The Bob Edwards Show, September 17-21, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012: In Delirium: The Politics of Sex in America, Nancy Cohen tells the story of a little known shadow movement that has fueled America’s political wars for forty years. She traces our current political crisis back to the rise of a well organized, ideologically driven opposition movement to turn back the sexual revolution, feminism, and gay rights. This sexual counterrevolution, Cohen shows, has played a leading role in shattering both political parties, dividing Americans into irreconcilable warring camps, and polarizing the nation.” Cohen’s book has just been released in paperback. Then, actor, director, and writer Josh Radnor’s second feature film opened over the weekend. Written and directed by Radnor, Liberal Arts is about a 35-year old who returns to his university and find an unexpected romance. Radnor is best-known as Ted Mosby on the Emmy award-winning TV show How I Met Your Mother.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012: The Viagra Bill (Ohio state Senate Bill 307) shows “men as much love in the reproductive health arena as they have shown [women] over the years,” according to its author Ohio state Senator Nina Turner. Bob talks to Sen. Turner about the bill and her provocative motivations. Then, Henry Sapoznik is an award winning Klezmer musician and Yiddish expert whose collection of 1920s-60s Yiddish radio programs are being archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012: Vagina: A New Biography is the latest work from best-selling author Naomi Wolf. In it, Wolf draws from evolutionary biology and neurobiological research to describe a critical and creative relationship between a woman’s vagina and her brain. Wolf’s first book The Beauty Myth was called one of the most important books of the twentieth century by the New York Times. Then, after writing an award-winning cookbook about Vietnamese cuisine and creating a series of guidebooks on Southeast Asia, it makes sense that writer Kim Fay’s first novel is about the region she loves and knows best. Set in Cambodia in the 1920s, The Map of Lost Memories follows a museum curator named Irene Blum on her search for the truth of the lost civilization of Angkor Wat.
Thursday, September 20, 2012: Earlier this year, financial writer Michael Lewis spent 6 months hanging out with President Barack Obama at the White House and on Air Force One gathering material for “Obama’s Way” in the October issue of Vanity Fair. Lewis talks with Bob about our 44th president in this election year and the man he got to know during their time together. Lewis’ book Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World is out in paperback. Then, Bob talks sports with John Feinstein, Washington Post columnist and co-host of SiriusXM’s “Beyond the Brink” (Mad Dog Radio, channel 86).
Friday, September 21, 2012: Doyle McManus, Washington columnist for the Los Angeles Times, joins Bob to discuss the latest political news. Next, Bob speaks with Paul Bonesteel, director of the film The Day Carl Sandburg Died which tells the life story of the populist poet. Sandburg was known for bringing Chicago, “the city of the big shoulders,” to life in his writings and for his close associations with socialism. The documentary premieres Monday on PBS’ American Masters series. Then, in this week’s installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, we hear the essay of Edward Glaeser. Every media outlet in the country tells us that we are a divided nation. Politics and religion, once avoided in polite conversation, now drive extreme and inflexible opinions. Glaeser is no stranger to these feelings. He tries every day to use a presumption of decency as a beacon to counteract the tendency to let hatred befuddle his capacity for reason.