I appeared last night on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to promote my book Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval that Inspired America's Founding Fathers. I do not watch this program regularly and had not known quite what to expect when this appearance was booked; my impression has been that Stewart is often very funny and, while generally liberal, is happy to skewer those on the left as well as those on the right. It turned out to be a terrific interview, at least from my point of view.
Stewart had not only read the book but brought to it a considerable knowledge and appreciation of the history of this period.
"Michael Barone reminds us that low-minded politics can produce positive results for society" is the summary line for the interview on the website: an excellent point. Stewart is an impressively smart and learned man. I wasn't sure when I was writing it that I had the skill to write an exciting narrative. He said I had, which was tremendously encouraging. I hope other readers feel the same.
I was told that The Daily Show sells books. It certainly does: Our First Revolution was No. 79 on amazon.com this morning and No. 7 among history books. Thank you, Jon Stewart.
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