work with not only textile and needlework collection but furnishing exposition sites at the foundation. right now we are at the governor's palace, would have been the symbol of power and authority for the. crown. it would have represented power to the colonists of virginia. the building was the home of 7 royal governors including alexander spotswood, the first royal governor who took office in 1710 and would have been the home to our first state governors patrick henry and thomas jefferson. the house was a very important part of the design of the town of williamsburg, the town was very orderly, had a very orderly design and the palace would have been part of that design. it was the third largest building in town. it consisted not only of the building we are standing in batch two advance buildings, extensive gardens with falling terraces, a kind now, there was a scullery, laundry, kitchen and even though seller and we know one governor had over 5000, 6000 bottles of wine stored in his seller. the house today is a reconstructed building on the original archaeological site. it was finished and open to the public in 1934 and since that time it has undergone a number of re-furnishings and reinterpretations. today - as if governor dunmore was living here with his family. his wife and six children arrived in virginia in 1774. at the end of that year, lady dunmore gave birth to what daughter they named virginia. unfortunately things went a little sour in relationships with the governor and in june 17, '75 the governor and his family fled the palace in darkness never to return again. today the curators furnish the building, we use primary documents such as inventories taken when the governors died and an inventory would be taken of his personal position, we use letters describing the palace, accounts, also a floor plan that has been drawn by thomas jefferson when he was living here as governor. he had thought of remodeling the palace andrew a very detailed floor plan giving interior walls and staircases and dimensions. the capital moved to richmond, virginia and he never had the opportunity to do that remodeling. governor's palace was not only a symbol of power and authority but also a fashion statement and it was here they could come to see the latest fashions from england, to see the latest forms of silver furniture and printed textiles and so what we are going to do now is give you a tour of the governor's palace with one of our costumed interpreters. welcome. welcome. i imagine you are impressed, most everyone is. that is what this entry hall is for, to impress everyone coming to see the governor and to impress them with virginia, the best of these colonists, don't want you to forget that any time soon. the weapons. i know you are looking at them. all of the men do of course. these, a tradition for our governors here, castles in england, there are weapons on the walls, but these are not the governors personal weapons, these are all part of virginia app store, handed by our militia. that way when the empire is at war they can take these down and use them in virginia's defense, and they have several times actually our governor, lord dunmore, took the weapons off the walls just last year when he went out west, he went to the ohio territory, part of virginia, brought the shawnee indians out there and returned to his house with a few young shawnee warriors who are living here, or waiting for their peace treaty which might get very interesting seeing as -- i am not sure if you have heard the news yet, it would seem that our royal governor, lord dunmore ran out the door in the middle of the night last night. interesting times. you would think he would feel safe here in this house but apparently not. normally he would attend to his business here at the palace, a good bit in this parlor over here. there is a desk here in the parlor, that is for his secretary although apparently he and his wife left last night. i think he has taken some things with him as well. the professional english housekeeper never would have left the pantry door wide open like that. all the valuable things in that pantry, of course the governor would be coming back. why would they leave all of these things behind in here especially all of these, 540 weapons in the display. they are virginia's weapons. i just mean i do not think the governor wants you having them right now considering we do not have an official militia at the moment. our governor dissolved the government here before the new militia bill was signed but now we have something different. our representatives meet without the governor's approval. apparently mister patrick henry made quite the speech in richmond, something about a liberty and death, but now, now we have independent companies. because of that speech virginia has a group of armed men in every county, virginia and england. that may have something to do with the governor leaving town last night. but seeing as they are not here, what do you say we go upstairs and see the private chamber of the family? right this way. here we are, quite a few stairs up to this floor. that is the trouble with high ceilings, so many stairs. but this is the largest bedchamber in the house. it belongs to lady catherine and lady agusta. they are the oldest of the children, they are 15, and 14 years of age, think they left in a hurry last night. you see these young ladies have the large bedchamber because they also take their lessons here in the house. that over there is for their governess. of french governess. we may not like the french but we do like their styles. very important that these young ladies speak french, they will be presented to the royal court, their father has a seat in parliament, but now the governor has taken his entire family off to his majesty's ship, sailing up the york river at the moment which means they are all sharing cabins on a ship, 7 children and the governess and their nursemaid and the servants. home i'm. omar. i am sure they are wishing they had this much room again. lord and lady dunmore's chambers are over this way. we will pass through a guestroom on our way. >> i knew you would like it. lord and lady dunmore share a bedchamber right over here. if you want to take a look. it is not like they will know the difference. yes, they do share. it is not unheard of, you know. they share this entire suite of rooms. lord dunmore has his own dressing room through the next doorway where you see the chamber door, the chair with the hole in it. yes. and then here we have lady dunmore's dressing room, much bigger of course and i am told the latest fashion, to have the curtains match the walls match the furniture. it is all silk. you see the covers are on the chairs right now because it is summertime. to protect the furniture from the just, from the insects, from her children for lady dunmore, she only arrived here last year. it is true, she arrived here to join her husband from england, brought 6 of her children with her. she arrived here in february of 74 and 10 months later a new member of the family, their new baby daughter they have named lady virginia after the call money. she just turned 6 months old. imagined that trip last night, 6 months old. this room here used to be the governor's office. nice big private room for an office. his desk is now in the dining room downstairs so we will see that dining room on our way to the ballroom. exquisite, isn't it? our last governor paid out of his own pocket to update these rooms in the latest style, loved to throw balls, even had these warming machines put into the rooms back here, very ornate, coal burning, you know. not many about here burn coal except for lord dunmore but lord dunmore owns his own coal mine. that does help but it is expected of our governor's to hold these large celebrations, these balls, in honor of their majesty, king george iii, and queen charlotte which our last ball was in january for the queen's birth night so i doubt we will be having a ball in his honor anytime soon, you know what i mean. it is just that everyone is so angry at the governor's these days, you know what happened back in april. a group of british sailors went over to our magazine and made off in the middle of the night with the colony's gunpowder. everyone here certainly outraged and the governor has not given back that powder yet so apparently he ran out in fear of his life. they ran out of the house at 2:00 in the morning through the back door which is right through here in the supper room. much better than that dining room you saw before, better suited to the grand occasion. can only feed a dozen or so people in that dining room. of course dinner is the largest meal of the day usually served 2:00 or 3:00 so your largest meals in the afternoon and you have a light supper in the evening. we serve supper during the ball here, on the china. the china even has the dunmore crest on it. she left he left quite a bit behind in this house and i do not see the furniture. the governor has a large staff here on this property, 20 paid servants, indentured service and 57 slaves on the property. those hired servants have gone off with family but the rest of those servants and slaves are still here. i do not know about you but if i were one of the governor slaves right now and i did not know if he was ever coming back. i might just take the opportunity of the governor being out of town. of the governor does not come back to this house, what are they going to do with the place, all this fine furniture, might want to remember your favorite pieces in the house just in case. and of course there is a garden here as well, i hope you enjoyed seeing the governor's palace. >> today our visitors see a mixture of reduction objects and techniques in the governor's palace, the object and furnishings are based on the latest research our carriers can provide. the palace is one of many exhibition buildings and trade shops available to the modern-day visitor to colonial williamsburg. >> during a recent discussion of a new book, history disrupted, historian jason steinhow are has contributed to our historical knowledge and historical misinformation. here's what he had to say. >> this book is set up in a way so that it introduces an idea and the idea is the history. we will talk about that, like e-commerce and e*trade. i suggest there is the history. it talks about value structures that are in opposition, that underpin traditional practice of history and the values that underpin the web and how those two sets of values clash. in the book, takes you through a series of case studies, with twitter, facebook, instagram, which shows how these values play out and why certain the history that conforms to a set of values and conditions becomes visible in your feeds and why other forms of the history that don't conform to those values, you will never see. at the end the last chapter is does history have a future? the question is will this kind of e history lead to the end of history as we know it? >> you can watch the full program, c-span.org/history, search jason steinhauer or the title of his book, history disrupted. >> follow american history tv on twitter, facebook and youtube for schedule updates to learn what happened this day in history, watch videos and learn more about the people in the events that have shaped the american story. find us, c-span history. >> if you are enjoying american history tv, sign up for our newsletter using the qr code to receive the weekly schedule of upcoming programs like lectures of history, the presidency, and more. sign up for the american history tv newsletter today and watch american history tv every saturday or anytime online, c-span.org/history. .. c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. if it happens here or here, or here, or anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span. powered by cable. >> c-span has unfiltered coverage of the house january 6th committee hearings investigating the attack on the capitol. go to c-span.org/january 6th, our web resource page to watch the latest videos of the hearings, briefings and all of our coverage on the attack and subsequent investigations since january 6, 2021. we will have reaction from members of congress and the white house as well as journalists and authors talking about the investigation. go to c-span.org/january 6th for a fast and easy way to watch when you can't see it live. >> george, it is such a prose to sit down with you for whole hour to talk about your book and who the person you i want to ask is how do you approach your role as a writer? in particular a political writer? >> first thing a political right ought to be aware of is politics is a big part of most people's lives and shouldn't be a big