Book


Perspectives on the Public Interest features adapted Public Interest Podcast interviews with those who seek to improve the state of the world. These conversations are intended to ennoble public service, create a platform for positive civil discourse, and facilitate dialogue with difference.

The stories within the pages of this book provide insight into the lives of men and women who seek to leave the world better than they found it. In this book explore the imaginative, iterative process of discovery that led to the identification of autoimmune disease. Delve into a behind-the-scenes look at how major news networks shape national discourse. Learn how one entrepreneur uses business to create social change. Glean wisdom from politicians of varying partisan persuasions. Gain insight into the corruption that riddles the United Nations, the effects of the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War on the rise of the Nation of Islam, and how communist and totalitarian regimes collapsed amid tales of assassination and intrigue. 

This 300 page hardcover coffee table book is the perfect holiday, anniversary, housewarming, or birthday gift. 

 Email Jordan@PublicInterestPodcast.com and send $39.95 + $5.00 S&H to have a copy shipped directly to you. Checks can be made out to "Jordan Cooper" and mailed to 6329 Windermere Circle, North Bethesda, MD 20852. 

 PayPal: http://paypal.me/jordanpcooper 
Venmo: @Jordan-Cooper-9

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CONTENTS





PROLOGUE – Selfishness Through Selflessness


ART
1.     FACILITATION OF ARTISTIC & CIVIC PARTICIPATION | Eliot Pfanstiehl, Executive Director of Strathmore Music Hall | 4

2.     SAVING THE PLANET THROUGH FILM | Cyril Dion, French Film Director | 11

3.     WHISTLING TO THE WHITE HOUSE | Chris Ullman, Champion Whistler | 17


BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP
1.     JUST A TAD SWEET: ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN A BOTTLE | Seth Goldman, TeaEO of Honest Tea | 25

2.     GOVERNMENT: OPEN FOR BUSINESS | Dave Edgerley, former Maryland Business Secretary | 34


EDUCATION
1.     APPLYING MEDIEVAL JEWISH TEXTS TO CORPORATE AMERICA | Marc Epstein, Professor of Religious Studies at Vassar College | 43

2.     TEACHING SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL WELL BEING | Josh Starr, former Montgomery County Public School Superintendent | 50

FINANCE
1.     THE NOBLEST PROFESSION | Peter Franchot, Comptroller of Maryland | 60

2.     THE HUMAN IMPACT OF THE GREAT RECESSION | Sarah Bloom Raskin, U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary | 68

FOREIGN AFFAIRS
1.     IN SEARCH OF HARMONY: FROM CONCERT HALLS TO EMBASSIES | Hynek Kmonicek, Czech Ambassador to the U.S. | 77

2.     SURVIVING ASSASSINATION, TOPPLING A DICTATORSHIP | Juan Gabriel Valdes, Chilean Ambassador to the U.S. | 86

3.     THE CULTIVATION OF A DEMOCRATIC ETHOS IN THE LAND OF ITS ORIGINS | Antonis Vgontzas, former Greek Cabinet Secretary for the Ministries of Health and Public Works | 95

4.     REFUGEES & THE EVOLUTION OF GERMAN IDENTITY FROM THE BERLIN WALL TO THE EUROPEAN UNION | Karsten Voigt, former German Federal Parliamentarian | 102

5.     NAZI ROCKETS, INDIAN PUBLIC HOUSING, & CORRUPTION IN THE UNITED NATIONS | Richard Schifter, former Ambassador on Human Rights to the United Nations | 111


HOUSING & DEVELOPMENT
1.     THE ANTIDOTE TO SUBURBAN SPRAWL | Parris Glendening, former Governor of Maryland | 124

2.     A HOUSING "CONTRACT WITH AMERICA" | Rick Lazio, former Congressman from New York | 136




JOURNALISM
1.     CONVERSATION WITH THE EXPERTS: TONIC FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY |Tom Keene, Bloomberg News Anchor | 147

2.     THROWING DARTS: A LESSON IN POLITICAL JOURNALISM | Chip Reid, CBS News Correspondent | 155

3.     TALK RADIO & THE EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN MEDIA MARKET | Michael Harrison, Founder of Talkers Magazine | 163

4.     TARGETING TRUTH IN JOURNALISM | Amanda Bennett, Director of Voice of America, Pulitzer Prize winner | 170


LAW & JUSTICE
1.     EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER LAW | Jamie Raskin, Congressman from Maryland | 181

2.     RESTORING FAITH IN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY THROUGH LAW | Michael Chertoff, former U.S. Secretary Of Homeland Security | 192

3.     COMBATING ILLEGAL INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING | Jessica Graham, INTERPOL's Law Enforcement Advisor | 202


MEDICINE & HEALTH POLICY
1.     BRAVING CIVIL WAR TO GIVE CHILDREN SIGHT, LIFE | Al Sommer, Dean Emeritus of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health | 210

2.     LAND MINES, SHATTERED BONES, & THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE | James Cobey, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate | 221

3.     THE PROCESS OF DISCOVERY | Noel Rose, Nobel Prize Nominee for Discovering Autoimmune Disease | 230


POLITICS
1.     EMBRACING PRAGMATISM IN AN IDEOLOGICAL AGE | Rushern Baker, Prince George’s County Executive | 239

2.     SERVING THE REPRESENTED | Tom Daschle, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader | 248

3.     EQUAL RIGHTS IN CONGRESS | Connie Morella, former Congresswoman from Maryland | 258

4.     TAKING OWNERSHIP OF YOUR LAND, YOUR RESOURCES, AND YOUR VOICE | David Azerrad, Director of the Center for Principles & Politics at The Heritage Foundation | 264

5.     BALANCING NORTH KOREA, IRAN, BALTIMORE, & ANNAPOLIS | Ben Cardin, U.S. Senator from Maryland | 273


RELIGION
1.     FROM THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT & VIETNAM TO FRIDAY PRAYERS |Imam Tariq Shareef, The Nation’s Mosque, Masjid Muhommad | 282

THE PATH OF HARE KRISHNA | Ananda Vrindavan Bloch, Community President of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness of DC, & Giri Govardhan, Hare Krishna Priest | 288