In the wake of the new Oliver Stone biopic about The Doors, film critic Owen Gleiberman reviews two concert films about the L.A. rock band, both on home video.
Writer James Smith's new book, "The Idea Brokers," examines the growing influence and inner workings of Washington's many research organizations. Several think tank members provided commentary for news networks during the Gulf War.
Travel and adventure writer Eric Hansen. His new book, "Motoring with Mohammed," is a first-person account of Hansen's attempt to recover the dairies he buried on the coast of Yemen a decade before, after being ship wrecked there.
Former Washington Post investigative journalist Scott Armstrong says that the United States wanted to topple Saddam Hussein, even if that meant a longer war. He talks about how a media blackout, poor intelligence, and scant details provided by the government have led to an incomplete picture of the conflict.
Critic Maureen Corrigan comments on the profusion of mainstream publications which implore readers to follow a holistic lifestyle, and warn them of new, overblown health risks.
The biologist, special effects expert, and bug wrangler was responsible for the moths in the movie, "Silence of the Lambs" and the cockroaches in "Creepshow."
Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the new comedy "Defending Your Life," starring director Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep as a recently deceased couple who fall in love while living in a squeaky-clean purgatory.
Peebles is the son of the legendary director Melvin Van Peebles. His film New Jack City is set in Harlem, and features a grim, gritty, and violent world of crack dealers and users.
We explore the roots of the Israeli-Arab problem with Charles Smith, a professor of Middle Eastern history at San Diego State University, and the author of "Palestine and the Arab Israeli Conflict."
The PBS program marks its first decade on the air with the showing of two broadway productions: Steven Sonheim's "Into the Woods," and John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath." Television critic David Bianculli reviews them both.
National Affairs Director of the National Black Police Association, Officer Ron Hampton, has been a policeman for 19 years. He's gotten a reputation for speaking out against the misuse of power in the police force, which Hampton says is distressingly common. He'll discuss the beating of Rodney King by LAPD officers.
World class mathematician and world class juggler Ron Graham talks to us about his two great loves. He works at the AT&T Bell Labs, and is one of the few people in America who can juggle seven balls at once.
Rock historian Ed Ward plays some of the forgotten recordings released by the Apple Label. The label was started by the Beatles, whose members often produced those records.
Professor Bill Beeman of Brown University discusses the historical and cultural background of the Kurdish population in the Middle East. Without a country of their own, the Kurds have taken what support they can get from other players in the region. With the Gulf War over, there has been a Kurdish uprising in Iraq, which threatens Saddam Hussein.
Book critic John Leonard reviews Denis Johnson's novel, "Resuscitation of a Hanged Man," about a man recovering from a botched suicide attempt who goes on to become a part-time private eye in Provincetown.
McPherson is currently working on a new book about the aftermath of the Romanian Revolution. An excerpt of the book recently appeared in the literary magazine, "Granta."
In 1971, writer Lorene Cary was one of the first black female students to be enrolled at St. Paul's, a private prep school in New Hampshire; Cary grew up middle class in Philadelphia. Her memoir about entering the privileged, elite world of the school is called "Black Ice."
