The Bob Edwards Show, March 10-14, 2014
Monday, March 10, 2014: Bob talks to Dave Zirin, host of SiriusXM’s weekly show “Edge of Sports” about scandals in college sports. The most recent controversy involves the University of North Carolina. A former academic advisor to athletes named Mary Willingham went public and said that some of football and basketball players at the university read between a 4th grade and 8th grade level, and a handful were functionally illiterate. She said one of the Tar Heels’ basketball players she tutored couldn’t read at all. Then, Bob talks with NPR correspondent Margot Adler about her book Vampires Are Us: Understanding Our Love Affair with the Immortal Dark Side.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014: Bob talks to Columbia University professor Hisham D. Aidi about his latest book Rebel Music: Race, Empire, and the New Muslim Youth Culture. Then, in her book, The Myth of Persecution, Candida Moss argues that martyrdom, or “the Age of Martyrs” was mostly fictitious, conceived by the church to recruit and expand. This image of Christian-as-victim is still very much with us today, and Moss explains the implications for modern society. Moss is a religion professor at Notre Dame and an expert on early Christianity. Her book is now available in paperback.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014: As the 19th century came to a close, America’s big cities worked out how to move people quickly and efficiently. Author Doug Most tells the story of mass transit in his book The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry that Built America’s First Subway. Then, Bob talks to author Nicole Mones about black musicians in the Chinese jazz age and her latest novel, Night In Shanghai.
Thursday, March 13, 2014: Bob talks with sports writer John Feinstein about his book Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life in the Minor Leagues of Baseball. Then, in their song “All Together Now,” The Beatles sang the lyrics: “pink, brown, yellow, orange and blue, I love you…” and who doesn’t love bright beautiful colors? The lads from Liverpool are far from the only artists to pen odes to the hues of our world, and Folklorists Steve Winick & Nancy Groce join us with some of their favorite examples from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Friday, March 14, 2014: Doyle McManus, Washington columnist for the Los Angeles Times, joins Bob to discuss the latest political news. Next, filmmaker Rachel Boynton’s new documentary, Big Men, takes viewers to the oil fields of Ghana and Nigeria, where violence, corruption, and greed deny local citizens the proceeds that come from their resource rich country. Big Men opens March 14th. Then, the latest installment of our ongoing series This I Believe.