Jeff Schechtman

How the world might change

jeffs2009 — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:20:19 +0000

As we Americans celebrate a small group of European settlers who landed on our shores, it’s worthwhile to stop and look at the impact of another group of settlers who landed on the the cape that is now South Africa in 1652. They were noble in their mission, but within decades a small group that broke off set in motion centuries of conquest, war and oppression. The Dutch settlers of South Africa convinced themselves that whey were God’s chosen people, destined to rule over the masses of the continent. By 1948, the Purified National Party came to control the South African government and Apartheid came into being. It was a system of segregation marked by horrors second only to those of Hitler’s Germany. This system became the law of the land. Now humanitarian and historian Dominique Lapierre in his book A Rainbow in the Night: The Tumultuous Birth of South Africa tells the story of this violent history and the heroes that changed it If only such heroes existed today in the Middle East. My conversation with Dominque Lapierre:

Fourty-Six years and still searching for the truth (Part 2)

jeffs2009 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:07:29 +0000

Forty-six years after the murder of John F. Kennedy new information continues to come to light. The link between a secret coup planned by JFK and Robert Kennedy against Cuba and their personal war against Mafia all culminated in a perfect storm, as Kennedy’s Cuban exile aid, who would go on to become one the Watergate burglars, Bernard Barker, sells out the JFK coup plan to long-time mob bosses Santo Trafficante and Carlos Marcello.

If it sounds hard to believe, historian Lamar Waldron lays it all out in 944 pages of painstaking detail in his book Legacy of Secrecy: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination. My two part conversation with Lamar Waldron:

Part Two

Fourty-Six years and still searchng for the truth (Part 1)

jeffs2009 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:04:32 +0000

Part One:

Tales from a Rock ‘n’ Roll Life

jeffs2009 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:17:57 +0000

In a business as transient a journalism it is remarkable that Robert Hilburn was the pop music critic for the Los Angels Times for 35 years! During that time he witnessed most of rock ‘n’ roll’s seminal moments and interviewed virtually every major pop figure of the period. In his new memoir Corn Flakes with John Lennon: And Other Tales from a Rock ‘n’ Roll Life, he gives us a totally unique account of the symbiotic relationship between critic and artist and reflects on the ways in which he has changed and been changed by the subjects he’s covered. My conversation with Robert Hilburn:

Literary Catholics II

jeffs2009 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:36:26 +0000

We’ve had two guests recently whose conversion to Catholicism is both surprising and literary. Both came to their faith late in life, yet from very different places. First Anne Rice who, long before “Twilight” first introduced us to vampires now turns her attention to Angel Time as the “personification” of her new found faith. Next, Mary Karr, who jump started a renaissance in memoir with “The Liars’ Club” and then “Cherry” talks, in her latest memoir Lit, about her apocalyptic childhood and outlaw adolescence and how she overcame her feral upbringing to become an esteemed poet and professor and found the Catholic faith.

My conversations with Anne Rice.

Literary Catholics

jeffs2009 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:01:29 +0000

My conversations with Mary Karr

Why we miss Morry Ivins

jeffs2009 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:23:39 +0000

As a journalist she was ahead of her time. As a columnist she was the last of a dying breed. She was one of the most provocative, courageous and influential journalists in American history. Presidents and senators call her for advice; her column ran in 400 newspapers; her books were bestsellers. Yet, despite her fame, few people really knew Molly Ivins. Now Bill Minutaglio, a professor of journalism at the University of Texas, gives us the comprehensive definitive biography of Molly in his book Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life. My conversation with Bill Minutaglio:

Tear down this country…….

jeffs2009 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:37:20 +0000

While Mad Men and even Barack Obama remind us of the idealism of the 60’s, it is in fact the 80’s, the Reagan years, that shape most of what we are struggling with today. From our post cold war diplomacy, the state of the Republican Party and the very heart of our culture wars, Ronald Reagan and the 80’s shaped American life for the past 30 years. Historian and McGill University Profession Gil Troy in his two new works Living in the Eighties and The Reagan Revolution: A Very Short Introduction tells the story of the Reagan era in our politics, religion, crime, music, the city and the free market. My conversation with Gil Troy:

Tear Down This Wall….

jeffs2009 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:44:40 +0000

Regardless of the scope of their contribution, many iconic leaders are often reduced to a single sound byte or single speech: “We have nothing to fer but fear itself”, “Ask not what your country can do for you…”, and for Ronald Reagan “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” This November marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of the end of the Cold War. In his new book X, Time magazine deputy managing editor Romesh Ratnesar deconsturcts the speech and the remarkable events that brought it about.

Ultimately, Ratnesar argues that Reagan’s speech offers lessons for the political problems of today. That it should reminds us that historically, thing that once seemed immutable DO change. My conversation with Romesh Ratnesar:

Miracle on the Hudson

jeffs2009 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:31:55 +0000

Ten months ago, when “Sully” Sullenberger landed his plan on the chilly waters of the Hudson river, we celebrated his cool, his skill as a pilot as well as the coordination of the flight crew and the rescuers. But there was another character in this story. That is the A320 Airbus that Sullenbuerger flew and the advanced generation of aircraft that it represented. Taking a look at this aircraft, the job of piloting and of the totality of what happened that day, is one of our most distinguished journalists, William Langewiesche, in his new book Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudson. My conversation with William Langewiesche:

Right Here on Our Stage Tonight!

jeffs2009 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:39:51 +0000

Before the advent of cable, i Pods, Satellite or the Internet, we got all of our home entertainment from just three television networks. And each Sunday night, for 23 years, we gathered around the cathode ray hearth to watch an awkward host name Ed Sullivan serve as our entertainment gatekeeper. Now journalist, entertainment critic, and humor columnist Gerald Nachman, in his book Right Here on Our Stage Tonight!: Ed Sullivan’s America, has given us a new look at The Ed Sullivan Show and exposed it to a whole new generation. My conversation with Gerald Nachman:

A story of sruvival

jeffs2009 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:02:38 +0000

By any account it was one of the most gruesome and heinous crimes of our times. On April 14, 1989 Ramon Salcido went on a killing sprees in Sonoma, California, shooting and killing his wife, her two younger sisters and his wife’s mother. Then he slashed the throats of his three young daughters, leaving them for dead in the county dump. Miraculously, one of the daughters, tiny, three year old Carmina Salcido was still alive. Astonishingly, that was only the beginning of Carmina’s troubles. She’s written about her life in her new memoir Not Lost Forever: My Story of Survival. My conversation with Carmina Salcido:

Smart on Crime

jeffs2009 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:19:30 +0000

Kamala Harris may be the next Attorney General of the state of California. She is currently the District Attorney of San Francisco and named by Newsweek one of the “20 Most Powerful Women in America.” In her new book Smart on Crime she argues that our current system for fighting crime and protecting the public is simply not working. We spend $200 billion annually fighting crime and there are over two million people currently incarcerated in America. Are we getting value for our dollars? The way Harris sees it, if we are going to be really effective, we must attack small problem long before they become big problem.

My conversation with Kamala Harris.

Nothing Was The Same

jeffs2009 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:48:34 +0000

Kay Redfield Jamison, in her best selling THE UNQUIET MIND, was a guide in understanding the nature of depression, bipolar disorder and the chemistry of the brain. Now, in her memoir Nothing Was the Same, she turns her attention to understanding the psychology and physiology of grief and grieving. In these troubled times, and as baby boomers age and face the tragedies of love and loss and suddenly being along in the world, Jamison’s work provides powerful insights. My conversation with Kay Redfield Jamison:

GOOGLED

jeffs2009 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:52:14 +0000

It is the behemoth of the digital age. It has steamrolled over traditional media companies and yet it’s run by engineers who strive to be at the cutting of technology. It is a distributor as well as a creator of content. The company is Google and we get our first look inside what really makes it tick in Ken Auletta’s new book Googled: The End of the World As We Know It. Auletta is one of the most astute media journalists, a long time columnist for The New Yorker, he now turns his attention to nothing less than the future of media. My conversation with Ken Auletta:

One year and counting…

jeffs2009 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:44:14 +0000

One year ago this week we concluded one of the most trans formative Presidential campaigns of all times. A campaign and an election that will forever change the paradigm of American politics. One of the most astute chroniclers of that campaign was The New Yorker’s Rick Hertzberg. In his new book Obamanos!: The Rise of a New Political Era gives us his insights into the birth of this new political epoch. My conversation with Rick Hertzberg:

How Poker Explains the World

jeffs2009 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:42:53 +0000

Invented in China, refined in France, for almost two hundred years, poker has been the favorite American pastime. In his new book Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker, poker journalist James McManus, illustrates the connections between poker, politics and our national identity. In an age where the heart of capitalism is questioned, poker serves as an iconic example of our romance with market democracy.

My conversation with James McManus:

Tokyo Vice

jeffs2009 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:50:37 +0000

You may have recently seen Jake Adelstein on 60 Minutes, expounding as one of the worlds most knowledgeable voices on the Yakuza and the Japanese underworld. In his new book Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japanhe pulls back the curtain on the most sordid elements of Japanese society. Very few Americans have ever come close to discovering what really goes on in Japan’s most closed society. Adelstein’s is a dark journey through the underworld of Tokyo vice and the Yakuza, as told by the only American journalist every to have been admitted to the insular Tokyo Metropolitan Police press club. My conversation with Jake Adelstein:

Social Networks are contagious

jeffs2009 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:08:36 +0000

The work of Nicholas Christakis, physician, scientist and sociologist at Harvard has been cited in over two thousand media outlets in the past two years. He is shining new light on how social networks drive and shave every aspect of ours lives. He offers us a whole new understanding of these social networks and show how they influence our ideas, emotions, health, relationships, behavior, politics and more. In his new book Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives he explains why emotions are contagious, and how such networked behavior spreads. Time magazine named Nicholas Christaks one of the “100 Most Influential People” in 2009.

My conversation with Dr. Nicholas Christakis:

Prime Minister Kim Campbell / Global Secuirty Institute

jeffs2009 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:36:09 +0000

Be it Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton, Al Gore or Tony Blair, we are seeing many former national leaders devote their post political years to great causes and making the world a better place. Canada’s first female Prime Minister Kim Campbell is such a leader. Devoting her time to many causes including the Global Security Institute and the nuclear non-proliferation.

My conversation with The Right Honorable Kim Campbell: