now built on private donations. it's a great honor to serve. the teach people all over the world. we ever sense of gun fire engines from ford motor company is a sponsor number of exciting things including this book talk. we always appreciate when they come out. now we have a very special guest. an old friend. the editor in chief. this is one of the most extraordinary scholarly projects of the 21st century's to copy, transcribe all the correspondence in a professional manner used by all the stories, and extraordinary collective work and scholarship has been going on since 1968. funders and partial funders of the project since its beginning. in the recent past we renewed our partnership, i would like to think of friendship, help them create a comprehensive edition of martha washington spacers as well as other family papers. and that is really heading up the leadership of the programs as well and to fully encompass the scope they change the project from the george washington papers project to the washington papers project. we are delighted to have them here tonight to talk about what he does on the side when he is doing all that other stuff. he is extraordinarily prolific. i am not envious at all about this, but he did his phd in 1998 and since then has published six monographs in addition to the edited volumes is the sole editor of in the lords of minions that he has working for him. his extraordinary example of work ethic and discipline and capacious love of writing. is a wonderful writer and has developed a great popular style in addition to the scholarly style. it is a challenging thing people who are formally trained to walk out of that, to get out of this intense conversations and look at the bigger picture. but if that is enough is just write about george washington, he writes about world war i in european history and military history. that's the one in 1944. was to the middle of the 20th century. an extraordinary range and my do like to welcome them up here. let's get him appear. [applause] >> well, what does was trying to say i think his i am ai am a hack writer. but i do try to understand my subject, try to be honest about my subject. washington is a fruitful subject. as i found since 1996 i began as a student has been 20 years and have been directing your project since 2010. they changed our name very deliberately because we did not want to offend martha. lest it be suggested that martha was in some sense and auxiliary to george or that she operated in his shadow or that her role was in some way to prop him up and help them to become great colleague emphasized the fact that she was in herself an important person. so we think the mount vernon ladies association for supporting us in this new expansion we begin in july of last year to publish the full papers in the papers of the washington family which will be a volumes letterpress and comprehensive digital edition that will include george's parents, siblings and one of doug's favorite people. beginning to talk about george washington is an entrepreneur and to give thanks above all for this work, for what is good in getting it to my good friend jim and jo carol porter they had lunch or dinner and then he pointed out to me to have been nothing written since 1930. there is no doubt about it. somewhat of an improvement. of course tremendous debt is owed to mount vernon in the work of my colleagues. working since 1968, remain on schedule the very beginning. seventy volumes another 16 volumes to go. these are available not only letterpress the free online. it is important. i have a tremendous debt to finance papers project. we began three years ago. which is a fascinating, fascinating document for washington, the family, the whole community. documents the everyday life on the mount vernon state and are acting from mount vernon to dump small the bill for some of the seat of the fairfax family's they're will be an incredible technological tool. expanded and all that other account books suggested we not call these washington's financial papers but his business records. public records as commander-in-chief of the continental army, very scrupulous and careful account very important documents. the genesis of this idea is looking at washington through a different lens, seeing a different aspect of this endlessly fascinating man but also to the washington in the context the family and into the context of his times and nation how did he manage an account? develop as a farmer and businessman entrepreneur. and he take the lessons that he learned in the principles that he emphasized and how did his lessons resonate down to the stake? it is a fascinating topic. we need to begin looking at washington as an entrepreneur with the washington family. in 1656. his idea was to load of fish up with tobacco and sell back to england and some of their. he had no intention of remaining in virginia. they all the whole future history of our country to the fact that his ship sank. [laughter] is played the attributes. i should the sank. complains a lot. as you pay for the loss. he is also very adaptable decides that this is the reality. he marries well. i would like to, before i go on emphasized the fact that this is not a matter of the washington men looking around the audience and saying where's the good choice? the women away next to be swept away. it simply didn't happen that way. when were also making choices of their own. we looked way too often. why did george choose to marry martha? she was very wealthy. one of the washington partly because they understood that they were sober minded, determined, focused men and targeted intelligence find a man to be a good partner, ia good father to the children as they hoped they would have and do it also manage their states. we look at virginia in the 1617 hundreds, they were complacent with future of comfort and wealth. the an equivalent of an aston lose their entire fortune and find themselves impoverished. that was a bit of prosperity and i will get more to that. focused and landon people at that time. very assiduous. his son wants to use 38. the grandson likewise died when he was in his 40s. fascinating character who he far too often see through the prism of mason locke wings. i would venture to guess i got was much more than that. he was very creative, ventured out in to other areas of production. his 1st wife died leaving lawrence washington and another child to be taking care of. yesterday had to go around managing the estate and he knew he needed to find another way. and he found one of the most underappreciated women in american history very often we tend to make the assumption a remarkable woman. the decision to what goes in both directions. she had been strangled before this, in her late 20s. just at the verge of a woman's marriageable age. married augustine because she saw this man a sober minded very interested in her apart from personal qualities about which we can only guess. he was doing various things. all of that the management of the estate and in the management of her children her 1st porn being george washington. the decision was made among them being that george would not go to school in england but one says they are mount vernon and receive education through tears. very clear, very simple principles, george washington especially super organized. that wasn't just a made a personality trait. that was his mom. i have to make a joke there were two things i can't really say which was worse. come to haunt his later years, but in the stage of his death, and it was terrifying. the fire sales of gentlemen going out of business. but she was a huge influence on his life. also the woman who presented them -- prevented him from going out to see, he resented this is in many ways. the relationship became intense and problematic when iran. the part of this was george had an irresponsible side to him that she was constantly keeping down. young george had the great fortune in addition accounting interest had the good fortune which i am profoundly jealous that he had a good team is job. through connections with the fairfax family. and lord thomas fairfax george william fairfax, george had some sort of relationship with her early on,on, but his connection with the family given this opportunity to work as a surveyor. surveying gave him an opportunity to apply his own native ability to get in geometry and all the rest but also the experience to learn what it's like to lend money money and invest. he had to learn this lesson early on my george washington's not aa guy you want to borrow money from them and not pay them back. believe me. when money was involved the temper increased exponentially. so if you don't pay the have back going to get mad. new line down the judge character not, but he learned how to invest. he earns money as a surveyor policy work with? the land so what is he do? he invests of saves and buys more and more. also has a surveyor committee develops an understanding of america's and america's potential for america's potential richness and wealth only buried within the soil but geographically the connection of the east coast cities and settlements to the frontier were essential to connecting east to west and how they were potential highways of commerce and trade. not only goes from east to west north to south. he learns a lot about the relationship between the colonies and great britain and the subservient nature of the relationship. although this is about washington as an entrepreneur i think it's important to remember that george washington was a combat veteran. that ties in to what i will talk about in a moment about washington's views of piece. those are your at-home were also affected and participants in war comeau what war does to a country into a people this is one element of washington's character that i saw early on in his taken a while understand. there is a purpose, detail matters. if you are in the service you ignore your peril basic that that the men who served with you must eat, they must have shelter from a must-have clothing in the must be paid. some silly to say you would be surprised to see how many people did not understand the basic reality. if you do not pay if you do not finance the force while the call money the sinews of war. i learning process of management is important. i mentioned earlier how again los angeles of her own 's is frustrating of the narrative goes. the wealthiest widow in virginia. it was back from the french and indian war and says the wealthiest widow of virginia is right down the road. i would emphasize whatever motivations may have been whatever motivations may have been the important things from the very beginning they saw each other as partners. no question saw the marriage is a partnership. they focused beginning managing indoor states. he would a while before you full control. managing the stick together. martha did not go off in the corner jeanette the wash dishes while george's managing things. .. >> >> when you would have found a hive of production in end industry and it became even enterprise and is so right with all the work going space on at the same time you hear metal clanking and spinning and weaving and shoes being cobbled how did all that happened but long run it would not work in the long run. one is that it drains the soil and that is very labor intensive. to produce a relatively small amounts of tobacco to upset more than anything else you need to work with the british colonial system. to produce the tobacco to turn over to british agents to put on the british ships and then they decide where it can and should be solved they figure out what and where it would go. in it we will get is quite as much out of it legally give this much credit. but their use this to purchase -- purchase british goods. so what is the of called -- the quality of of your carriage? not just manufactured goods and luxury goods. and have no productive value whatsoever. what you bring back with your credit? and what happens which washington has learned to fear it is partly to blame and he looked at 1759 spending a fair amount of money i really want some talented artist. [laughter] and i just have to see it to spend a lot of time on it. looked at the accounts with the expenditures suddenly disappears. and 17622 sarah want to get out with the guys. he doesn't waste a lot of money but he has trouble beginning to learn more discipline. when he witnesses this, what does changing over from tobacco to wheat due? it is transformative to produce? and spins quite a lot of money on that. he sells george washington rand flowers even with the caribbean. g. washington brand flowers to be eaten by sailors and breaking their teeth on a. [laughter] but it allows them to reallocate later to specify in slave labor as well as free labor. he allocates to different industries are they can become productive and self-sufficient. huizhou need to go to somebody else to get your tools or food and you can produce this right here mount vernon will be restoring the of fishery and i really excited about that. to see how that would have worked it is important it was profitable in its own right but it becomes an enterprise multilayer. it is an amazing transformation. washington sells through alexandria. this is the feeling that americans shared in general. i will briefly say that washington shared with his countrymen on the verge called a takeoff. and there was the sense that the british for holding us down. it is the major sentiment with taxation without representation but as armed rebellion as a last resort and then to break free of great britain. and tell the blood starts to flow in lexington and concord that economic warfare and boycott was the way to break free. there was of vision in of the future involves with implicit resistance to the british and a fascinating series of documents that washington and george mason worked on and i will quote briefly the results are interesting what is the future goal? is states every little interest which will never happen between the colony should be buried in a terminal of oblivion. to immediately be laid to side is inconsistent with a threatening and gloomy prospect. it set examples of fortitude and frugality and industry to give every encouragement in their power with the improvement of art in manufacturers in america. with great care and attention to other materials to manufacture and he goes on to talk about pageantry to think it is pretty clear based on washington's but it was extremely important and there is a lot more than i could say about war but i will not go on too much. as they apply his own management experience there is just a couple of principles that i would point out as commander in chief. washington saw a big picture. this would be a difficult war that we have a good chance of losing to strain every nerve and every resource. is it worth winning if you burn down your country in the process if the economy is ruined? of towns airports or villages are destroyed? and you end up throwing down the of british with the sheep of bashes and facing a future of the impoverished suffering? washington answers up pretty resounding no to that. so as a primary obligation as commander-in-chief to ensure that reemerge to be intact as much as possible with the infrastructure and economy. as commander-in-chief the army must not operate in isolation but they must be integrated with a national effort and this goes from the top. part of this has to do is communication but in researching ms. book at a completely different level looking at the ground level washington begins to talk during the revolutionary war with communities of interest talk about self-interest as the governing principle it rarely is not he believes the patriot loyalist but it is said daily decision based upon your sense of hope and what is happening to your family right now. >> it sounds like pandering but it is genuinely true that had the women of america decided had to end it would have ended making decisions every day on the ground when it was doing to their business or family and the american army. but his army best joined together in this sense so whenever he forms a camp to open a market it is tangible but also symbolic that is very conscious and deliberate on his part. but also for those that we recognize property rights and we isolate the british. to develop that sense of interrelationships of common interest with the people. it is a significant part of washington strategy that i can say about that. returning from the revolutionary war and mount vernon. washington becomes an advocate of the scientific husbandry. much of which is imported for great britain many of the great expansions during this period with the rest of the state. the based on knowledge the anything can as an early advocate of the internet having known he would have the initiative to advocate because the innovator from great britain are advocates for gathering all the information you possibly can with farmers all over europe and america. to classified information the here is another element but slavery should not be simply relegated as the side issue. slavery was in trouble to the development of washington's estate. but to help or create washington's wealth. the relationships with slavery was problematic grew up excepting slavery is what he knew. he began to turn against slavery because of the fundamental principle of labor and work which was a new discovery for me. people have often speculated why did he turn against it? i said he saw blacks fighting in the revolutionary war to see what the white soldiers did and i have always been skeptical. looking at the initial ratings they come down to the sense that industry and morality go hand in hand. to see the same sides of the same thing and industrious person is a moral person perkin --. a moral person for a work ethic that is called the protestant work ethic. if you deny to enjoy the fruits of the labor immediately undercut any motivation to work efficiently. and is impossible to resist. in never work to the limit of their capacity and they will never grow and they become corrupted and force themselves to maintain in that system it is ultimately a dead end for himself for the country in an economically as well as morally. that is the thought process but the confederation in government with the ability treys taxes and to say when he becomes president before inauguration and he says to develop a national prosperity should be my first tour only aim to develop the national prosperity to foster the national prosperity. first and only. that is pretty significant. his vision for the country is focused on building the foundation to establish the economy establishing a stable currency. or the trust that others have a stable and secure government to maintain through taxation and he believes that commerce will unita said he also believes this is what it will ties to native americans. he thought if we traded with them to see the same interest. west to east or north to south the government's role is to maintain a piece that is essential for the development of prosperity and commerce. that is why he puts down the of whiskey rebellion or insurrection. channel sanders spoken has been that guy who's somehow created american and economic policy. washington and set the goals and that was not his first choice but to implement those goals certainly he cannot off with very important idea is and plans to maintain the economy washington studied every single word that hamilton wrote and the final achievement as president to maintain and give a foundation which is the aftermath with the poor guy burns in effigy people were furious that washington in should establish a treaty with the british in 1795 bette we did not get that much out of it. we got something that washington's goal peace and peace on the one hand. but because he was a soldier in the general but not at all cost certainly but because peace was essential to give us the chance and to become prosperous so very realistically at least over the next several decades the best hope for the economic future the british were by far the most advanced people the interest was in trading with them there was a great team emotional connection to be as is economically backward as they could be. so the road home. and then to return to mount vernon he was not into nostalgic or regret looking back. he looked ahead to developing a downturn in -- mount vernon. of course, he deeply regretted not having children of his own but he adopted his own stepchildren and grandchildren as if they were his own and look to their interests over the long run he had a great innovation from his scottish farm manager. the distillery, he never dealt with this before. never had any comprehension of what that meant. but anderson comes to that idea to say you have a lot of money from this i cannot do a scottish accent but he did in his way so washington studied carefully to learn how to work and said okay. let's do a. build a. but by that time the most profitable venture on the estate and that is disgusting. it is excellence and potent and very good. he is already thinking of his seemingly and his will. to decide characteristically one of the richest and i haven't done that exactly where he fits. and has not been handed down in bulk. even as a farmer during that confederation and president in that example is the sense that if you work hard if you have integrity and can build the prosperity in the country but to set the foundation for the wealth we have enjoyed up to this day even now. [applause] pick either you're angry question. >> to the industriousness end of of the beacon of the country to be confrontational to have a higher priority. >> so clearly deeply divided fed on slavery? personally divided. the division was the aspect of what first turns against slavery is that idea of the work idea and that the labor idea but at the same time he is very much lot and order type of buyer for the reasons that i mentioned. social disorder and instability and undermines the nation. quite simply he was afraid of what would happen if slaves were freed on a larger scale he didn't know what would have been he was afraid it would cause massive social dislocation and he came to believe in the area where drag the nation down economically key is like every other human being and has doubts in the back of his mind. if you free the slaves so there is the element of fear. not just a matter of washington to be a matter of time but then she mindy never has complete and total confidence this is one area it took many years and he never quite decided on this issue. in his will he decided to free them. there were complexities you cannot free the market slaves you are dividing families and there are many other considerations. for his open benefit but there's no evidence of that, partly because he knew, if he made one >> i have an understanding of the citation but what can you see about investment -- refers to investment and shares that he true from. >> he purchases shares in quite a lot of different ventures. some of them are in companies that are often land-based companies and speculation on the western frontier, but the potomac river company, earlier on the mississippi company, he purchases shares and banks, and he also, for example, invested when the federal city is established what would later become washington, dc. washington invests money in building a couple of lodging houses in d.c. that he then rents out and becomes a landlord. so, his investments were quite extensive, quite diverse. when he dies, a big part of his wealth -- this is something that needs to be calculated. you folks here at mt. vernon as well as other scholars who are working in this area, willed in to work to see exactly what was the base wealth that was focused in the different shares that he had. but most of it -- all that being said, certainly was very diverse. many different areas of investment, but land remained his primary area of investment. i wish i could be more specific on that but between this is an area where we need to do a whole lot more work. >> i'd like too hear more about why the partnership was a marriage, especially because -- [inaudible] so far from mt. vernon. [inaudible] her husband took care of those things. >> so, her first husband, daniel custus, i believe, was 20 years older than her. he was quite wealthy. his family was a difficult family. his father was, to put it mildly, an irascible man. it was him on his gravestone that he had inscribed, he was married for x number of years about he only really lived when he wasn't married, something to that effect. so she married into a family like that. martha herself, yes, she didn't receive the education that men did. that was because she was a woman. women did not typically receive the same level of education that men did. she needed to work against that. she was for all that clearly a very intelligent woman. it's one of the most interesting letters i've seen from martha, after daniel park custus died in 1757, she suddenly had to take over all of his estate. one of the very first letters she wrights is to the british agent, who george washington deals with. she says, i'm in charge now. you're going to have to deal with me. every aspect of our overseas trade, tobacco, you write to me and i will make the decisions. we need to learn a lot more, is one reason we're degree papers of martha washington project now. exactly what was her level of involvement. she was as involved and she managed as much as a woman of her time could, and she was also very visible. it's one of the things about martha and the revolutionary war and as wife of the first president of the united states, that she did not view her role as being totally domestic, and kind of sitting around at home. but she viewed herself as having a public role. not just symbolic but practically working. like in camp she was in every single winter encampment with george to work with other women in the camp -- and there were lots of them -- to produce and maintain the army's domestic economy to coordinate production of clothing, of other vital necessities. it was a biography by pat brady of martha washington, an american life, that came out about 12 years ago, that's very good on that and also flora frasier just published a very good book on the partnership between george and martha. but a lot more needs to be done. we need to understand her better than we do. >> professor, thank you for your book and subject and your wonderful talk tonight. how do you think george washington would have viewed today, how -- [inaudible] -- i think you said government overreaches? >> sure. that's a natural question to ask. george washington's view of government, and government's role in the nation and in the economy, was that taxation is essential for the maintenance of the government and its infrastructure. that the government has a role to maintain and, as far as possible, develop the national infrastructure, communications, and the like, to further commerce. the government has a role to, as he said forward to maintain a stable currency, to establish credit, to eliminate foreign debt eventually. but that -- and to maintain the peace domestically and internationally, but that is pretty much it; that ultimately government cleared the field for the people by their own industriousness, to produce their own prosperity. so regulation of businesses -- washington could not have foreseen corporations. in all of their permutations in the 19ths and 20th 20th centuries. and what he would have done about them, i'm not entirely sure, but based on his conception, the government should not regulate business, or do so only minimally, so that those businesses can develop and they can produce. >> interested if there are any -- new york city -- [inaudible] -- to further his venture? >> well -- >> very [inaudible] -- >> these are pour ten somehow -- portentous issues we're discussing. books he is reading, we do know many of the books he has read, there's a wonderful book -- i wish i had written down the title -- right after he marries martha, one of the first books that he orders is a book on how to get rich quick. really is. a self-help book about how to manning your estate in the title i think is "get rich quick. "so the read business books and read" wealth of nations" was not as widely read in those areas as, say, jefferson was. so far as businessmen and merchants in new york city, yes, he interacted with many of them, particularly during the course of the war, but also even before and after the war in reaching out and diversifying on his open right and trading throughout the united states. i'm struggling off the top of my head to recall the names of particular new york businessmen and merchants that he worked with, but i know from working on the washington papers there were several. he had close relationships with financiers. robert morris, of course, who eventually ruined his own reputation. but this is another area certainly that he did interact, he did get involved in that world, but not to the level that i can pull off the top of my heard, major business people. i'm sorry i can't tenant more clearly. if you look in the washington papers available online you can find business people and merchants corresponding with him. >> you have spoken in a very fascinating way about george washington's entrepreneurial -- i believe one time he did try to open a brewery at mt. vernon, which was an abysmal failure. what else have you discovered about his attempts, this entrepreneurial attempts that were ultimately failures. >> part of the reason the brewly failed, think, is because the beer was really just really bad. it was awful. this is actually one of the things about beer -- since you mention beer, i have to talk about beer. i used to always assume that washington was all about wine and madera. he loved beer from early on and drank a lot of hit in the 1760s he loved porter, and so he would order porter often from dorsett, in huge shipments, to mt. vernon, hundreds of bottles at a time. and drank it. he later on became fixated with the "buy american" movement anotherring which i could have talked about, before the war and after the war. only buying american brewed beer. there were a number of brewers in philadelphia and pennsylvania and maryland that he patronized, that he was really interest. so far as his failures were concerned, there's a modern concept of the fail fast technique. if you see something and invest in and it it starts to sink, let it fail immediately and get out of it. he didn't stay stuck in any one investment long enough for it to have become a disastrous failure. some of his investments in western land schemes really did not work out. he had some partnerships for the sale of flour which did not work out because his partners were incompetent. he had people like light horse hari lee, a great soldier but aworthless businessman, trying to get george involved in different ventures to buy western lands and create matildaville, i was discussing with doug before the talk. you can see the ruins at great falls. so, there weren't any, like, disastrous investments in his life, which is telling. there were things he lost money on, but nothing on a large scale. >> good evening, professor. my question comes from two of your comments. early on you said the papers were fun to read because never complaining, and then later -- [inaudible] -- would i find examples of george washington complaining and i feel it was implied, that's why you -- [inaudible] -- did he come out and say that in his papers? >> yes. you don't have to really struggle to find washington complaining. just look at his letters he wrote during the french and indian war, before he really learned to restrain himself. the guy was a first-class complainer. he does it later on. i'm trying not to be obnoxious about it because it wasn't like a passive aggressive thing. it was more of, he could be kind of grouchy and quarrelless at times. so that's easy to find. in terms of complaining about mercantilism, yes, some of the most interesting correspondens is between washington and his british agents, robert carity. you follow the correspondence from 1760 to 1774-1775, they are both quite candid with each other about washington's sense of the british mercantilist system as well as carey's system sense of our the system worked, and interestingly enough carey doesn't try to defend it that much. more often he is apologizing for british national policy on this. part of it is like passing the buck, saying this isn't my fault, but back and forth that correspondence i would look at there, and washington, yes, is pretty explicit. some of it i quote in my book, others you can find by exploring the washington papers online through the 1760s. now, i say that with a caveat that sometimes when particular crises appear, washington in the late '60s and '70s keeps his own counsel and takes a low profile. in the aftermath of the townsend duties and stuff he is quiet for a while about his relationship with the british and that's partly because he is petitioning the royal government for western land and such. but more generally speaking, he does talk about the mercantilist system. >> one more. >> i'm curious -- [inaudible] insight or results from efforts -- [inaudible] >> do you mean in their financial effort's relationship with each other? >> sharing information you -- [inaudible] >> sure. yes, we do, and the jefferson papers project was established in the truman administration and have been operating from princeton for a long, long time. about a decade ago they opened a branch of jefferson's retirement series at monticello. they do first class work, and they have uncovered a great deal about jefferson. i cannot claim that any amazingly revealing new correspondence has been uncovered between washington and jefferson. i think some of the most revealing material that i've found has been jefferson's moats on conversations that he had with washington as president. washington tended, especially during his first term, to hold fairly informal -- didn't even hold cabinet meetings. he tended to talk with members of his cabinet individually, more often records were not kept. jefferson was the exception. when washington went to talk with jefferson -- they would really have it out with each other sometimes. as soon as the conversation was done jefferson would go in the other room and write down every single thing they said. part of it to use against washington later on, particularly when washington started complaining candidly about how he was feeling kind of worn out, and tired, he was afraid his memory was going. jefferson was saying, yeah, tell me more, tell me more. so their relationship has been studied quite a bit. there's been a lot written about it. but it was clearly a very nuanced relationship. i think the men respected each other. we have tended to focus on their points of division. they both respected each other very much, but they also saw flaws in each other, but waze -- washington was very much almost a black and white thinking type of individual that, when he feels that jefferson has made a promise and he feels that jefferson has broken that promise, at least to keep quiet, after he leaves the administration and starts working against him, washington takes it very personally. i wish washington had been more kind of candid in his own writings, and his diary, which is interesting but there's really not a whole lot of assistance there to talk about their relationship. so,ways, we do work closely if the jefferson as well as franklin, adams, madison, the other projects. >> give a big round of applause. [applause] >> the conversation that came out a constant yearning for more questions to be answered and we need good research to be done. >> we do. >> the book that his team has put together, the financial papers project, is going to be a great source for all kinds of stories. a great crop of younger grad students right now who are looking at things like land speculation, the rise of capitalism in america, a moment in which those questions are being asked in a serious way, and it's great to have ed lead the way with this wonderful book. like washington, he doesn't get paid for doing this tonight. he is paid for his expenses, and he got a very big dinner. bottle of wine -- [laughter] -- but that means you can help out by buying his book tonight. you'll get an opportunity. it's right outside the doors behind us. i'm going to make you sit at that table until everybody gets their book signed, until those of you who want to stay and get your book signed after, let's go laid and too that in an orderly fashion. for the rest of you, we have a paid event on martha washington, march 3rd. still tickets left for that. another round of applause. applause [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> what i tune into on the weekend is authors sharing new releases. >> watching the nonfiction authors on booktv is the best television for serious reader. >> on c-span they can have a longer conversation and delve into their subject. >> booktv weekends, they bring you author after author, fascinating people. >> i love booktv and i'm a c-span fan. >> radio talk show host, mark levin says this book will make your squirm and make you think. the author is radio talk show host, steve dace. why a novel? >> guest: i thought it was a good do is to tell inconvenient truths in a way that may seem more entertaining and less confrontational. that may cause people to take a look at what is happening to the culture, albeit from another point of view. >> host: what are some of the inconvenient truths. >> guest: that unless we return to our constitutional form of government, in this generation, or unless we see some form of moral and spiritual revival, like what we saw at the founding of the country and the great awakening that gave birth to liberty in our civilization in the first place, we might bed to totally and irrevocably screwed. the course that we are currently on. so this book it humorous, althoughed a times an unsettling warning, road sign that says, danger ahead, turn back now. >> host: without giving away the ending, house does the nefarious plot form. >> guest: it a contemporary hommage -- a demon general from hell was cast by hell with destroying the united states over a center ago, and now he is so confident his plan has worked he connects all the dots, named names, talked about philosophies, institutions, moms they started, corrupted 0, coopted in order to accomplish the demise of the united states as a super power, and he is so confident that the plan has worked that he has written it in this book in vivid detail, connects every dot, and our inability to believe it is true to think it's pair nowa, conspiracy, kansas be right. that's how he convinces his master, the devil, we're done and his plan has actually worked. >> host: now, steve deace has appeared on c-span many time and i was you're listening in iowa you recognize voice from his radio talk show. what prompted you to write a book. >> guest: i was in the shower getting ready to do p.r. for my last book, and this idea popped in my head. i think the best or worst ideas come in the shower because it's the only place on earth where either i'm not talking to somebody or my cell phone is not going off. so, i was in the shower. this idea came to me. this book is dedicated to all the useful idiots out there, especially those who are not -- unaware we were using you all along, so you turned out to be the most useful idiots of them all. lord nefarious, that was the mustard seed to borrow an expression, that the rest of the book came from. i if you look throughout the history of western civilization, great examples of using alter egos or caricatures or characters to tell cultures truths that if you put your own name on they might be offended by. sir thomas moore's uutopia, a rebuke of the monarchy. they did burn him at the stake but by writing it in the book, he escaped persecution originally and got people to listen to his ideas. this is sort of a way to get along some of the political -- get around the political correctness and the walls built in our culture between different ideological dividing lining's theological lines and to objectively look at what has become of us as a people and where we are going if we don't turn back. >> ben shapiro sis says the book is awry satirical look at the future of america. mr. deace we're talking to you in early a match here at see pack -- see cpac. if you were to write a store about the election season so for, what you write. >> guest: instead of primary colors it would be paradigm shift. you're watching a massive paradigm shift happen in the american elect forat. there's a revolt in the conservative movement and the republican party, and there's no question that the republican party, as it's been known, since george herbert walker bush left the stage -- if you look at the history of the party, one of thieves things is not like the other. nixon, ford, reagan, bush, dole, mccain, bush, i mean, the one that sticks out is reagan. the rest of the party has traditionally been sort of this right of center, small p progressive, corporatist leaning political party except for the era of reagan and most of the conservative base is tired of it and fed up with it. the last straw is what happened with romney losing in 2012, and then the massive gains republicans had in the 2014 mid-terms and there's literally nothing to show for it whatsoever. and so that's why as we sit here in early march, two candidates, donald trump and ted cruz, who are dramatically different people. donald trump is run only white nationalammism, dixiecrat time of platform. that's not conservative. cruz is run ago conservatism. time to conserve ideals and traditions that built america. those two individuals are seen as the two most outside of the republican mainstream, are right now blowing away the field that are roughly neck and neck in the delegate count because they