Fresh Air, Kevin Merida, Michael Fletcher, and Philip Zimbardo, May 1, 2007

De: Terry Gross

Narrado por: Terry Gross

Hear Washington Post reporters Kevin Merida and Michael Fletcher, and psychologist Philip Zimbardo on this edition of Fresh Air.

Kevin Merida and Michael Fletcher's new book is Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas. The book grew out of their article for the Post, "The Lonely Stand of Clarence Thomas", which they say was their first attempt at "exploring both the racial vehemence that has hounded Thomas and the roots of his ascension to the judicial mountaintop".

Then, Philip Zimbardo, author of the new book, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. Zimbardo is best known for creating the landmark Stanford Prison Experiment in which a group of college-student volunteers were placed in a mock prison environment and divided randomly into "guards" and "inmates". The study was abandoned in a week, after ordinary students were transformed into brutal sadistic guards or emotionally broken prisoners. In 2004, Zimbardo was an expert witness in the court-martial hearings of one of the American Army reservists accused of criminal behavior at the Abu Ghraib prison. He is professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford University. [Broadcast Date: May 1, 2007]

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