he's almost like a zellig, woody allen's zellig. he is at some of the main events at the revolution, the major battles and it has a happy ending. he does become a freed black in new england at the end of the war. >> and finally comanche's empire. >> this is the book i'm most proud of and the press is most proud of. the author received his degree from the university of helsinki and did an asounding study of the comanche from 1700 to 1850 so it's got 150 years' time frame where the comanche completely dominated the southwest. and what comes through is their intelligence, their decentralized political organization, their escape from disease because they were nomanic. they would enslave whoever captured but if you wanted to be a comanche they would have groups. they were the first understand the horse and its importance in the western economy and the buffalo so they were very well armed, very well funded and very smart. and so they outdueled their rival tribes, the apache especially, and they absolutely ruled the spanish and anglos who

he reminded me of woody allen. and i thought there was an irony there. so then i figured, well, maybe there's a -- there's a whole book in these unexpected portraits of extremist leaders, and i thought it would be funny and -- and there'd be an interesting narrative. and i thought that maybe it would be an interesting way of trying to see our world through their eyes because all the extremists in the book are people who are living among us. they're trying to overthrow our way of life from within. so i thought maybe -- maybe the "them" could be us, as well as them. c-span: where else did you go, before we get into the individual stories? >> guest: kind of all around the world. maybe 50 percent of the book is set in the states. there's a couple of british chapters. c-span: but in the states, who did you visit with? >> guest: ok. well, here in d.c., i spent a little time with big jim tucker, who's a grizzled newsman who's made it his life's mission to track down the shadowy and sinister bilderberg group, who he says is the group that's secretly ruling the w

woody allen said the hardest thing about writing is to go from nothing to something. i wish i had known that many years ago because it is true. it is the terror of the blank page but if you start with these little notations in here which they are jaunt, at best they are seeds. if you start with those then right through the beginning you have something when nothing started to disappear. and because of that, i think, is there any would in this building you cannot find? [laughter] there is not one piece of void. here is my imagination and i have never suffered from writer's block but trying to figure out what the hell the book is about and put together. the structure, a prairie earth took seven years to arrive because i could not figure out the sample tic-tac-toe design that controls the book. once i have agreed in my mind everything i had been gathering came together but this is the concept that brought us together which is the ledger q and it as the alphabetical letter as the concept i could work with. so you have little but, the bigger book and finally best. what is i

woody allen said about writing that the hardest thing is to go from nothing to something. i wish i had known that a good many years ago because it is true. it is the terror of the blank page but if you start with these little velitation, which in here, which are done. at vests they are sis. if you start with those, then ride from the beginning begin to have something, but nothing-- and because of that, i think i have never, is there any blood on this building i can knock on? there is not a piece of wood in here, is there? knock on wood, i have never suffered from writers bobrick wide to suffer from trend to figure out what the hell the book is about and how to put it together. earthed 67 years to write because i couldn't figure out this simple tic-tac-toe design that controls the book. once i had that great in my mind everything that i learned in seven years came together and i could write the book. this one as i will talk about the concept the proud of together with the letter q and q as an alphabetic letter as a kind of concept that i could work with. so you've got the l