Posted by Chris Gondek, Producer/Host of the Yale Press Podcast

Although it should not come as a surprise, I am a bit of a news junkie. It would be hard to do these shows if I weren’t. (I am a closet political junkie as well, but I will deny it in public) Each of the books in this episode covers a part of international relations that is and will be critical to American foreign policy in the foreseeable future: Iraq, the Palestinian Question, and the continuing rise of the People’s Republic of China. I am following the news with a bit more sophistication after doing this show. What would my show notes be (apart from shorter) without my production anecdote? I interviewed Ali A. Allawi the day after the U.S. switched to Daylight Savings Time. Unfortunately, he was in London. Traditionally, the UK goes to DST, or Summertime, as they call it, a week before North America. This year, North America, went two weeks before the UK, meaning that I was all set to call Mr. Allawi an hour before he would be available. Let’s just say I had to make some frantic calls to reschedule studio time. A special note to my engineer, Steven Kray, who went from engineering these interviews, to engineering some episodes of the BBC World Service’s World, Have Your Say, to getting married last week. Congratulations, Steven! Chris