The Bob Edwards Show, May 5-9, 2014
Monday, May 5, 2014: Vanity Fair contributing editor Lisa Robinson knows something about rock and roll. As a long-time music journalist, Robinson has interviewed just about everyone in the business from Led Zeppelin to Michael Jackson to Kanye West. She writes about her experiences in her new memoir There Goes Gravity: A Life in Rock and Roll. Then, Jason Padgett acquired savant syndrome with mathematical synesthesia after he was attacked outside a karaoke club twelve years ago. He talks to Bob about his experience and his book, Struck By Genius: How A Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marvel.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014: In 2003, Richard Rubin set out to interview every last living World War I veteran. There were only a few dozen left, aged 101 to 113. The result is a unique tribute to the men who shared their memories and heart-wrenching stories. Rubin’s book is titled, The Last of the Doughboys: The Forgotten Generation and Their Forgotten World War and it’s now available in paperback. Then, Bob talks with bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld about her new novel. Sisterhood tells the story of identical twin sisters with psychic abilities. It sounds like Stephen King’s latest idea, but Sittenfeld doesn’t go for creepy thrills, instead the ESP seems perfectly normal. Sittenfeld’s book is available in paperback.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014: The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression celebrates the ideals of its namesake by recognizing those who, in the past year, forgot or disregarded Mr. Jefferson’s admonition that freedom of speech ‘cannot be limited without being lost.’ Announced on or near April 13 — the anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson — the Jefferson Muzzles are awarded to the most egregious subverters of the First Amendment. Bob talks to the Director of the Center, Josh Wheeler. Then, George Howe Colt explores the complexity of fraternity in his book Brothers. The book is part memoir – Colt grew up in a family of four brothers — and part history of iconic brothers—the Booths, the Van Goghs, the Kelloggs, the Marx Brothers, and the Thoreaus. Colt’s book has just been release in paperback.
Thursday, May 8, 2014: Once upon a time in the United States, people flocked to sold-out arenas to watch star athletes with endorsement deals… . walk. Matthew Algeo tells the peculiar story in his new book, Pedestrianism: When Watching People Walk Was America’s Favorite Spectator Sport. Then, thanks to the centuries of bad press the Borgia name is synonymous with duplicity and immorality— a family that would go to any lengths to retain its power. But historian G.J. Meyer challenges what we know about this Italian papal family in his book The Borgias: A Hidden History which is now available in paperback.
Friday, May 9, 2014: Doyle McManus, Washington columnist for the Los Angeles Times, joins Bob to discuss the latest political news. Then, although it’s been over 70 years since the start of World War II, it’s not unusual to read in the news about people recovering art and valuables stolen by the Nazis from European Jews. Writer Ayelet Waldman’s new novel, Love and Treasure, uses this history to tell the stories of seemingly disparate characters brought together by objects that they thought were long gone.