The first i guess is a little disturbing that it is a story leading up to the civil war when the nation was very clearly divided into two political camps. We live in a politically divided time, although i dont want to imply we are headed for civil war. I dont know what we are headed toward, but there is resonance in the way we have red and blue states today. There were northern and Southern States then that were fundamentally divided over this giant issue of slavery. There are other things. The 1840s and 1850s was a time of enormous technological and economic change. Particularly in the news media, the development of the telegraph came in 1834. Within a few years of the invention of the telegraph, cities east of the mississippi were connected and there was National Conversation which becomes part of the story i tell. It turns out these communication devices that were designed to bring people closer together drove them farther apart. They were horrified by what people on the others were
Series of books on the president s and i said, arthur, i dont have time. Im retired. And he said i want you to do one thing. Allen evans have done a paper back that excerpts his diary, his president ial diary. Just take the weekend and read it and tell me no. And i read the excerpts from the diary and i couldnt say no. I was fascinated by the man. Did you know much about him. I knew he was a tennesseean and im a tennesseean. I knew that his grave is behind the capitol. There is no marker in nashville except a plaque on the side of a dirty motel wall. His old homeplace in columbia is preserved and i had been there many times and have been there since. But i knew virtually nothing about him and almost nothing that was good. His reputation was the result of what was to him during his presidency over the mexicanamerican war. Left him a bad reputation. A reputation as a warmonger. And the attacks on him in congress in the latter days of his administration reminded me a great deal of the att
Biography for the series of books on the president. I said arthur, i dont have time. Im retired. And he said i want you to do one thing. Allen evans have done a paper back that excerpts his diary, his president ial diary. Just take the weekend and read it and tell me no. And i read the excerpts from the diary and i couldnt say no. I was fascinated by the man. Did you know much about him. I knew he was a tennesseean and im a tennesseean. I knew that his grave is behind the capitol. There is no marker in nashville except a plaque on the side of a dirty motel wall. His old homeplace in columbia is preserved and i had been there many times and have been there since. But i knew virtually nothing about him and almost nothing that was good. His reputation was the result of what was to him during his presidency over the mexicanamerican war. Left him a bad reputation. A reputation as a warmonger. And the attacks on him in congress in the latter days of his administration reminded me a great dea
John seigenthaler, author of james k. Polk, howd they talk you into doing a biography on this president . John seigenthaler sr. Arthur schlesinger called me on the phone and said, youre a tennessean. Polk was a tennessean. Why dont you write a biography for this series that times books is doing on the president s . And i said, arthur, i dont have time. Im retired. He said, i want you to do one thing. He said, alan nevins ph has done a paperback that excerpts his diary, his president ial diary. Just take the weekend and read it and tell me no. And i read the excerpts from the diary, and i couldnt say no. I was fascinated by the man. Did you know much about him before you started on this . You know, i knew he was a tennessean. Im a tennessean. I knew that his grave is behind the capitol. There is no marker in nashville, except a plaque on the side of a dirty motel wall. His old home place in columbia is preserved, and id been there many times and have been there since. But i knew virtual
To the civil war when the nation was very clearly divided into two political camps. We live in a politically divided time, although i dont want to imply we are headed for civil war. I dont know what we are headed toward, but there is resonance in the way we have red and blue states today. There were northern and Southern States than that were fundamentally divided over this giant issue of slavery. There are other things. The 1840s and 1850s was a time of enormous technological change. Within a few years of the invention of the telegraph, cities east of the mississippi were connected and there was National Conversation which becomes part of the story i tell. It turns out these communication devices that were designed to bring people closest together drove them farther apart. They were horrified by what people on the other side were saying. There is that, there is also just the fact that it is a story of america. It takes place in the same cities we know today. Sometimes even in the same