they are living with such a sense of sensitivity about work but also the sense of is there a future at all and we are not taking it seriously. being in contact with the venice with fuels me. >> host: know it' though it's nt enough, the shock doctrine. thanks for joining us on c-span2 book tv. >> guest: it was a pleasure. here we go.

excellent. thank you guys so much for coming tonight. we want to welcome you to our new home. we are so honored and thankful that you are here. but we are not here for us. all of you probably know brian from his job postin hosting foxd friends. [applause] it is the most popular morning show on the planet for 213 months and two weeks and four days. is that right. you might also know brian from his syndicated radio show which is on almost 150 radio stations across the country. and talkers magazine name magazm one of the most important radio hosts in america.

between get this, everybody, between tv and radio committees on the airwaves six hours a day, five days a week and yet he's found the time to write a string of "new york times" best-selling books, george washington's secret six, thomas jefferson and favorites, andrew jackson and the miracle of new orleans all told his books have reached over 2.5 million readers around the world, which is fairly impressive. [applause] these are history books. his latest book that we are celebrating tonight is sam houston and the alamo avengers. it is another best seller that debuted last week as number three on "the new york times" bestseller list.

unfortunately the list came out and he is not act iii anymore, he's at two. congratulations. that's pretty awesome. if you have not read any, you are in for a treat and i havee good news you are taking home a signed copy of the i new book. we are so honored to have h him tonight. he's going to speak to us for a couple othrough a couple of min. he told me he might take a few questions if you're kind to him. welcome back to the bestsellers list. thank you for being here. [applause] [cheering] thank you all for coming out tonight. i really don't knoww anybody. but you all seem very nice, well-dressed and you are wearing basically the same kind of blue which is somewhat scary.

you've done such an incredible job. you could have the best book, the best message, thees best story. there are so many great books out there right now. the thing is you've got to have the right plan to launch. so far this is my sixth book overall. my fourth one i never hadou the things hit on old years like this for this long so we've been out for about three weeks and we are doing the best we can to get the word out. i was reluctant to do it. he said listen it will be worth it.s to know that you are drinking and eating for free makes me feel better. [laughter] let's be honest we don't want you eating and living in washington, d.c.. it's good to see things so calm in washington, d.c..

not much happened. it's also great to have a history book when you have an impeachment trial happening where eache minute or something more compelling. if you go for a minute will have four major stories. my goal has always been to get away from politics. there is enough books out there there's nothing that can bring new to the city that they don't know much of already. my goal is to tell an american story and to tell it in a way that has jon meacham, douglas brickley, they do it comprehensively. i read those book and i know one thing is for sure, i can't do that. what i want to do is get major figures in history that you know who's on the cover, when you opeopen it up to understand more about the people that made them great because like many people in this room you do great things on a daily basis without saying

to claim. america is made up of so-called m.average people doing extraordinary things without getting a pat on the back. when they were known in their time but not in our time so if you open up the secret six when you close it you think about the long-term to look around and say born in america i get a lot of them every day we have the chance to go play in the super

bowl all we want is the chance to be successful. we don't want the outcome decided. we don't wan want to guarantee t thousand dollars. we just want to be the landscape the best we can. anybody here from texas?

people want a new shot and all they wanted was maybe a chance to be successful and see what texas has to offer. so they got the gun, a rake, a plow and what they were able to do and how they report to stand up and fight for freedom and liberty is a story s a stories t to know if i can introduce you to sam houston we know about the president, he should have been president. he's not a perfect president but i was able to do something i've always wanted to do. i believe they are based on a true story. [laughter] how great is it when you open up thethey flashback to previous rocky movie. now i remember why i'm in this theater. i was able to open up of andrew jackson the miracle of new orleans and we told the story of what happened inry that battle d the battle that has to be fought for different. if the british had when they were going to keep new orleans and turn over the purchase of the stock us from going past the mississippi. i open up with the battle.

i'm able to start their and 1814 sam houston wants to talk about courage. they got three and he should have died. asen it was time to get the commission he goes to washington pretty close to here according to the map. i'm able to see just about everything. what does he learn, the country is fragile and how does it feel? 1835, 1836 of the toughest man in america at the time you call them something they don't want to do and that's runaway, set for one battle and we've got toe win it and as they are running away is training them in gathering them until he finally tts up in the end. so i thought if we could talk that story and i could harm you guys with another story about this great country even though

we are kind of pulling each other apart, if they tell you how bad i it was and how close e came to the destruction you would not overreact about rudy y giuliani and ukraine. [laughter] why don't we take a short timeout for the audiovisual portion of the lake to get free food, let's watch the alamo avengers this has not been aired on fox news. >> [inaudible] happy to be an independent state in mexico but that changed when

they took power and immediately showed the liberty. they were ready to fight. >> it would control the whole part of texas once they started having colonel travis volunteer. to the surprise of many they were outnumbered to take over. the bad news was coming. they stopped that before it could take root. they decideded to stay and backo the most famous men in america at the time.

>> they decided its freedom or deathng. most people are not coy just a loan. you get people beneath brokerage with the people that you are around. for 13 days his mentor imperiously inflicting hundreds or thousands of casualties in santa anna's army. march 6 every texan kills and they are supposed to intimidate the forces but it didn't. 1836 weeks after the alamo massacre, the battle flashes here where 400 new they were about to be engaged and it's an engagement everyone could see happen is once again his orders were not heeded. he hesitates and is caught in the field for the deal and in

exchange they would be allowed to live. they trusted him to hold his word, he didn't. the men were marched out a and executed. he knew he had to give one of the most unpopular orders of his career known today as the runaway. this was now a war of attrition. he wanted to preserve himself in texas and the strategies at which time. they said i can get more troops or make this decision, follow that one where the new santa anna and the mexican army would be waiting. after much a celebration, sam houston decided to finally fight first and only time that they were squared off the author of

18 minutes. that is the amount of time that it took to overwhelm and completely surprised. it's the time it took to achieve total victory. the group that got annihilated at the alamo got massacred at goliad? >> date achieved theto ultimate surprise in american history. >> guest: hguest co. he led thet for freedom inn ultimate victory to change the country and soon change the world. >> i think it is pretty clear we have to get the reenactors in better shape. [laughter] these were muscular john wayne like characters buthe waymy cham credit for showing up that they knew you had to suspend logic. and santa anna would be captured and instead of, they would hang them from the highest tree.

they decided also call up your reinforcement. so again, be calculated into the end of holding out for santa anna bringing them to enter jackson and david oversee the fact they went back to mexico. that is to sam houston alamo avengers off to a good start. i believe it changed history because then we moved south and west because of that. also understand jefferson and jackson really believed that texas gave them the louisiana purchase and he couldn't believe that he president munro and john quincy adams signed it over in exchange for florida. that was one of the hottest issues in the country and i just saw it by goinassaulted by goind reclaiming and explaining it to

people with start tapping into their patriotism again. the study that and i hope people would be interested in thing the first war on terror i know people could relate to and enter jackson a 13-year-old but loses his entire family and is raised by the country would be by the time this book comes out this is a mission to push back on those who don't understand how great this country is and i have no problem saying that. we are not perfect bu but for ts great about us as we are trying to be and the reason we argue and fight us because we did something our parents told us not to do. when it's all said and done we have the same goal to make the country ant better place. i would like to also take some questions from you guys if you have any handles until you that i do have to be about ten to 30

and on the air tomorrow so it's going to be fun in new york and also encourage you if you are ever around orlando or jacksonville. now we have a famous dad onau twitter now. [laughter] with that, does anybody have any questions? >> did it influence your decision on [inaudible] let me explain something to you. i am a mets fan. you are a national, right on a

serious note is used to do all sports radio and what happened in 2017 it's going to be an interesting time i don't know how baseball is going to get on top of it. if i owned the dodgers i'm not happy and defined the yankees i'm not too happy and then they beat them again. .o they take it out of their own way. >> okay, good. and it's the first. thank you. >> i don't know. i am wide open. i have to find something in the next four or five weeks and then have to have the retirement party right here. you know the headline that you probably don't know the details so i will look for some thing on

inside. but a special thanks to fox for what we do a hour-long special on the alamo. i was able to go to sam houston and the alamo avengers so that was pretty cool. i had the chance to do different documentaries over the last 18 months and all the things you probably don't know were forgotten and that has been a great experience. i thought that was my quickest way to get on the air but i want to take a break i would always open up the history book and to be honest i never thought i would be writing whenever and when bill o'reilly encouraged me

so much and we are from the same neighborhood when i told them i had a story i've been studying for 20 years and he started getting some details, he said to me you've got to write that instead of fighting history at fox he said no you've got to write that and i was hitting him chapters and he was handing them back to me and when the first ce one was done, they told me you should get out and if you are doing standup in the closing, you get a loud laugh before the closing, leave. [laughter] for 20 years they tell you this story and little do they know i don't have a backup. when it's so successful they said what are you interested in. anytime somebody writes with a perspective on why w we're in ts war on terror, jefferson dealt with at first, find out how jefferson dealt with it,

contrast that with medicin withd that is what led me to the university of virginia where they were able t toth get the original documents and i said let's try that and the next thing you know i'm standing here talking about the alamo. [laughter] i am an accidental historical author who is passionate about it. here's what it is. i get it, but there was a sense of service. sam houston is the best example and we dide this in a paperback. sam houston walled we are not going to civil war. when he got out of voted, he quit. you could reach out and provide some money if you want to take a texas back to the confederacy.

they didn't want to join the war of 1812 which was all about the country first. two south carolina they wanted to see who almost has the country first. our politicians today have to say to themselves and i hav thee the belief that goes to the radio show especially i have the belief that compromise will be in soon. if someone on the democratic side that is somewhat moderate winds, they have to sit down and do immigration and health care n what do we a know? no matter how brilliant you thinhe givesher healthcare planr immigration plan as soon as they get power, they are going to tear it up and then nothing is going to get done. so we are going to have to do this thing called compromise.

>> do you remember the alamo? [laughter] i wanted to go beyond the alamo and i said how do they do this to a broad audience and when it got there, i'm preemptively prd up to it and l what happened mit be a market for it, but i love the fact that guys like phil collins, the number one alamo fan in the world genesis and like stanley mcchrystal they still studied it, 180 could hold off 3,000 plus for 13 days and if they got a couple hundred more, if by the myth that is him or the legend that he is if he

didn't have something like tuberculosis or scurvy, i don't know what he was suffering from, i have a feeling he would still be alive. he would have found a way. [inaudible] he kicked me in the thigh really hard. he's got this thing where if you go to his house woul what you ds make a right at the pad. i did the first four years, i didn't find them, i called them and they watched. before there were weight classes ande division where you would go back to the locker room and fight for thehe championship. to see them weighing 450 pounds

going against a 180-pound karate guy in the netherlands and have the first knockout his front teeth it was an interesting experience and i was one of the first when john designed and teback then they wanted to do interviews and safety you mind telling the press someone came by tonight and i said i am not saying that someone could have died that night. scene would have predicted that it would be that successful. [inaudible] on the book tour with me, she's producer of the radio show, so

we've been to the most einteresting tour which is outside of major cities where we went to omaha, lincoln, wichita falls texas, waco texas, san antonio, am i forgetting anything? south bend indiana. what i'm finding is when you go to texas i can't believe people directly related with the paperwork related to somebody that fought in the battle. when you go to orlando or washington to say i moved here a year ago, when you go to the cities i mentioned, they say i've been here 30 years, 40 years, 50 a family fought in the revolution, there is to be honest it's not aruba. there is some rough terrain. i don't even see a mountain.

to buy and this history that is what i'm taking away and when people come up to me and say they are related to the story and they m think you are keeping the family alive, that is what i walk away with. thank you for that question and for throwing this party. thanks so much for representing the book and for coming out. [applause] this is the best night of our life. i have a couple pieces of the news for you. n the best brian is going to be in our conference room for a little bit taking photos so if you would like a photo with him there is a way to get one. we are trying to get him out of here quickly because we understand the schedule, but if you want w to grab a photo with him, you can make her way to weigh in a second. another piece of good as it has

been leave tonight and we hope you will for a while because there is so much food and drinks left that we are hoping you will. but as you leave, there will be gift bags and signed copies of the book. my friend [inaudible] also there's dessert and champagne afterwards. [inaudible conversations] ..