. But to answer your question, a lot. And every day. To the point where if i didnt do it, id become violently ill. Ask so then and so then, you know, an addiction is a disease, right . Its not a moral failing. And its im starting to see a sea e change a bit especially in the criminal justice system, theyre starting to understand that. You know, this isnt a moral failing, that there are viable alternatives to incarceration. But it drives you places you can never imagine, you know . It causes, it caused me to act in a manner completely inconsistent with who i was and my value system. Host so were you becoming well, i dont want to put words in your mouth, but how was your addiction manifesting yourself to your family and to your job . Guest well, what started to happen was my work performance went way down, you know . I was late, you know, to go to work. My quality of work wasnt what it should be or used to be. And family was just borrowing money, you know, there were times where i stole, you know . And i write about it in sheer madness. Its not pleasant to recall, but thats how it manifested itself. And it just, it was completely destroyed everything that i stood for, everything that i believed in, everything that i admired about certain peers of mine, ask thats also and thats also a selfcrushing blow. Because when youre going through that, you know, your selfesteems absolutely down the drain, you know . Because you know youre not you know this isnt you. You know you just shouldnt take, you know, 100 from somebody with no expectation that youll ever repay them and just see the look in their eye, and people this is what people in active addiction deal with. They see the look in other peoples eyes, and its almost like a mirror into their own soul. I mean, not to be overly dramatic, but its a terrible, terrible feeling. And, you know, but theres hope. Theres a way through it, you know . Theres no way around addiction, right . You have to go through it, and you have to put work in. But the wheels came off the bus rather quickly, for sure. Host what was your lowest point during your time of addiction . Guest my lowest point was following my arrest, and, you know host so before you get into that story, or can you tell us how did the ideas for robbing banks and things like that even come into your head . Guest its, thats also a great question. [laughter] clearly not proud of what i did. And what i wrote about wasnt bank robberies. One day i was driving to family court where i knew id lose again. I wouldnt be able to see my kids. And the Family Court Judge had called me a junkie my appearance. You were a legal star, he says, but now youre a junkie. I had put together i think three months of clean time at that point. I was trying, trying, trying, but i couldnt find the depression and the anxiety and the addiction just overcame me. So instead of going to family court in saratoga here, is where i had family court, i went north the lake george, and i robbed a bank. Now, thats not a rational, thats not rational behavior, clearly, right . Im not a bank robber. I tell people im not a sociopath. But i was so angry, you know, at everybody that i just, i got a case of the forget it, you know . I just remember driving north. It was almost i remember it right now, it its almost like i was in a fog. Not clinically insane or anything but clearly disturb thed. And all i could run through my mind was i cant see my kids, i cant see my kids, i cant see my kids. So i just drove can, i got off the exit, i walked in, i went to the little desk where you can write in a receipt or a deposit slip, and i used one of their ifs sit slips, and i wrote a demand note. And i got in line, and i walked up to teller, and ill never get the tellers face out of my mind. Sorry. So i handed her the note, and she gave me the money. And i left and i used. And that was the beginning of the end. I ended up robbing several more banks, finally got caught. I mean, this was my disguise, what im wearing today, with a baseball cap. You want to talk about irrational behavior, right . Is my father, whos a College Professor for 350 years, hes pass 50 years, hes passed away, but i remember him coming to the jail and saying, well, we saw the footage on the evening news, couldnt you have worn a disguise . You know, he never did anything wrong in his life, you know . But really that was like, that was the beginning of the end. And once i got arrested, you know, my girlfriend at the time came to see me in jail. She saw me on the morning news because there was a helicopter, and there was all this footage and all this other stuff, and, you know, she didnt know what i was doing. She didnt know what was going on. I, again, when youre in active addiction, you can really, you really can keep the people who are closest to you at a distance, you know . And its troubling. And so i remember so the lowest point was when she came to jail, you know . She had never had to visit anybody in jail before, and it was terrible. I looked absolutely horrible. And i withdrew on the floor of the jail for about seven or eight days. Throwing up, you know, going to the bathroom. Im, you know, on myself. Going in and out of consciousness, you know . There was no they dont give you comfort meds in jail, right . Theres no meds to get you through the shakes, no methadone, no vivitrol, no anything. So so those seven days knowing that she was out there having to deal with, you know, all of my stuff, all of her stuff, you know, it just it was devastating. Butbut that, there was a turning point in there for me that when you hit your bottom like that, you decide you make a decision that i cant live like this anymore. Host are there misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding in particular heroin . Because i think in the beginning you said they called it the hillbilly drug. Guest yeah. Oxycontin was hillbilly heroin. Host yeah. Guest yeah, i think so. And paul grandal whos a journalist, hes the director of the new York State Writers Institute now and he was a journalist long term for a great e newspaper, he reviewed my book, and he had this great line. I use it all the time. He said heroin doesnt read resumes, you know . And thats the changing of the thought, right . Because growing up i thought the person who was addicted to his honor lived under a bridge somewhere to heroin lived under a bridge somewhere and was pushing a shopping cart around or Something Like that. But thats not the case. One of the most abused drugs right now on wall street among traders, you know, and these are elite professionals, are opioids. And, again, tiffany, it goes backing to that no feelno deal. You go 100 miles an hour all day, you just made 20 million on some trades and you want to shut that down, thats the drug. But it doesnt work. It only works for a little while. And ultimately, it spirals out of control. Host so when you hear the discussion out there with the president talking about the Opioid Crisis that wering is having in were having in this country and how theyre planning on tackling it, what goes through your mind . Guest a couple different things. I think trump has probably gotten a lot of bad press, which i think a lot of its just, you know, its partisan stuff. But he did appoint Chris Christie to the commission to lead the commission on the opioid task force, and we have to put more money into the problem, but i think the money has to be spent wisely. I think the money should probably be allotted to the states to control because each states a little bit different. Ohios got their own issue. West virginia has their own issue. Everything looks a little bit different. New hampshire, right . First primary state. Massive opioid problem. But the challenge that each state faces whether its it could be urban settings, suburb ban settings, rural settings, those all pose different challenges. So i think its smart we push money to the states, give them incentives, give the states incentive, you know, have evidencebased treatment. We have to put that into place. You know, back when i got clean the main thing that i availed myself of was a 12step program which is very, very effective for millions of people. But we know statistically that evidencebased programs, Treatment Programs where they use dialect call behavior therapy, changing the mind influence, cognitive behavioral therapy, analyzing your thoughts, you know, figuring out what triggers a person, and, you know, tackle those things, thats where the focus has to be, and i think thats where the money has to be. Now 66,000 opioiddependent veterans right now, and i think that thurms low. That numbers low. They cant get into programs in the v. A. , right . I think you guys have probably covered this, you know, if i remember right. And so why dont we open that up to the private sector a little bit, you know . We dont you dont need a 50,000, 40,000 Treatment Program necessarily. But open it up, monitor it for fraud carefully, but get these folks into treatment. I mean, these guys and gals were overseas, you know, fighting, you know, in ridiculous wars, in my view largely, not to be political. Lets take care of them, you know . So i think trumps probably doing i think his administrations probably making some smart choices. I dont think that theyre putting enough financing into it. Im concerned about cuts to medicaid and medicare with regard to treatment. But, you know, ultimately its not, its not a republican or democrat issue. I mean, were all in this together, and its interesting because ill talk to super, super fiscal conservatives, and they say, well, they made bad choices, just put them in jail. Put them in prison. We dont want them on the street. Well, we know economically that doesnt make sense either. The recidivisms rate at 65 , i believe, in the federal system and 45 in most states after three years of being out. Lets put some money into this on the front end. We had like 1100 person waiting list to get into the Masonry Program so i remember walking the track with this young guy i think from north or South Carolina and he had a few months to the door we used it to call it, getting out in a few months and i said what are you going to do and he said what can i do. I got my ged while i was in here i didnt have money to go to college and president obama brought back all grants for inmates, huge thing to do, but can we teach welding . Can we send them back to their communities can make money, you know, pay taxes, be productive members of society and live a life free of crime . In your opinion is it easy to pinpoint the arctic heart of the issue . Is it assess ability . Is it pharmacy, prescribing drugs to easily or is it people not being able to work in council for depression, anxiety and things like that . I think its a culmination of the things. I think doctors to rarely prescribed opioids and there is a chart put out by the dea, i think, with one lineup the chart that shows physicians, the rate of prescribing opioids and then it shows the use of heroin in the line goes almost up in sync, so i think that is an issue, but the fact is a doctors have to be able to prescribe opioids for pain. Its one of the tools in their set that they have to use. My position physician, he knows not to prescribe. He knows not to prescribe me opioids and i know not to seek them, so thats one issue. Of the other issue is you have to dig find out what are people trying to escape by using this stuff . Ten years ago it was not like this. This epidemic has been alive now six or seven years, but you know now, we are in full force spirit what is everyone running from because again opioids in and any clinician will tell you so i think that is an issue and i think a lot of that in terms of getting people to treatment we talk about occurring Mental Health issues and almost always i would say 90 plus were seeing depression, anxiety, spectrum disorders, all of these things that have gone untreated. Now, its hard to say where is the carton whereas the horse because using drugs over time changes the chemical talents of your brain and you stop producing your own dopamines and its hard to feel happy and so if you are not really happy, you can always suspended 3 and get happy. For people who read your book , what do you want them to be sure to take away from . Well, first of all its not a book about the crimes, nothing sexy about bank robbery. I think when i wrote it and started as a journaling exercise and a psychologist that i used to work with told me to start journaling all your thoughts with so much going on in your mind, get it down on paper and it is a very freeing experience is so i recommend that to families and clients that i get into treatment, so to take away that i have gotten from families is now i understand, now i understand why my son is doing what im doing doing what hes doing or my husband or my wife. Now i have a different perspective on addiction and i realize it takes People Places that they never thought they would go and clearly it did for me. Book tv is in Saratoga Springs to learn more about its history. Next we visit the Saratoga Springs Public Library to feature its collections. We are currently standing in the saratoga room. In this room has been dedicated to collecting materials about the city of Saratoga Springs, the people of Saratoga Springs for about 40 years now. One of the important collections we have in the saratoga room is doctor walter call and collection. Doctor mcclellan was the first medical director at the saratoga spa reservation. When the founders of the spa the reservation took the landover by Eminent Domain they wanted to turn it into a worldclass spa. They knew the waters were therapeutic, so they hired doctor mcclellan to come in and build this spot, all done in the late 1920s, early 1930s with a wpa project. They sent him to europe for two years to go through the grand spas of europe to learn about the baths, waters so when he came back he was knowledgeable. He send photographs and drawings that they modeled this bar after , so when you came here, it was not just for broadway, you came and you got a actual medical contraction and what they would do is they would do a survey just like a if you go to the doctor now he fills out test everything you have and rodin your issues and base on what your issues were a you were given a prescription for how they would treat you and those prescriptions this is example of one right here, this person is going to get a bath at 293 degrees for 20 minutes, full emergency and then they go into a gas cabinet, which was a current traction they had out there and for 20 minutes 20 gas infusion, i guess and then you needed to press for a halfhour afterwards. Anyone who came into the spa for treatment went through this exact ritual, i guess, what they found what doctor mcclellan ultimately found was results of the treatment, even some of the patients with arthritis the water is very effective for arthritis and various types of arthritis work folks came in and you can see here what they found because there was in the number of patients they surveyed almost everyone seemed to be relieved, had their symptoms relieved from the waters in the bath. Not only did they bathe in it, they drank it. I dont have an example here, but often times it would take a glass in the morning, take a good walk and it was very holistic medicine and wellness. It was about not only the body, but about the mind as well. They encouraged cultural activities, ca show, read a book , take a nap, which is always lovely. Of these were all part of the treatment, so they were treating a whole person. The waters of Saratoga Springs are all very different and that has to do with the bedrock that the water comes up through. Originally there were over 200 springs that had been found. The vast majority have been capped and i think there is only 22 im not positive of the number that are Still Available for people to use, but they are all naturally carbonated, carbonic acid in the minerals that they grab onto as they come up to the bedrock, each one is different as they are in different locations, so each one has different therapeutic qualities based on the minerals that they pass through and bring up with them. Most people think they come in and taste the water and sulfur there is no sulfur. There are only two software springs and both have been for years. The taste is alkaline, so others are better for the skin and this is what doctor mcclellan was using in his medical approach for the use of the waters. The use of the baths, because each of the strings were difference you would be given based on given the water space on what your medical condition was, so they wouldnt necessarily give you something from that old red springs because thats more for skin. If your problem with digestive you would want hawthorne. Of the medical facility at the spa brand from the early 30s, hoped in 1935 and ran into about the mid 50s at that point time sort of western cultural medicine take two and call me the morning was different from come and take a halfhour bath and a half hour nap, so it meditating in the 30s and 40s as a medical facility ended during the war it was designated as a military medical facility and veterans were able to come and use the facility for free to help them get through what they had experienced. Today it is still there, still usable. You can go and try the waters with about 20 or so springs is still viable that you can taste and they are all difference. They wont hurt you. Book tv is in Saratoga Springs new york to learn more about its history. Next we speak with alan carter about the history of horse racing in city. History of horseracing is important because its the oldest a sport in the country. Saratoga is a premier track in the country. It makes the most money and gets the biggest crowd. 1863 John Morrissey who owns a bunch of casinos in town when it something for his patients to do during the day. They could take baths, but other than that they had did not have much going on and they thought they might like to see some horse races and so august 2 he had a fourday meet and it was held at whats called the old trident track. Building eight and 49 and one of the problems was the track itself was not a good facility at all, but it was so popular they charged a dollar a person to come in and the purse for the horses and he still made money off of it after four days. Considering the fact it was a horse shortage because of the civil war, gettysburg had just been fought and horses are important to the war movement and they needed them in both the north and south, but somehow he got these horses together and it was such a success and he knew he couldnt use this track anymore so people were gathering food, travelers, cornelius, john hunter and Leonard Jerome and they got the money together to build the new track across the street, which is where the present track isnt it opened in august second, 1864. The first race of the day with a travelers race, so held in honor of william travelers who is the president of the association. Have to say one thing about morrissey, smart smart guy and he knew being a strong man and made his living with his fifth, but he was smart and he knew if he was ahead of the association it would lose favor so he made travelers the head. Travelers was probably the most prevalent person in new york city and very wealthy, but he was just a figurehead morrissey actually pulled the strings. And they are off in the travelers. Oh, they have opened up a five and six link lead with 1 foot long to run. What a commanding performance or travelers by 12. Of the fastest travelers ever and a new track record. It just got better and better as the years went on and saratoga was full and they built new hotels for people to come and see. They were the only real track in the eastern United States. I think if you decide who the heroes of saratoga s to be 50 50 between morrissey and whitney. He took over the track in 1901 and hired a professional landscaper to put in shrubs and trees, used a lot of paint and brought back all the old races including the travelers and alabama and saratoga and everyone came back and from then on it was a great success. One of the great resources of alltime. Manofwar was thrown on mess with saratoga. Bought here, waste here seven times. 16 am as one. When he lost was stanford memorial when he was a 2year old that he was twofive favorite, but they didnt have any starting gates so he had to be good at keeping horses in line and get a fairly equal start and that marge cassidy called in sick so they had to have a placing judge by the name of Charles Pettengill and he was terrible at it. You couldnt get him off at all and when he finally started him off manofwar was either backwards or sideways. We dont have any film of it so just eyewitnesses. You is not ready for the race to he made up a ton of ground and only lost by half a link than it was the only loss of his career. This racing at saratoga was world war ii in 1942 they banned any racing upstate for saratoga shut down from 1943, 45 and did not open until 1946 and after the war they realized saratoga was not as popular as jamaica, belmont. Upstate was about 15000 inhabitants in a couple Million People down state. They bought the four tracks in existence at the time which is to make a, aqueduct, belmont and saratoga. They sold jamaica, but they didnt in aqueduct and saratoga and in 1957 or 56 there was a movement to have concurrent racing in august. There was racing at saratoga and racing at belmont, whichever track. They could do that and luckily Gabriel Herrmann was the governor of new york and they all owned their own stables and the forefathers got together and not only did they convince airmen, but they convince the legislature to give us 24 days of exclusive racing, which they passed in 1957 and saved to saratoga. Tense meeting, august 19, 1970 the travers stakes, a mile and a quarter confirmed. 1978 allan donald ran in the travelers and it was a huge event because it was one of the probably the greatest rivalry in horseracing history 55000 people came and im guessing of the 55000, 30,000 had never been to saratoga before. They saw and said wait a minute we are missing something and started coming back and also synonymous with that the city fathers realized downtown sera cogan was a a disaster, which it was. With a did, theyd taxed at themselves and it worked. On the sudden people are coming in, restaurants are popping up and right after 1970, 1980 and right now, we are that tail that wags the dog. We are supported in development, never the case before. They are off in the travelers when american pharaoh race did 2015 it was tripled crown winner. They had a public work out for him and they announced anyone coming, 15000 people showed up just for a workout that lasted about five minutes, but thats saratoga. We love our horses. We are going to drive up here out of historic Congress Parking ticket right on broadway. We were the number one Tourist Destination in the us in 1800s, so anyone that was anyone anyone came to Saratoga Springs. While in Saratoga Springs we took a driving tour of the city with Saratoga Tours owner. They all came because someone made thing. That was visited for hundreds if not thousands by the native americans indigenous to area which were the mohawk and they came, drink the waters and thats where the name saratoga is a mohawk term that means place of the great salt of springs. The springs in Saratoga Springs you can still drink from them, still get water from them or do people do that a lot here . Especially locals. If you have been here the majority of your life, probably someone who likes as a result theres a fair amount of bottling where people bring containers for bottles and fill those on a daily basis. We have 17 and they are different depth, different taste it does not taste how you would expect it not like a bottled water. Mineral waters and saratoga that naturally bubble out of the ground have some a trace elements. Attentive different trace elements as passionate as a result as long as a few other salt and other, just a pungent taste. We are going to drive up here in the around and take a look at what they thought of as camps in 1800s, the rich and famous i came to sarasota. On the left and right is broadway. Beautiful. These are the houses the 1800s as cottages. They referred to this as camping. Without question almost any element of the victorian architecture can be found up here and homes here along with a mix of ones from 1800, but this became the destination for people after the american civil war. They came for the water, drink, took baths etc. But eventually as good americans they became bored with their surroundings and we headed the gambling in the horseracing. Talking about other things. Right now, we are going down broadway. Going down broadway. What is this area now . Its a very vibrant downtown. We cater to a lot of Convention Groups and saratoga along with the daily, weekly and seasonal travelers for the track and Saratoga Performing Arts Center and things like that, so that is our heart blood mean really the center of the city that makes everything happen. When we take a right and we will head over to the racetrack. We are here at the other racetrack. This is our oklahoma training track. This is strictly a facility in which to train. We open probably in midapril roughly enclose about the first week in november, so one of the things that is common to enjoy it in the morning is to come over here at first lights up until about 10 00 a. M. , park your look across and see the horses out on the track. This training track is an economic boom in the offseason. How did the racing industry become so popular here and saratoga . Believe it or not, again people coming for the waters and then they became bored with just being healthy so they needed some kind of outlet and in 1863 a group of men led by John Morrissey who was also responsible for the building of our casino that we call it today , he brings the idea of racing to saratoga in just a couple days in august in 1860, so started 1864 the construction of the present day track took place and off we went. We are going to drive down the backside of the track and give you an idea as we look across to the left eventually on the layout of our thoroughbred track its a very beautiful track and the facilities there are grades. Its a historic track in the sense that it has not been modernized to the point where you can put a hundred 50000 people there, but you can put 50000 in a beautiful setting and look at it the way it was operating in 1870s, 1880s, early 1900s. What is the big race that takes place here . The travelers race is our big race of the season and there is our track right there, a mylan in a dirt track and then we had to on the site. What is the travelers it known for. The travers is the oldest stake race and has a lot of great history. Unfortunately, saratoga has gotten that nickname the graveyard of champions meaning many of the greatest horses of all time have come here only to meet defeats. In 1973 secretary came after winning the triple crown and the secretariat lost the horse and saratoga called onion. I was there that date and cannot believe my eyes. What are we seeing here . This is so key being pulled by these horses. Sulky is not the thoroughbred racing we talked about earlier at our main track. This is Harness Racing and Harness Racing is a different variety of racing because we are not restricted by the weight of the jockey and not the jockey riding on the back of the horse, but the pulled in a sulky, little cart behind. This is a different type of racing and generally does not get as much attention as thoroughbred racing, but we have a nice facility here built 1941 and became one of the fastest halfmile ovals in the country. Today its backed up with i think 2300 slot machines, electronic gambling machines in the back. What would you like to see happen for your city next . I think the good things are in the works. We have got some hardworking local people that are constantly looking for ways to enhance the experience for people to come here and people that live here. That i think is the deadly problem of development of any city. You dont want it out of control you want growth. You want to control growth. Schools are good. The city is beautiful. We have a True Community feeling and saratoga and there is some way people that work so hard without any real payback except the satisfaction that they are doing a good job in the city and it makes life better for all of us and the people and generations to come. Thank you so much for showing us around today. You are welcome. You are watching the tv on cspan2, television for serious readers. Is the primetime lineup. 6 00 p. M. Tonight journalist david knight reports on the rise of the outright in america. At 7 15 p. M. Scientists with that Virtual Reality and our evergrowing relationship with technology. 8 45 p. M. , former cbs news anchor dan rather shares his thoughts on the founding principles of the United States and what it means to be an american. On book tvs afterwards at 10 00 p. M. Washington examiner Senior Editor keith coffer reports on the life and career of Stephen Bannon and his role in the trumpet presidency. We wrap up our prime time programming at 11 00 p. M. With former white house photographer amanda who reflects on her time covering first Lady Michelle obama. Of that all happens tonight on cspan twos book tv. 48 hours of nonfiction authors and books every weekend. Television for serious readers. Book tv takes hundreds of author programs throughout the country all year long. Heres a look at some of the events we will cover this week. Monday, pasadena california to hear it just a whit boyle talk about his experiences working with gang members. Tuesday, we will be in washington dc at the Smithsonian Ripley Center where businessmen paul howard asked wheres the friendship between scientist Richard Feynman and john wheeler. Mountain view, call 40, wednesday at the Computer History Museum to hear historian Leslie Berlin on how Silicon Valley became the center of technical logical innovation. Thursday, fdr president ial library in hyde park, new york, where roosevelt resident instituted resident historian David Vollmer recounting the final 100 days of Franklin Roosevelts life. We wrap up the week on friday at the National Constitution center in philadelphia, for the annual bill of rights day symposium with authors at noah feldman and gerard mowgli elba. Many of these events are open to the public. Look for them to air in the near future on book tv on cspan2