Caribbean, and then he was sent to tasmania, and he had terrible asthma. Meagher was the great orator during the rebel times, mitchell was the great writer. So it was a onetwo punch. Mitchell would write in the newspaper, meagher would give speeches in front of thousands of people. They were very close. Mitchell finally comes to america as well, but he likes slavery. Something happens in him that he sees slavery as not a bad thing. He writes in his own newspaper that if you irishmen are coming to america looking for a start, get yourself a couple of slaves and come south. And so meagher and he, his other people, break with mitchell. Mitchell has three boys. Two of them were on the other side of that wall when the irish stormed marys heights. So there was not a technical irish brigade in the confederacy, but there certainly were irish who fought on the other side, including the very people who were the kids of his best friends. Also i have a scene in the book where they fight the irish couldnt get into new york, philadelphia, baltimore, would continue going, and they came in through new orleans. New orleans was one of the main ports, later for italianamericans as well, but one of the main ports for irish entry. They had a little unit called the fighting tigers which wasnt formally an irish brigade, but an irish confederate unit. Its just handonhand combat of the irish Brigade Fighting the irish tigers and meagher wondering why the hell arent we directing all this energy against england. Anyone else . Any questions i think we have a gentleman coming down the way here. There we go. Timothy, i want to ask about you. How does a person make the transition from a very good local newspaper reporter into a Pulitzer Prizewinning author . And what made you think you would make a living at it . [laughter] the last part is the best part of the question. [laughter] yeah. Boy, you know, my mother loved literature. She had seven kids, and she loved storytelling. And when i was a little kid, my mom i think i was 7 years old, my mom gave me this book and said read this, and itll change your life. It was huck finn. It was, like, he was the bart simpson of his day. He was smarter than all the adults. It was so magical to see kid power. And that brought me into literature. And so ive always loved writing and storytelling. And i got it from my family, i think. As to the, you know, how what made you think you could make a living from this, you know, people raise this question every time theres a new take call device. Steve jobs said at one point that the iphone would be the death of literature, because depth of reading because he said death of reading because he said people dont want to read anymore. Certainly, its changed our Attention Span. There was a story saying that the average Attention Span is now eight seconds, which is less than a goldfish. [laughter] according to the study. [laughter] but, i mean, i wrote this as i was reading the second volume of william churchills biography which is nothing more enjoyable that going really deep into a fantastic book. So the making the living part, look, no matter what the technology is, were a storytelling people. Were not going to lose our love of story, our love of knowledge, our love of literature, our love of new information. And i dont with care if its on a screen or a pixel or appears, you know, on a thing in front of our eyes. I say this to all young writers, if you feel you have a story to tell, dont worry about where it appears, just work on the story itself. Also i have one more thing in that regard, and this is something that most of us we do have a disproportionate amount of irish writers. And ive always heard the saying that the best stories happen to those who can tell them. So [laughter] is there another question . Yeah. I was curious, like, how long did it take you to compile all this his historical background, you know, for this story . And what kind of sources did you use . So i used mostly firsthand sources, and the information on meagher happens to be in some of the greatest places in the world. So you start in ireland, and you go spend time in the Wonderful National library of ireland, dublin, where all the papers are from the young island rebels. Theyre notes they wrote when they were in captivity, poems, the newspaper that was the paper for the rebels and contemporaneous accounts of what it was like while they were giving their speeches and people were dying in the streets. I used some of the illustrations from those papers in my book of the starving. They also had their houses torn down during the famine as well pause they couldnt pay the rent. Because they couldnt pay the rent. Then you go to waterford, which is a beautiful town on the river, i recommend it. You can go into meaghers house, climb the hills where he climbed. They just named the longest suspension bridge in ireland for Thomas Francis meagher. He wants to start the revolution, but his fathers like, no, youll hang. And hes sort of torn. And the masses of waterford say we wont let them cross the bridge, and you feel that power. Then you go to tasmania which, by the way, is one of the prettiest places on earthment it really is beautiful. Its too bad the brits tried to make a penitentiary out of a continent. To this day, by the way, if you live in australia or tasmania, you can trace your ancestry to the convict stain is a badge of honor. You know that . Yes, i find that too. So then you come to new york, and theres this fabulous research at the americanirish historical society, at the new York City Tenement Museum which you can understand what it was like to be in one of those tenements. A lot of papers there. Then you walk the Civil War Battlefields which, as an american, i think every person should do. I had never done it. Its so so profoundly moving. And the National Park service, lets give them credit. They do a great job of keeping those american markers intact. So i walked the wall up to marys heights. And you see, my god, these guys were totally exposed. There was no way for them to go. Theres formations just getting mowed down by industrial strength or artillery and musketly. And then you go to antithem and this awful, awful place where 23,000 people died, and the library of congress has all the civil war correspondence. Most of its on line now so you can read meaghers battle reports in that. Finally, you end up in virginia city, montana, which isnt quite a ghost town yet. You can get a bison burger and a beer [laughter] and theres a great library, and they were very helpful, and theres a handful of folks that lead tours. In the summer it comes to life as a tourism place. And the Montana Historical society, thank god for them. Because meagher was their governor. They have this wonderful research. So my research is i like to go to the places so i can understand the texture. [inaudible] i mean, that took a couple years. Once i have the material, im a fairly quick writer. But i, i do all my own research because i think you find these great discoveries by going down these little warrens. I want to thank you all for coming. Im going to within this up. Ill wrap this up. Ill start with a plug for one of my favorite fiction writers, richard flanagan. I want to thank you for attending, thank tim for a terrific [applause] and i hope you all become friends of the festival and, please, ill ask you to, please, vacate the room because theres another panel coming in the here. You can meet in happier flag day. Of. [applause] i hope i have communicated communicated happy i am the flag day did anybody read what i wrote about todays paper . I wrote the oped today about flag day and i will talk about that i will talk about that later on the nymex cited and by that date is important and it ties into the theme of the book. Ion introducing myself first i did that the last time, let me back up if you dont know what socrates in the city is people have now idea i want to say first of all, thank you for wrapping up the early bird dinner i appreciate that it is tough to pull yourself away Golden Corral is tough to pull yourself away. [laughter] sees bin in gets mighty river cry has been there before but i want to say this is any event but it is little different. Normally i interview someone with tons of videos of the interviewing Extraordinary People i cannot even in think of the list bevy have cab and clad well right here on the stage, i cannot even think the comedy team during san shriver also planted in the andrews sisters hand of londons sisters. Flip wilson. Avid demand castillo i interview them all of this stage in darwin. [laughter] is in the lafayette. He was old but we have had the eclectic smorgasbord of socrates is the city tickets and stave from socrates. I am greek so i can pretend with greek philosophy to city and examined life is not worth living. That is so sad. And he said the and examined life is not worth living by the way you are very late take your seat if youre my friend and show up late i will call you about. We realized in the york city so those questions that they dont get into. That everything is fair game that means we have all kinds of different cast on different subjects i encourage you to go to a website we had then shove even so in oxford in england and we had a wonderful time over the years we would have a speech at a podium like this i think about six years ago we decided aerobee that cast every six years i can do this i do want both carriers i dont do of this every year so is in 2010 and was the speaker and i introduced myself. I decided not to do that this time this meets the requirements we will pretend we have all the answers but we should think about so they pick this date as the release date and i thought do they know this is flag day it is very important to me and it turns out they didnt they just happen to pick to 14 as the day the book should come out i would not call it a miracle but it is a coincidence it ended is that the center of what happens trying to think of what else i want to mention. To do that is just a slap in the face. I am stunned of heavy people are here from parts of the country if youre not from the york . Unbelievable. It is incredible soviets have not seen in so many years the thank you for coming. The book that i have just written if you can keep it. Then be open to q a. In to say on the subject of the books so i will start with the tile. I would not of god and the reference myself everybody should know that i would not have caught in the. In 1787 with the Constitutional ConventionIndependence Hall in philadelphia. Part of that background is i didnt know this stuff would be a decent education in Public Schools and led to of a Good University but none of that seems to communicate to me the background while wrote this book but things werent going well for the United States of america to come into existence it is staggering the battle of long island he has paper that is expensive he didnt pull that off in the future he will. But there is so many miracles that this is remarkable is nonetheless for workable of what comes to gather that god had is the hands on the creation that it gives river called and then and we win the war. And into a very weak federal government you know, that. [applause] now i get applause. The teapartier is your. And then to be no government. To be an incredibly fragile balance fell to understand it wasnt quite working to say we have got to go back to the drawing board to figure it out they spend 100 days that itself seems miraculous there is no proof it is miraculous but you have to go to the founders themselves to read what they wrote in a all say trying to find a compromise between the slave states in the free states was essentially impossible. They were despairingly cadaver worked in they were thinking what do we do with their . That as a republic that is the big deal in the history of the world. So we have people in this room doing something to be given a limited monarchy with all of the founders deal think Benjamin Franklin did that . And he said that god came to our aid of the formation of this country while we doubt he would help us now . Many of those who were there use the word iraq unless that is simply was simply astounding and to walk out of the building and mrs. Paul from philadelphia confronts him. But have you given as the monarchy or the republic . N and franklin says a republic madam, if you can keep it. That is where this comes from. If you can keep it. [applause] but with the odd quirk of history the leeway read about this exchange because of powless and franklin because james mchenry, the 34 yearold happen to overhear this inbred told to write him in his state i really reason we vanilla of the existence. It wasnt a speech. This was shot off the cuff it is gone except it was written down. The neck of the importance of those words if you can keep it. To be utterly unprecedented. House of those greek city states are small. But here we have 13 colonies the couples Million People of the idea of Self Government to a nation that simply had never been done. The founders in the framers rarely understood what they are trying to do has never been done. Through millennial of history and we take this for granted. With that bizarre anomaly in history it is up to the people of history and if they dont take those away. So as we know the people did it and worked in i think we forgot about the ideas to keep it and i said mitt the idea we have forgotten what it takes to keep it or how important it is for us to keep it. I think we have come to a place where we are in trouble basically we are on fumes but into weeks it will not look very nice i really think that is very are budget to be a people we have to know the stories in the last 20 years that dash narrative has taken hold if you focus upon native americans we have a right to know about those things because those are bad days we need to read knowledge but it did get stuck to keep say we were bad we did this washington was a slave owner of that cycle is you dont ever celebrate her you are with you abolish slavery youre dealt with the civil rights and the are always struggling, if you seek to be patriotic, something goes wrong is the reason greek proverb in the book that if you dont boast about your house and will fall down and crush you. There is something fundamental intrinsically human to be proud of your village to dryland it is very fundamental about that. With just something to not have for a the Proper Health the selfie charter pride in who we are to also go wrong. And where most americans those my age junior. [laughter] dont call me a liar. [laughter] anybody my pager younker probably did not get this in school. I didnt. Listening to a man speak i dedicate the book to the ideas so that you are familiar with that book is speaking about that from your i went to good schools how common never heard what they were talking about . This is what really struck me the Golden Triangle of freedom. The Golden Triangle of freedom is simply this. With their virtue that requires straight with dash and requires freedom. Freedom requires virtue. Freedom requires virtue they know. Is certainly will never see this on tv. Talk about virtue what is that . What does this mean that i thought it is basic freedom which is selfgovernment day govern themselves. That means you have to govern yourself. Every person has to govern himself you dont need a lot of cops that they pretty much cover themselves most of the time im not afraid to be caught or thrown in the dungeons because i believe it is wrong. So if i can the large bay are virtuous and selfgovernment becomes possible bidders to dimbleby unless they have people who will govern themselves freedom requires virtue of some kind. They all grow to about it. Not everyone who is a person of faith is virtuous however the founders knew practically speaking when they saw a committee of a serious they intended to be selfgoverning and virtuous when they see the effects of the colonys those places would drop it is extraordinary generally speaking able to ruth cover themselves and faith in turn requires freedom so any kind of real faith if you for said it is not a real. If you go to raise Certain Church you know, unless they do voluntarily wire they going . Yes many countries since europe they you have to go to that church songs i dont buy it but i dont want to go attune jail. So you have to have real freedom for the courage to flourish we all know this as america you have to have a i would go to this church because they choose to not because the Government Forces me. Llord note church because i choose we dont force anyone to do go to a particular kind it is free. To be a part of the United States of america what they want to worship so that one day robust expression but the faith must be free so they enshrined richest liberty and have been practicing religious liberty that america has this kind of stuff. So to save it from this podium and it is crazy. End maybe i am deeply embarrassed so i thought something is wrong this is strange. And one day when my daughter was seven and i found the catalogs seeking get the books you found day paper bottle of the Paul Revere House that appealed to be. Where his brother makes that tisch and of macias twigs. So i get the thing we build a little house and i realized the paul love paul reveres ride i never read that poem. Those that library sneered at. Most would want the elliptical of twos pulled that mean nothing. Guy picked up the poem and some snippets listen my children did you shed here of the Midnight Ride of paul revere of 75 hardly a man who was now live. I restarted to read i didnt get past that much it is so beautiful and moving in so then it gets into this type of thing that gore did rockwell is the idea. Where do we pull this off . And the fresh brie and but weve never is that together. I never felt but i am feeling right now reading this poem they are breaking my heart. There is allied and a chapter the book to be asleep in his bed that would be the first to fall. To invoke the image of a man sleeping in his bed. And that would be pierced by air british basketball and dies. It appears to be to read it because i have a father in 57