He was definitely an engaging teacher and as you mentioned his experiments influence a lot of people including including you. [inaudible] this is a bit of a followon and im still trying to formulate what is probably a very elementary question but you talk about all the research you did and obviously he mixes in real historical characters with his primary fictional characte characters. Was he primarily using fiction to illuminate history and historical forces or using history to illuminate human nature . Yes and yes. [laughter] i mean thats a huge question. One of the criticisms that this book has received is that tolstoy intentionally distort historical facts for his own purposes so for instance he creates in the character could to save us a far more salt of the earth kind of character than he actually was. He was apparently much more widely, much more questionable in terms of his morals so historians have accused the full story of using history and distorting it for his own ends. I do
This month. Three or four books that i think particularly good. I wish i could take credit. And the Brilliant Communications director came up with this. No one is going to be interested in what i am reading. Surprisingly has become quite a bit. They like it. Interestingly, the kind of like to know what your thinking about. It is kind of refreshing. It actually reads a little class action. Thank you. It was fun. What are you reading this summer . Tell us what is on your Summer Reading list. Postage your Facebook Page or send us a name of. Her. You can watch panels and multicultural Book Publishing, the black Arts Movement, and more first, founder Max Rodriguez kicks off the festival the talk of the state of africanamerican literature. There is always that conversation of home for us. And we have an answer from. The theme of this years book fair is global. As we all are. And the book fair from this point forward will reflect that. We started with an event yesterday that Columbia Universi
Ourselves. Its great to be here. One detail would want to correct about your biography. My career has been very diverse, but its mostly focused on literature and history. Profile, hidden so i dont have the opportunity to be engaged in current political and military things. But i have written biographies of Thomas Carlyle and of Charles Dickens and of henry james and of mark twain. Somehow i got directed more towards some history and the interconnection between literature and politics in recent years. The figure that brought me there was our wonderful 16th president , Abraham Lincoln. My most recent book prior to John Quincy Adams american visionary was lincoln, the biography of a writer. It appeared to me that lincoln was not only an extra ordinary politician and a deeply humane and beautiful man, he also was a great writer in his own way and contributed very importantly to american literature. That book focused on the development of literary genius. Lincoln brought me to John Quincy A
She was interested in the medicinal qualities of it. I wouldnt go too far on john quincys sourness. There is affection between the two of them and great love. Otherwise she could have stayed in quincy. After they lost, i think, the daughter, is it true he gave her a book on the diseases of the mind . Some months later, yes. Its the modernize, the insensitivity. He is certainly not a modern husband. Louisa had by one count nine miscarriages. Minimum five and a still birth, officially more. Potentially more. They are sometimes hard to read into it because of how discreet they are with their language. At least five with a still birth. She had a lot of tragedy. And three sons who lived to maturity. If you can call it maturity. Speaking of their family, Brian Watkins asked on twitter, did having a former first lady as a motherinlaw help or hinder louisa . Of course, abigail had passed by the time john quincy attained the presidency, so she cant ask her motherinlaw about handling the role an
Forcing workers and their spouses out of the plans that they like. TaxesCompanies Say that and government mandates make it more difficult to hire, and doctors warned that the law does not come close to addressing the real problems in the health care system. This is not working as promised and the president knows this. Busy handing out waivers and delays. Protectans want to everyone from the Health Care Loss we can focus on stepby step reforms that actually lower costs. We think it is only clear only fair to give all americans the same breaks the president is giving big businesses. President obamas Energy Policies are not our concern. Republicans have in all of the above Energy Strategy that will lower prices and boost manufacturing, and improve National Security. Is blockingident chances to make energy more affordable, such as the Keystone Energy pipeline. Been five years since the keystone application was first filed. This has passed every environmental review. No taxpayer dollars inv