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Considering the power and subtlety of public relations today, it's hard to believe there was once a time when advertising was crude - and avoidable. But in the early 20th century, one keen observer of human nature observed that the best pitches were the ones you couldn't see coming. Brooke tells the story of Edward Bernays, the double-nephew of Sigmund Freud and the self-proclaimed father of public relations.
During WWII, the US Army Library Service initiated the largest book giveaway ever: 123 million Armed Services Edition books were sent to American troops stationed all around the world. Author and archivist Andrew Carroll has revived the book giveaway. Carroll joins Bob to discuss the resurrected program.
As scholars research the institutions penetrated by, and affiliated with the Nazis during WWII, the number of present-day companies with historical SS affiliations rises. Perhaps one of the biggest to date is Bertelsmann, the German publishing house. Brooke speaks with Mark Landler of the New York Times, who covered the story of unraveling a complicated corporate history.
In his new book, co-author David Wyman posits that early warnings against the Nazi regime were rebuffed and ignored by Americans. "A Race Against Death: Bergson, America and the Holocaust" discusses the efforts of Peter Bergson, who left Palestine for America with the goal of enlisting a Jewish army to fight the Nazis. Wyman speaks with Brooke about the resistance Bergson faced from the media, government, and much of the Jewish community.
CNN had the monopoly on television coverage of the 1991 war with Iraq, but with the rise of Arabic news outlet Al Jazeera, coverage of Iraq could be very different now. But how? Host Bob Garfield speaks with Ibrahim Helal of Al Jazeera, about how television coverage of a war in the Gulf now will differ from TV coverage in 1991.
This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis-one of the most politically tense moments of the Kennedy presidency, as well as one of the most memorable media moments of the Cold War. This week, Bob speaks with Fred Kaplan, New York correspondent for the Boston Globe, about how the media covered the Missile Crisis forty years ago, and how we interpret that coverage today.
Published by high schoolers at the prestigious Horace Mann School in New York City, "The Record" newspaper turns 100 this year. The school paper was the launching point for the careers of many journalistic luminaries, who celebrated at a dinner at the school's Bronx campus early this month. On the Media's Jon Kalish has the story.
Fifty years ago, post-war America witnessed the birth of pop-luxe and theretofore unsurpassed commercial culture. One example of the boom in disposable income and entertainment-related spending came in the form of the 1952 film "This is Cinerama"-a movie which would introduce viewers to what was then the largest movie screen ever. On the Media's Sara Fishko takes a look at Cinerama.
