Monday, January 19, 2015: In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday we bring back Bob’s conversation with Clarence Jones. Jones served as Dr. King’s attorney and advisor for eight years and helped craft some of King’s most beloved speeches. Jones is the author of What Would Martin Say and of Behind the Dream: The Making of a Speech that Transformed a Nation. Then, Bob talks with Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis about a collection of CDs titled Let Freedom Sing: The Music of the Civil Rights Movement.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015: Following World War II, the United States secretly brought over a number of former Nazi scientists, ignoring and hiding their crimes against humanity. Best-selling author Annie Jacobsen details this covert plan in her book Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America. Then, in the last few decades, there have been hundreds of changes to the experience of parenting. Jennifer Senior writes about them in her book titled All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood. Both books are out in paperback today.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015: Bob speaks with Eugene Jarecki, director of the documentary Why We Fight. Inspired by the U.S. government-funded propaganda films of Frank Capra during World War Two, Jarecki updates the reasons why the United States goes to war and strips away the pro-government biases of Capra’s work.
Thursday, January 22, 2015: Melissa Fay Greene was on this program in 2006 to talk about a middle-class Ethiopian widow whose home became a refuge for hundreds of AIDS-orphaned children. She told that story in her book There Is No Me Without You. In the years since then, Greene and her husband have adopted four children from Ethiopia. Those kids joined another son adopted from Bulgaria as well as Greene’s four other children by birth. When the number of children hit nine, Greene turned her reporter’s eye to events at home and she wrote No Biking in the House Without a Helmet. Greene says she titled the book after one of the dumbest things she ever said to her children.
Friday, January 23, 2015: Bob talks with Mark Johnson, the founder of Playing for Change and the producer of two albums recorded by the street musicians Johnson has met since he started the organization in 2004. The group’s breakout hit was a cover of “Stand by Me” recorded by many different musicians around the world and in their own style. That video mixed them all together and has more than 40 million views on YouTube. Then, Bob talks with Clarence Bekker, Grandpa Elliott and Jason Tamba, just a few of the international musicians affiliated with the band. The members of Playing for Change were here in 2012 to talk about their album titled PFC 2: Songs Around the World.