Fresh Air, Kevin Phillips and Siddiq Barmack

By: Terry Gross

Narrated by: Terry Gross

Political commentator and former Republican Strategist Kevin Phillips and Afghani filmmaker Siddiq Barmack on this edition of Fresh Air. Phillips is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio. And he's the author of nine books, including The Politics of Rich and Poor. In his new book, American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush, he takes a good look at the Bush family legacy. In the introduction of the book, he writes, "I found a greater basis for dismay and disillusionment than I had imagined." He goes on to write, "Four generations of building toward dynasty...have infused the Bush family's hunger for power and practices of crony capitalism with a moral arrogance and backstage disregard of the democratic and republican traditions of the US government."

Afghani filmmaker Siddiq Barmack just won a Golden Globe for the film Osama, which he wrote and directed. It was shot in post-Taliban Afghanistan. It's based on a true story about a mother who disguises her 12-year-old daughter as a boy so that she can work and earn an income under the Taliban regime. Barmak also runs the Afghan film organization and is director of the Afghan Children Education Movement, an association that promotes literacy, culture, and the arts. (Broadcast Date: January 29, 2004)

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