Tonight softer did author we watched his kids from guys who could not read that all and to be deeply interested in star wars and mine craft. Is always of pleasure they give me great pleasure to introduce. [applause] this so wonderful to be here. These kinds of places with a Cultural Institution and we remember very well of the dark days of 2011 when there was no bookstore in town. And now fastforward through today the National Endowment for the humanities is under the existential threat and i am taking a page from tucker who was here a couple weeks ago in she was talking about those public conversations the dollar supported by the nih and the southern festival of books efforts would not exist without the nih fellowship by received that the independent scholar back in 2004 which took me on of the practice of law to give me the time in the space to begin work, first book to have a career as a professor here in asheville. To be one more lawyer in the world that is probably something we do need donee need. I have spent five full years working on thunder in the mountain. With the process like that with a marathon and the sprint every day you just have to go back to read to give it your all. The friendship and the conversation and the excitement that we found from so many people here in nashville kdd energy and the inspiration i needed to get this done. I owe so much to the community we have here in asheville but weve think of this book as a National Book but it actually takes place as far away as you can get from asheville and it takes place in the most in the west if you look at that cellular coverage that sliver of nothingness where this takes place and i learned a the hard way when i know this the be a project that would be spending my time on the first call to the vanderbilt allergy contest to sea of they could eject me with something without having a horrible reaction. So thunder in the mountain takes place far away but the history hits close to home. For civil war and reconstruction are a crucial moment for america when the foundation was laid for the battle that we are still fighting over the concourse of liberty and equality in the relationship between race and citizenship the proper size and scope and focus of government, think about it. In 1865 United States was liberty and equality to the world and fought a long and bloody struggle to abolish slavery and the government was devoting itself turning millions of people into citizens. Congress created a new agency to redistribute the land to help those people get paying jobs with the schools and hospitals and orphanages and asylum the first big social Welfare Agency in american history. But 1900 america was following a very different course instead of working to integrate all body of politics that higher purpose of government had shifted all of that policy making energy making the nation free with sifting and sorting of segregation and disenfranchisement was the rule of the south in the informal rule so every two or three days in africanamerican was lynched somewhere in the south. Every two or three days over decades. 1900 it chinese immigrants were banned from the u. S. Places like ellis island were places of exclusion that would guard and secure and maintain the integrity it was defined as the racial and when negative racial purity. And messaging from san juan in to be a colonial subject so from 1865 from 1900 the emancipation to empire it is a stunning turn of the purpose and direction. With our current. There are a lot of lessons we can draw from decades of reconstruction. The struggle and the idea is that this the abroad transformation in the years following reconstruction that is how real people would seek inexperienced that ethical transformation to focus on to important but underappreciated americans and the native american chief named Justice Joseph who is the leader of a small band in the far northeastern oregon. Who was sea . A yankee and west point graduate with piercing blue eyes and a beard that basically would put disease the top to shame. [laughter] grade writing about late 19th century soldiers and settlers there are some anyways to describe a huge beard. Filling now while they were riding. But for me and had big beard. But the turning point in his life in 1857 when god started to speak to him he was 26 years old old, desperately lonely and depressed while battling clouds of mosquitos in the worst most posting a mention. They call it a field for self denial. Well come to tampa. [laughter] as he was about to resign from the army buddies stayed and he fought for bull run. He lost his right arm during the Peninsular Campaign almost to the shoulder reading bill letters of of a challenge before he write his lost his right arm that within a few months he went right back to the front end was one of ash shermans commanders fighting for the union away to serve god of the kingdom on earth. As the civil war was ending he was tasked to have a bold new experiment and the agencys task was to give concrete meaning of meaning and the quality that was pulled they pronounced but not defined in the emancipation proclamation and the 13th and 14th amendment. And then right after the civil war how free is free . And to be undeniably crucial. The histories of reconstruction has cast how word as a flawed hero. To a body those limitations to make the rebel south. And then the yankees stepfather. Ended doesnt sound that great. And constantly to meet men and women along the union army lines in every and counter convince them all the of more of a crucial factor of africanamerican equality. With a white supremacist views. To parse the meaning of a quality. And as they saw them as a unitary quality and with the bookie integrated his church in washington and channeled a tremendous amount and for blackmun and women is established in washington d. C. And 1860s seven . To be a Theological School . And has to be a law school. And then also was named for Howard University but he thought his role in reconstruction was gods providence and was convinced this would be the cause of the rest of his life. So was wondering are my best days . Then this happened. But then it all fell apart. But the bureaus mission was compressed and with the politics of the nation to fundamentally shift. To be a lightning rod for the reconstruction. In the bureau lost all types of credibility that would cause his wife to miscarry the eighth child and howard nearly went broke defending themselves from corruption. So what do you do when your lifes work that to see the meaning is destroyed. Searching for redemption he thought he could find that not by leaving government by protesting what it was turning into tuesday answer. With a familiar dilemma serving one demonstration. After being exonerated to rejoin that active duty military and the department of the of columbia . They assume him and his friends to me n a merciful exile. The break from his life and washington. And as with so many other americans. And then struggled to make sense of the new american order. What did he do to the west . And with the reservation policy was a fantasy every construction connecting them and how with the audit could be done peacefully over a few years. But in the summer of 1877 he led a military campaign and then brief used to leave the territory. And then to go from oregon and idaho and a one tena hot creating Yellowstone National park. And then to cut Straight North through montana threw the buffalo plains trying to reach canada with close to 1400 miles with the roughest terrain in the country. But then early october 1877 just one day away from the border they were starving and freezing and devastated. The surviving leader was the chief nemesis. The my book under the mountain to be translated and as much as this is about how word, but in the current time there is discussion of the nature to move our politicians will list the chief justice he met and negotiated with him. Someone who has emerged as a spokesman in the early 1870s about 30 years old. Outranks by many of their chiefs mendez the blackfoot lakota. It to make an immediate impression if for one thing over 6 feet and towered over how word. And rabbi to think is a little shorter than me. And was strikingly handsome and people negotiated with him with those mesmerizing encounters. You could clutching a hand with strength and immense confidence and also communicated a certain vulnerability. He wrote that joseph had looked into his soul while revealing his motives in turn. And the all manner of romantic description and when joseph argued to be their ancestral territory being has the universal liberty and equality to change america. To even live as other men live. To free to stop and trade where i choose to follow the religion of my fathers and to obey every law. We recognize this the modern american right but howard would immediately recognize the rhetoric the vision of what it means to be an american citizen. That the time they first met howard bill one thing thats surprising with my research is how often does this have argued the case in the five years leading up to the war in 1872 that the valley was put into the Public Domain and they have divided data. And that was a real challenge that we could think that was the and it was just the beginning. To figure out how to move the federal government to change official policy and from that incredible isolated Mountain Valley 2500 miles from washington and when i say isolated Mountain Valley what does that mean . I got this sense of that riding into the valley it was so right knuckle of the drive with a hairpin turns and then you think survive that over the next 14 miles but then trying to move into the valley as they roll along abilities mountains then take apart their wagon climb to the top of the of white and then they put them back together and tied as an anchor to their wagon and rollercoaster their way into the valley this was a remote place from washington d. C. And to make matters more difficult he did not even speak english and the original trade language so what did he do if david feller retreated into the mountains to plead his case that every federal official he could possibly find with going to the regional supervisor then he pressed his claim that joseph was right and convinced many of them and what is amazing is almost immediately that every single meeting that he had just one guy 2500 miles from washington what can i do . But after he began advocating president grant signed executive order reserving a substantial portion of the of what to the pneumatic first band. Given back to indian tribe was no small achievement in the end no congressional delegation led immediately appealed and and ultimately by 1875 that led to the second executive order to open the settlement once again. Bisbee easily could have been the ending of this that an order from the president was just a final statement of what would be the he did not see that second executive order but convinced multiple Army Officers and also asked repeatedly if they were allowed to go washington to meet facetoface and joseph intuitively understood how the american state worked to have many faces with many competing authorities the power in america was but in so many different ways among federal, state, and local government and legislative executives in the judicial branches between civilian and military authorities overlapping agencies that compete with each other all the time. The call that a lab for procedures similar league choreograph america after the civil war was increasingly governed from the executive branch the way that we live now. And to get more adept at in implementing policies policymaking executive lovell with a tremendous amount of discretionary. And then beg the subjects and only someone else to turn to. And then to figure it out. And to live through that kind of governing and saw chief Justice Joseph not as bridges the bidding in the process someone who killed baby covered by approved force. And how this would work with the tribe. To take that conciliatory path and he gave them 30 days with the herds of thousands of forces of cattle and those rivers that were to be crossed and the salmon. These were perverse that you could cross that howard himself described filled with mountain banks. Ill the singleminded but the military victory does not mean redemption for howard unless he was looking for it. But to surrender power word was no longer the hero of his own story. And yen he publicized to discuss the chief that way if largely because of how word because of his statement that he declared will fight no more. But in the end was chief justice and not general howard the was the inspiration to general rights activists. In my book i explore how they met joseph at the surrender and also how the nephew had that story alive. And then to enable the celebrity to out with his own. And to make him a leading figure at the end of the 19th century. But howard agreed that trade deal the abolition when he played his part to copper the west to build the new regime but with those old values to a new power to which changing nation. It is so poignant and soul moving it is easy to overlook. A full package of rights as an american and more specifically trying to define the citizenship in the age of big government. To participate in the contentious struggle until we are heard. If they represent a set of ideas is arguably we need more than ever. Thank you. [applause] i am happy to take questions raise your hand. Can you talk more about the research with those primary sources of the chief justice . That is a great question there are tremendous wealth of manuscripts and in large part because the chief justice became such a celebrity right around with the chief justice died lots of people the most prominent was eight she printer sheep rancher but he sold his farm in ohio move to the valley to be near the native americans but they wound up in exile in northcentral washington and there was of longstanding to be a migrant hops thicker and then and then they opened their friend jane gave me some. [laughter] but the chief justice yellow wolf came through and wound up in camping and they were dying to talk to them during the decades after with a young warrior to get the conflict and to find an interpreter lost his arm in the philippines and the movie when negative in the army and started to tell story and then he realized what america needed was from that point the view and it became the cause of the rest of his life. Over the next 35 years as they could possibly find to put wild west shows as survivors of the war and was very specific and wanted to corroborate that then there are some lawyers in the crowd looking like interrogatories and the questions were so detailed during this battle to mention he added uh dog he doesnt know what happened to the dog. Been the 1940s and if they could throw into the treasure room with the firsthand account with all kinds of discussion of his first wife. Is an amazing archive. Then on the other side and then never saw a sheet of paper or somebody who wrote to constantly and he always wanted to be a writer. Why dont know. Maybe it is fun to join in the French Foreign legion mumbai novels. Then received a letter back that said i have never been more ashamed when i receive that letter from you. From a very strict presbyterian family could not even whistle on the sabbath. If he made enough money to retire from the practice of law and then went from a bohemian poet t. S. Letters and diaries and journals that was incredible to read. And because of joseph there is so much to rightabout. Is selling like he acts exercise that in a fun way. Teeeleven explanation you can offer for that . Not only with their long experience working with africanamericans is in the south but there is is a a moment in the early 1870s to be sent as an on for a and had then at war and much to the chagrin of the Army Commander said today basically an armed. And then to put down the weapon. And then in a very conciliatory way. But on the reservation and ended is puzzling. Even that is hell with should be retained and went to washington and convince the government with the first issues and he made the pitch and the important flashpoint that it could potentially become and then to say i can prevent this. And donna bipartisan basis with a potential hero. And he was chased so much for propriety but will save the u. S. Millions and millions of dollars. And then to set themselves up. So then when joseph refused to think that was the final word the experience was nothing was the word and the transfer epps transcript was something to read. So this is something that howard was so close and then joseph stood in the way. But his reaction in many ways seems reflexive. So you say its the q5 years . In my mind a sea scrambling around the country but it sounds like there may have been too much material so can you find yourself in a position and then tried to write the history of the war and then it to them decades and certainly less of very Good Research assistance so to put that through the discovery in the way that bill moyers to it now it allotted time and a lot of for. Where it bought a needed the Mental Energy was the terrain. You could read of the manuscript but i had never spent much time so going there and spending lot of time there is a wonderful travel guide that is the route you could take with the winnebago or the for by for you are a boulder person then i am. And it is amazing to see the valley and to get the sense of the mountains there are these moments with david described the battle and those that our shooting so how can you actually detect the face of somebody who wish shooting at you . And then go to the battlefields basically the size of this room of those different elevations in you can see everyone who shooting at you so to get a sense that is a deeper than the grand canyon the looks like chanting gentle rolling prairie. And then the earth falls away its other vivid dated reference it is the end of the earth so litmus be the boundary that you cannot get past this. What is amazing sending this to the east these families live their lives going up and down the canyons and away it taught me something that we will see a mountain is a miracle and the flatland is everyday. But you get a sense of what this says stake in the war but amazon almost to the ever averse every day you go up and down and it was flat land the places for you could prosper and relax and come together with other families. Budget traveling man walking were they walked and that was equally important. So you have mentioned it now twice about you wanting to ride a horse . So i should say that i had a very wonderful teacher with a great place to ride enforce and i went to the allergy clinic and they tested me what your mother has been telling you all your life is wrong youre not allergic to forces. [laughter] very convenient but it is the best the dust that irritates your eye is so take clarity and and where the most horrible pair of goggles anyone had ever seen so i was led to a wonderful riding instructor just south of the city. It was neat meat and 15 years of that 15, 11 yearold girls douglas so were impressed with the writing skills and then holding on for dear life but by the end of the summer what i will say it is in this amazing thinking and wanted to ride the somewhere along the trail that this would not just beat me on a horse but i figured yellowstone that would be easier to find for many of other places along the trail i asked the historian but my riding technique i still write like the new york cab driver with one hand on the word but it works. [laughter] what was the sequence of topics . That is a great question. My first book was day history of color lines and all progression from slavery to jim crow. Three multi generational stories but the man and then move to ohio with an unusual bother to send them to be raised by the abolitionist and then ended up working in washington d. C. And then to see if there was correspondence. 1867 or 1868. It was addressed to Oliver Otis Howard important organ that says with that Political Movement with the negro exodus raising money to build relocate and would that be a good place . A washington insider would he be doing in Portland Oregon . And chief joseph when a the first books ever read was a childrens biography. So what is he doing in the northwest . And could he have been the one . When i research that it was amazing. And then he is not a hero. But the notion there would be to how words how one became the other would take up a lot of my weekend. Key will be so happy to sign your about. Book. [applause] [inaudible conversations]. And dont think it is wrong to expect the members of the house that is part of the reality of the politics. And what i find offensive but raising money to be in leadership but there has to be a merit pay system in place to decide to get someone committee. If you have been there 30 years in show up to congress you have expertise that is needed on the energy and commerce committee. It is not if you can pay more money than the doctor. [inaudible conversations] teefour