Public Radio International

Wisconsin Public Radio

A GENERATION OF MARTYRS

Program 06-09-03-B

Listen!

What do you call young people who strap on explosive vests and detonate them in a crowded marketplace? President Bush says they're fascist terrorists. The Western press labels them suicide bombers. But to a Muslim, particularly one who's sympathetic to their political ideology, these people are martyrs, and what they're doing makes perfect sense. In this hour To the Best of Our Knowledge takes a look at suicide bombers - why there are so many in this generation, how their families feel, and what, if anything we can do about them.

SEGMENT 1:

Robert Baer, CIA agent turned novelist is now a film-maker. His documentary is called "The Cult of the Suicide Bomber" and it's scarier than anything Hollywood is producing. Baer tells Steve Paulson about the first modern suicide bomber and how they've become heroes in Iran. He says martyrdom by suicide bombing is a political weapon not a religious act; that it's a virus and it's spreading. And we hear clips from his film. Also, novelist Louis de Bernieres tells Jim Fleming about the climate of religious toleration that marked the Ottoman Empire. De Bernieres' latest novel is "Birds without Wings."

SEGMENT 2:

Historian William Dalrymple tells Steve Paulson that the British weren't the masters of India when they first arrived. The Mughals were. He explains how the situation changed over generations and what America can learn from the experience.

SEGMENT 3:

Betool Khedairi grew up in Iraq with an Iraqi father and a Scottish mother. She tells Steve Paulson that she still feels in Arabic, but solves problems with her Western part. Her novel is "A Sky So Close." Also, Nathaniel Philbrick tells us a lot we didn't know about the Pilgrims in his new book, "Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War." He tells Jim Fleming that the myth of the first Thanksgiving is great for children, but the truth about Plymouth Plantation is a lot darker and more complicated.

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 06-09-03-B.

................................................................

Books:

Robert Baer Blow the House Down (Crown)
William Dalrymple White Mughals: Love and betrayal in 18th century India (Penguin Press)
Louis De Bernieres Bird without Wings (Knopf)
Betool Khedairi A Sky So Close (Anchor Books) Absent (American University in Cairo Press)
Nathaniel Philbrick Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War (Viking)

Music:

• After Baer: “Oyun Havasi” (Turkey) from Dances of the World Nonesuch 9 79167-2
• After de Bernieres: “Call Out, Crane” from Instrumental Armenian Folk Songs & Dances, George Mgrdichian, oud; Menahem Dworman, guitar; Musical Heritage Society MHS 512284X
• After Dalrymple: “Rag Chandra Kanrha” from Imrat Khan, Surbahar and Sitar; Shafaatullah Khan, Tabla; Nimbus NI 5118
• After Khedairi: “Chi Mi’n Geamhradh” from “Scotland Now” A Greentrax Showcase CD TRAX 060 Devine Celtic Sounds P.O. Box 5983 Glendale AZ 85312
• After Philbrick: “Two Sketches Based on Indian Themes” by Charles Tomlinson Griffes from The Early String Quartet in the USA Kohon Quartet VoxBox 2 CDX 5057
  

Distribution dates:

week of 07/29/2007 - hour 1 week of 09/03/2006 - hour 2

Listen!

................................................................

Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.or

Wisconsin Public Radio is a service of the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension.

Page design and management by Jim Fleming at Wisconsin Public Radio and Sarah Fleming.

© 2006 WHA Radio and the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. All rights reserved.