In honor of the six-month anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, Meyerowitz talks about his World Trade Center Archive Project, a traveling State Department-sponsored exhibition of Ground Zero photographs. Meyerowitz originally spoke about his World Trade Center photos when he was a guest on Fresh Air on October 23, 2001.
John McWhorter's newest book is called The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language. He has written on Ebonics, language and African Americans, and the origins of the Creole Language. His other books include Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America and Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of 'Pure' Standard English. McWhorter is a professor at the University of California at Berkeley.
Writer Gary Paulsen is a prolific writer of children's books. He began writing over 30 years ago, when he was coming to terms with his alcoholism. For many years he and his wife lived in poverty in rural Minnesota. This changed when Paulsen won the Newbery Award for children's fiction in 1985 with Dogsong, about running the Iditarod. Paulsen's children's books often deal with adventurous youths who triumph over adversity in the wilderness. This interview first aired Oct. 6, 1992.
T.V. critic David Bianculli previews the CBS special 9/11,which airs Sunday at 9:00 ET/PT. Filmmakers Jules and Gedeon Naudet captured footage of the collapse of the World Trade Center from the inside. Robert DeNiro narrates the special.
Filmmaker Jamsheed Akrami is a scholar of Iranian film. His two documentaries are Dreams Betrayed and Friendly Persuasion: Iranian Cinema After the Revolution. Together, they explore Iranian filmmaking before and after the 1979 revolution. In Iranian films, male and female characters are not allowed to touch, ever, and women must be veiled at all times. Despite these and other limitations, Iranian cinema has garnered international critical acclaim. Akrimi is an associate professor at William Paterson University.
Porn film director Wash West. His newest is The Fluffer, set in the gay porn industry. As compared to the films of Iran, Wash West's movies are all about touching. His other films include Seven Deadly Sins: The Gluttony, Naked Highway, Animus and Toolbox. West is much-honored in the field, with several Adult Video News Awards and Gay Erotic Video Awards.
His Broadway musicals include Bye, Bye Birdie, Annie, Applause, It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman, and Golden Boy, which originally opened on Broadway in 1964 and starred Sammy Davis Jr. The show will be revived later this month by City Center Encores in New York. Strouse also composed music for film and TV, including "Those Were the Days," the theme song for TV's All in the Family.
Retired General Carl Stiner. With Tom Clancy, He co-authored of the book, Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces. General Stiner was commander in chief of the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) from 1990 to 1993. SOCOM is responsible for the readiness of all special operations of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Michael Pollan is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine. To learn more about the meat industry in the United States he bought a calf, and then followed the process from fattening to slaughter. His article, "Power Steer," is the cover story of the March 31, 2002, issue of the New York Times Magazine. Pollan is also the author of the book, The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World in which he maintains that plants and humans have developed a reciprocal, co-evolutionary relationship.
Rodney Brooks, the director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). His new book is called Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us. Brooks offers a vision of the future of humans and robots. He is also Fujitsu Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at MIT. Brooks is the chairman and chief technological officer of iRobot Corporation. He was one of the subjects of Errol Morris' 1997 documentary, Fast, Cheap and Out of Control.
His book Reaching for Glory: The Secret Lyndon Johnson Tapes, 1964-1965 (Simon & Schuster) is now out in paperback. It is Beschloss’s second volume on the LBJ tapes. Beschloss will talk about the tapes, and we will hear excerpts, including some recordings of conversations about Vietnam, Civil Rights, and with Jackie Kennedy. Beschloss has written 5 previous books on American presidents. He is also a regular contributor to The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.
Robert Moog is the inventor of the Moog synthesizer, an electronic keyboard that makes unworldly sounding electronic music. He invented it in 1963. Also, Moog didn't invent the theremin, but he manufactures this early electronic instrument. A Russian invented it 70 years ago, and it's been used on many science-fiction films because of its eerie, wavering tones. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has just honored Moog with the technical Grammy award for Lifetime Achievement. This interview originally aired on Feb. 28, 2000.
Adults who like to watch cartoons are tuning into the late-night block on the Cartoon Network to watch the Japanese adventure series Cowboy Bebop. Critic Milo Miles says there are lots of reasons to like the show.
Music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the soundtrack from the film Gosford Park, directed by Robert Altman. The film features original music and songs from the 1920s and 1930s. The CD has just been released.
The two Washington Post journalists have co-written the book, The News about the News: American Journalism in Peril. (Knopf) Downie has been at the paper since 1964. Hes been executive editor since 1991. Kaiser joined the Post in 1963 and is now associate editor and senior correspondent. Their book is an investigation of why the journalism we watch and read is so bad. They offer suggestions on how to improve the institution.
John Lasseter, Executive Vice President of Creative for Pixar, Inc. Lasseter was one of the founding members of the computer animated filmmaking company. He served as Director and Animator of the feature films Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and A Bugs Life. He was also Executive Producer of Monsters, Inc. Toy Story was the first computer-animated feature film. Lasseter also directed a number of shorts for Pixar, including Tin Toy, Reds Dream and Luxo, Jr. Tin Toy won an Oscar in 1988 for Best Animated Short Film.
Rob Siegel and Carol Kolb of The Onion. It's a weekly national newspaper and Web site. The satirical tabloid-style dispatch has headlines like "Lowest Common Denominator Continues to Plummet" and "U.S. Vows to Defeat Whoever It Is We're at War With." Siegel is The Onion's editor-in-chief and Kolb is the senior editor. The Onion began in 1988 as an alternative weekly newspaper and went online in 1996.
