Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the National Constitution center. [ applause ] i am Jeffrey Rosen, the president of this wonderful institution. And its such a great day to celebrate the relationship between National Constitution center and cspan. Cspan has an inspiring nonpartisan mission to bring unfiltered information about the u. S. Government to american citizens and that coincides with the National Constitution centers mission, which i all want you to recite along with me to inspire our guests and our cspan viewers. The National Constitution center is the only institution in america chartered by congress to disseminate information about the constitution on a nonpartisan basis. Beautiful. That was so well done. [ applause ] i was so thrilled when my friend and colleague, susan swain, the head of cspan, came a few months ago or weeks ago, about three weeks ago, that said we have this great new book on the president s. Lets launch it at the National Constitution center. Were here to
So the book became a susan head of the idea come to you for telling the story at this time . Jeff when i try to do when i write nonfiction books is to go everywhere where the people i write about went. Id rather drive and that way you really get a sense of place. Somewhere along the line in the 30,000 or so miles i drive every year i started wondering how we got to be a country, a culture where we take for granted and we can get in a car and go anywhere we want to. I thought it would be a good idea to write a book about that and as always happens when you look into history, theres more to it than you ever expected. Susan your book begins and ends with someone thats a minor character, jeff bixby. Who was he and why was he interesting to you . Jeff one of the things that struck me as i researched the book was the vagabonds and edison and whoever may be with him on that trip could literally change the lives of anyone they met. They were considered magicians for everything they brought to
Jeff quinn, what is the story that you tell in the book the vagabonds . The story i meant to tell in the beginning was how america morphed into a car culture in just about 20 years from everyones horse and wagon to everyone wanting to get in cars and go places. I had not known until i started researching that henry ford and Thomas Edison were at the forefront of this, so the book became a story at that point in their life, too. How did the idea come to you for telling this particular story auto tht this time . This is my 22nd book and what i try to do when i write my nonfiction books is to go everywhere where the people i write about went. Id rather drive and that way you really get a sense of place. Somewhere along the line in the 30,000 or so miles i drive every year i started wondering how we got to be a country, a culture where we take for granted and we can get in a car and go anywhere we want to. I thought it would be a good idea to write a book about that and as always happens w
Drive. Story atbecame the that point in their lives. Susan how did the idea come to you for telling the story at this time . Jeff when i try to do when i write nonfiction books is to go everywhere where the people i write about went. I always use my car. Id rather drive and that way you really get a sense of place. Somewhere along the line in the 30,000 or so miles i drive every year i started wondering how we got to be a country, a culture where we take for granted and we can get in a car and go anywhere we want to. I thought it would be a good idea to write a book about that and as always happens when you look into history, theres more to it than you ever expected. Susan your book begins and ends with someone thats a minor character, jeff bixby. Who was he and why was he interesting to you . Jeff one of the things that struck me as i researched the book was the vagabonds and edison and whoever may be with him on that trip could literally change the lives of anyone they met. They were
Susan we want to listen to just a little bit of jeff bixbys music so people can get a sense of what interested ford and edison. Susan just a little bit of the music. Would a lot of americans be listening to music of this type of this era . I would rather drive you get a sense of place. Somewhere along the line in the 30,000 or so miles i drive every year i started wondering how we got to be a country, a culture where we take for granted we can go anywhere we want to. Since i didnt know i thought it would be a good idea to write a book about that. Your book begins and ends with a somewhat minor character. Who was he and why was he interesting to you . Jeff was an elderly country fiddler working out of michigan playing barn dances and so forth, and that was pretty much the height of his musical career. He was listed in local archives as a shoe maker. Henry ford had heard about his sic and unexpectedly in 1923 his wife opens their door in this little tiny isolated town and there stands he