I was so worried. [applause] i was so worried. It was raining, and i thought booklovers are going to want to stay in bed and read. But here you are. Thank you and good morning. [applause] and welcome to the 2017 National Book festival. I am carla hayden and im the 14th library and of congress. As you can see, as you can see, i am pretty excited to open this event, our 17th consecutive celebration of books and reading and it is wonderful to see a bold house in our largest presentation space. Not only do we have a full house here at the Convention Center but we also have millions of people joining us live on facebook. Thanks to everyone for joining us. We have a fantastic lineup of authors this year and what better way to kick off the festival then with one of our nations most beloved historians, mister David Mccullough. [applause] David Mccullough is here for his sixth National Book festival appearance, we hope you will continue to make this a habit. He will be followed by diana, the au