Bob Edwards Weekend Highlights – July 18-19, 2009
HOUR ONE
A trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council for more than three decades, Robert Redford has dedicated nearly as much of his life to the environment as he has to acting and filmmaking. Redford joins Bob on stage at the Lincoln Center in front of a live audience to talk about his film career and the many NRDC campaigns he has supported in the past – and why that work will still be needed for years to come.
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, Bob talks with executive director Dan Gediman about the essay from anthropologist Margaret Mead (1901-1978). She spent many years in Polynesia studying native cultures there. She also worked as an associate curator at the American Museum of Natural History, professor at Columbia University, and president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
HOUR TWO
New York Times diplomatic correspondent Helene Cooper talks with Bob about her book, The House at Sugar Beach. Cooper was born into a society of wealth and privilege in Liberia, as a descendent of one of the first settlers in the African country. In 1980, her life was forever changed when the Liberian government was overthrown and her family was forced to flee to America. Cooper tells the story of how she reconnected with her Liberian roots years after she left the country. Her book is just coming out in paperback.
The Academy Award-winning documentary When We Were Kings chronicled the 1974 fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire, giving only supporting mention of the epic 12-hour, three-night concert show-casing prominent African-American and African musicians of the day. Now, director Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, who edited When We Were Kings, has released 35-year old footage of the concert, featuring Celia Cruz, James Brown, BB King, and Bill Withers, among other artists. Soul Power documents the musical performances and the effects of this once in a lifetime event.