Biographer Howard Pollack is the author of “Aaron Copland: The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man” (University of Illinois Press). This year marks the 100th anniversary of Copland’s birth. Though Copland was Jewish, gay, and raised in Brooklyn, his work came to personify the American West, with such well known compositions as “Billy the Kid” and “Rodeo.” Copland also wrote “Appalachian Spring,” and “Fanfare for the Common Man.” Copland also wrote the film scores for “The Red Pony,” and “The Heiress.” Pollack is professor of music history and literature at the University of Houston.

Arthel "Doc" Watson, one of America's premier acoustic folk guitarists. His flat-pick style of playing traditional folk and bluegrass has made his sound one of the most distinctive of any folk artist. His 24 albums have earned him four Grammys. In the folk music community, Watson is best known for his part in preserving the traditional ballads and melodies of southern Appalachia.

Television critic David Bianculli reviews an episode of "Rescue 911," the CBS series that sends a film crew out on emergency police calls. Their most famous piece of tape yet is the call from Charles Stuart in Boston to say he and his pregnant wife had been shot by a black assailant (this turned out to be a cover up for Stuart, who apparently murdered his wife and shot himself). Bits of the tape have been shown on newscasts, but this is its first full airing on the show.

Retired CIA field officer Larry Devlin was appointed CIA station chief in Zaire in the Congo in 1960, following the Congo's independence from Belgium. It was also a time when the Congo was a significant pawn in the Cold War.

Devlin has written a memoir about his experiences, Chief of Station, Congo: Fighting the Cold War in a Hot Zone.

Washington Post investigative reporter Jim McGee has co-written with Brian Duffy the new book "Main Justice: The Men And Women Who Enforce The Nation's Criminal Laws And Guard Its Liberties." It's about the changing role of the U.S. Justice Department. As the fears of terrorism increase, Congress and the White House are giving the Justice Department more investigative powers and a wider jurisdiction which include sanctions in foreign countries.

Dorris died last week at the age of 52. In 1989, He won a National Book Critics Circle award for The Broken Cord. A first person account of how fetal alcohol syndrome affected his oldest son, Abel, who later died. He and his wife, Louise Erdrich, wrote several novels together, including Love Medicine, The Crown of Columbus and Yellow Raft in Blue Water. Both are part Native American, and Dorris spent several years of his childhood on an Indian reservation. In January, his new novel Cloud Chamber was published by Scribner Books.