The Leonard Lopate Show
Extreme Takeover
Monday, August 20, 2007
On today's show: Our Underappreciated Literature Series takes a look at Roberto Arlt, an Argentine writer whose unconventional prose influenced Jorge Luis Borges and others. Also, a historian illuminates the rise and fall of ancient Persia, once a powerful rival to Greece and Rome. And a journalist documents a year in the life of a Midwestern high school marching band. But first, a writer for Condé Nast Portfolio shares the inside scoop on the recent sale of Daimler-Chrysler to shadowy Wall Street firm Cerberus Capital.
Chrysler's Extreme Takeover
Cerberus Capital manages $26 billion in assets, including such familiar brands as Fila sporting goods, Mervyn’s department stores, Alamo and National rental cars, and Air Canada, yet somehow it keeps its own name out of the papers. In May, that changed. Condé Nast Portfolio senior writer Daniel Roth goes inside the secretive Wall Street firm to report on its highest-profile deal to date: the controversial purchase of automaker Daimler-Chrysler.
Read the full article, The Most Dangerous Deal in America, in the September 2007 issue of Portfolio.
Underappreciated: Roberto Arlt
Self-educated after the age of eight, Roberto Arlt worked many blue-collar jobs in his native Buenos Aires before embarking on a career as a writer. His novels had a huge influence on Jorge Luis Borges and others, but they are only now becoming available in English. Translator Michele Aynesworth will discuss the life and work of this great journalist, novelist, and playwright whose manic prose anticipated the likes of Irvine Welsh and William Burroughs.
Purchase Arlt's two best-known novels, Mad Toy and The Seven Madmen, at amazon.com.
American Band
Thirty years after Kristen Laine marched in her own high school band, she returned to her home state of Indiana to document the lives of the Concord High School Marching Minutemen for her new book, American Band.
Purchase American Band: Music, Dreams, and Coming of Age in the Heartland at amazon.com.
Weigh in: We want to hear from you if you were (or are) in a marching band. How has the experience shaped your life? And what was your favorite band routine?
Shadows in the Desert
Persia was once a superpower on par with the rival empires of Greece and Rome, but its history has been forgotten in the West. Dr. Kaveh Farrokh's new book explains how the art, architecture, religion, technology, and scholarship of Persia was spread throughout the ancient world, and highlights areas where its influence can still be seen today.
Purchase Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War at amazon.com.
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