Time, but glad to be here. Im also chair of the brickle avenue literary society. Turn your cell phones off, please. Thank you all for coming. Lets thank our sponsors. We need to do that in every session, because they are soan important to the success of the fair. So big thanks to knight foundation, ohl, the bachelor foundation, the degroot foundation. As always, thank you to all the friends of the book fair. We hope everybody whos in thisr room will be a friend by next year so you can enjoy all thee activities that are available for friends during the year. We thank our volunteers, we thank the staff of the book fair and super big thanks to miamidade college. [applause] okay, thanks so all. [applause] we have a big crowd, so let me start by introducing our authors introducer. She has been, talk about good examples, a friend of the Miami Book Fair since the very first year. How many of you are founding book fair friends . Anybody else been around as long as marcia . A few. Okay, good. Anyway, she is an alumni of Barnard College and the university of miami school of law. She supports many cultural institutions in town but she she supports many cultural institutes but she says she is most of other a most passionate about the book fair. Ri she says the popularity of the book fair says more about the intellectual climate of miami than any other event. I think we will agree with her. Please welcome marcia dunn who will introduce our next conversationalist. You. Thank you. [applause]e and first going to introduce lee haber who is going to be the questioner. Lee is the book editor for o, the oprah magazine. As we know, oprah selected the underground railroad as one of her books for this year. Lee began her career in Book Publishing is a news of for the washington post. After moving to new york she became a publishing director. Her first love is editing. She worked as an editor with many famous writers, alex walker, steve martin, lou reed, the list goes on. I like to welcome lee haber who is going to be a question or. [applause] Colson Whitehead was hailed as one of them most talented and innovated authors before the publication of the underground railroad. His eighth book. A native new yorker, harvard graduate, professor, macarthur geniusuaofhu award winner, guggm fellow, writing award winner. He is now the recipient of the 2016 National Book award forio fiction. [applause] have hi we are fortunate to have him here. The novel was published to uniform acclaim. Both for his devastating account of the terrible human cost of slavery and for its unique style. Un mr. Whitehead freely misse mixeh surreal with the real and rearranges the chronicle order of events to create a novel of tremendous chilling power. It is a tale of a slave on a plantation in georgia in the 1800s, the opening sentence says it all. The first time caesars approached cora about running north she said no. I urge all of you to discoverrwh what happens when he asks her second time. And now it is my great pleasure to introduce wilson Colson Whitehead and introduce him to our book fair. [applause]e. Hello. Thank you for coming. Thanks for the book fair for having me. I usually spend sunday afternoon semi apartments weeping over my regrets so this is a nice changc of pace. Years ag i first had the idea of the book 16 years ago. I was sitting in my house and came across a reference to the underground railroad and remember how in fourth grade for a few moments until my teacher explained how it actually worked i envisioned an underground network beneath america, like a subway. Of course thats very impractical for many reasons. But on this day 16 years ago that it be a weird premise for a book if the underground railroad was a literal train. So i added the element were each state our character goes through a she runs morse, South Carolina, North Carolina, is a different state of american possibility sort of like culvers travels. Seem like a good idea but i knew if i tried then i wouldve screwed it up. So i decided to wait until i was maybe a better writer, maybe more mature. My no each time i finish a book i look at my notes and think and my reading and each time the answer was no until about two and half years ago. I had sold the book idea to my editor. I was feeling unsure. So i told my wife about the id idea, sometimes in a marriage you have to talk to make conversation to kill silences. Sh she said come i dont want to say that the book youre working on now about a brooklyn writerio going through a midlife crisis is dumb per se, but this other book sounds interesting. So i went to my agents that i worked with three teen years and told her and she said well both ideas sound good, which is not very helpful. And she email me on a sunday which she never does. Usually your if your agent tries to contact you on a sunday you did something wrong. Instead she said i cant stop thinking about other idea. So wednesday was shrink day so i told my shrink and she said what are you, crazy . I mean we both know youre crazy but it sounds like this is what you should be working on. So then my editor who have worked with for a long time until this other idea she just said, giddyup mother blanketyblank which is oldschool publishing talk for thats a good idea and we should pursue it. So i did, and this is the result. Wintry to brief sections, one is early in the book it is the birthday of the oldest slave on the plantation. Whenever you sense the need for release she declares its my birthday and it could be once or twice a year and they have a piece of music in a brief release from the hell of the plantation. Caesar is the slave who eventually convinces cora to run north. When she grew up on the plantation, small farm in virginia and was promised when his owner died that he be set free. E but she left no instruction so he was sold to a much more brutal slave system. Now he is at the rental plantation which is on by james and terrence randall. Then there is a reference to chester, young boy who is ten years old who cora has taken under her wing. The music stopped, the circle bf broke. Sometimes a slave will be lost in a brief eddie of liberation and the slave, some reverie among the thoroughs untangled the mysteries of an earlymorning dream. In the middle of a song on a warm sunday night. Then it comes always the cry, the call to work, the shadow of the master, the reminder that she is only human being for aacs tiny moment across the eternityn of her servitude. The Randall Brothers had emerged from the great house and were among them. The slaves stepped aside making calculations of what distance represented the rightt proportion, the fear and respect. Godfrey, james houseboy held up a lantern. According to old jockey, james favored the mother, stout accountants and terrence took after the father, tall and now face. On the verge of swooping down on prey. In addition to the land they inherited their fathers taylor who arrived once a month in his carriage with the samples of linen and cotton. The brothers were alike as children and continue to do so until manhood. Their white shirts were as clean as they can make them. On the orange glow made them and look like ghost emerging from the dark. Es, jo master james, his good hand over the arms of the chair, dont let us disturb you he said. My brother and i were discussing business and heard the music. I told him, now that is mostfu godawful racket ive ever heard. Drinking wine out of goblets off cut glass looked as if they drained a few bottles come core search for caesars face in the crowd, she did not find him. She hand him a present last time the brothers appeared together in the northern half of the plantation. You did well to remember the different lessons of those occasions. Something always happened when they ventured into the corridor, sooner or later anything coming you cannot predict until it was upon you. James left the daily operations to his man commonly he might grant a tour to a visitor, precarious planter from another of the woods but it was rare. James really addressed his knickers who have been taught to ignore his presence. When terrence appeared in his brothers plantation usually appraised each slave a man a note of which were the mostap stable. Content he graced hardly upon the woman of his own half. I like to taste my ponds he said, prowling the rows of cabins to see what struck his fancy. Siting s he violated the bonds of affection sometimes visiting slaves on the wedding night to show the husband the property proper way to discharge his marital duty. He tasted his plums, broke the skin and left his mark. It was accepted that james was of a different orientation. To hear his valley prideful tele. He can find his erotic energies to specialized rooms. The madam was broadminded and modern. Adept in the trajectories of human desire. Prideful stories were hard toeii believe despite assurances that he received his reports from the staff of a place with whom he had grown close over the years. After all, what kind of white man would willingly submit to the whip. Terrence crassus came in the dirt, and had been his fathers cane. Many remembered despite on the flesh. Ed he said tell me about a nager he had down here to reset the declaration of independence. I cannot bring myself to believe him. T i told him perhaps can show me since everyone is out and about from the sound of it, we will settle it james said. Where is that boy michael . No one said anything. He waved the gun around. He was unfortunate enough to stand close enough. T. Hes cleared his throat. Michael dead master james. Michael was in question and have possess the ability to recite long passages. According to connolly who heard the story his former master was fascinated by the ability ofuthm south america and reasoned if a bird taught them a slave mightbe be taught to remember as well. Merely glancing at the side of his skills told you the nigbor possessed a bigger brain than a bird. L michael had been the side of his masters cleverness. The kind you see, from popular british they went slow over the words, and with truth be told, the master only half understoodi but they made merkels that the tobacco farmer coachman son, the declaration of independence was their masterpiece. Nted michaels ability never amounted to a parlor trick. The discussion turned as it always did to the diminishing faculties of knickers. Pells by the time michael got to randall, some punishment had rattled his senses. He was a mediocre worker, he complained of noises and black spells and in exasperation calmly beat with no brains he had left. It was discouraging that he wasnt intended to survive and achieve its purpose. I should have been told, james said, his displeasure plain. Michaels recitation had been in the novel by version the two o times he trotted the nigger out for guess. Terrence, like the jesus brother, james, you said you need to keep better track of your property. Dont metal. I knew that slaves had rebels but i had no idea they were so extravagant. , thes he just wanted me to look bad. Do not pretend you care what a nigger thinks about you. His glass was anti, he turned to go. Oh, one more song james. These sounds have grown on me. The musicians were forlorn, noblest tambourine were nowhere to be seen. James pressed his lips and gestures and the men started playing. Terrence tapped his cane, his face sank as he took in the crowd. You are not going to dance . I have to insist. You, you, and you. They did not wait for their master signal. The slaves on the northern half try to insinuate themselves into the previous rhythm and put on a show. Putting on a show for master was a familiar scale. The small angles and advantages of the mask. They shook off their fear as they settled into their performance. Oh how they hollered and hopped. Certainly this was the most lively sunday have ever heard. The musicians the most accomplished players they had to offer. Cordray herself into the circle checking the Randall Brothers reaction on every turn like everyone else. They cora found caesars face. He stood in the shadow of the kitchen and his expression flat. Then he withdrew. You. It was terrence. He held his hand before him as if it were covered in some eternal state that only he could see. Ly then cora caught sight of it. The single drop of red wine staining the cuff of his lovely white shirt. Chester, the boy had bumped him. Chester bow before the white man, sorry master. Oked the cane crashed across the shoulder and head again and again. The boy screamed and shrink to the dirt as the blows continued. Terrences arms rose and fell, james looked tired. Wanna drop. The feeling fell over cora. G she had not been under the spell and year said she brought the hatchet down on blakes dog house and said splinters in the air. She had saying men hung from trees, woman carved open to the bones, if he cut off to prevent escape, and hands to cut off to stop theft. She had seen boys and girls younger than this beaten and had done nothing. This night, the feeling settled over her heart again. It grabbed a hold of her and before this late part of her caught up with the human part of her she was bent over the boys body as a shield. She held the cane in her hand like a swamp man handling the snake and saw the ornament at its tip. The silver wolf baird at silver teeth and then the cane was outg of her hand. It came down her head, it crashed out again and again and this time the silver teeth ripped across her eyes and her blood splattered the dirt. So, that is it for that section. I guess you can see how things deteriorate for cora and she decides to take caesar up on his offer. She has a few adventures, misadventures, and ends up later in the book on valentine farm. Where free men and free women, and runaways and fugitives set up their own community. A kind of black utopia. They Work Together and every saturday they have music and they debate the philosophical issues of the day about what its next and black society. And mingo is a conservative voice. And landor addresses valentine farm. Brother manco made some good points, but that does not mean we cannot try. Sometimes a youthful delusion is better than a useless truth. Here is one delusion that we can escape slavery. We cans. Its scars will never fade. When you saw your mothers sold off, your father beaten, your sister just why some boss or master, did you ever think that you would sit here today without chains . Among a new family westmarkrens everything you ever knew told you that freedom was a trick. Yet, here you are, still rerun, tracking by the good full moon to sanctuary. Valentine farm is a delusion. T who told you that the negro deserved a place of refuge . Who told you that you had that right . Every minute of your life suffering has argued otherwise. B for every fact of history it can exist. This place must be a delusion too. Yet, here we are. America was a delusion, the grandest of it all. The white race believes with alt of its heart it is their right to take the land, to kill indians to make war. Enslave their brothers. This nation should not exist. If there is any justice in the world because its foundations are murder, theft, and cruelty. Yet, here we are. Im supposed to answer mingos call for gradual progress, for closing our doors for those in a. Im supposed to answer those who think this place is too close to the greatest influence of slavery and that we should move west. I do not have an answer for you. I do not know what we should do. The word, we. In some ways it what we have in common is the color of our skin. Our ancestors came from all over the african continent, it is quite large. Brother valentine has the maps of the world in his splendid library, you can look for his self. They have different ways of consistent, different countries, spoke hundreds of different languages. And that was brought from the north to the south. We are craftsmen and midwives, and preachers and peddlers. Black hands built the white house. The seat of our nations government. The word, we. We are not want people but many different people. How can one person speak for this great, beautiful race which is not one race but many with a million desires, hopes, and wishes for ourselves and our children. For we are africans in america, something new in the history of this World Without models for what we will become. One co color must suffice. It has brought us here this night, to this discussion, and it will take us to the future. All that we knows we will rise and fall as one. One colored Family Living next door to one white family. We no may not know the way throh the force but we can pick eachrr other up when we fall and we will arise together. When the former residents of valentine farm recalled that residents, when they told grandchildren how they use to live and how came to an end, their voices troubled years later. In philadelphia, san francisco, and the cow towns and ranches where they eventually made aoomn home. Pr they more those who died that day. The air in the room turned quickly, they told their families, quickened by an unseen tower whether they had been born free or in chains, then have at that moment as one. Fo when you look at the northstar decide to run. Perhaps they are on the verge of some new order, on the verge ofn collapsing reason to this order. Of putting all of the lessons of history to bear on the future. Perhaps time, as it will lead to the occasion of gravity that it did not possess and that everything was, as landor insisted, they were diluted. But that did not mean it was true. Thank you. [applause] wow. That is intense. I have read the book a couple of times now. It is a book that i think is going to continue to resonate and change in peoples minds the more they dip into it. The more the political context r changes. I want to congratulate you for winning the National Book award. [applause] you thank you. Colton, that must have been an amazing night for you. Standing on the stage with john lewis. It was inspiring, awesome, and also ready scared. I wasnt really eating or drinking that much. I heard you got really drunk. Later. But four months of when the book came out and it was announced as an opera pick and the reviews were so great. It was the end of a nice run, i would say the most pleasant and four months of my life. Looking back upon it i ready. A little nostalgia. But you will be stopping you two are now getting some rest so that is good. I wanted to ask about process. This book is so many different things, it has a speculative element, its historical, the spec was a part of it is what really fascinates me and gives it its real boldness. S. For example, valentine farm, what inspired you, how did you create that . Whats in history resembled that, if there was something . Like i said before, the befor structural model is a kid to go one person travels. You have every 60 pages the book is being rebooted in a different state. You have South Carolina the north separatist states. Fourteen years ago i wrote down the one state be a black utopia state . So there were black towns and communities and without getting to spoiler, to draw upon black communities in the 19th century. The from a historical model i mixandmatch and move things around. That allowed me to make the book not just about slavery or the underground railroad but about american history, race, different ideas about how race has changed over time. The first section is realistic to the record, when she escapes cora, i started moving things around. My motto is that i wont stick to the facts but i will stick to the truth. By moving things around a plane with history i was allowed to get to the large american truth. I make it kicked out of the historical novelist club. I always knew there is that club. One of the things as a book editor for the magazine i get galleys in advance. It is sometimes difficult to go through everything. But your novel jumped out at me. I think it was because ofou jum something about the first line. Where you are thinking the first light immediately puts you into the mind of cora. And the mind of someone who really cannot imagine is there life off a plantation. Yet, she has enough of that imagination, determination, spirit, to pursue it. Tell can you tell us about how cora evolved . I think at first youre thinking about her attack missed as aman . Man. And first is a man escaping himself free, a man looking to find his wife had been sold off, father looking for a child. It seemed like a good challenge, had a string of male protagonists so mix it up, get out of your comfort zone. And then some of the first narratives i read were by harriet jacobs, who ran away from her master and hid in an attic for seven years until she got passage out of North Carolina. That stayed with me for decades in college. She writes in the early part of her memoir narrative about how once she becomes a woman and hits puberty she ends up in the most horrible stage, she is now prayed through her masters desires. She supposed to pump out babies because its more slaves ande me more money. So the plight of the female slave is different than that of the man and seemed worthy ofofso exploration. So for all of those reasons it made sense. In terms of the structure of the book you think hiding in and add egg and anne frank in an attic so one of the ways i open the discussion of oppression is by making links between white surprising and after all of this the same horrible whitete supre supremes track and coming with the same bad thoughts and ideas. So how can i expand the book about slavery and other oppressions. Definitely the summer it carries over to mexico, certain candidates talk about mexico are muslims but then we get to a larger thing about oppression in america. And then a few moments for cora, one is when she stood up to a bully and the second is what i read where the human part of her supersedes this late part of her. There are millions of slaves, not everyone ran, most didnt run so what is it in someone and im sure if i had enter anyone in this room has it to say imes going to escape and buck thef re system. Its a huge leap of faith. A tremendous act of courage and early on having moments wherear she sets herself apart in aapar, disastrous way from the otherteo slaves which was important to me as a writer to figure her out. Fr i love the line that you cited we talk about how cora this late part of her in the human part of her reconciled and met up. Can you elaborate on that idea little bit. I think if you relate to cora its because shes athink th recognizable person i think you can see yourself numb at who you are, so how are we enslaved in our daily lives are we enslaved by the oppression, the work our families. So all of us are somehow intep p bondage. If we can step up and have this human part of us sometimes step in front the shackled part of us think is a good moment. So thats kinda what happened. I think we are struggling to have that better part of ourselves. You make that analogy, but i do not think any of us in this room can really relate to the legacy of slavery which is something i guess im trying to say has this country really grappled with the legacy of slavery . La has a grappled with racism . , wht and what role do you hope if the answer is no, what role do hope this book will play in helpingi us grapple with it . I think the answer is no. I think we progress as a countrm by degrees, obama was talking about the election and the new yorker i think its truly human nature and were all stumbling forward. So my grandparents would never imagine that their grandchild would be here. A big book fair, published author with a book endorsed by black president s. My parents are surprised that last week im on cspan rightsos now. Its like speculative ficti fiction. It is quite fantastic so we do have a long way to go and its quite unfortunate. Ng i was thinking about john lewis again. At the National Book awards for all of you who are not here, john lewis talked about his just written this trilogy of books and he won a National Book award. D. He got on the stage and he talked about how when he got to the library where his growing up he was not allowed to have a library card because it was whites only. S yet he was encouraged to read. That moment was so profound to me. So, can you just talk a little bit about what that night was like, what the feeling was like and what role do you think arts and literature can play in the country . I dont know. I think i read for myself if i do it right if i do the right sentences and paragraphs. I journey with me. Kill i think i was gonna take a few months off of them this afternoon i had time to kill was downloading maybe i cant take a break. What was it . Im not gonna say. Come on. We will not tell anyone. A very pessimistic. Stic, i i think we are all called in different ways. For me its making books. Other people might be donating money. Other people its other kinds of sm activism. So i think where all called to serve in our own way. As an artist and creating art in a certain way thats a way of contributing. Ive talked to about it before and i know this is not something were prepared to write earlier in your life. For example having children made it feel like a responsibility to comment on the legacy of slavery and so on. Would that be a Fair Assessment . If it is, is it going to be difficult next time to write something that is more frivolous . This book, for me, how many of you have read the book . For me, talk about a wakeup call. This book is a wakeup call. Even if you think youll are a good student of american history. If you think you are well read, feeling what cora feels is anble incredible awakening. So my question is, would it be m difficult to move to something that is just for entertainment value . I think were supposed to write the book at different times. I supposed write this 16 years ago i think there wasicity synchronicity. I have many different aspects of myself, summer novelist, nonfiction and some address different parts of my personality. Some address other parts my personality. I think others have those aspects of her personality. I think theres a place or be in serious and i write all kinds of books as i go through i think there is a place for thriller. Im not sure how many more books i have left. Didnt have like a hundred . Is so depressing. I think we will be in a place where, i hope in the next couple of years where it will be more obvious that may be a thriller or novel or heist book would make sense for me. Yes. I did find myself immersing myself in books even more right now thats possible. S from t just one last question before we turn to questions from the audience. , just that is, tell us a little bit about where do you write . Do you have a writing room . Do you feel like you have toer dedicate a certain time of day . I work at home. I like to leave the house because there are people out there to see people, to have a tv in there and take a weeping nap if i have to. 10 3 is a Good Days Work for me. If i get three pages thats a good day. Uesday. When writing novels i like to keep the momentum going. If i can do a pages a week that seems like a good pace. He maybe monday and tuesday and then wednesday i might have a dentist appointment. As long as im doing 7 9 or a pages a week i feel like im accomplishing something. Even a paragraph closer to the end. Catego it sounds like a painful process. With a few moments of joy. Like this one. Ate you i wanted to congratulate you on being one of those ten favorites of the year. Thank you. [applause] time for questions. Lineup. We are moving toward thee microphone. Import thank you very much for this wonderful book. It was riveting. It was really important, particularly now. Was wondering why you decided to use the mechanism of magical realism after that first chapter which is so real, realistically real. Be so what may be behind that . Why do it just continues something that was a story thatr was realistic . My conception originally is a book where shes going through different parallel countries. Somehow the circle novelist and one day maybe be something that did not occur to me. I cannot bring a nazi germany and late 19th century lynching protocols and a book about 1850. It allowed me to have that play with time. I do put in the circle then. It never occurred to me to play it straight. If i played it straight it would be a different book and interesting to me as a writer. Yearbook was very powerful. My question is, did you know when you started writing the book how the end, particularly her mother would be . Theres a linear story in the book as cora so then maybelle, caesar. But you do women really well. I guess i had the structure in different states it seems like characters were additionally for biographical sections. After the North Carolina sectiot should martin get it . And then to move different sections around. And then i decided i would have mabel and their and i decided that would be the most dramatic. Thank you hello. Ive read your books. My favorite is sag harbor. I was wondering what is the favorite of your books . Thanks for reading all ofrlin those. Fini i like them all but definitely the one i just finished i like the most. It definitely has brought my way of writing together. What if we updated thismation Industrial Age ive had an idea many years ago what if the railroad was real. Vint and then from sag harbor on i was moving into a story, on then here i have a whatif premise, what if is a very strong character. Re it really is a union of two creative strands for me. It seems like a combination of what ive been looking for for a while. But ill be two pages into my next book mlb my favorite book. Thank you. Whatongratulations i was so moved and in pain from what you wrote about. It made me think about nazi germany that theres a very established impact from the holocaust its very accepted. I know there is a post sit slavery psychological reaction. I would be interested in what you think as the generations go on what the psychological impact of all that. It persist in my grandparents generation who must generation is still scarred by colored fountains and white fountains. Even though you could take the sign down you have that primal memory of being tonight a a library card. Or the still present in the stopry and frisk. In the book idealist slate patrollers with the police forcf and slave states and slave narratives the language used to describe is showing their free papers on demand is the same language i would use with the times i have been stopped byht , police, handcuffed and questions for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. So lander the section i readays. Said the cloud never fades. Were still undergoing the traumas in different ways. Thats not slavery but these mechanisms that are in place that echoes slavery. Chaine soon have to be literally enslaved to feel subjugated and enslaved. I think we are moving slowly forward. Hello. My name is joanna. Im a student, currently im writing my own historical fiction. N. I have two questions for you. As a young woman writing about historical fiction set in the 1920s, and interracial romance is very hard and hefty. How was your experience reading the accounts you have a someone of color and how were you able to separate yourself from being emotionally involved . Also, i am 21 a very young, one of the things you, being at your age being so accomplished is very harder people like me to come up. P. My question is, are you ever to young . You ever too young . No. For me i did not think any kind of writer until my 20s. R i try to addition for creative writing workshops in college i was turned down. But that was good training to be a writer. You internalize everybody hates you and you get used to it. So you can toughen up for later on. So my apprenticeship was working for a newspaper in manhattan. Every week you are writing and getting better. I felt as a writer my bill was your 21, books have been important to you, figure out why they are important. Read the authors, see the kind of life you want to be in right to find out what kind of writer you are. In terms of the difficulty of dealing with heavy material, the more research i did the more horrified i got and how bad it was. S. Just imagining ancestors going through they died in georgia or florida, my family line doesnt go back that far. Its lost. So realizing for cora many terrible scenes that open up the book was very daunting. But going back starting with the realistic section and fantasy,pr wanted i wanted to play it straight to pay tribute to my ancestors went through. As much as i can. Rible on so is a terrible thing on the page. And then at 3 00 p. M. A knockout of the New York Times to look for dinner in a star trek and want to go to bed. Oice f thank you for being such a voice for young people of color like me. ,. We have been allowed to go a little bit longer. I ask you to both have short questions. You might have to have a shortae answer. I just want to know how and when you first learned about the underground railroad . I remember in fourth or fifth grade having a moment like its an underground railroad thats crazy and then realizing itsly not literal. The idea of having caesar being of work and woods wasas incredible. When you went the first time to fletchers, am i right . Fletchers house when theyree talking about him escaping and someone, theres one short line in there that i thought was a stroke of genius. I dont know if you personallyou manage that line in the if it was the grace of god or just me the reader, but while hes talking to fletcher and theyre working on this difficult idea of the scape he said, the dog pass to cass. It was incredible because it broke the tension. But at the same time it made you realize while heavy decisions were being made, something the simplest life. I tried to get a good fart in every book. Talki wheres waldo . You want that tension between what theyre talking about and the absurdity of life. In the meantime things going on. I am shaping the readers mood by having moments like that in there. I dont think that is the key line from the book. [laughter] but every sentence is there and doing his job. Thank you. [applause] [applause] you so we thank you so much for coming. It has been a great session. He will be signing books around the corner. You can buy your book and you must if you havent read it. Its fabulous, right outside this room. Thank you very much. If youre staying for the next session you may keep your seat. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] this is book tv on cspan2. Television for serious readers. Heres our primetime lineup. At 6 30 p. M. Eastern, jack davis provides history of the gulf. At 8 00 p. M. , former floater representative on the inter workings of congress. About tvs afterwards at 9 00 p. M. Eastern, the washington times, bill gertz talks about how to in the Information Technology wars. At 10 00 p. M. , major Mary Jennings hagar shares expeences in afghanistan with the international guard. In her efforts to eliminate the Ground Combat exclusion policy. At 11 00 p. M. , we wrap up sunday primetime lineup with graham