The special tribute was held the morning of January 19 in Constitution Hall in the nation's capital. Traditionally, inaugurations include a tribute to the incoming First Lady, but Laura Bush explained to the gathering that she wanted to depart from that tradition by making the occasion a tribute to America's authors who have so profoundly affected her life and the lives of all Americans. Like pieces of a vibrant mosaic, the books they write add new color and form to an already existing body of great literature, a literary collection that has shaped our country in ways that are both momentous and subtle. More often, literature is hauntingly quiet.
Authors write, and readers read in solitude.
Books allow us to discover who we are as people and what we can achieve as individuals. It's because of Herman Melville that we know what it was like to sail beyond the rim of the world on a 19th century whaling ship. It's because of Willa Cather that we can conjure with forlorn clarity the beauty of the vanished American prairie. It's because of Richard Wright that we can understand the boiling rage and desperate yearning of those who are denied full membership in America's promise. Books have entertained and inspired us.