February 17, 2012
Preserving the Roadside Stands of Sweetgrass Basket-Makers

The U.S. Highway 17 widening project in Mount Pleasant affects the heart of the traditional sweetgrass basket-making community in South Carolina, and is part of the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, a National Heritage Area, which extends from Wilmington, North Carolina to St. Augustine, Florida.

Working with a number of partners, the town of Mount Pleasant has created a plan to minimize the impact of widening U.S. 17 on the basket- makers’ roadside stands, many of which have been in the same families for generations. Joining Dr. Edgar to tell the story of this unprecedented project are Michael Allen of the National Park Service; Thomasena Stokes-Marshall, Mt. Pleasant Town Council Member and executive director of the Sweetgrass Cultural Arts Festival Association; and a Mt. Pleasant sweetgrass basket-maker.

February 10, 2012
Pledge Drive Edition

It's ETV Radio's Spring Membership Drive! So, today we will look back at some of our favorite stories from the past year, and offer you a chance to support Walter Edgar's Journal with your pledge. Today's show will not be podcast.

February 03, 2012
Saving History: The Prosperity Train Depot

The town of Prosperity, along with the Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation, rededicated the historic Prosperity Depot on October 8, 2011. Originally built during the 1920s as a railroad passenger terminal for Prosperity, the depot served the town until 1971. The rededication took place 40 years to the day after the closing.

A.M.E. Church Bishop Frank James (retired) took part in the ceremony, reflecting on the era in which he waited to take the passenger train in the depot's "colored-only" waiting room. He joins Michael Bedenbaugh, the Palmetto Trust's Executive Director, to talk with Dr. Edgar about the depot, its restoration, and about growing up in the community in the early 20th century.

January 27, 2012
Working South: Artist Mary Whyte

Dr. Edgar’s guest is renowned Charleston watercolorist Mary Whyte. Whyte has gained national recognition for her figurative watercolors. Most noted for her depictions of the African American Gullah women of Johns Island, South Carolina, near where she lives, Whyte has, in recent years, turned her attention to paintings of southern workers. Fifty of these paintings and drawings are now part of a traveling exhibition of her work, called Working South, and a book of her paintings by the same name has been published (USC Press).

Gallery of some images from Working South

CBS Sunday Morning feature on Mary Whyte

January 20, 2012
Walter Edgar’s Journal: Jason Scott Luck, Sixth-Generation Potter

Beginning with William Luck in the 19^th century, the Luck family has continued the time-honored techniques of wheel-thrown pottery for six generations. Jason Scott Luck is a member of the latest generation of accomplished potters in the family. Jason, an attorney, turns pottery when he's home in Seagrove, N.C., and at various art facilities in Charleston where he works. He joins Dr. Edgar to talk about creating wheel-thrown pottery.

• The pottery that Jason brought to the studio
• Some more of Jason's work
• The Luck family pottery in Seagrove, NC

January 13, 2012
The Evolution of the S.C. Republican Presidential Preference Primary

The presidential primary season is in full swing, with South Carolina’s Republican Presidential Preference Primary coming up Saturday, January 21. South Carolina’s presidential primaries have proven important to presidential nominees of both major parties. This is particularly true for the Republican contenders.

State Senator John Courson has been active in Republican politics for over thirty years and was one of the organizers of the first S.C. Republican Presidential primary in 1980. He joins Dr. Edgar to talk about the history, evolution, and importance of the Republican Presidential Preference Primary in South Carolina.

January 06, 2012
Common Sense and Whiskey: Modest Adventures Far from Home

Author Bill Murray and his wife Mirja live on a horse farm in the southern Appalachian mountains of Georgia, but they are seasoned world travelers. His book, Common Sense and Whiskey: Modest Adventures Far from Home, offers stories from their journeys to some distant places that are off the beaten path.

He brings together tales of treks in Africa, Azerbaijan and the Arctic; headhunters and prayer flags, liars and thieves, evil spirits and atrocious food. From Tbilisi to Tibet to the Trans-Siberian Railroad, Common Sense and Whiskey is a crisp survey of what's it's like in the real world. He tells Dr. Edgar, and his readers, "You can handle just about anything out on the road with a believable grin, common sense and whiskey."

Bill's & Mirja's photos are at earthphotos.com.

Contact Bill: bill@commonsenseandwhiskey.com

 

December 30, 2011
Covering the World

(Originally broadcast 04/08/11) - Over the past three decades, Columbia native Don Belt has traveled to 65 countries, working as a writer and editor of articles for National Geographic magazine. Along the way, he has covered the defining issues of our time, such as environmental degradation, vanishing cultures, Islam and the West, the effects of global climate change and the geopolitical trends that are shaping our world. As senior editor of National Geographic from 1998 to 2010, he helped to guide the magazine’s coverage of topics ranging from weapons of mass destruction and the use of terrorism to the legacy of colonialism in the modern Middle East.

December 23, 2011
Restoring the American Chestnut

(Originally broadcast 04/22/11) - The American chestnut was once one of the most important trees in the eastern United States, occupying about 25 percent of the hardwood canopy in eastern forests. By the early 1950s, the tree was virtually eliminated by an exotic fungus from Asia, called the chestnut blight.

The U.S. Forest Service, The American Chestnut Foundation, and the University of Tennessee have been conducting research and tests to produce a blight-resistant American chestnut, with aspirations of restoring the species throughout the Southeast. Bryan Burhans, President and CEO of the American Chestnut Foundation, joins Dr. Edgar to talk about efforts to bring back the tree.

December 16, 2011
Nathalie Dupree’s Southern Biscuits

Nathalie Dupree joins Dr. Edgar to talk about her new book, Southern Biscuits, co-authored by Cynthia Stevens Graubart. Dupree is the author of eleven cookbooks about the American South, entertaining, and basic cooking. She has hosted over 300 television shows on the Food Network, The Learning Channel and PBS. She has been a spokesperson for Wild American Shrimp, The Catfish Institute and many other organizations. She currently writes for The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., as well as Charleston Magazine and other publications.

December 09, 2011
South Carolina’s Literary Culture

As the old slogan says, “Reading is fundamental.” However, with ever more numerous electronic media vying for our attention, reading is not always a priority for the average South Carolinian. Wanda Jewell and Curtis Rogers are working to change that through the South Carolina Center for the Book, a cooperative project of the South Carolina State Library, the University of South Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science, and the Humanities Council SC. They join Dr. Edgar to talk about the Center, the Southeastern Independent Booksellers Alliance, USC Press, the S.C. State Library, and the Center for the Book’s Speaker at the Center series.

December 02, 2011
Protecting the Cowasee Basin

Billy Cate and John Cely, Land Protection Director of the Congaree Land Trust, talk with Dr. Edgar about the Trust and its Focus Area in the Cowasee Basin. The Trust is currently working on conservation easements totaling 3,700 acres, of which 700 acres are in the Basin area.

November 25, 2011
Kirk H. Neely: Santa Almost Got Caught

Author Kirk H. Neely joins Dr. Edgar in a special Journal, recorded at ETV Radio before a live audience, to talk about his collection of holiday stories, Santa Almost Got Caught: Stories for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year. Guiding us through the holiday season from Thanksgiving through Epiphany, Neely takes us into the woods in search of the perfect red cedar Christmas tree. He’ll remind us of the real reason sweet potatoes were part of holiday meals. In this long-anticipated volume, we’ll hear tales about a flaming Advent wreath and the Christmas tree emergency that required an exterminator.

Neely also tells us about his book, Banjos, Barbecue and Boiled Peanuts. This follow-up to the award-winning A Good Mule Is Hard to Find delves even deeper into the humor and lore of Southern life, the mysteries and truths that are wedged between its mountains, snake down its rivers, stalk its gardens and graveyards, lie hidden in its abandoned boxcars, and collect beneath its fingernails.

November 18, 2011
South Carolina’s Supreme Court Rules to Protect Isolated Wetlands

Dr. Edgar and his guests take a look at wetlands—what they are and why they are so ecologically important, focusing particularly on a recent ruling by the S.C. Supreme Court extending legal protection to isolated wetlands. The suit was filed over a 0.332-acre lot in Pawleys Island, 0.19 acres of which is an isolated wetland, meaning it does not have a direct connection to other waters or wetlands. Such wetlands were previously ruled outside of the Department of Health and Environmental Control’s purview.

Taking part in the discussion are Amy Armstrong, Chief Counsel for the South Carolina Environmental Law Project, and Dr. James Morris, Director, Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine & Coastal Sciences of USC.

November 11, 2011
Bernardin

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the death of Columbia native Joseph Bernardin, who rose to the position of Cardinal in the American Catholic Church. Around the ethical/moral life issues facing society, Bernardin advocated a "consistent ethic of life" and later initiated a project of reconciliation called "Common Ground," a healing legacy that transcends ideological boundaries.

The documentary, Bernardin, (airing statewide on Sunday, Nov. 13, at 5:00 p.m. on ETV and at 9:00 p.m. on ETV's SC Channel) examines the life of a man who helped define many of the critical issues facing the nation and recalls how America stood with him, as he was called to publicly define himself.

Martin Doblmeier, producer of Bernardin will talk with Dr. Edgar about the making of the documentary and the legacy of Cardinal Bernardin.

November 04, 2011
South Carolinians in WWII: A Path to Victory

About 184,000 South Carolinians served in World War II, and thousands more, who moved here after the war. ETV and The State newspaper partnered together to tell the stories of these veterans in their own words. The result is a new Emmy-nominated documentary series, South Carolinians in World War II.

The series returns in November with its final episode, A Path to Victory. Executive Producer John Rainey, Co-Producer Jeff Wilkinson, and two veterans featured in the series--Dr. Jack Keith and Chris Carawan--talk with Dr. Edgar about the program and share stories of their experiences in the war.

October 28, 2011
E.J. Dionne, Washington Post Syndicated Columnist

E.J. Dionne, Washington Post syndicated columnist and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, is familiar to ETV Radio listeners from his appearances as a news analyst and commentator on NPR’s All Things Considered. Dionne is coming to USC in Columbia, to speak as part of the Cardinal Bernardin Lectureship in Ethical, Moral, and Religious Studies. His topic will be, "Reweaving the Seamless Garment: Cardinal Bernadin's Living Legacy to American Public Life."

Dionne and Dr. Edgar will talk about the life and work of Bernardin, USC’s Bernardin Lectureship, and Dionne’s perspective on the current, as well as historic, political and religous landscapes.

October 21, 2011
William W. Starr: Whisky, Kilts, and the Loch Ness Monster

Dr. Edgar has a lively conversation with William W. Starr, author of Whisky, Kilts, and the Loch Ness Monster, a twenty-first-century literary pilgrimage to retrace the famous 1773 Scottish journey of James Boswell and Samuel Johnson, two of the most celebrated writers of their day.  Starr enlivens this crisply written travelogue with a playful wit, an enthusiasm for all things Scottish, the boon and burden of American sensibility, and an ardent appreciation for Boswell and Johnson—who make frequent cameos throughout these ramblings.

October 14, 2011
October Pledge Special

It's time again for our Fall Membership Drive. Show your support for Walter Edgar's Journal by calling in your pledge of financial support at 1-800-256-8535. You can also pledge on-line! This episode of the journal features clips from three of our favorite episodes from the last year: "Marine helicopter crews in the Vietnam War," "Remembering two SC Revolutionary War heroes," and "Benjamin Dunlap: a life in higher education."

October 07, 2011
Found: Mary Chesnut’s Civil War photo albums

Mary Chesnut’s diary, originally published forty years after the Civil War as Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, is generally acknowledged today as the finest literary work of the Confederacy. Spiced by the author's sharp intelligence, irreverent wit, and keen sense of irony and metaphorical vision, it uses a diary format to evoke a full, accurate picture of the South in civil war.  Her words, however, were originally complemented by three personal photograph albums that were filled with annotated pictures of the many people found throughout the diary.

Lost or stolen since the 1930s, the albums were only rediscovered in 2007. Now the photos are about to be published, with the original, Diary from Dixie-version of Chesnut’s diary, as Mary Chesnut’s Illustrated Diary, Mulberry Edition Boxed Set. In addition, the photo albums are being given by Chesnut’s descendents to USC’s Caroliniana Library to be re-united with her original journals.

Joining Dr. Edgar to tell the story of these remarkable photos are Martha Daniels, a descendant of Mary Chestnut; Harvey Teal, an authority on 19th century photographs and author of Partners with the Sun; and Henry Fulmer, Curator of Manuscripts, for the South Caroliniana Library.

September 30, 2011
Mercy Creek

Matt Matthews, pastor at St. Giles Presbyterian Church in Greenville, SC, joins Dr. Edgar to talk about his first novel, Mercy Creek, winner of the South Carolina Arts Commission First Novel Prize.

On his first day out of school, 16 year-old Isaac doesn't feel that events of June in a town on Virginia's Eastern Shore could threaten his life or even change it. But there are signs. By the middle of a sultry July, Isaac has discovered that small towns in which everybody knows everybody else's business often hide the most vicious secrets. By solving mysteries of a twisted communal past, laying bare the stains of a history that includes the Klan, Isaac has resolved where he belongs in the world, opening the future.

In this quietly suspenseful story with splashes of manic humor, the eccentrics, the recluses, the bigots and the bores join the human parade. The march for that parade, however, is the heart-stirring strains of forgiveness.

For more information, visit:

• Matt Matthews
• Mercy Creek

September 23, 2011
Linda O’Bryon, President & CEO of SC ETV

Linda O’Bryon began her work as President and CEO of ETV in December of 2010. She talks with Dr. Edgar about her career in public broadcasting and about her work at ETV. They also look at the opportunities and challenges in ETV’s future, as well as ETV Radio’s move to its new studios in October.

Linda O'Bryon has previously served as Chief Content Officer at KQED/Northern California Public Broadcasting in San Francisco. She is also the founding executive editor of PBS' Nightly Business Report (NBR) which debuted in 1979 and is currently carried on more than 250 public television stations across the nation. In 2009, O'Bryon received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award in Business and Financial Reporting by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Links of interest: ETV - South Carolina's Lifeline, ETV, Knowitall.org, StreamlineSC, Teacherline Southeast, Educator Plus, State Agency Training, National Teacher Training Institute, ETV Public Services Network; ETV Radio

September 16, 2011
Dorothea Benton Frank: Folly Beach

The incomparable Dorothea Benton Frank joins Dr. Edgar to talk about her latest Lowcountry novel, Folly Beach. As she has with many other delightful literary excursions to this magical Southern locale, the perennial New York Times bestselling author creates a heart-warming tale of loss, acceptance, family, and love—as a woman returns to the past to find her future. Dorothea Benton Frank is “a masterful storyteller” (Booklist) who has already secured her place alongside Anne Rivers Siddons, Sue Monk Kidd, Rebecca Wells, Barbara Delinsky and other contemporary authors of bestselling women’s fiction.

September 09, 2011
Fr. Lyndon Harris: after 9/11

Fr. Lyndon Harris was the Priest in Charge of St. Paul's Episcopal Chapel across from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. He talks with Dr. Edgar about the extraordinary ministry begun at St. Paul’s on 9/12 and about his current work with Gardens of Forgiveness. An exhibition at the Cherokee County History and Arts Museum through September 17th, Eyewitnesses to 9/11: From Tragedy to Transformation, brings together artifacts, art, and photos from St. Paul’s to tell the story.

September 02, 2011
The Republican Primary

How important is South Carolina’s first-in-the-South Republican Primary in the 2012 presidential election? To discuss the question, Dr. Edgar is joined by James Hammond, Editor of the Columbia Regional Business Report; Peter Applebome, NY Times writer and author of Dixie Rising; and Dr. James Guth, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Political Science at Furman University.

Note: this program was recorded on Tuesday, August 30, 2011.

August 26, 2011
City of Heroes: The Great Charleston Earthquake of 1886

(Originally broadcast 03/02/07) -- On this 125^th anniversary of the Charleston earthquake of 1886, the Journal offers an encore presentation of an episode with author Richard Côté. His book, City of Heroes: The Great Charleston Earthquake of 1886, is an action-packed, heavily illustrated, non-fiction book filled with gripping, first-hand accounts of the earthquake, drawn directly from the personal diaries, journals, and letters of survivors and from the daily newspapers. It also presents the story of the handpicked team of local and federal scientists who worked tirelessly to discover what caused the disaster.

A native of Connecticut, Richard N. Côté studied political science and journalism at Butler University. After serving on the staff of the South Carolina Historical Society for several years, he spent the 1980s and 1990s researching and writing about Southern plantation life, social history, architecture, and exploring exotic local micro-cultures. In 2001, he published his first novel, The Redneck Riviera.

www.scearthquakes.com; scearthquakes.cofc.edu; www.dnr.sc.gov/geology/earthquake

August 19, 2011
Remembering two SC Revolutionary War heroes

In 1887, The US Army Corps of Engineers chose Brigadier General Francis Marion, “The Swamp Fox,” for the honors when they named Marion Park, which sits on South Carolina Avenue, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., and is one of four Capitol Hill East National Parks. Over a century-and-a-score years later the Palmetto Conservation Foundation is leading the effort to place a monument in Marion’s name in the park. President Obama and signed the enabling legislation for the monument into law on May 8, 2008, completing the first step of the five step process. John McCabe joins Dr. Edgar to talk about the challenges still ahead.

And, Doug MacIntyre will tell us about a virtually un-sung Revolutionary War hero, South Carolina’s Col. William “Danger” Thomson, and the new park created on Sullivan’s Island to honor his leadership in repelling the British invasion in June of 1776.

August 12, 2011
The Hunley, 10 years later

(Originally broadcast 12/03/10) – The study and conservation of the Confederate submarine Hunley took a major step forward in June, 2011, when conservationists rotated the vessel, in its salt-water tank, into an upright position for the first time since it sank in 1864. The Hunley and its crew had vanished after becoming the first submarine to successfully sink another warship, the USS Husatonic.

To mark this milestone we are revisiting a Journal episode with Senator Glen McConnell, Chairman of the South Carolina Hunley Commission, and Dr. Maria Jacobs, Chief Archaeologist for the Hunley project. We’ll hear the fascinating story of this project which has brought together historical research, cutting edge technology, and experts from across the scientific and academic spectrum, all to answer the question: what happened to the Hunley.

August 05, 2011
Mary Chestnut’s Civil War Epic

(Originally broadcast 04/30/10) - A genteel southern intellectual, saloniste, and wife to a prominent colonel in Jefferson Davis's inner circle, Mary Chesnut today is remembered best for her penetrating Civil War diary. Composed between 1861 and 1865 and revised thoroughly from the late 1870s until Chesnut's death in 1886, the diary was published first in 1905, again in 1949, and later, to great acclaim, in 1981. This complicated literary history and the questions that attend it—which edition represents the real Chesnut? To what genre does this text belong?—may explain why the document largely has, until now, been overlooked in literary studies.

Dr. Julia A. Stern joins Dr. Edgar to discuss the life and writings of Mary Chestnut. In her book Mary Chesnut's Civil War Epic Stern's critical analysis returns Chesnut to her rightful place among American writers. By restoring Chesnut's 1880s revision to its complex, multi-decade cultural context, Stern argues both for Chesnut's reinsertion into the pantheon of nineteenth-century American letters and for her centrality to the literary history of women's writing as it evolved from sentimental to tragic to realist forms.

July 29, 2011
Camille, 1969: Histories of a Hurricane

Dr. Mark Smith is a Carolina Distinguished Professor of History in USC’s College of Arts and Humanities. He is also a leading expert on “sensory history.” His new book, Camille, 1969: Histories of a Hurricane, contains three highly original histories of the storm’s impact in southern Mississippi. He joins Dr. Edgar to talk about the book, and about sensory history.

July 22, 2011
The Revitalization of downtown Greenville, SC

(Originally broadcast 12/10/10) - Greenville's downtown began to languish in the 1960s, as shopping centers lured the major retailers to the suburbs. Downtown was left with countless vacant buildings and no people. Greenville faced what other cities faced, a dying downtown in the midst of a growing region. To meet the challenge, Greenville embarked on "downtown redevelopment," remaking Main Street and creating an atmosphere conducive to office, residential, specialty retail, entertainment and the arts. Downtown Greenville’s renaissance became an evolutionary process marked with significant achievements over twenty-five years. Greenville Mayor Knox White joins Dr. Edgar to talk about the on-going renaissance of the city.

July 15, 2011
Banktown: The Rise and Struggles of Charlotte’s Big Banks

Dr. Edgar welcomes Rick Rothacker, a journalist who has written about Bank of America and Wachovia for the Charlotte Observer since 2001. Banktown: The Rise and Struggles of Charlotte's Big Banks covers everything from the brash CEOs that built these banks into national giants to the near collapse of Wachovia in 2008 to the government rescue of Bank of America.

July 08, 2011
Horse Creek Valley… A Tale Worth Telling

The documentary, Horse Creek Valley... A Tale worth the Telling, premiered June 9 at a gala event at Aiken County Historical Museum. It will be broadcast July of 2011 on ETV. Producer/Director Christi Koelker, Elliott Levy, Executive Director of the Aiken County Historical Society, and Dr. Chester DePratter, a USC anthropologist, will tell Dr. Edgar about the fascinating history of the region.

July 01, 2011
Take on the South: What is real Southern cooking?

(Originally broadcast 07/09/10) - Today’s edition of The Journal is an encore of our 2010 “preview” of a Take on the South episode which aired on ETV in July. The question before the debaters July, “What is real Southern cooking?”

June 24, 2011
Still in Print: the Southern Novel Today

(Originally broadcast 01/28/11) - Dr. Edgar’s guest is Prof. Jan Nordby Gretlund, Chair of the English Department at the Center for American Studies, University of Southern Denmark. Their topic is a new book of essays edited by Gretlund, Still in Print: the Southern Novel Today. In a lively conversation the two also take a look at the interest in Southern studies in Europe and the popularity around the world of literature from the American South.

June 17, 2011
The Dogs of War

Dr. Emory Thomas, the Regents Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Georgia, joins Dr. Edgar for a discussion of the Civil War in this 150^th year anniversary of its beginning. Thomas has served as a Senior Fulbright Lecturer and is author of numerous books including The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience; Confederate State of Richmond: a Biography of the Capital; The Confederate Nation, 1861-1865; and Bold Dragoon: The Life of J.E.B. Stuart.

His biography of Robert E. Lee was published in 1995 and was named a Notable Book by the New York Times.  His newest book, Dogs of War, will be available in April 2011.

June 10, 2011
The Civil War at 150 - Dr. James McPherson & Dr. Mark Smith

Dr. James McPherson, professor emeritus of American History at Princeton University, won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom, which has since sold more than six hundred thousand copies. His success with Battle Cry of Freedom and other Civil War publications are considered to have paved the way for the success of the films Glory and Gettysburg and the television documentary The Civil War by Ken Burns. In April 2011 McPherson presented lecture Inheriting the Wind: American Youth at the Onset of Battle in Charleston, SC. He joins Dr. Edgar for a discussion of the Civil War in this 150^th year anniversary of its beginning.

Dr. Mark Smith is a Carolina Distinguished Professor of History in USC’s College of Arts and Humanities. He is also a leading expert on “sensory history.” He joins Dr. Edgar to talk about the about the sensory history of Gettysburg and other battles.

June 03, 2011
Mary Alice Monroe: The Butterfly’s Daughter

South Carolina author Mary Alice Monroe joins Dr. Edgar to talk about her newest novel, The Butterfly’s Daughter.

May 27, 2011
Marine helicopter crews in the Vietnam War

Walter Edgar talks with Col. Walt Ledbetter and Duncan McCrae, Vietnam veterans, and Clint Chalmers, video producer, about their experiences as Marines flying helicopters in 1969-70. They also tell us about an oral history they are making about their wartime experiences.

May 20, 2011
South Carolinians in WWII: a New Front

184,000 South Carolinians served in World War II. South Carolinians in WWII is ETV’s 3-part series that tells the story of some of these veterans.

Series co-executive producer John Rainey and producer/director Jeff Wilkinson will join Dr. Edgar to talk tell some of the extraordinary stories of South Carolinians in World War II and talk about the series’ second episode. A New Front covers the period from Italy’s Monte Cassino to D-Day as well as the buildup in Britain, doctors and nurses, and the Charleston Navy Yard.

 South Carolinians in WWII: a New Front will be broadcast on ETV Thursday May 26 at 9pm and Monday May 30 at 10pm. It also airs on the South Carolina Channel Monday, May 30 at 9pm.

May 13, 2011
Take on the South: What influence has the South had on all American music?

Dr. Edgar is joined by two Dr. William Ferris, Senior Associate Director, Center for the Study of the American South, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Dr. Bill Malone, Professor Emeritus at Tulane University to discuss the roots of American music and its influence on music world wide.

Was the beginning of truly American music the advent of the blues, country or a mixture of both?  The discussion is a preview of the debate to take place in the next installment of ETV’s Take on the South: What influence has the South had on all American music? That program will air May 25^th at 7:00 pm on ETV stations.

May 06, 2011
A History of Kershaw County

Joan A. Inabinet and L. Glen Inabinet join Dr. Edgar to talk about their new book, A History of Kershaw County, and to share insightful tales of the region's inhabitants through defining historical moments. Their History is a much anticipated, comprehensive narrative describing a South Carolina community rooted in strong local traditions. From prehistoric to present times, the history spans Native American dwellers through the county's major roles in the American Revolution and Civil War, to the commercial and industrial innovations of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The conversation takes place in our studios, before an audience of longtime supporters of ETV and ETV Radio.

April 29, 2011
Benjamin Dunlap: a life in higher education

Dr. Benjamin Dunlap, President of Wofford College, joins Dr. Edgar for a lively and wide ranging conversation about his lifelong dedication to the field of higher education. Dunlap is a Columbia native who graduated summa cum laude from Sewanee: The University of the South. He attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and Harvard University as a graduate student, receiving his Ph.D. in English Language and Literature in 1967. From that year until 1993, he held academic appointments at Harvard and the University of South Carolina. In 1993, he accepted an appointment at Wofford College as the Chapman Family Professor in the Humanities, a position he still holds. In 2000, he became the 10th president of Wofford College.

April 22, 2011
Bringing back the American Chestnut tree

The American chestnut was once one of the most important trees in the eastern United States, occupying about 25 percent of the hardwood canopy in eastern forests. By the early 1950s, the tree was virtually eliminated by an exotic fungus from Asia, called the chestnut blight.

 The U.S. Forest Service, The American Chestnut Foundation, and the University of Tennessee have been conducting research and tests to produce a blight-resistant American chestnut, with aspirations of restoring the species throughout the Southeast. Bryan Burhans, President and CEO of the American Chestnut Foundation, joins Dr. Edgar to talk about efforts to bring back the tree.

April 15, 2011
Observing the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War

On April 21^st, at 7:00pm, ETV’s The Big Picture will devote a full hour to a discussion of South Carolina’s commemoration of the Civil War’s sesquicentennial. The participants represent the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the NAACP, the National Park Service, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Fort Moultrie/Fort Sumter Trust, the SC Civil War Sesquicentennial Advisory Board, the SC Department of Archives and History, and the SC African American Heritage Commission.

Big Picture host Mark Quinn, Eric Emerson of the SC Department of Archives and History, and Michael Allen of the National Park Service join Dr. Edgar to talk about the commemoration, and about the singular nature of the coalition of disparate groups that have come together to plan the observances which began earlier this year.

April 08, 2011
Covering the world

Over the past three decades, Columbia native Don Belt has traveled to 65 countries, working as a writer and editor of articles for National Geographic magazine. Along the way, he has covered the defining issues of our time, such as environmental degradation, vanishing cultures, Islam and the West, the effects of global climate change and the geopolitical trends that are shaping our world. As senior editor of National Geographic from 1998 to 2010, he helped to guide the magazine’s coverage of topics ranging from weapons of mass destruction and the use of terrorism to the legacy of colonialism in the modern Middle East.

April 01, 2011
Family Meeting

Author Miles DeMott joins Dr. Edgar to talk about his new novel, Family Meeting. The novel revolves around the Camber family—one of the oldest and most respected families in a city known for old and respected families—and their plans to sell Plantation Trust, the bank that cemented their fortune and made their name a household word. Although their lives seem to have been lived in full public view, this intensely private family is rife with secrets and scandals that could derail the sale and redefine the family itself as they meet each other again for the first time.

March 25, 2011
Deliver Us from Evil: The Slavery Question in the Old South

(originally broadcast 10/15/10) - Professor Lacy K. Ford joins Dr. Edgar for a conversation about Lacy’s latest book, Deliver Us from Evil: The Slavery Question in the Old South (Oxford University Press, 2009). Lacy is the former Chair of the Department of History at USC in Columbia and has written numerous books and articles about the South.

Deliver Us From Evil has received critical claim. One historian called it “the most detailed and penetrating analysis of the ideology and public policy of American slavery ever written."

March 18, 2011
The Charleston Green Committee

The Charleston Green Committee (CGC) is comprised of 24 business, academic, nonprofit and government leaders who are advising the City of Charleston in the creation of a local action plan for climate protection and sustainability. The committee is supported by scores of volunteers and the City’s Staff Green Team. James Meadors, Jenny Humphries, and Dennis Knight join Dr. Edgar to talk about CGC's the Plan for Climate Protection and Sustainability for the City of Charleston.

March 11, 2011
Envirodwell, re-using shipping containers to create buildings

Envirodwell uses existing steel shipping containers as the core of their homes and buildings.  Jim Copland and Bob Probst join Dr. Edgar about the “greenness” and usefulness to this approach.

March 04, 2011
Charleston Gardens and the Landscape Legacy of Loutrel Briggs

Charleston Gardens and the Landscape Legacy of Loutrel Briggs provides a fascinating account of the life and career of renowned landscape architect Loutrel Briggs (1893–1977), the individual most directly responsible for the development of Charleston's distinctive garden style. The author, accomplished landscape architect and award-winning garden historian James R. Cothran, joins Dr. Edgar to talk about the book, which paints the most complete portrait yet of Briggs, his continuing impact on the iconic gardens of Charleston, and his legacy in the lowcountry.

February 25, 2011
Lemon Swamp and South Carolina’s French Connection

(Originally broadcast 04/20/07) – Published in 1983, Lemon Swamp and Other Places: A Carolina Memoir is the work of Mamie Garvin Fields and her granddaughter, Dr. Karen Fields. The book recounts the "stories," or memoirs, of the life of Mamie Fields, who was born in 1888. The book has been described as a blend of "the scholarly with the personal, addressing the tensions between family and professional loyalties to produce a work meaningful in both spheres." A Distinguished Visiting Professor at USC's Institute for Southern Studies in 2007, Karen Fields joins Dr. Edgar to talk about the book.

They also explore the connection between colonial and antebellum South Carolina, and Bourdeaux, France.

February 18, 2011
Gullah/Geechee Heritage Corridor update

Designated by Congress in 2006, the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor extends from Wilmington, N.C. to Jacksonville, Fl. It is home to one of America's unique cultures, a tradition first shaped by captive Africans brought to the southern United States from West Africa and continued in later generations by their descendents. Emory S. Campbell, Chairman of the Corridor Commission, and Michael Allen, of the National Parks Service, join Dr. Edgar to talk about the ongoing journey of making the Corridor a reality.

February 11, 2011
SC African American Commission and the 150th anniverary of the Civil War

December marked the 150th anniversary of South Carolina’s secession from the United States and the beginning of the American Civil War. Many events across the state will commemorate the anniversary, and many will explore the history and causes of the war. The SC African American Heritage Commission plans to participate in a manner that will help present a complete picture of a history that is shared by both blacks and whites.

Joining Dr. Edgar to talk about the Commission’s plans and the wider implication of the events of 1865 are Dr. Abel Bartley of Clemson University, and Joseph McGill from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Southern Regional Office.

January 28, 2011
Still in Print: the Southern Novel Today

Dr. Edgar’s guest is Prof. Jan Nordby Gretlund, Chair of the English Department at the Center for American Studies, University of Southern Denmark. Their topic is a new book of essays edited by Gretlund, Still in Print: the Southern Novel Today. In a lively conversation the two also take a look at the interest in Southern studies in Europe and the popularity around the world of literature from the American South.

January 21, 2011
The Center for Women

The Center for Women in Charleston says of their mission: “Our Job: To Help Women Build Better Lives for Themselves.” The only comprehensive women's development center in South Carolina, the Center for Women (C4W) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to make personal and professional success an everyday event for women in the Lowcountry.

Jennet Robinson Alterman, the Center’s Director, joins Dr. Edgar to talk about the Center’s mission.

January 14, 2011
Late Rain, a novel by Lynn Kostoff

In Lynn Kostoff’s novel, Late Rain, Corrine Tedros is a Lady Macbeth wannabe who sets in motion the murder of her uncle-in-law (a soft-drink mogul). Her plans go awry when the murder is witnessed by a senior citizen in the late stages of Alzheimers. Things are complicated by the fact that the daughter of the man with Alzheimers is involved with a former homicide detective who has resigned and moved South in an attempt to reshape and simplify his life.

 Decovic starts to make connections in the case that cause Corrine Tedros to up the ante as she maneuvers to stay out of the murder investigation. Author Lynn Kostoff, a professor of English at Francis Marion University in Florence, joins Dr. Edgar to talk about the novel.

January 07, 2011
The Economic Impact of Boeing in SC

A 2010 economic impact report estimates that once North Charleston's new Boeing plant is up and operating it will add around $6 billion a year to the state's economy and will also generate close to $3 billion in state tax revenues. The report's author, Columbia economist Harry Miley of Miley & Associates, joins Dr. Edgar for a closer look at the plant’s impact and at economic development in South Carolina.