This Week on The Bob Edwards Show (July 28 – August 1, 2014)

The Bob Edwards Show, July 28 – August 1, 2014

Monday, July 28, 2014:  In 2011, 13 young women and one young man in the small town of LeRoy, New York experienced “conversion disorder,” a mysterious malady that results in uncontrollable tics, stutters and seizures.  Novelist Katherine Howe used this real-life incident as the basis for her new book, Conversion.  Then, Ernest Ranglin is a Jamaican guitarist and composer recognized as one of the pioneers of both reggae and ska. Ranglin gave Bob Marley his first hit and it’s his guitar handiwork that you hear on most reggae standards. Now 82-years-old, Ranglin is adding a new album to his discography. Bless Up is the perfect soundtrack for the summer.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014:  Author David Baldacci’s books have sold more than 110 million copies worldwide.  Now he turns his gifted and charmed pen to writing for young people, with his first fantasy YA novel The Finisher.  Then, feminist film critic Molly Haskell wrote a memoir about her sixty year old brother, Chevey Haskell, who came out as transgendered and now lives as Ellen Hampton. Bob talks to Haskell about her brother and her book My Brother My Sister: Story of a Transformation, which is now available in paperback.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014:  Year after year, American students rank in the bottom third in international rankings of math and science scores. In reading, the U.S. doesn’t even make the top ten, trailing Canada and Estonia among others.  In her book, investigative journalist, Amanda Ripley, follows the lives of three American exchange students who spent a year studying in countries that consistently receive the highest marks to find out why children in Finland, Poland, and South Korea do so well.  Ripley book is titled The Smartest Kids in the World and it’s available in paperback.  Then, we remember NPR correspondent Margot Adler.  Bob talked to Adler earlier this year about her book Vampires Are Us: Understanding Our Love Affair with the Immortal Dark Side.  Marot Adler died Monday at the age of 68.

Thursday, July 31, 2014:  Bob talks to Washington Post National Security editor Peter Finn, and translator/writer Petra Couvee about their new book, The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book.  Then, Bob talks to director Tate Taylor, and actor Chadwick Boseman about their new film, Get on Up.  It’s about the Godfather of soul, James Brown.

Friday, August 1, 2014:  Doyle McManus, Washington columnist for the Los Angeles Times, joins Bob to discuss the latest political news.  Then, Bob talks to actor Brendan Gleeson and director John McDonagh about their new film, Cavalry.    And finally, we hear a new commentary from children’s book writer and illustrator Daniel Pinkwater.