Into law by lincoln five years earlier and the only one in that original group founded in lincolns home state. Indeed one of the reasons i was drawn to come to illinois last year to take the job as law dean is the prospect that the university of illinois can build upon the legacy of, and become linked with lincoln in the way the university of virginia is associated with Thomas Jefferson. Who to my mind was not as great a president and not as great a person. This brings me to a fourth question, why bob woodward . That might be the easiest one of all. Many people consider the New York Times the countrys newspaper of record. But bob woodward of the rival Washington Post is americas reporter of record. He has been at the post for 45 years and is responsible for two of its Pulitzer Prizes for investigative coverage of water gate and also 9 11. But mr. Woodward is much more than a reporter. He has an inciteful and prolific historian of, among other things, americas president s. In this regar
the two-time national book award nominee and berkeley professor emeritus is best done for his outspoken social commentary. his work includes mumbo jumbo, flight to canada and reckless eyeball. his most recent nonfiction is mixing it up. host: in your book writin is fightin , you write this, if i had to compare my writing style with anyone, it would probably be with that of larry holmes. i don t miss my words, nor do i pull any punches, though i delivered. guest: it s pretty long uest:hor. i think larry holmes wouldn t object to the reference low blow. i think he probably hit above t the waist. but i think a number of people have compared writing toompared fighting. e te matter fact i got theng tem from although i give the credit for the the term comes fromammad muhammad ali and i m writing sort of a biography which i started in 2003. excuse me, 2003. so when he wrote a book called the greatest. it was ghosted by another person. he said writing is fighting. host:
guest: that s a long metaphor. i think that s what larry holmes objects to the reference of low blows. he hits above the waist most of the time, but, yeah, a number of people compared writing to fighting, and sphaft, i got the as a matter of fact, i got the term although i get the credit for it, the term comes from mohamed ali, and i m writing about him right now that i started in 2003, so when he wrote a book called the greatest where it was ghosted by another person, someone said how are you going to write a book? he said writing is fighting, so that s where i got the term from. host: you go on in the book to talk about african-americans, and you write that a black boxer s career is the perfect metaphor for the career of a blake male. every day is like being in the gym sparring with impersonal opponents as one faces the rudeness and hostility that a blake male must confront in the u.s. where he has the object of both fear and fascination. guest: yeah, well, i re
have compared writing to fighting. and as a matter of fact, i got the term i get the credit for it. the term comes from muhammad ali and i m writing sort of a biography for him for crown. which i started in 19 excuse me, 2003. so when he wrote a book called the greatest. it was ghosted by another person. he said writing is fighting. host: and you goes on to talk about african-americans and you write a black boxer s career is a perfect metaphor for the career of a black male. guest: yeah, i read john howard griffin s black lightening, which is a classic. he altered his appearance to look like a black appearance and wrote about his experience with his alteration. and he said the feature that was outstanding was the hostility and rudeness. and joshua solomon who tried the same experiments and he got such hostility that he quit after two weeks. he couldn t take it. so all those people who believed we live in a post-race paradise, how the john howard griffin altered th