And i know that theres a lot of excitement as there ought be for this evenings conversations so thank you for taking time to be here. Were so delighted to have professor margaret macmillen with us today. Thank you for traveling to be a part of this important conversation, and who else to help us with that is better equipped than margaret macmillen and a professor of history at oxford, at the university of toronto. Serves in many varied roles. A trustee of the university and more recently at the Imperial War Museum. Might i offer that we are second only here at the National World war i museum and memorial to the Imperial War Museum in terms of history. They began collecting in 1917 and we began collecting in 1920. And were further delighted that theyre having their world war ii galleries reinstalled by the gallery designers of the National World war i museum and memorial. So theyre very wise i might say. Shes written many publications and books. I dont want to list those. One of which i
Thank you christina. I was in the enemys house and also the night of the assassins and remember last year it seems like in a year ago before the sequestering part of a previous lifetime, last year when i was working on the assassins, i spent a lot of time reading about world war ii, i tried to put myself in the shoes of the people i was reading about, and to protect one family and protect myself. And they found the perseverance, the fortitude to get through events is who i am now, where i wrote my book and if you hear noises in the background, those are not horns, is a college hilltop in connecticut and hopefully that will not be a thunderstorm. But through the writing i would spend a good view of my time wishing that i could understand what it was like to live in world war ii. In the empathy and what its like to live with the constant sense of uncertainty. What its like to live not knowing whats going to happen next and what its like to live through great unknown. Now its previously u
Today november 4, 1913. The United States was preparing to muster 500,000 troops in europe against a major power. President wilson had given an ultimatum to the nations head of state, but we didnt go to war, at least not now. And that power was on this side of the atlantic. It was mexico. The menace posed was the great menace of the moment. I found this on the front page of where else but the new york times. The next 17 pages there wasnt a single mention of europe where s the two featured authors today chronicle the entries abroad. The second balkan war had just concluded and now europe had a broader concentration so it is my pleasure to welcome margaret into the lead up to the conflict in her new billboard that ended the peace. Robert i wont actually lift it, but thats the buck. If of course showed how it paved the way to understanding what we are already building in europe and of course a passion of mine especially much of my life in Texas College and in my last book was coming out i
This week on q a, our guest is margaret macmillan, author of nixon and mao the week that chnaged the world. Cspan margaret macmillan, but if you think a book about nixon and mao would so . Guest my father was a good subject and i love the good storiestoriesof history and thou have two extraordinary personality is with great falls and talent and it was an interesting moment that ended the period but in the United States and china and started Something Else so my next book i wanted to do something manageable has a good story. Cspan did he rely on to tell you what that moment was like . Guest that the documents. Theres a record now of all the transcripts of the first memoirs. Bob haldeman did a diary that is helpful, Henry Kissinger wrote them and thereve been lots of interviews, so i gathered whatever i could from those that have been there. Cspan did you learn anything they dont already know . Guest i learned something i didnt know. I think i learned a great deal more about Richard Nixo
I think of students in college as the best thing to do is to take the teacher, not the course and hear to take these incredible authors and to be in the room, whatever they are talking about. The problem with this festival is there is somebody in every room you want to be with. Douglas brinkley has written biographies of more president s than most of us have ever heard of. Other interesting things a prime focus on the space program. The great space race. Be watching for that. And hes a cnn historian. He has a little basement studio envy of jon meacham. And Margaret Macmillan is trying to make the deal with cnbc. The great historical deal one of those transformative books but so important and jon meacham has written so many wonderful biographies, former editor of newsweek. The assignment is to talk about your favorite historical figure. I want to make that a fun thing so maybe we will get into some other elements. John why dont you start us off with your favorite historical figure. Its