To The Best of Our Knowledge

from Wisconsin Public Radio

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Violence may be a national scourge, but an awful lot of people devour shoot-‘em-up movies and video games. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the seduction of violence. Why, for instance, four and five-year-old children love fantasy games where they kill each other. Also, the adrenaline rush that many war correspondents get.

Anthony Loyd is a special correspondent for The Times of London and author of "My War Gone By, I Miss It So." Loyd tells Steve Paulson why he decided to move to Sarajevo and call himself a photojournalist; what living there during the war was like; and how he ended up with a heroin habit.

TTBOOK's Doug Gordon drops into a cartoon to reveal why we find animated mayhem funny. Also, teacher Jan Katch is the author of "Under Deadman's Skin: Discovering the Meaning of Children's Violent Play." She tells Anne Strainchamps about some of the bizarre and violent games her students loved to play, and how she negotiated rules to make them safe and fun for everybody.

Film critic Jake Horsley talks with Steve Paulson about the legitimate uses of violence in movies. He thinks it can be cathartic. He makes his case in detail in "The Blood Poets: A Cinema of Savagery." Also, novelist Dennis McFarland deals with the consequences of violence is his book "Singing Boy." McFarland reads from and describes the book to Jim Fleming, and they talk about the effects of grief on the deceased's survivors.

Books:

• Jake Horsley, The Blood Poets: a cinema of savagery 1958-1999Volumes I & II (Scarecrow Press, Inc.)
• Jane Katch, Under Deadman's Skin: Discovering the Meaning of Children's Violent Play (Beacon)
• Anthony Loyd, My War Gone By, I Miss It So (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• Dennis McFarland, Singing Boy: A Novel (Henry Holt)

Music:

• Neil Young: Harvest, "The Needle and the Damage Done" (Warner Bros)
• Cheryl Wheeler: Sylvia Hotel, "If It Were Up To Me" (Rounder)
• Loudon Wainwright III: A Live One, "Clockwork Chartreuse" (Rounder)
• Kolya Soundtrack, "Dvorak: American Quartet - 2nd mvt" (Polygram)

Distribution dates:

• week of 06/02/2002 - hour 2
• week of 05/06/2001 - hour 1