Have to be here there. Will be no test. I said this sincerely. I m very flattered that you took the time and took your evening to come listen to me and i try to i mean, i think that my students by and large are interested in the subject but i know perfectly well that if they didn t have tests, if they didn t have papers, if they weren t held accountable, then most of the seats would be empty so none of you have to be here but you did come so i find that to be very flattering. I could suppose give you a test at the end [ laughter ]. The title of my talk which i had forgotten july jamie just mentioned it is the unknown aaron burr, and i m going to tell you about aaron burr and why i wrote a book about aaron burr. My book is the heartbreak of aaron burr. I will tell you a little bit about the heartbreak of aaron burr but i can t tell the whole story without giving await ending and i don t want to give await ending and i ll tell you. Why not just because i want you to buy the book and read
supposed to be a test at the end. the title of my talk on which i forgot until jamie just mentioned is the unknown aaron burr. i m going to tell you what i read a book about aaron burr. the title of my book is called the heartbreak of aaron burr. i can t tell you the whole story without giving away the ending. i don t want to give away the ending because it s not just that i want you to buy the book and read the book and enjoy it and hang around till the end, but it has to do with the reason i wrote the book in the first place. this goes back to my experience of writing, my experience of reading and in particular, my experience of listening to a question that my mother has een put into me for the last 23 or 24 years. and the question i would get to in a moment. but it goes to the heart of why people wait and why people read. i teach history at the university of texas. i also teach writing. i teach writing to graduate students bear the graduate students in my writing semina
subject, but i know perfectly well that if they did not have tests or papers, if they were not held accountable, none of the seats would be empty. none of you have to be here, but you did come, so i find that very flattering. i could, i suppose, give you a test at the end. the title of my talk, which i forgot until jamie just mentioned it is the unknown aaron burr. i will read a bit about my book about aaron burr. the title of my book is called the heartbreak of aaron burr. whole story you the without giving away the ending. i don t want to give away the ending because it s not just that i want you to buy the book and read the book and enjoy it and hang around till the end, but it has to do with the reason i wrote the book in the first place. this goes back to my experience of writing, my experience of reading and in particular, my experience of listening to a question that my mother has been for the last 23 or 24 years. the question i will get to in a moment, but it goes to
all of these books are where you learned something. that s the reason why she won the sticky note contest. i got the idea to write this book in 2013. i was at a dnc meeting. in washington dc. they have gone on to distinguished careers. in the democratic party. and they started reminiscing about the 1980 convention. they have just accepted the nomination chased teddy kennedy around the stage and he was essentially drunk on the stage in front of the entire country. and then i ran upstairs. and i ran into anita dunn. in that fight and split us personally and structurally for a decade because they did not win the white house until 1992. that was the beginning of a journey for me. in deciding to write this book. i realize that no one had really told the story. in the victors often went in to sign the fine history. so i was intrigued by this. as i got into writing this book what really came as a surprise was a psychological profiles of each of these men in the way they intersected
our troops when they go to war. they are supposed to be safe on their own home turf. and yet we continue to hear news of sexual assault and loss of life. in the last year, i have heard from veterans around the country asking me to tell their story. so tonight i am diving in. what do you have the say to the marine corps? i m not giving up. and they are not going to get away with this. i signed up the fight. i did not sign up to rape. deck after after decade, sexual assault existed in the military and victims are left paying the price. people have come back and said that s what you get . for them, enough is enough. this is a message to the generals and admirals. it s time to reform. when i was a kid, my favorite movie was top gub . this is this hollywood story of camaraderie and courage. best fighter pilot in the navy, sir. it had hot guys, fighter jets, and the best makeout scene i had ever seen. i was totally obsessed. and i wasn t the only one. in fact, t