July 16, 2008
Guest: Christopher Cerf, Co-Author of
"Mission Accomplished! Or How We Won
The War in Iraq: The Experts Speak"
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Part One (32 min. 32 sec.) | Part Two (27 min. 28 sec.)
Barry talks with renowned author, editor, and producer Christopher Cerf, perhaps best known as a creator of "Sesame Street" and "National Lampoon," about a wickedly satirical new book he has co-authored, "Mission Accomplished! Or How We Won the War in Iraq: The Experts Speak" -- hanging the Bush administration with their own words, time and time again.
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"Mission Accomplished! Or How We Won the War in Iraq: The Experts Speak"
By Christopher Cerf and Victor S. Navasky
Illustrated by Robert Grossman
"Mission Accomplished! Or How We Won the War in Iraq" is the definitive collection -- systematically categorized, indexed, and footnoted for your convenience -- of authoritative misinformation, disinformation, misunderstanding, miscalculation, egregious prognostication, boo-boos, and just plain lies, about the Iraq War.
"Never before has such a large and diverse group of experts been so unanimously in favor of a particular national policy as they were in the case of the U.S. invasion of Iraq," note Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky, who, as co-founders of the Institute of Expertology, the nation's leading purveyor of expertise on expertise, were uniquely qualified to assemble this impressive collection. "In the face of such a consensus, we had no choice but to ask ourselves, 'Could the iron law of expertology -- the experts are never right -- be wrong?'"
At once an entertainment, a cautionary tale, a critique of mass media, a reference tool, and a postwar manifesto, "Mission Accomplished!" presents, as no book has before, the collective wisdom of all those who are presumed to know what they talking about on the subject of America's adventure in Iraq. As this hilarious, yet depressing, volume demonstrates, they don't.
-- From the Book Description
Previously, Cerf and Navasky co-authored "The Experts Speak." The Institute of Expertology hosts a blog about that satirical bestseller as well as "Mission Accomplished!" that is well worth visiting!
About the Authors
Christopher Cerf is an author, composer-lyricist, and record and television producer. He is perhaps best known for his musical contributions to "Sesame Street," for co-creating and co-producing the award-winning PBS literacy education television program "Between the Lions," and for his humorous articles and books. His parents were co-founder of Random House, publisher, editor, and TV panelist Bennett Cerf, and actress, journalist, and children's book publisher Phyllis Fraser.
Victor Navasky is a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He was editor of "The Nation" from 1978 until 1995, and its publisher and editorial director 1995 to 2005. In November 2005 he became the publisher emeritus.