The Bob Edwards Show, December 12-16, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011: For his book Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi’s Long Journey to Triumph in Iraq, Richard Bonin, a producer for CBS News’ 60 Minutes, had unprecedented access to Chalabi – conducting over 60 hours of interviews – as well as access to his family, advisors, and compound in post-war Iraq. The book has been praised as the best-researched, most readable narrative about how a small group of people caused the United States to wage a war that was unnecessary, and worse, counter-productive. Bonin talks with Bob about Chalabi’s ingenious, decades-long effort to lure the U.S. government into a disastrous nine-year war. Then, the former Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, joins Bob to talk about his new work of fiction, Blink of an Eye, as well as all-things-foreign-policy.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011: In August, U.S. Attorney from Minnesota, B. Todd Jones, was named the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after details of a controversial procedure known as “Operation Fast and Furious” was revealed. That ATF operation was aimed at major gun-trafficking networks in the Southwest, but resulted in two thousand semi-automatic weapons being released into the hands of criminals. Several of the guns have been recovered at violent crime scenes in Mexico and more than a thousand are still unaccounted for. Jones discusses the practice, known as “gun-walking” and other ATF efforts to fight violent crime. Then, our resident folklorists Steve Winick and Nancy Groce from the American Folklife Center share songs and speech having to do with the theme “Brothers and Sisters.”
Wednesday, December 14, 2011: In 1887 a medical doctor named Arthur Conan Doyle published four stories about a brilliant and eccentric detective named Sherlock Holmes. Thus began the public’s obsession with Holmes, spawning stories, movies, games, and more. Award-winning Sherlockians Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger are editors of A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon, a new collection of Holmes stories from contemporary authors.
Thursday, December 15, 2011: Randall Kennedy is one of this country’s leading thinkers. He teaches law at Harvard and comments extensively on race, politics, and our judicial system. His latest book is The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency. Then, husband and wife public radio hosts and syndicated columnists Joe and Terry Graedon are back with a new book called Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them. Each year, more than six million people are harmed by doctor errors, prescription mistakes and diagnostic disasters – and about a hundred thousand hospital patients die every year from preventable medical errors – including Joe Graedon’s own mother.
Friday, December 16, 2011: Doyle McManus, Washington columnist for the Los Angeles Times joins Bob to discuss the latest political news. Next, Jerry Lewis is one of the last living comedic legends of the 20th century, influencing the biggest names in contemporary comedy. Director Gregg Barson’s new documentary Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis, debuting on Encore on December 17th, features interviews with Carol Burnett, Chevy Chase, Jerry Seinfeld and others, along with behind-the-scenes interviews with Lewis to give viewers a unique perspective of this now-85 year old comedian. Then, in this week’s installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, we hear the essay of Susan Hall. Her son was born with a disorder that has stalled his cognitive development, but nothing has limited his love of music. Hall’s home is a warehouse of electronic keyboards, and her son’s favorite activity is to play along with the tunes programmed into the keyboards. Hall says the musical playtime allows her to accomplish household chores, but it also opens a window of connection she wouldn’t otherwise have with her son.