Monday, March 9, 2009
As Marine General James L. Jones takes on the position of national security advisor, Mac Destler explains the history and responsibility of the job. Destler is a professor at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland and the author of numerous books on American foreign policy. His newest is In the Shadow of the Oval Office. Then, most people have no idea that New York City has its own spy agency with twice as many Arabic speakers as the FBI. Christopher Dickey has covered international terrorism for more than twenty-five years and writes about the NYPD’s counterterrorism force in Securing the City.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Carla Del Ponte’s memoir, Madame Prosecutor, chronicles her work as chief prosecutor of the United Nations war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Release of the Italian edition of her memoir in April 2008 stirred controversy across Europe over some of her revelations. The Swiss government also barred Del Ponte from making any public statement about her book. Today, as the US edition is being published, Del Ponte is still unable to speak on the issues she has raised. That’s why, former New York Times Balkans reporter Chuck Sudetic is speaking on her behalf. Then, Joel Berger was stealthily watching one morning as a pack of wolves approached a herd of elk at Yellowstone National Park. The elk had enjoyed 60 years of predator-free living at the park, but in 1995 wolves were controversially reintroduced. What Berger discovered was that those six decades was enough time for the elk to totally loose their fear of their natural predator. Dr. Berger studies animal behavior for the Wildlife Conservation Society. Based on his extensive field research, Berger has written a book called The Better to Eat You With: Fear in the Animal World.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Bob spends some quality time with Carol Kaye and her bass guitar. Kaye was THE session bassist of the 1960s and 70s, playing on dozens and dozens of hits for the likes of The Beach Boys, Ritchie Valens, Simon & Garfunkel, The Supremes, Ray Charles and the Monkees. It’s estimated that Kaye has been involved with more than ten-thousand recording sessions in her career. Kaye and her bass are also responsible for the distinctive bass notes of the Mission Impossible theme and for the theme song of The Cosby Show.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
In the recent age of education reform, school districts often have found themselves at odds with teachers’ unions. That’s just one challenge facing the new Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who likewise is responsible for parsing out an additional $100 billion — what education received from the new stimulus plan. Randi Weingarten is President of the American Federation of Teachers. She weighs in on the new executive leadership and how teachers, administrators, parents, and students can best meet their common goal of improving education. Then, writer David Hajdu chronicles the rise, fall, and rebirth of comic books in the 1950s in The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America. It’s now out in paperback
Friday, March 13, 2009
David Broder of The Washington Post joins Bob to talk live about the latest news from the capital and beyond. Then, music and conversation from the American Spiritual Ensemble. It was founded by Dr. Everett McCorvey in 1995 and is based in Lexington, Kentucky. Dr. McCorvey and twenty-five members of the Ensemble discuss and perform examples of the American Negro spiritual — music created by slaves with African roots and biblical text.