The Bob Edwards Show, July 2-6, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012: When Barack Obama was campaigning for president, he pledged to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and to follow the rule of law in fighting terror groups. Nearing the end of his first term, there are still prisoners at Gitmo, and covert drone air strikes, in which the U.S. military and the CIA act as judge, jury, and executioner, are at an all-time high. Daniel Klaidman, a reporter for Newsweek, examines Obama’s foreign policy decisions in the new book, Kill or Capture: The War on Terror and the Soul of the Obama Presidency.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012: Director Benh Zeitlin’s film Beasts of the Southern Wild is a combination of tall tale, heartbreaking reality, and southern charm. Winner of this year’s Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and three top awards at Cannes, the film features break-out performances from new-comers Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry. Then, when John Philip Sousa shaved his beard it made national news. He was the best known musician in the world in 1900; in some cities, his name was more widely known than even the President’s. John Philip Sousa IV joins Bob to share stories about his great-grandfather and discuss his legacy. Sousa has recently co-authored the book, John Philip Sousa’s America: The Patriot’s Life in Images and Words.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012: Ronnie Dunn spent 20 years as “The Voice” behind the hit superstar country duo Brooks & Dunn. Now, A year after the two amicably split to pursue solo careers, Dunn is touring behind his solo album, Ronnie Dunn. He speaks with Bob about what’s driving him to start over as a “new artist” after being part of one of popular music’s most successful acts. Then, in a collection encompassing more than two hundred original essays and more than a thousand pages, Greil Marcus offers a kaleidoscopic view of what “Made in America” means in his book titled A New Literary History of America. It’s now out in paperback.
Thursday, July 5, 2012: Recently, President Obama issued an executive order that allows more than 800,000 young people to remain in the US legally without fear of deportation. In 2010, we produced a documentary titled Papers: Stories of Undocumented Youth. We shared the story of Isabel Castillo, a young woman who graduated high school with a 4.0 GPA. However, her prospects for a career in social work came to a near halt. Like many others, Castillo didn’t have a social security number. At six years old, her parents crossed the US-Mexico border and brought her to Harrisonburg, Virginia. It’s estimated that 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school each year. The young adults without social security numbers aren’t able to work and most aren’t able to pursue college. Also featured in the documentary was Anne Galinsky. She chronicled the lives of these young people and their struggle to get authorized to live in the country they call home. Bob talked with Castillo, her friends, and teachers to discuss why they support the DREAM Act (the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act), which would help young students on a path to citizenship.
Friday, July 6, 2012: Doyle McManus, Washington columnist for the Los Angeles Times, joins Bob to discuss the latest political news. Next, Financial journalist and bestselling fiction writer John Lanchester’s (A Debt to Pleasure, 2001) most recent novel, Capital, blends his understanding of world economics with his talent for telling a story. Capital weaves together a number of seemingly unrelated narratives, set during the 2008 financial collapse. Then, in this week’s installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, we hear the essay of Lisa Sandin. Society’s standard of beauty is difficult for all but a few of us to achieve. Sandin knows she is not one of those precious few. But instead of allowing herself to be defined by a birth defect, Sandin believes her brain and soul as well as her words and actions determine the person she truly is.