Monday, April 5, 2010
Journalist and author Judith Warner tackles the complicated debate about the overmedication of children in her book “We’ve Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication.” Warner interviewed doctors, parents, researchers and family experts to explain what drives the medication of children and what it’s doing to today’s younger generation. Then, Bob talks with Iqbal Quadir founder of the mobile phone company GrameenPhone in Bangladesh, a partnership with the Nobel Prize winning micro-loan pioneer Mohammed Yunus. Grameenphone created a massive, decentralized communication system, affordable to the masses of poor Bangladeshis. Improved communications improved lives; reduced time wasted on simple inquiries and created hundreds of thousands of new businesses.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Writer Ted Conover’s book “The Routes of Man: How Roads are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today” explores six of the world’s byways, and examines how roads connect people and civilizations. Then, The Nighthawks, a Washington DC-based blues band, return to the Sirius XM studio where they recorded the tracks for their new release, “Last Train to Bluesville.”
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Brian Katulis, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, discusses the relationship between the Obama Administration and Israel, which, to many, appears to be shifting. Katulis will talk about the recent events and how the dynamic could affect the Middle East peace process. Then, Gabriel Thompson spent a year working alongside day laborers across the U.S. for his book Working In The Shadows: A Year Of Doing The Jobs (Most) Americans Won’t Do. His personal narratives about lettuce harvesting and processing chicken parts have themes of social activism, advocating immigration reform, stricter labor laws, a higher minimum wage, and unionizing.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Set in a New York state post-World War II asylum, Shira Nayman’s second novel “The Listener” tells the story of a psychiatrist studying the effects of war neurosis and his dawning awareness of his own emotional, sexual and chemical demons. Nayman worked for years in mental institutions before and is now a campaign strategist in the rough and tumble of New York politics. Then, Bob talks with Marshall Chess, son and nephew of the co-founders of Chess Records. Marshall worked for 16 years at the label, learning every aspect of the business and observing his father Leonard and his uncle Phil interact with their artists. Marshall will also discuss the new movie coming out about the history of Chess Records called “Who Do You Love?”
Friday, April 9, 2010
David Broder of The Washington Post joins Bob to talk politics. Next, actress Ellie Kendrick stars in a new adaptation of “The Diary of Anne Frank” from PBS’s Masterpiece series. Then, in this week’s installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, Bob talks with curator Dan Gediman about the essay of film actor, writer, director and producer Hugo Haas. Born in Czechoslovakia, his father and brother died in Nazi gas chambers, but Hugo escaped to America. He became active in Hollywood making numerous low-budget movies. Haas died in 1968.