Writer Gus Lee. Lee's novel, "China Boy" is the story of a young immigrant boy growing up in a rough neighborhood of San Francisco. (The book's published by E.P. Dutton). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)
Writer John Balaban. Balaban was one of the very few Vietnam-era conscientious objectors who volunteered to go to Vietnam. Once there, he was overwhelmed with the paradoxes of the war...among other things, he found himself picking up a gun, in order to defend a hospital from attack. His memoir of that time, called "Heaven's Face: A Moral Witness in Vietnam" has just been published by Poseidon Press. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)
Two Interviews: 1) Film maker Samuel Fuller. Fuller's B-movies of the 50s and 60s have influenced many other directors. His 1982 movie, "White Dog," about a racist who trains a dog to attacks blacks, was considered too controversial to be released in this country. It's finally being shown, along with all Fuller's other works, during a major retrospective of his work at New York's "Film Forum.
2) Martin Scorsese, one of today's most prominent filmmakers, tells us the movies of Samuel Fuller influenced him.
Historian Robert Dallek. Dallek's new biography of President Lyndon Johnson, "Lone Star Rising," has been praised for its scholarship, and for painting a more balanced portrait of LBJ than some other recent biographies. Dallek was nominated for an American Book award for an earlier biography, "Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy." ("Lone Star Rising" is published by Oxford University Press).
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a new Impulse reissue of saxophonist Stanley Turrentine's album, "Let It Go." On that album Turrentine is accompanied by his wife, organist Shirley Scott.
Admiral Stansfield Turner. The former director of the CIA under Jimmy Carter, Turner has just come out with his second book, "Terrorism & Democracy."(Houghton Mifflin). Turner looks at the failed and successful policies of eight American presidents in dealing with terrorism.
Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg examines the word "zeal." Nunberg has noticed that the euphemism "overzealous" has been used to explain away everything from executions during the French Revolution to the beating of Rodney King.
New York Times correspondent Thomas Friedman. Friedman has spent the last decade covering the Middle East, work that has won him two Pulitzer Prizes. Today he looks at the current state of the Mideast, as we approach the first anniversary of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
Pianist JOHNNIE JOHNSON. For nearly 30 years, Johnson was Chuck Berry's pianist. He played on all of Chuck's great hits, and he gained rock and roll immortality when Chuck Barry wrote the song "Johnnie B. Goode" about him. Now Johnnie Johnson has his own album, called "Johnnie B. Bad." (It's on Elektra/Nonesuch).
Comedian and filmmaker Mel Brooks. Brooks has made some of the funniest films in movie history, including "The Producers," "Young Frankenstein," and "Blazing Saddles." In his new movie, "Life Stinks," Brooks plays a billionaire who accepts a wager to spend a month living on the street.
The former president of NBC news, Reuven Frank. Franks looks back on his career, and the evolution of TV news, in his new memoir, "Out of Thin Air." (published by Simon and Schuster).
We look at the connection between the Israeli and U.S. intelligence communities.
We first talk with journalists Andrew and Leslie Cockburn. Their new book, "Dangerous Liaison," alleges the two nations relationship extends far beyond the Mideast, into areas like the war against drugs, the South African nuclear weapons program, and the Contras. (The book's published by Harper Collins).
We also talk with Benny Morris, co
Historian Glenda Riley. Riley's new book, "Divorce: An American Tradition," looks at the long history of divorce. Among the book's revelations: the first divorce in America happened way back in 1639 (on grounds of bigamy) and that in 1880 as many as one in 16 marriages ended in divorce. (The book's published by Oxford university Press).
