Out, my share of the path. And dick cheney on coronary disease. His book is also coming out in 2013. Sarah weinman of publishers marketplace and Bob Minzesheimer of usa today, we appreciate your time today on booktv. Sarah kilborne recounts the crew of her greatgreatgrandfather, William Skinner, a textile manufacture in the mid19th century. The author recalls skinners immigration from london and his career ascendancy from a worker and a silk mill to the owner of his own factory, the mill village, skinnerville. In 1870 for a dam burst near skinnerville and destroyed the town and forced William Skinner to rebuild. This is about an hour. Thank you, bill. And thank you for your support of american phoenix. And thank you all for coming out tonight. And thank you and thank you, cspan, and booktv for being here. Its a real honor. And im thrilled to be able to share with you american phoenix, american phoenix the remarkable story of William Skinner, a man who turned disaster into destiny. So one question that every writer gets when people find out they have been writing a been writing about been writing about, whether youre at a cocktail party, in the supermarket or on the street, is so, whats your book about. Thats a fair question, and a good one, and often extremely challenging to answer. Because youve spent thousands of hours writing thousands of words. You have a ton of information in your head. And you are writing one story but that one story includes many other stories. Suddenly got to figure out how to convince all this information from all the stores into 15 15second soundbite. Ive got it down to three. Well, seven actually if you include american phoenix is about, and one of the things that helped me get there was someone asked me, so, if your book were made into a movie, how would you pitch it . And i answered, the titanic meets a rocky. American phoenix is about an essence disaster and survival. Its about disaster of epic proportion that involves a lot of water, and engineering fair, a failure to kill a lot of people. Its about survival, triumph of the human spirit, the will to overcome extreme adversity. The ability to get back up when you have been down again and again. So my book explores the challenge of having to rebuild your life after losing everything in an unexpected catastrophe. And that explores the discovery that sometimes our worst nightmares can turn into our greatest opportunity. Its particularly poignant for me to be here in vermont talking about american phoenix, a year after the devastation caused by irene. Because so many vermonters can relate to a William Skinner went through 130 odd years ago, having to rebuild their lives, and lives that have now been in ruins. And also now, given hurricane sandy, those done in new jersey and staten island, queens and brooklyn and also, unfortunately, relate to this challenge. What do you do . Now, whether we come to this storyline with that kind of connection or not, weve all had disasters in our experience. Weve all had those unexpected moments where something happens, and suddenly our life is at the same as it was a moment before. Everything has changed. We have to figure out how do we survive. These moments of crisis test us. They test our instincts, our loyalties, our faith in ourselves, our creativity. They test our emotions, and they certainly test our courage. On may 16, 1874, a Reservoir Dam gave way in western massachusetts. It unleashed an end in tidal wave that was at times 20 to 40 feet high and 300 feet wide. It were a word down a 14mile valley and swept through the villages of williamsburg, skinnerville, hayden do, lee, florence. To give you a sense of the power of that water is to appreciate the amount of time it took to pass through portions of the valley. In the lower portion of the ballot the land levels out into a plane. The water took about an hour and a half to flow through and flood the town of northampton and in the into the river. In the upper reaches of the valley where the land is steeper, that water, the 600 million gallons of water, went through the village and about 15 minutes each. It resulted in the worst a National Disaster in American History at the time. Over 1 million worth of Property Damage was sustained. Almost 800 people were left homeless, and 139 people were killed. My book is about the only village that wasnt rebuild, skinnerville. And the man at the center of the village, william center. And what set scarce sort apart is the success he achieved after this disaster. Skinnerville suffered the worst destruction of all. And was considered to be in obliterated from the face of the earth. There wasnt a brick left in skinnerville. His house very nearly the only one left standing, and he lost more financially than any other individual. In those 50 minutes he lost the equivalents of 35 million. He was ruined. But because he was willing to make choices that no one else was willing to make he was able to come back. The other manufacturers and about the lost their mills and property try to rebuild or were unable to do so successfully. Fofor a number theres a number theres an icon in the business, gone into bankruptcy, had to sell the businesses or they had to leave town. A local historian said three years later, man of abundant means the seem to withstand the first shock of disaster proved to be more embarrassed than what was expected. But skinner, by himself, went on to rebuild his company, and as a Sole Proprietor he carried it on and he turned into one of the most successful Silk Companies in our nations history. When he died in 1902, a silk mill was considered the largest in the country. He was the top of the healthiest silk trade of the world, and he was a multimillionaire. Now, the significance is that that success would never have been possible had he not lost everything and had to take how to survive making choices he would have otherwise been forced to make. Skin not only survived disaster, but he turned it into his greatest success. So, this is a map of the town of williamsburg in 1873. And it shows [inaudible]. Theres the village. This is an image of the dam after it had given way. It was an earthen dam. It had a core wall of masonry, and this was all that was left of it. This is a graphic depiction showing the water surging past skinners house during the flood, and they said the house survived because its five chimneys rooted into the ground and it was made of boards and not brick. House was so large that it acted like a dam in the midst of the search with the water surging around the front and backend, crushing both of them, shattering windows, completely flooding the interior of the first floor. The back parlor floor collapsed under the weight of all the water, and all the contents fell to the seller below. So as one reporter put it, potatoes indianas, pictures, books and taken became terribly mixed in the flooded cellar. This house, trance removed with him when he relocated after the flood. It was taken apart piece by piece and transported on 25 Railroad Cars to the city of holyoke where he rebuild. It is now a museum on the National Register of historic places, and you can go and visit it and walk around in it. This is an image of what was left of skinnerville after the disaster. Its hard to imagine what it was like before. It was a thriving Factory Village filled with houses, trees, stonewalls, farmland and, of course, skitters silk mill. This right is the foundation, that was all that was left of the mill. It extended far to the left of this photograph. This is skinners house. This is an image that is the image on the cover of the book, my book i should say. And there was no image of course of skinners mill because it was gone so we had to choose one that represented the disaster. This is all that was left of the factory that was 600 feet long, the length of almost two football fields. More devastation from the village of skinnerville. And here is a house that was lived in by the Bartlett Family in skinnerville, and many of the children and the Bartlett Family worked for skinner. One of the superintendents was Henry Bartlett and was working for them at the time of the flood. And the Bartlett Family lived in this house through the summer and exactly this condition because they had nowhere else to go. Now, when skinner died in 1902, his son took over the company. And they were brilliant. Joe was a scientist, and he took over production at the mill and ran the mills lab, intending all kinds of fabrics that involve silk. And will handle all the marketing and fail. They carried on their fathers is to help of innovation and pioneering in the manufacturing industry. Skinners is one of the first countries to branch out into consumer advertising. This is an ad from good housekeeping, and i believe its from 1907. Here is an ad from 1931 featuring Joan Crawford, and skinners silks and sons were favored of hollywood Costume Designers in the 20s and 30s. It was parked and ones doing. He wooed hollywood. Designers loved skinners fabric because they were not only beautiful and had extraordinary grating qualities, but they were durable. They could withstand the wear and tear of a costume on set. The men at the top of the advertisement is aj, they had Costume Designer of mgm. One of the most famous Costume Designers of the period and he was such a supporter of skinners silk and satin, he helped advertise the product. I should also add that the whole Advertising Campaign that involved Joan Crawford and patty davis and other stars like that, the idea behind it was of course if you dress in skinners silks and sons, you too can be a star. Here is an ad featuring the famous skinners bridal satin. Heres another ad from the mid 1940s of Glamour Magazine in 1945. Now when returning soldiers came home from the war, they were getting married in droves, and bella bridesmaid skinner a household in the United States so many words he married in skinners bridal satin. It catapult the company to a whole other level of success. Now, the company survived until 1961. It was 113 years after skinner founded in 1848. And the extraordinary impact the company had throughout its existence was such that Readers Digest actually includes William Skinner in the middle of the 20 center on a list of some of the most influential englishmen to land on american soil. And Readers Digest at that time has the largest readership and the country, second only to the bible. I mentioned earlier that one of the questions that writers are asked is, so whats your book about . Shortly thereafter they will ask, how did you find your story . And how i came upon this story have to do with my family. William skinner was my greatgreatgrandfather. Here is an image of him around the age of 30. He just lost his first wife, nancy. He is a widower and his photograph with his two young daughters. He also just opened his silk mill in the area that would become known as skinnerville. I find this photograph talking. The intensity in his eyes just burn, just sears you. You so driven, so ambitious. And yet tenderly touching his daughters. This is a photograph of his first wife, nancy warner, and she died shortly after the birth of her second daughter. Trained to read married again to a woman named Sarah Elizabeth allen. Shes the woman after whom i am into my full name is Sarah Skinner kilbourne. And one would think with William Skinner being my greatgreatgrandfather i am named after his second wife, who was his wife for the rest of his life, and my grandfather was the last president of the company, that i would have grown up hearing about William Skinner, the founder and his story during the flood. I did not. That story seemed to have gotten lost in the legacy of the company. The Company Became so big it overshadowed its founder at the end. But i did, well, i should also add that there were only two things that i knew about William Skinner and shows how they an impression i had of him. One was that i just, just barely knew he was english. And the other is that i could only remember, only knew of one expression that he had, which was very austere. Remember, you are William Skinners descendents. Do good in the world. Thats all i knew of him. But i did grow up hearing about another member of his family, and she is the one who ultimately led me to her familys story. This is his second youngest daughter. And i was fascinated with her as a child and as an adult. She was a very famous philanthropist in france after world war i. And what she did was she legally adopted an entire village from the french government in the north east of france, was a legal binding document, and she rebuilt after the war. The french were going to abandon this village. The concert itself hopelessly bombed by the germans, and belle came in, she took it on, and it exists this day because of her. And she was this larger than life figure. She called the president of france ray ray. She had a nickname for everyone. She had thunder and days. She wore these fabulous hats, and while she wasnt exactly pretty she was very, had this extraordinary commanding presence. And i wondered, as i began to look into her life, what would compel this woman in her 50s leaving leading a very comfortable life to become so passionately involved in resurrecting a devastated village. Well, rewind which was ages old, the village into which shed been born, skinnerville, was destroyed in the flood and never rebuilt. So i begin to research the flood as an inroad into belle skinners story, but hasnt again to learn more about the flood, suddenly William Skinner who had until that point been unknown to me began to come alive because he was so alive into so alive in the historic records. He was such a central figure in the disaster that the papers followed his every move, and as im reading the papers, suddenly i am following his every move. And then you have the story ended, he became a success. But as i learned about the extraordinary loss he suffered and what it took to get over that, come back from that, i became incredibly impressive with what he been able to achieve. His story is one of resiliency. Never give up, obstacles are opportunities. For every problem there is a creative solution. You just have to find it. Dont believe in luck. There is no such thing. You have to make your own luck. You have to work hard for what you want. Dont believe in failure. Belief in yourself. These are all things that skinner believed. He learned his resiliency as a kid. He was born in london in 1824, into a slump of such poverty it was consider without parallel in the kingdom. He was born indignity of silk workers better than making silk for generations. Weaving and dyeing it. But they were so poor and malnourished that they were called ascendant puny race. And advocate for the welfare said that it is not that a few starved, but that so many were on the verge of starvation. It is not that some suffer, but that so few escape. Skinner did escape and came over to this country at the age of 20. And had nothing of any material worth within. He was too poor. But he had one thing that no one in america had at that time, and it was an extremely valuable, intangible quality. Or knowledge i should say. And that was the knowledge of how to die self. There is no silk industry in this country at that time. Did not have died, deny to manufacture, did not make the machinery, didnt have the tools for the machinery. Everything was in trial and error to try to create the silk industry. It was the upbuilding of our domestic industry but it was her industrial revolution. How do we get in on this trade . That was so much money to be made in silk. And its hard for us to appreciate today what it meant to our culture back then. But before the age of synthetic fabric, before the age of designers, fabric was fashioned, and silk was the ultimate in style. It represented prestige, prosperity, success. So america wanted its own silk industry. Skinner used to say theres not an irish whose ambition is not to wear a silk dress. Everyone wanted self. Skinner came to this country with the knowledge that americans didnt have come and he became a pioneer in the american revolution. He helped establish a. He became a Founding Member of the Silk Association and the parlayed that one skilled in to opportunity after opportunity. To the point where he had his own silk mill. And it was so prosperous that entire village had grown up around it called skinnerville. This poor kid from east london had literally put his name on the american map. Now, in order to write my book, i had to recreate skinnerville because it disappeared after the flood. And here again is a map of skinnerville from 1873. I do need to go back. Im not quite sure how to do that. Well okay, we can leave this year. So i had to recreate skinnerville. How do you do that . Well, lots of research, lots of hours in archives looking to deeds, looking through probate documents, looking to Vital Statistics and tax records, census doctors. I should own stock in ancestry. Com, i spent so much time and money on that website. And with all this i was able to put together what this community consisted of, who lived in white house and where, how many children did they have, who had just moved to town at the time of the flood, who was pregnant at the time of the flood . Who had given birth just two days before the time of the flood. But there is only so far you can go on your own. So one day i received a phone call from a museum that is down skinners home that is amusing. And they told me that a collection of letters had just been donated by a descendent of some sisters who had worked for skinner in his mail in skinnerville. And these letters opened up what it was like to live in the village. What its like to work for skinner, what he was like as an employer. What its like to be a male girl in the middle of the 19th century living in a small Factory Village far away from home. And one thing that you may not realize is that at this time millwork was very respectable for a young woman. If youre ambitious and motivated you could make a lot of money, you wouldnt lose any ounce of respectability it did not affect your character at all, and it was a way to have a sense of independence and make your own money. The sisters with a little field assessors from upstate new york near troy, and the first sisters to come was 20 at the time, she came in 1866. She had been visiting some cousins who lived in the town of chechen villages north of williamsburg and they told her skin was looking for new workers. She applied, that the job and became an expert spooler. What that meant was she worked in the Fishing Department so she would take the silk thread that just come from the thai house and shoot wind on the actual schools that would go to market. It was a job that require tremendous skill because you couldnt damage the silk whatsoever. This was the silk that was going to be sold. She was fantastic at it. And another sister followed her named francis, and this is what often happened. Once it would go to work in the now, she would come if shes having a good experience, but sent word to her other sisters are siblings and say, apply for a job. Come join me. So yeah number of siblings working together. It was very much a family environment. The third sisters come work for skinner was ellen littlefield. Now, ellen outlasted both of her sisters at the no and she was working for skinner at the time of the flood. She is the strongest female character in my book. After the flood she also worked with skinner helping to salvage his silk and she moved to holyoke when he moved to holyoke and work in the middle there, and ultimately married his bookkeeper. Now, after the flood, the valleys loss was going to be, or could be potentially someone elses gain. So after the disaster happened the valley was a very popular spot for investors and capitalists. Offers came from all over, as far as away as omaha, nebraska, for the manufacture had lost everything, given the incentives to move elsewhere and relocated to other areas. One of the most vocal voices in this choir was from holyoke, massachusetts. Holyoke was ingeniously designed to, specifically designed for industry. It was, hope to be even greater than the urban mill center of lowell and morris. Holyoke was considered to be the greatest power. A dam on the right hand side, right here, is the crest of a 60foot tall in the river and capable of generating 30,000horsepower, which and average values 100horsepower, that was capable of generating power for 300 bills. The cotton lords that created holyoke on the model, devised a threetiered canal system so that unfortunately it doesnt show on this map what the canals the first canal comes like this. So the Connecticut River was able to be used over three times. Now, holyoke made offers to the manufactures in the valley. And skinner is the only one who accepted the offer and moved. And hes the only one who survived. Skinner new two things. To be able to make a go of it again. He needed money, and he needed water power. In skinnerville, he was going to have to rely on sees if the rebuild their because the reservoir which itself in the mill river during the dry season was not going to be rebuilt. So Going Forward during the dry seasons when the river ran low, skinner was going to have to supplement his meal with steam. It was very expensive for a man and them out of debt he was in it was too expensive at this time. He was also one have to rebuild the entire infrastructure of the village, all the houses for his workers, everything there. And he needed a lot of water power for his operation. To die still need a lot of water, and he of course, since he didnt want to convert his team, he needed the power to power his machinery. Holyoke could offer him consistent water power, 365 days a year. Without a reservoir hanging over his head to possibly break awa