Alexandra Robbins

Biography:

New York Times bestselling author Alexandra Robbins, 27, is a journalist who was formerly on the Washington, DC staff of The New Yorker magazine. She has written for a variety of publications, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, USA Today, Cosmopolitan, Chicago Tribune, Self, Salon, and PC. Robbins regularly appears in the national media on shows such as "60 Minutes," "The Today Show," "The Oprah Winfrey Show," CBS's "The Early Show," "Paula Zahn Now," "The Diane Rehm Show," and networks including CNN, NPR, the BBC, MSNBC, CNBC, C-SPAN, and the History Channel.

Past Shows:

	Student Pressures
	Monday August 28, 2006

Journalist Alexandra Robbins returned for a discussion about her new book, The Overachievers, a narrative that documents the stress and pressures placed on a group of high school students. Education has become a race to get ahead, and to succeed at all costs, not unlike the TV show Survivor, she said. For her research, Robbins returned to her old high school and followed the lives of nine students, such as "AP Frank" who was dealing with extreme parental pressure, and Taylor, a girl whose intelligence posed problems for her popularity. Many students (and their parents) feel that in order to "win" they must attend an elite university. Yet studies have shown, Robbins pointed out, that Ivy League schools don't necessarily provide a better educational experience than lesser regarded schools.The current climate, she reported, encourages "cutthroat competition," where students are more concerned over their class rankings and test scores than actual learning, and extracurricular act ... More
Host: George Noory

	Investigating Skull & Bones
	Tuesday October 5, 2004

AuthorAlexandra Robbins returned to the show to further discuss her investigation of Yale’s infamous secret society, Skull & Bones, which she chronicled in her book Secrets of the Tomb. The "Tomb," a crypt-like building on the Yale campus that is headquarters to the club, is filled with human and animal skulls and relics of death and war, as well containing an underground tunnel, she noted. Various rituals take place among its undergraduate members, Robbins detailed, including paying homage to the Goddess of Eloquence—Eulogia, as well as a sharing of their sexual histories in what is called "Connubial Bliss." Skull and Bones which was started in 1832, has around 800 living members at any one time, and according to Robbins its main purpose is to get members into roles of power, who then often help other members attain important positions. Interestingly, she noted that the CIA has a number of members who were Bonesmen, and at various meetings with members they were said to casually ... More
Host: George Noory

	Skull and Bones
	Wednesday January 22, 2003

"Skull and Bones is basically about power. They exist only to put members of Skull and Bones into positions of power and then encourage those members in positions of authority to hire other members," said Alexandra Robbins who appeared on the Wednesday night show. Robbins, the author of "Secrets of the Tomb," an investigation into the Skull and Bones secret society, outlined how a small but loyal group who joined the club at Yale, have gone on to wield an inordinate amount of power in a variety of fields. In fact, she pointed out that "Bonesman" Pres. George W. Bush has selected numerous club members to high level positions in his administration. Robbins described the Skull and Bones initiation ritual which takes place in the Tomb, a mysterious gothic building on the Yale campus. The ritual includes the inductees wearing costumes (such as that of a Pope and a Devil) and resting one foot on a skull while drinking a blood-like liquid. There are many, many skulls throughout the To ... More
Host: George Noory