I didnt need to be there. The students could plot their own thing, an they took in a long package that looked like that. We headed to the house. The two students are alerted it those from the dorm who came out with with their hunting rifles, surrounded by house, got there. I threw open the door. Ready to come to the rescue, the troops are here. Cavalry has come, and on the floor was bob dylan and a friend with the get or tar that had been but what does that mean when norm American College students and a College Professor and minister assume somebody has come with weapons to destroy you. Thats where our minds were and thats where black minds have been for hundreds of years and black people are raises questions now that question better understand our history if were going to move forward. Well i can speak on and a half myself as well as the audience that we feel greatly honored to be within your presence, and to see what you have done and what you continue to do in the pursuit of justice for all of us, and thank you for all that youve done in the face of great opposition as well as danger so that we could have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, so thats commendable. Thank you. Thank you for attending this presentation. I hope youve enjoyed the res ot of the louisiana book festival, and thank you for attending. [applause] and that wraps up booktv live coverage of the 12th annual louisiana book festival see it tonight at midnight or watch it online at booktv. Org. [silence] all right well give stragglers a second to grab their streets. Good evening everyone. Before we begin, most of our usual housekeeping please silence your cell phones, and also we ask that you refrain from any photography both here and during the awesome book signing that is going to take place immediately after this event in the main lobby. Welcome to the free library of philadelphia my name is Jason Freeman a cool part of this job is getting to introduce writers that you like. Im excited to be here tonight to introduce sarah. Praitdzed by New York Times for her learned or learned engazely funny, jolly rough to American History. Sarah is a clear eyed, funny, observer of our history were able to be shes the author of the partly cloudy patriot, personal favorite. Vacation and unfamiliar fishes among other. A contributor editor for this American Life and as well as original contributors to nick sweeney been published in a variety including village boy esquire and too many others to name. Shes made numerous appearances on letterman and late show with jon stewart. Theres a new book with a frank portrait of the squash buckling of the American Revolution and his insightful return to our young country. Interviewing sarah tonight is webcastly. Not only a frequent guest author but also one of our favorite interviewers of writers on this stage. I tried to count, six, seven, might be, ten. Charles considered as a murderer, and most recently one kid. You may know him by his rock n roll hearting, it is awesome smart, fun, album. Wess is also the founder of the cabinet of wonders radio variety show released by whos featured a whos who of contemporary musician, writers, and other sundry performs. Ladies and gentlemen, before you join me sarah has said shes going to read for a minute which is terrific for us. So now wont you join me in welcoming sarah and wesley to the free library of philadelphia. [applause] thank you. Hello, philadelphia. I would also krrks cspan is here taping so i would leak to say hello to the five insomniacs watching this 5 a. M. On a sunday. I just wanted to read a little bit first because you can see what happens when i sit and think about what i want to say and how i want to say it before i sit over there and just gibber jabber when i willynilly ill e excerpt from the book. One thing towards the end maybe that you would want to know is about how the marquise to lafayette beloved revolutionary war hero from france who came over in 1777 as a 19yearold, and was with Washingtons Army through yorktown and monroe invited the elderly lafayette on the eve of 50th anniversary of the revolution to come back to america as the nations guest and it was quite a to do. He well you remember what a big deal it was in philadelphia. [laughter] you know when he arrived in new york what harbor, 80 something thousand new yorkers were there and of new york was 123,000. So he has that on the pope. [laughter] most of the book is about his time in the war and a little bit about that return i from. But this is i guess you could call it a tan jengt nowadays lafayette is a place, not a person. Lafayette is a boulevard in phoenix, a pennsylvania college, and a bridge across the mississippi in st. Paul. Its the alabama birthplace of boxer joe lewis, and three different towns in wisconsin for the Fayette County chicken ranch known as the her house. Lafayette, indiana were founders of both cspan and guns and roses were born. When i bunched into an old neighbor while visiting my montana hometown she asked me what i was working on. I answered a book about lafayette. So she inquired if i would be spepgding a lot of time in louisiana. And if i was confused wondering if she forgot that Thomas Jefferson decided against his initial impulse of appointing of the french colony first governor after the louisiana purchase. But then i realized that the city of lafayette, louisiana, must be her go to lafayette label noun. Even though from montana it is actually a closer drive to lafayette, utah, not to mention the ones in oregon, california, kansas, and colorado. So i explained that i meant lafayette, the french teenager who crossed the atlantic on his own dime to volunteer to fight with washington in the revolutionary war and likely to visit pennsylvania where he got shot. He nevertheless professorred her findness for zidaco. Then encounter arosed indignation in my breath that i moralized human glory and evanescence of many other things. No, wait thats one did in 1870 when a random straib stranger in a cigar store had never heard of his revolutionary wars grandfather. When i found out my neighbor had never heard of my protagonist, i went and got a taco with my sister. So it does seem eerie one day in 1884, twothirds of the population of new york city it was lining up to wave hello to lafayette and 19 decades go by and all thats left of his memory is the name of a cajun college town. Thanks to nationwide euphoria or the lafayette return tour of the United States in 1824, countless americans streets, parks, county, city, warship, horses and babies bear his name. Long list include scientology founder lafayette l. Ron hubbard and great uncle lafayette time who went by faith for short. The most meaningful name sake by far is Lafayette Square, across the street from the white house. Also known as lafayette park. This is the nations capitol of protest. The place where we the people gather to yell at our president. [laughter] or as jorntle h. W. Bush complained auring the gulf war he complained of the demonstrator who were beating those damn drummed in front of the white house when i was trying to have dinner. Of all of the rallies that was staged at Lafayette Square over decades i think we can agree that the one americans should be the most proud of is the gathering of the ku klux klan there in 1882 stay with me. Three dozen or so light to premise thunder heads who show up demonstrate or provide Police Protection against hoards of agitated protesters pouring into the capitol to demonstrate against their demonstration so freedom of expression truely exists only when the societys most repugnant knit whit are allowed to spew their nonsense in public in in lafayette park, this distasteful speech is literally permitted with permit issued by National Park service managing the site. Goes on from there. But you know you can read that later. [laughter] so i would come over [applause] yeah. Oh. Oh, youre holding it like oprah or something. It works, yeah, thanks. Dont tell me what to do. One , lafayette what do you think of him now despite the things that were named after him with towns, the glory that comes with that . Do you think of him now as an obscure character in a sense what is part of your point with the book, you know, by trying to let people know about it . British, i dont know if you can tell. He hates it many historical figures are obscure figure because we dont remember anything. [laughter] you know, yes hes obscure. But i guess maybe you should which can with your teenagers if they know who like ben franklin is or something. Is he obscuring for . He has become one. He used to be this i mean maybe he was just thes trip from 1984 but i dont know how many of you have been to the lafayette monument in the brandy wine valley that is a little street laver looking thing off the side of the road. Nowheresville in your west chest tear that sounds like a town right it is in a ladys yard i met her. She was really nice. But when they built that monument in 1895 after he had been dead for 60 years, 5,000 people showed up to celebrate this not very impressive, no offense monument being put up. So i think and then you know maybe the culmination of the lafayette legend comes in world war i when, you know, france it was in a bit of a pickle. And when the americans allied expedition their forces under general persy cam to help out our old alley, the french against the jer german they marched to the cemetery where lafayette is buried and one of the officers famously said lafayette, were here. After that, you know, poem people got busy. There was hitler. Yeah, yeah. So i mean he used to be a bigger deal, obviously. And hes im not one of those writer who is ive certainly ready some of these book where writer is like my subject is to formed there would have been a zombie apocalypse, with he was important and fascinating enough they wasted threer years on him. So hes up there. But in rev lyings their generation it is an embarrassment of riches, you have your jefferson, jefferson, beloved boy franklin. Blurred byham hamilton, chief artillery officer, you have john adams james madison. Like, if even theres a lot of talent there. Hes the hit it of choice. Hes definitely the writers choice because henry, as, you know, was famously a book seller in the own or of the london book shop, and he joined up with the militia in madison, massachusetts, eventually when that marched into the army he was the guy in boston who was think about the guy you buyer books from. Hopefully its still a guy or a lady in a store. Yay. [applause] so the books guy walks up to washington. I mean, theres a siege in boston, and the british control the little peninsula of the city of boston itself but theyre surrounded by all of these patriot militias that have kind of marched into the continental army, an they get word that ethan allen, and ben arnold who we like at this point have captured with the cannon and martyrs leftover from the french and indian war. So in order to break this down, they need not just better weapons. They need some weapons. And the thing about having artillery is its heavy and henry goes up to washington. He says my brother and i will go get that stuff. 300 miles away across the mountains, and its winter, and washington is like go ahead. [laughter] and then you know a few weeks later heres the knox brothers show up and they built this special sleds and they were called i dont know how many hundreds of tons of heavy artillery over to boston, and then the crafty washington, and his men in the middle of the night put them up to Chester Heights and people in boston wake up the next morning impressed. [laughter] and they leave by ship to canada never to return to the moral of that story is never underestimate an independent book seller. [laughter] [applause] i know i know what side the bread is buttered on. Okay. Get back to all of that yeah. But i have a couple of questions, one is it struck me. Unless it is possible in this town. Im sorry that iftion just glorifying violence. Mostly go ahead. That was a disclaimer. Back to quakers in a minute. Can we . So just to the distribution we need to go to london. We should have one. That would be great on cspan. Like a whole roomful of people. That is like q and a. Just the sound of a bunch an the viriles will visuals of e just trying not to make eye contact. Subtitles, nobody moves. So crown, you must do a lot of research. Books, must be big fat books there. On your subject that youre doing and so the hit story im going to keep going with it. Keep going. What youre doing is you know youre taking the facts. Youre taking the urge to educate and the urge to amuse people because you are, you know, a comic also. And youre taking your love of the hrs. First question you want to ask is allage expression of you. What order did those things topple out of you when you furs thought of laugh lafayette are you waiting for spark to come to you. When it does come, how do you keep those things in balance while youre doing it . Thats what we love you. Like it goes i tend to be educational now. Ding. Joke, joke, no. The books you talk about i talk them the books that dads get for christmas. Single subject book about a person, usually its like biography the title, a door stopper. Usually the tight title is a persons name and they asked what the book is about, theyll say the persons name they wont have this weird word like somewhat in their title that youre just look oh, my god thats going to take 45 minutes to unravel. In the beginning thats what had i think im going to do is like the straight story. With lafayette i had written a short stoirl about that short trip and it was fizzy, it was all just kind of a love story an about the american peoples affection for lafayette, and i just thought i was going toy a book about this nice french boy. I never really think things through enough. So theres a war that hes in. So thats no fun. So the reason i was drawn to him so the l civil war is kind of like starting to bubble up. Basically its now that i think about it, the civil war is bubbling up, you know, across town in independents hall in 1774 so the thing at independence halt First Continental Congress first thing he says we should start with a prayer. Second is two saying no way im paraphrasing im not going to pray with quakers we cant pray together too many religions. Right there that is is the moment like we cant get look. Maybe the third thing that should have happened is all lets go home and save everyone the trouble. So anyway i was drawn to him because because he was french, laugh lafayette everybody loved him he was just this everybodys uncle from across the sea. I thought it would be nice to write a sweet, simple story about this person every loved. In order to tell that story pretty much, every step in their research he gets here. Hes here from maybe 5 months he writes George Washington a letter from the campus. Valley ford saying i feel look america can defend it herself. You can fight the british if you would just stop fighting with each other all they do is bicker. Congress cant get anything done. They disagree with everything. The congress and amy are at odds. Theres a conspiracy within the congress and the army to oust George Washington. So George Washington spends a few hours a day pighting the british in a few hours a day trying to keep his job from the people who were undermining him, his friends. And then writing about 1884 election was in full swing when lafayette arrived most devicive president ial election in American History. Theres an Andrew Jackson wins popular vote but no wins Electorate College so decided to the house per the constitution. But u through what comes to be known as corrupt bargain so everything is a mess. When im researching i want to go to my little battlefield so see where my french boy got shot, and it happened to be in the followup of 2013. The government shutdown, so Independence Hall is closed. Battlefield closed, and so like all of this ended up flavoring the story and the book kind of became two books, maybe three if you count the fact that i sort of use lafayette as the per personifcation so it just expanded its waistline. It will be one of those. It happened to him this happened, and then he died. A lot of your writing is dependent. And then i met quakers that distracted me, anyway. So a lot is dependent on your personality it is filters through you but you like going to places. You like telling us about the people you meet. Wess went with me to one of the places valley forge. I did. Got to that in a moment. I can tell you the inside story. [laughter] a terrific lunch and dinner. I recommend the cucumber. [laughter] just going back a little bit. Im dong it to you. You have questions that you want answered so i keep interrupting you. Luke it tangent and distracting you. I want to imagine sarah at school and her relationship to history. What happened that now this is what you write now . Something must have i have two images of me and American History class. One of them is me skipping it to go to the Public Library to read the other one is sitting there with the boring teacher at the blackboard and one kid making a break for it and jumping out the window and running away. I think like my interest in history is kind of identification with infashion nation comes from my family background. Tell us more. I mean, both of my parents have ancestors who were cherokee on the trail in the United States government marched in gunpoint to oklahoma. It was just a topic of conversation in the family. And then also at the cherokee capitol and in oklahoma. Every summer when i was a kid we would go there and watch. They would one of those pageants so every summer i was a kid i watched also, i mean, we lived either very rural childhood. It was the only theater i ever saw, you know, till i was maybe 14 oring something. So i literally watched history come alive every summer and this one story was so kind of present in the family partly because my father was he hated oklahoma. He hated that he was born there and andrew jack songs fault. That historical tragedy made it so that he was born in this place he hated it. So he had a bone to pick with Andrew Jackson about that. So i th