FRESH AIR
For 18 years, from 1987 to 2006, Alan Greenspan was chair of the Federal Reserve Board — the United
States’ central banker, in charge of steering the nation’s monetary policy. His every word was scrutinized by markets, read like tea leaves by market makers and investors looking for clues to his thoughts on the economy’s health.
Now he’s put those thoughts on paper, at length, in a memoir. It’s titled The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, and it discusses everything from his cryptic word choices during Congressional testimony to protracted courtship of his wife, NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell.
Greenspan talks to Terry Gross about whether Fed policies on his watch helped create conditions that fueled the rise of sub-prime mortgage lending — along with the current mortgage-market crisis — and about whether he’d do anything differently, knowing what he knows now.
RADIO TIMES
Hour 1
(Rebroadcast tonight at 11)
This summer, the first indictment of a member of the Khmer Rouge was issued by a UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Cambodia. In June, the Special Court for Sierra Leone began trying Liberia?s Charles Taylor for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Are international criminal courts and tribunals an effective tool in bringing justice to victims and deterring future atrocities? WILLIAM BURKE-WHITE, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania joins Marty. Listen to this show via Real Audio | mp3
Hour 2
What do our words say about us? Evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker explores the connection between human nature and language in his new book, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature. Listen to this show via Real Audio | mp3
THE WORLD CAFE
Jesca Hoop visits David Dye on the World Cafe to talk about the making of her debut album, Kismet. A northern California singer-songwriter, Hoop was discovered by Tom Waits while working for him as a nanny. The record’s sprawling arrangements with unpredictable turns mark each track with a sense of discovery. Drawing on blues, pop, and jazz, Hoop has created a buzz among fans and critics alike with her refreshing and mesmerizing sound.
AMY WINEHOUSE: In My Bed
[Hat tip to TOMMY ZANE]
[Greenspan art by TIM O’BRIEN]