Transcripts For CSPAN2 Brad Meltzer The Lincoln Conspiracy 20240713

In the Miami Book Fairs virtual author series. We have become virtual of sellers and doing virtual author events. Its great to see all here tonight. And also from a personal perspective i just want to thank all of you out there for all of the incredible support that you shown, books and books and writers everywhere in this very, very difficult time that we are all facing. All of us at books and books in Miami Book Fair i thinking of you and really helping hoping that you and your family are safe and healthy. We presenting this series that only with the Miami Book Fair because they are like family to us, and weve always we do thank them for all that they do. A lot of people been asked me about the book fair, and will be mounting a book fair this year, whether its virtual, physical or accommodation of both. Its a little too early to tell. We also want to thank two sponsors who will promote this, the literary hub and also miamis very own culture crusaders. This evening we are thrilled brad meltzer to celebrate the publication of a new book, the lincoln conspiracy. This is a phenomenal book. Weve been with brad i think just about for every one of his books. We will not let any virus get in the way, so we are thrilled to have him with us tonight. Everyone knows the story of Abraham Lincolns assassination in 1865. But very few are aware of the original conspiracy which was to try to kill him for years earlier in 1861. Literally on his way to washington, d. C. For his first inauguration. As brad says, this is the story to people know, one that is set in a time of deep Clinical Division in america. It shows us what good leaders can do, and is perfectly on point to where we are today in this country. Brad as all you know, as one of his books as a number one New York Times the seller. Use author of the escape artist as well as thrillers, as well as the amazing books for kids come ordinary people change the world. Mac. Hes not only were and operate in the world the book but hes also one of the most well read and bestselling writer of comics as well. Maybe we can talk about that tonight. Hes also the host of brad meltzer is decoded, brad meltzer is look at history, and then on top of that he also premiered on pbs based on his ordinary people change the world series, a wonderful show for kids. He lives in south florida with his wife and family, and its a thrill to have him with us. Another friend of the store, someone who made a huge impact here at coral gables, the ceo to the Coral Gables Chamber of commerce can position yourself for the past 14 years. And he also get between him and helping all the businesses that exist here at coral gables. Hes the chief Association Executive responsible for the daytoday success of more than 1600 Member Chamber who works with volunteer leaders that are engaged in the chambers longterm Business Development strategies and community initiative. Its ranked as the second Largest Chamber in south florida, according to the 2019 south Florida Business journal, and knows all the good work hes going to make sure that this Chamber Still ranks as high as it always has. He will not let any of us go out of business, virus or no virus. So on behalf of a books and books at all of us out there i want to welcome mark and brad to this very, very special event tonight. Mark . Thank thank you so much. Talked to be with you and books and books. You are truly one of our iconic businesses, independent, familyowned and thriving even in this moment of coronavirus. I want to thank all of you who have made time to join us tonight as we have an opportunity to talk with brad meltzer and i will introduce him in just a moment. At first many of you on the line and on the crowd castor tonight, it is my 52nd birthday so im honored to spend a little time with many of you friends and new friends celebrating my 52nd. Abraham lincoln as he was traveling to washington to be inaugurated was also 52, so i feel theres a bit of a personal and cosmic connection. I have been a love of lincoln since i was eight and travel to springfield with my family for a family vacation. And since that time i have done Everything Possible, consumed Everything Possible related to lincoln, and tonight is the different somewhat to thank brad personally for bringing us the conspiracy. Most important what you think our partners at books and books, the Miami Book Fair and culture crusaders and are chambers proud parkers will. Weve been part of this community for the last 95 years, and right now were very much engaged in working on our belief, reimagination, reopening and Recovery Plan for coral gables. Mitchell, christina, the team and others are actively engaged in our Business Recovery so stay tuned for more on that as we get ready to reopen and a careful, thoughtful, and healthy way. Most importantly even in a remote way we hope you will continue to support small businesses, local restaurants, local retailers, like books and books and take a vacation this summer and support all of our hotel partners. As you from mitchell, a great introduction to brad can you bring them on the and remind him he will give us a few comments about the lincoln conspiracy and ill be back to ask questions. You as an audience are encouraged to ask a question and you could add that in the chat at the bottom lefthand of this crowd castor latest film is my pleasure. The books and books and the Coral Gables Chamber of commerce welcome brad meltzer. O, meltzer, youve done it again. I mean, i would rebut a books. Let me show you the funniest part of all this come about due chapter helping too. You cant make this up. 69, upside down both ways. Dont think of it as the dirty way, i know what youre thinkg but it did open to 69. What can i possibly say . There is no known to your place to a friday night than where we are right now. We could be doing, well, not much of anything in the world but nothing is nerdier at fighting the bookstore and this is the bookstore us for some concern. I personally would not be anywhere but here, thank you. Thank you for showing me your as nerdy as myself, and it is proof that i can tell you youre not alone. I know it feels like this. Where always enter weird huddled down that just know that you are out there means a lot to me. And i hope you feel that mark is our hero tonight spin his 52nd birthday. He saw all of your nerdiness, he said Abraham Lincoln was the same page. He may win on that but thank you for joining us here tonight, especially because you had to pay to be a tonight. I know let me tell you why, its awesome. Because were doing one like this next week another one in atlanta and dallas they are doing, but they all get the sign books they get are going to be the bookplates that will be stuck in the thing. Im glad we did it. You are the only people in the whole country who will have an actual signed copy of this because its going to come to my house on sunday and im going to write in it to wherever you want me to write you are just decided, you will have the only one. Usually i signed all across the country. Not this time. Why . Acus our favorite bookstore is always books and books, baby. This is it. I wear the shirt all the time. They gave it to me free and they thought thats nice, i wear al the time. So thank you and its my way of saying christina and mitchell, i love you. I love everyone at books and books. I have been here every single book i have done, every single one, and this is no exception. I thought we would somehow miss it on this move or even the virus could not keep us way. Thank you to books and books. Thank you to mark for being the host with the most. Mark is not just a study, and basically, lively and funny person, not because i loved them when i made it always years ago when we hit it off but also because we want this to be different. We dont want this to be this standard event, you paid good money for this here we will get you the book but we wanted to be a special event. I i brought a couple surprises there i dont care what other event i will do they will not see what i show you tonight, i promise you. I had i have no when is going uo im spiteful anyone who does it for free, they are not getting what you again right now, period some very happy about that. Where are we going to go . Lets talk frequently about the lincoln conspiracy. Because at this point we all know the John Wilkes Booth story. Story. We know how he ended Abraham Lincoln slice and his presidency. This is of course the first secret plot to kill Abraham Lincoln is a total. Of his presidency truly before begins. Why does it happen . When every lincoln is going to raise his right in and become the 16th president of the United States, the only way he can do that is he must take a train. Just to go from his home in springfield and then he would go to washington, d. C. He us to go to washington, d. C. , and the only way to get from illinois to d. C. Is you got to go in any train the matter which one to take you have to go through baltimore. In the at the time marilyn was a slave state. The plot of the book is very simple. I secret society is planning to kill Abraham Lincoln and ambush in when he comes to baltimore and that is presidency before ever is. Thats the setup. But what i think is really interesting is the action. Just where it begins. We open on this train and is speeding to the middle of the night and on this train there is lots of passengers more focus on that are four on there. One of them is a businessman two missus bent i should say and then theres a woman and then shes got invalid brother whos kind of hunched over. None of them are who they say they are. Because one of the businessman is pinkerton of the Pinkerton Detective agency and will talk about him. The woman is kate warren, americas first female private eye and she is amazing. We will talk about her. Her socalled brother is not her brother. Hes not an invalid. Thats Abraham Lincoln and is wearing a disguise. They putting in disguise, gave him a code date at a love the fact that going on this train speeding in the middle of night to avoid the secret Society Planning to kill him. Either way i just ruined chapel of chapter of the book. You dont have to read chapter one. I just said for you. I just ruined chapter one for you but thats how the book opens. We open on that. Josh mensch who is my brother a you you will see his name is on the cover this book, when you you meet someone in josh mensch, you got to work with him. Those of you laughing and didnt that joke right now, that joke doesnt work in alabama as was its working in south florida. In boca raton that joke kills. But josh mensch is my cowriter. I met him and loved him and weve been working on weve done two macbooks together. Josh and i the reason we love working together is we love, ill say this way. You got to find the best parts. How do you find the best parts to me the best part its like the Supreme Court definition of pornography. Which is, you know it when you see it. To me we always had come josh and i had the same best part p. My favorite scene in the book is when Abraham Lincoln its pilot y told theres a secret plot to kill him. What happens is lincoln is in a hotel room and hes exhausted, been shaking hands all day, and they say theres a plot. The coming for you. We know have this big event today, tomorrow. Skip the event, each of the early to save her life. Lincoln is like im missing my event in philadelphia. Theyre like whats in philly . Heres what lincoln is doing in philly. Every lincoln is in philadelphia because he is there to honor, raise big flag in honor one of his heroes amendment George Washington. And no weight is Abraham Lincoln missing George Washington. Sure enough the next Abraham Lincoln goes to philadelphia risking his own life to be there, raises the flag at independence hall, and the independence hall, its with a bechtler was signed. Hes talked about the declaration, however you want an deserves an equal chance and he says, josh found, this is actual quote lincoln says in his speech that day. He says, if we cant save the country without that principle, and Abraham Lincoln pauses and he says, i was about to say that i would rather be assassinated on the spot than surrender. And i love the fact that Abraham Lincoln says those words right, that id rather be a suspect on the spot knowing full well that theres a plot to kill them at that moment. Its not a throwaway line. He means it and he pauses and it hits him. With an task about that moment is soon after that moment happened is when they whisk Abraham Lincoln out of there. Im not going to spoil the ending. Oust bullet and say we know he lives. Thats that really a spoiler but you will see they get it out of there. Youll see the code in the given and is one my favorite parts of the book and those are the moments we love. When we were debating doing this book, what was very important to us is if titillating for me to come when herod say we found the secret plot to kill every lincoln even though theres been books written about it but here we will tell you about it. What was our more interesting to josh and i because we have plenty of stories we could have done. With all the general plots were looking at the recent we picked this one is because the context of when it was happening. You can see the civil war unfolding in front of us and you can see that the country, whatever side you are on you hate the other side and you think that the other side are horrible, awful people. Does that sound familiar to you . That is exactly where we are right now. What i love about the book, what josh and i come every sigar page wanted to get through to anyone who reads it is that this is that your sister of Abraham Lincoln and the plot to kill them but its a story of what great leaders actually do in that situation. Thats a witness. Abraham lincoln doesnt come in and start killing everyone in beating everyone with a fist. Anyone he meets them with an open hand, open heart, open might, far more powerful than a fist. He is so hated at the time, so hated that i think in ten states that it put Abraham Lincoln on the ballot because they hate him so much. They didnt even vote for in the states. They said i dont care if hes a rightful nominee. He so hated that three days after his election, three days is as long as they get in, South Carolina is a revolution. They will secede from the union. The hate him so much that theyre burning him in effigy. Its all disaster. And by the way, theyre plotting to kill him and murdered him. Abraham lincoln knows it and he rides into d. C. We can have after this plot is foiled and he gets to d. C. At a a time when issues hate everyone back. You know what he says in his inaugural address . He he said we should not be enemies. We should be friends. We should defer to the better angels of our nature. I this weekend went on fox news, my friends on fox news, ive been on npr with my friends at npr. You know anyone says to me before and in my year now when im waiting to go on . One thing that both sides agree on is the way we talked talk th other right now is disgusting. Its disgusting. We are doing it wrong. We are doing it wrong. We need to do better. We need to defer to the better angels of our nature. Ill be give one last thought and then mark and i will answer any questions you have and we will talk about new things as well but i think one of the things thats important as a put together this book is you get to see we all know Abraham Lincoln at the end of the story. We know at the emancipation proclamation, we know he went to the civil war. He is saint lincoln almost by the time and, of course, when he takes a bullet in the head, becomes even more so. What i love about this story, this is Abraham Lincoln at the beginning of the story. Hes making mistakes. Youll see in doubt himself. When he gets the nomination to be president , do you know what hes doing . Hes in an alleyway playing handball. Hes just a guy, and 11 for that for that. I love that ecosystem one of last things he does is he goes to see, he wants to go to see his fathers great and he wants to see his stepmother. He causes his stepmother. Hes such a big guy that he walks into her house and she sitting in a little rocking chair, the school a woman in this rocking chair and use of big he physically puts his arms around the rocking chair and the woman in it and hugs the both because he so much more massive. I love the image. She starts crying. He supposedly starts crying in the count and she then says we need ways, i am worried that hes going to be assassinated. Im worried im never going to see him again. Shes absolutely right. But when you see Abraham Lincoln as a human being, i will always say it, and it is to just a core belief of mine, we write up in america we build this great statues to her heroes and then we worship at the feet and we do them a huge disservice. Because we are treating them like they are not human beings anymore. We need to remember they were. In one you look up to whether it was Abraham Lincoln, rosa parks, George Washington have moments where they were scared and terrified. They did know if they could go on. They continue to march forward. I hope that this book provides you proof when you see Abraham Lincoln that is not the perfect person who does everything. They lose the inaugural address here so disorganized. Literally, someone misplaces it. But its proof that Abraham Lincoln like all of us, we are all terrified and we are brave and we are scared and we are amazing. Some of us all in the same day. Some of us all in the same few minutes especially these days. Look around as a sit in all of our apartments and houses wherever you are. I dont think thats a bad thing. I think its a beautiful thing. Its proof we are all human. That is a very quick overall arcing id of the book. We will bring on mr. Barr will magically appear. Watch this. There he is well done, my friend, and thanks for the invitation to join you back again. I also opened your book to chapter 69 so speed is see, we promise that every book comes with 69. Thats a promise of making her today just for books and books customers. That and the signature, thank you very much. Opera can have corporate wiki something a little bit better. I love all of you dirty minded people were like, you have your thoughts, enjoy, its friday night. Have a drink, enjoy. You and i met several years ago so thank you for not only what you do daytoday as as a professional also what you do our community. We want to celebrate all of those heroes and so thank you very much. We had a fun night that night and i began our friendship. Also want to commend you on your amazing covid19 hairdo. Looking quite lovely. Theres a hashtag out there called hair for decades. I doubt it. I have it. I hear people talk but think of the most interested in getting open up barbershops and hair salons. I dont have a problem with either of those things. I want to thank you as well for our conversation yesterday, the reality is that as we pivoted programs like this and formats like this can folks like you are essential because your great sport which are also very flexible. We really appreciate the opportunity to be together tonight. Thank you. I do that. A couple of questions. The first and as i think, i seen a couple in the chat as well, so for those of you are interested in asking questions, throw those in and well get to them. Abraham lincoln has been written about almost as much in history as jesus christ and Napoleon Bonaparte. Tell me about the desire to write about him for first of all, i just want to call them Napoleon Bona how did they come up with that . I lincoln . We had done the Washington Book. We done the first conspiracy, and i think if im being honest were publicly lability as already played when you do your second book finishes is you have to play top him. How do you top George Washington . I think for us our member come on the forget the conversation josh and i were talking about it recently. It had less to do with lincoln and more to do with the civil war. But for us i just dont like, look around, look who we are. We felt like were in a really bad spot right now in our culture. We are in a really bad space, and a think it would be silly to just think like you can do things in a vacuum right now. I feel all books the best books you read are not books that you love because they take you into the about another character, even if you loved the character what youre looking for is a story about yourself. The stories you love most tell you something about yourself. Great stories are mirrors and great heroes are mirrors, and even lincoln is certainly a for all of us. Its what we aspire to be. Hes the best of us. We see him as one of the best of us. I think for us the big picture, a wasnt oddly Abraham Lincoln because we knew Abraham Lincoln can fill the seats but this was we found another story about him later but it was the idea of the civil war is coming and what do you do with it. That was the real core of that for us. So its 1861. The book opens and theres a very disturbing story about a beating in the senate by a member of congress. You alluded to this in some of your early remarks about this moment in time and people come together or being more partisan. But can you imagine that this gentleman literally beaten to death and there are no consequences for. In some ways we do that with our words these days and are accusations, but they tell you this country was at that boiling point. Yeah, lets talk about the story. One of the things youll see early in the book, prior to lincoln be elected, a few years before, is the story of charles sumner, senator charles some is on the senate floor in washington, d. C. And he had given this great speech about why we should in slavery. I forget if it was the next day or a few days later a sitting congressman walks into the senate floor, and hes got a walking stick, i would stick with the metal tip on it. He walks over to sumner, to the center and says senator, you have been u of ruin the reputation of one of my relatives. I guess sumner mentioned in the speech any pics of the king and he starts hitting some do with it again and again and again and again and again, and he keeps going and he is bloodied. They are going again and again and again, like a baseball bat. This is a sitting congressman physically beating a United States senator on the floor of the senate. You would think we hate each other now, like, you need to it almost sounds naive but ill say it, is i think we were caught offguard. We know its the civil war, brother against brother. I dont think either of us really appreciated the level of being them. Its one thing not to like someone. Its another to write someone. Its another to want them dead. It was pretty staggering youll see in the reports of the book we really wanted to paint the picture to give your perspective. Thats a great tech officer when you brought the book together. He talked about josh and work he did with you and the research, but i think npr described pace the book is relentless. I liken this to the idea of being on a locomotive, that train that is taking lincoln from springfield to d. C. , everything is frenetic but more interestingly enough is there really running multiple storylines and their converging. You dont necessarily know whats going to happen. Listen, i thought i knew everything about Abraham Lincoln. I knew that been applied of the things you discovered uncovered and wrote about i did not know about. I love that we convinced you that even lives at we fooled you on all levels. Listen, theres this hitchcock put a use to keep on my computer for years when it started writing thrillers and he was, going to pray and to paraphrase, but its not the bank that scares you. Its the anticipation of it. With this we know Abraham Lincoln list. We know hes not going to die the whole book so how do you maintain the suspense you will see, and what josh and i had to do, or those of you who dont know, josh was executive producer on lost history. We did all this amazing work with him and he was the best writer and researcher we had our staff, by far. Awardwinning documentary i the idea of the Washington Book and i went to him and the publisher was sitting all these writers who were kind of regular, normal history writers. I read their books and unlike the research is good but its boring. Im bored. I dont care. Its not alive. I went to josh and the publisher said josh . Yes. Josh said to me i never knew about before. Ive seen your writing. Well be able to write the book. We can do together. The first time we worked together on the Washington Book, he wrote everything ontologically in the first draft and then i did the second half and he does one after that. I use to the first and work on the first wiki pages and go from there. I said no, no, this is all in the wrong order. I took the entire book and took it apart and put it back together was like this is a cliffhanger. This goes you. This is foreshadowing. I literally was moving all the pieces, and then he was like now its scary. Im like, i know. Then i added and rewrote all the cliffhangers. Obviously i was in greece is, hes research, im doing writing come hes inviting the we figured at the way we work together. By the time we got to this book had that was before and now knew what to look for. When we find those moments like that on the train or sumner on the senate floor, like, this is going to be beautiful because it really sets up the tension that is coming. So thats a question that was put in the chat to talk about how you might with a partner. How much time and i think you covered a little bit of that but maybe a deeper dive. What role [inaudible] we rely come and what its like where did you research . Theres this thing called libraries. They have libraries. When you speak to get by the way, they are like im like does anyone know what a library is good for . What can you get at a library . There like you can get books. But why is libra good . Finally, link it will be like because they are free. They are free. Kids dont even know. Everywhere from the library of congress, from the National Archives, from all these different places and yes online, it was the resource to find some of the most amazing things. Because thats when we do this book its easy to probably find some things. You can see some things that are there but obviously the fun to me is of course always making sure that you bring the primary sources in. What was vital to us were always getting the primary sources. So the primary sources for us was vital to get the pink curtains. The Pinkerton Square amazing. We had up to the pinkerton in e period are we still on the . Are we good . Having a low back and forth. There you are. All say that again cases lost. So the vital thing for us are the primary sources. And one of best primary sources in the book with a pinkerton diaries. Alan pinkerton, amazing guy who want to make his way to chicago wants to fight crime, gets the bug for fighting crime. One of the things he wants to do is he thinks the cops in chicago are good. Hes like they are crept so he hangs out his own shingle. The shingle is this big giant sign with a big giant eyeball this has we never sleep. Whether its true or not, but basically people say thats with the get the word private eye from, from the Alan Pinkerton and the Pinkerton National detective agency. Heres the part i love. Alan pinkerton one day a 20 secure woman walks into his office and her date is kate warren. 26yearold, no kids but she has to support her family. She sees an ad in the newspaper for private eye and she walks inside of what the job as a private eye. Alan pickard is like should you be the secretary . Know at the time is hiring a woman to be in Law Enforcement much less to be a private eye. Kate warren is not taking his crap and says, you know what . Men talk to me and say things that they dont say to the a brag to me and they say things they shouldnt be saying because you want to impress me as a woman. Alan pinkerton, to his credit, realizes in that moment, you know what, men are going to say things to that they are never going to say to me. Because our pinkerton greatest asset, which has as investigator is he infiltrates thats what he does. He will infiltrate. He takes kate warren and puts her of with all the women and all the wives in the knights of the golder circle, the secret society thats tied to kill lincoln. He says, you go in the bar and simpson into baltimore says you go in the bar and just say i hate Abraham Lincoln and boy, do i wish slavery lasted forever. Youll make friends come you say that people say hey, you can you be my friend. Why dont you come hang in our secret society . It seems obvious, its a trap but thats they didnt watch the episodes of law and order. Im with us, join the club. So Alan Pinkerton is like a termite. Termites, they come and eat the foundation, they eat the big giant support columns and the whole building crumbles. And that his power. I love the fact that we get to see who look at the primary sources Alan Pinkerton was a meticulous keeper of a diary. He made sure all of his detectives kept contemporaneous accounts of everything they did on every day. When you look at why, when did these people work, they want to know who your sources, where was everybody. It became for us a treasure trove of trying to put the giant puzzle together. There seems to be an expectation that they put together self but his relationship with kate by the time 1851 rolls around, around, he has tremendous faith and trust in her and really shes a key player including being on the train that i as you talked about to bring president lincoln through baltimore and into washington, d. C. And that is not only dangerous, but again never would typically see a woman in that role, and so to his great credit entrust Abraham Lincoln to her. Heres the code name. You dress him up and she puts on the great discouragements in the book and she becomes a footnote to history. Not to me. Not to me. She is the hero. I am fully convinced kate warren underdressed had like a magic lasso. She was wonderful woman wonder woman. Shes perfect. You talk about pinkerton but at the end of the book, i think you do a yeomans task of trying to rehabilitate all of it of his reputation. Obviously later in his life and he seemed to be about 150 because he was married, remarried, give consuming tragedies but there was some writings and accusations that he was on the up and up but i think you did great job of saint listen, we looked at all of the primary sources and this is where we saw him. Its very important to us when you read the book. Youll see theres one account of a secret society. I love the scene, but you see the secret society, they meet in this dark candlelit room and they slowly try to figure out whos going to shoot Abraham Lincoln. Whos going to get the one who pulls the trigger quirks that all line up and their drawing straws. Mitch draws one and brad draws one and mark draws what and whereas the short straw will kill Abraham Lincoln. I dont want to ruin the scene but you will see that come lets just say theres not just one short straw. They want a backup plan. Its fun to watch the play but we look at the count of it, theres only one person who actually can verify that this happened. We say, listen, we can verify this one, this is who its from. Take it for what it is. We dont know the answer. We will say we dont know and we kind of doubt this, or we looked into this and heres i hate when historians, we had a review last time, major reviews the latest radio said i told them that this is exactly happen and happen this way. Something in the book with a tiny detail but he took us to task task force because of this reason it could be this way with us with. It can be verified. Verify. He said i know it was. Thats just reckless and its wrong. Like nobody knows it was because no one was there except this one person. I think for me, i think historians for centuries want to tell you heres the way it was. I will now present the truth to you. And to me as we all know, truth can be many things to many people. We over and over in the book say listen, station in the end, we saw this and we saw this, we dont know how to square the circle will give you all this evidence. We think it this way but we want you to know this is an opinion. All the rest are facts. I hope readers really appreciate that. To baltimore, maryland, is yet another character in this book and i learned an awful lot about the secret society, the secessionist groups and all types of other factions, militias. Seemed like the wild west and yet it was the date that never end up seceding from the union. The governor stayed true but they are an important backdrop. Everything seems to emanate an outflow from baltimore. I wonder how baltimore knows this history or learning its hit you because of you and josh . I did an interview in baltimore. Baltimore, yesterday on tuesday, and its interesting because you think they would know. This was the most famous story in the world at that point. In america certainly. You could see the newspapers come you can see the writings about it. As we were talking up to ask why do i not know this story . I did know this story. Youre not alone. Why do not know this story . This is the most famous story. Guess what happens basically a week later. The civil war explodes and then four years later Abraham Lincoln gets a bullet in his head. This becomes a get on a footnote that gets lost. Listen, baltimore, they are not proud of this story. This is a black eye on baltimore. You think baltimore and bad press last year. Go kill Abraham Lincoln and generally bad press. I love the fact that baltimore is in fact, were supposed to anything in baltimore. Its not a smart idea . Do i feel safe there . Likely im safe to review. They are like brad, these come by train. Right. Why do you want me getting off one training going to the other . Wait a minute. Thats the weirdest thing that they literally have horses draw the train across the town. Yeah, lets talk about that. Let me take how the plot really worked. Abraham lincoln when you come through, now we take amtrak we can go to boston and then take it to new york, philly, d. C. Youre on amtrak. But the way it worked back then is different, wealthy companies and usually magnates with on a section of the country. You on this part of northeast, you have the philadelphia area. Our main guy, right, youll see in the book, he owns this section right in baltimore. Whats amazing is which and when you coming you got to get off the train in baltimore and you have to walk a mile or take a horse drawn carriage or the horses will pull your car, but you must come the train track in spirit you move over here and the train goes this windows washington d. C. And that southcom goes to d. C. By the way i just had stopped and went like this. Thats my new south. That was the plan. The plan was Abraham Lincoln will get off this train and when he does, and he walks or take source or anything, thats the kill zone. Why do they know what is . Theres no secret service back into security. They were publishing not only that but they were publishing Abraham Lincolns train schedule, who he was meeting, when he was meeting i do it in the newspaper everyday. This is great. Everyone will come meet him not realizing like maybe we shouldnt fill all of his enemies who hate them exactly where its to be. Thats why the plot works the way it does. You couldnt get to d. C. On a train without going through baltimore. There was no is and our butts about it. Think about president lincoln. He probably was in terms of president s presecret service, on so many plots. And yet he was a guy who would rise in the white house out to the old soldiers home every weekend by himself, and a sitting duck if you will. So when you detail that you could feel the tension like no, mr. President , you have to know thats not a good idea. And get he was very much about, you know, he was a connecting guy. One of my favorite little details, i have told the story anywhere, with a strip grace the bill. Talking with the letter and the things. Theres an 11yearold girl named grace and grace before lincoln while his run for president rights says some of my prose will vote for you somewhat but lincoln is clean sheet of time and she said i think people would like you more, you would do better if you grew a beard. He starts come he writes back to her. Thank you, grace. And then he starts growing a beard. To this day people like daily growth of beard because of her or not . You see when his train is going from illinois and coming to baltimore and coming to d. C. , grace, she comes to see him and hes excited because its like, i know sounds crazy but he remembers her and like grace, come here. She comes with flowers and coasting at the train station. The first thing he says to her is grace, this is the beard i could because of you. I love that an 11 euros girl is responsible for the most famous beard in history. Ive told no one this but when its at the National Archives maybe a year and half ago or two years ago, they knew i was working on the book and it brought up her letter. They actually have a real letter. It is not open to the public. You cant see it but they know my obsession and they showed me the letter. And get the grace letter and youll be the king or queen of history that day. We are here for the beard letter. I am with you. I some questions in the chat and will get to those in just a minute. One of the late things that lincoln dealt with his loss, can you tell a story about him going to see his mother nancy, it was is that mother, he lost his mother and he lost his sister in childbirth that 18 and his father had passed and he lost two sons. And a lot of people refer to it, many believe that he was suffering from depression. It wasnt treated at that time, it was not known at that time, he had a lot of loss around him which some would say led to his open heart and his ability to listen to people the way that he wrote, the way that he connected, your thoughts on that . It is noise interesting, i obviously like you love consuming anything that gives me insight to lincoln because i feel like if i understand that i can be him, i dont mean being present or to be a better person. How do we get to be someone that we hold in high regard is that. I think for me, thats the causation of his kindness, maybe, theres lots of people who lose and have crappy things happen to them over and over and they become really bitter about the world. A certain believe in a sense of depression he dreamed about his own death, he had a vision and a mere wear half his face is messed up and half of it in lincoln says it means im going to be assassinated and die in my first term in office. He is obviously wrong about the date but hes dead right about the ending of the story. That is a pretty dark thought taken with you as you enter the presidency and i think, the reason youll see a lot of stories in the book about lincolns childhood and not because i want to play on chair lloyd, you see these stories where a baby bird falls from a tree and riding with his friends on horseback, and the like why are you stopping to put a baby bird back in the tree. Abraham lincoln is like if i dont help the bird im not going to be able to stop thinking about it. And that is a sign of a nice person. Character is what you do when no one is watching. And what do you think is important when it does not matter. Hes not doing that because he is running for office or because you need something from anyone, hes making everyone late but hes like i have to do that right thing. I dont care for ten years old or 52 years old, sometimes its hard to do the right thing, but someone has to. And for me and they have to give him the level of empathy and you see he writes the following troops any rights the families, you see the letters in the book that he is writing where youre like, he writes to one is a family that loses multiple children and he says to the family, i buried a lot of family members, this is what makes me feel a little better and now i want to share that with you. That is not a president writing, that is someone who is a good human being. Causation is the heart of question, i think he has something within him that is a level of empathy and maybe your nature, i feel like hes doing these deeds long before everybody dies on him. He is still being that person that he was. I personally believe in this is my personal believe, as you get older, you just become a more accented version of who you are, if youre a jerk youll be more of a jerk if youre impatient youre more impatient, look at anyone on their deathbed and they are who they are to the extreme, we become characters truth of ourselves, i watch my parents at the end of their lives, my mother who never had a bad wish, she was on her deathbed, i said mom how are you doing, it came out as a dumb question and she was on her deathbed. That would not be my answer without tissue was, she becomes even more extreme and my father as well, thats my lincoln armchair. I think its pretty darn good. I will give you three quick names and i want three rapid responses. William stewart . Super awesome, senator, secretary of state, surprise hes not bitter that he lost. Very nice, you reference arrivals that have been so flushed out, how about my favorite name in the entire book. Let me guess it, senate bill. How about President Senate bill. That the best name in the whole book, there is no question. Back then you cannot pick your Vice President , it was picked for you at the convention, Abraham Lincoln Vice President in his first term was senate bill hamlin who i found out is the avengers fight in the next avengers movie. He, if we have listen, you cannot help but ask will happen Abraham Lincoln if he dies. As president , or whoever takes over because someone else dies, are they better, do they rise better to the occasion, do they give us something thats more inspiring, maybe. Maybe not. There is not anybody that knows, anybody that tells you is just a theory. Heres what i know, the story of Abraham Lincoln is this kid who comes from nothing who teaches himself to read and write with sticks in the dirt and rises to the highest office of land and is not just the story of the 16th president. That is a story of the American Dream itself. And i think beyond the emancipation proclamation, and what happens into the decision and the permutation in just the right way for it to work out the way does and beyond all that, i think the difference on the american psyche would be profound. That is what i believe. He has the greatest mustache in the whole book, this is a book with great mustaches. We promise you that, you get a great mustache on every character. He is a leader of the night of the Golden Circle in the offshoot of it, the secret society, is supposed to be a short answer. A truly mustache. Inessential figure, not only in baltimore but in terms of the entire plot. He is a bad guy, he is a truly mustache and the only thing is the cat in the laser shark. If he has that hes everything we need him to be. Currently many of us i have a couple questions for you, this is the second president ial conspiracy that you have done, are there other president s that youre looking into writing about, kennedy. Im glad were getting into questions from everyone watching. His name is keith and he says hello from canada. Two questions, we have done, can i tell you by the way when they originally did the cover, they wanted it to be big on the side insured on the side so it would be the opposite of this. Why would you do that, make them look the same so we had to switch it so my Graphic Design up session was doing things is same and being ocd about it. Washington we are doing someone else, we are already working on it, i cannot say who but i will tell you because i promise you things and no one else has but in terms of new books, many people have seen this is not the new part, we did these kids books, if youre here i hope you know this but in any case i started writing kids books to give my own kids better heroes to look up to, heroes of kindness and compassion and especially now, i like that, leonardo da vinci, here is the next one, Benjamin Franklin. Im going to show you the one after that, this may be the most important book weve ever done. What i want to show you, you guys paid for the seat, i want to show you this, we have not shown this anywhere but i want to show you the ark for the first time, the publisher after you did not see this. The silence is on and im going to read this to you and im going to read you, ive shown you the cover in the back, and this is the first ever reading of Benjamin Franklin, dont tell him i showed you, he will be so pissed. In my life i worked hard to improve things. Including improving myself. That does not come easy. When you are trying to improve things, there will always be a risk of failure. Do not let it stop you. By learning from failures, you will make progress. New ideas are like lightning, they can appear instantly, striking from nowhere with staggering power. That power is yours, use it wisely and youll change the world. Check it out. Anyway this is the first reading. With the word power. It is my favorite, new ideas are like lightning. That is when we know we cant finish writing the book until that. Let me show you also, dont tell anyone i should do this, in the back of the book wheelies hide like little easter eggs, you can see michael and all these amazing heroes, look who else we put in there, we did a book about lightning, that is marty mcfly, this is historically accurate that they meet Benjamin Franklin and i think all of history of the things to us for for finally getting it right. Dont tell anyone, dont tell anyone you saw that. I want you to have it. I think when we were doing the auction a number of years ago, you are super generous and i think somebody agreed to have their name and one of your books as a character, maybe thats an opportunity for your series to have your caricature. That pager has a Charity Winner in there. On that page. You will see the Little Family and their. We do it now,. We always hide in every single book, the next hero. If you want to know who the next hero is. Before we announce Benjamin Franklin, you bought that book and why is been frequent here, that is life, we put in every single book, we also hide the number 27, superman is hidden in every book and unless youre a lawyer, that is not being guaranteed. But we really help a lot of charities and we do auctions, there really hard. If not they will be pissed at us forever. A couple comments and questions prepeople are disappointed that you did not wear a top hat. Wait wait hold on. Standby ladies and gentlemen. Feel free to spell some questions, we have time for a couple of more. You thought i did not have one did you. We had a few people concerned that you are not in costume. I almost did from the start but then i thought i will save it for the end. There was a lot of debate about the actual style of hat when lincoln wore when he was portraying the brother. Everyone wants to know what his costume was because people started reporting on it loosely, i again, you will see in the book, some people say this, some people say this, we believe its this, i firmly believe what we say he word is exactly what he wore. I believe it too, i cannot get that image out of my head. I appreciate it. A couple of quick questions, will there be a sequel to the escape artist . Yes is the answer, that is what im working on more than anything else. Benjamin franklin and anne frank are being bound and checked, i have been working for so long and im hoping, they say maybe next year but obviously because of the virus that the goal is to put it out to you next year but yes they are coming, the escape artist character are my favorite ever that ive ever worked on and thank you for asking about them because im with them every day, they are living in my brain and they are killing lots of people pray how about the biggest hall moment in your research . I think my favorite was, i love that one where he goes to honor George Washington, although when we havent talked about because theres a lot of good ones. You know what i love, i love his buddy, Abraham Lincoln, he does not have at the time, there is no secret service doing security, he does not start doing Security Work until 1865 but one thing that he does do, they have cops and police at every stop but he basically brings his buddy who is a big giant brain man who carries a bowie knife and guns and to me the equivalent of saying your toughest friend from high school saying come with me, in case we get in a fight. Even Abraham Lincoln does that. The other thing i love the story of Abraham Lincoln son losing the inaugural address. Robert todd comes on board, hes there for the drink and everyone says hes a playboy. He is taken a little leap from harvard, he just wants to meet girls and drink and have a good time and what does the guy do, dad, i lost the oregano address. You had one job. You had one job. [laughter] i love that, it kinda gave you an idea of what you see in other portrayals and he was lincolns only child who lived through maturity. It is there he gets there to watch another president go down its an incredible story. I did not know that. Abraham lincoln belong to any secret societies you found out . Thats a good question. We did not do it because youll see the book in as he sworn in. Im trying to remember hes on the list i dont think hes a freemason, i know theres 14 u. S. President s were freemasons and i dont think hes on the list, thats a good question, you just described the rest of my night. Thank you for that. Significance of the number 27. You know what, you guys are staying the full hour and i want to make sure we do it right. , how do you write a book about the holocaust. What we did as you see a beautiful glowing light and we wanted to be about hope but when she goes into the attic, we just saw like this cannot be a normal book so i told chris that we will shrink every page just the horizontal thin panel in like a leather box the whole thing and as she goes into the attic, the space around her shrinks and as you get to the end of the book and keeps getting smaller and smaller around her and youll see when you get the finished book it is just nobody knows i either so dont tell anyone but its a beautiful old rendition of it. Were keeping a lot of secrets for you,. Anyone who is here i trust you, this is a family, you are a family and i appreciate it, i trust you with it. Dont put it on twitter the person think about putting on twitter. Do you think the conspiracy in the plot to kill the president in 1861 failed, was there an ingredient or confluence of ideas, what do you think. A lot of good fortune comes his way, things work out in ways that you needed to work out for even in the hiring of allan pinkerton. At the end of the day its a good guy bad guy story and the ones in real life. The bad guys had big mouse, its why conspiracies fall apart. In these guys at the end of the day, the real reason falls apart is because they cannot stop bragging about it. They cant stop, theyre so lost in their hatred for this man who they think wants to get rid of slavery, and to be clear that is not how lincoln is elected, he does not want to abolish slavery, he is a containment policy. If young slavery, you keep it, if you dont you keep that in any new states we wont have noon slavery, we will only containment its only like people like Frederick Douglass and great thinkers like that help lincoln into anyone who is a racist like the night of the Golden Circle, they see lincoln as enemy number one and they cannot keep their mouth shut. Thats what it does and to just keep it quiet, they did not speak to his people, maybe he would never find out what happened, maybe they would. But its Pretty Amazing to watch them screw themselves up. What world leader would you like to meet and what would you likely ask them when you meet him or her. Im assuming all have a choice of going to the dead, i only say because were here on the book, people asked me that before. I would probably pick mr. Rogers if i were picking a celebrity or jim hansen, the world leader, i always say to Abraham Lincoln, there is no question, when you do these books and you research your hero theres a huge risk involved, when you tighten the microscope on anybody, famous people or your friends, when you look closely, you start seeing the crooks, you see the crooks in a person and you see the scars and lincoln has them in his entry point and he makes a couple bad decisions to decide that they can pass their own laws to limit freed slaves of the moment that are not necessarily the best choice when you really look back and youre really trying to get people freedom. But my god, everyone falls apart in some way but lincoln is the one who lives up to the height, even when you tighten the microscope, you can find them politically, i dont care about those. When you look at him as a person youre like my gosh over and over, it does the right thing and make the right call, i know its hard to find justice and have us agree on it and what the right thing is. We cannot even debate truth, truth is become a thing that does not exist anymore. But Abraham Lincoln makes me believe it and people again. And thats why we study them again, its not to find out about him but how we can be that way too. I think thats a good spot to end, your comments about a hero living up to the height and living up to what you thought is a great place. A couple of things choose from folks, my friend from childhood, doctor kim says thank you for coming in speaking to leadership florida last summer. Yes we love those guys in florida. In a great idea that in honor of nurses this week and what were going to run the front line with the coronavirus, maybe in florence and nightingale book in your im series. She is on our short list of people, dont tell him i told you, im not supposed to say anything but you may see florence. A list of the characters on the cartoon show that we do on pbs, there is really good ones. By the way, another secret, pbs kids pissed when i say this, do not tell them, Abraham Lincoln is coming on xavier reynolds. It is awesome. He is coming. I think when you say pbs people get pissed. Right, there like the jets and the shark. [laughter] were very upset with you. They are the nicest people in the whole wide world. They really are the nicest. I want to invite him back and he will start a few moments thinking everybody again but what a delight to be with you, Great Questions for audience and thank you for spending a friday night and her birthday together we will do this again. Its one less thing and i need to say thank you to mark who has been a hero and spent his 52nd birthday and for those who do not know, a masterful leader in our community and they want to think and not just for being here but the service that you give to our community it means more than you know any other great sense of humor, one other quick thank you for everyone watching tonight, thank you for sticking around we wanted to do something, heres a halfhour, something that has some depth to it. Most important is the man, i dont know peace here, but mitchell kaplan. Im not hearing the sound of hundreds of people clapping right now. I appreciate it. When you buy a book, where you buy it you vote, i know tonight you bought books, because thats how youre here but continue voting their, continue voting, i know its easy to put something on the computer and click on their site, their local institution and thank you, thank you. If you want to buy more books, any book you buy from me, by sunday, put in the card and i will personalize and do fathers day gifts, birthday things, let me know because the last time that we did this, i signed at my house for seven hours are from 800 books to my house. Period send me love, thank you for joining us on a friday night. Thank you mitch, we love you. Thank you all for watching, this is a remarkable evening and come back for more. Thank you guys, love you brad, love you mark, see you soon, stay safe everybody. You are watching the tv on cspan2, heres some programs to watch out for this holiday weekend, James Patterson talks about his latest book on the kennedy family, and his efforts to assist bookstores affec affey the coronavirus pandemic, magazine molly discusses the life and career of House Speaker nancy pelosi, nick adams founder and president of the foundation for liberty in american greatness, offers thoughts on the similarities between President Trump and winston churchill. Tomorrow its an extra databook tv featuring bestselling thriller writer david, find the complete schedule online at booktv. Org or consult your program guide. The president from public affairs, available now and paperback and ebook. Presents biographies of every president , organized by the ranking by noted historians from best to worst. And features perspectives into the lives of every nations chief executives and leadership styles. Visit our website, cspan. Org thepresident. To learn more about each president and historian, order your copy today wherever books and ebooks are sold. During the Virtual Author Program hosted by book people bookstores in austin, texas Pulitzer Prize winning author Lawrence Wright looks up and mx and how viruses spread. Here is a portion of the program. The effects in the attempt by some terrorist groups to kill as many people as possible, pandemic to a wonderful job of that. There are groups like alqaeda and the japanese colt, they were definitely seeking weapons of mass destruction and they experimented with biological weapons. Their white supremacist groups that are doing the same right now. So yes, terrorism and biowarfare have a common ground. As all those things that you cited, climate change, houston from Hurricane Harvey suffered far more damage than ordinary terrorist can do. But those kinds of things, the problem is similar. The vast destruction of society and the death of a lot of people. Terrorism aspires to that, nature sometimes responds that way to her own behavior. And they are all very similar forms of experience and we have to adjust that pandemics will be coming our way increasingly, the pace is picked up since the turnofthecentury, we had sars, mers, west nile, asian f flu, just one thing after another. Ebola. , all these novel viruses and anyone of them could be a real killer. We have been in some ways for tuna. There will be a bigger challenge in our future here. The hero of the book is somebody who goes around trying to put out these global disease fires in their indeed, as you know a lot of people around the world, most recently a lot of button have wrestled with ebola in congo. I wonder if you see them as heroes in real life . I sure do. I admire these people so much, for one thing, there is a big swath of experts we can talk about, the people in the labs, the ingenuity that is required to understand a virus, like this one that we are facing right now that is so complicated and tricky. But i guess in particular drawn to the epidemiologist who actually goes on the field and says Something Like ebola, brandnew virus that kills people in the most awful ways. And to me its totally terrifying, far more terrifying than going to war for instance, its the idea that there is some presence around you and some germs in the air and Something Like that and you have no idea if your infected until youre sick and healthcare workers are always the first people to get sick. Theyre the ones that are the most frequently, just as in current situations. My admiration is unbounded for those people. To watch the rest of this discussion, visit our website, booktv. Org and search Lawrence Wright for the title of his book, the end of october. Joining us on book tv from detroit, Janet Webster jones and Allison Jones turner. The coowners of booksellers