Hernando de Soto says that the inefficient and often corrupt bureaucratic system in Peru makes starting a legal business nearly impossible for most people. As a result, a robust, informal, and technically-illegal market has emerged. De Soto explores this phenomenon -- and similar cases throughout Latin America -- in his new book, The Other Path.
The first part of a two-part interview with filmmaker and writer John Waters. His new film - "Hairspray" - follows a long line of wildly eccentric films like "Polyester," "Pink Flamingos," and "Female Trouble." Like those films, the setting for "Hairspray" is Baltimore. The cast includes Divine, Debbie Harry, Pia Zadora and Sonny Bono.
Redford says filming All Is Lost was a "pure cinematic experience -- the way films used to be." He talks with Fresh Air's Terry Gross about how it's been "sort of weird" being known for his good looks, and about how he nearly wasn't cast in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Anita Hill has written a book entitled "Speaking Truth to Power," (Doubleday) a reflection on the events surrounding the Hill-Thomas hearings of the fall of 1991. Hill addresses her difficult overnight transformation into a public figure, as well as the way her case has affected women and the work world as a whole. Hill is currently working on another book about sexual harassment, and lectures on civil rights and sexual harassment in the workplace.
Rock historian Ed Ward profiles Bobby Fuller, whose band, The Bobby Fuller Four, had hits including "I Fought the Law." Fuller came from West Texas, the region that Buddy Holly came from, and tried to emulate Holly's mannerisms and music. Fuller was just catching on in Los Angeles when he died under suspicious circumstances at age 23.
In New York City, in the 20th century, tens of thousands of women and transmasculine people were incarcerated at the so-called House of D, a brutal women's prison that opened in Greenwich Village in 1932. Author Hugh Ryan says that in many cases, the prisoners were charged with crimes related to gender-nonconforming behavior.
Novelist and screenwriter William Goldman. His 1973 novel, The Princess Bride, was just made into a movie by director Rob Reiner. The movie is based on a screenplay Goldman wrote shortly after completing the novel. Goldman also wrote the screenplays for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "All The President's Men."
Before Wanda Sykes became a comic, she worked as a procurement officer for the National Security Agency and had top security clearance. But she always loved telling jokes, and when a local radio station sponsored a talent show that included a comedy category, she decided to audition.
As host of the NPR news quiz Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me, Peter Sagal spends a lot of time reading the newspaper.
Lately, though, he's also spent many an hour going to strip joints, a swingers club, a porn-movie set and casinos — among other dens of what some call iniquity.
All research, of course, for his new project, The Book of Vice. He wanted to get a perspective on the indulgences of others, and report back to the rest of us.
Jerry Lee Lewis is one of the founders of rock 'n' roll. He has kept a low profile since his last album was released in 1996. His new studio album, Last Man Standing, was recorded over the last five years with an impressive cast. Collaborators included Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, B.B. King, Willie Nelson and Bruce Springsteen, among others.
Film critic Stephen Schiff bemoans Hollywood's current preoccupation with courtroom dramas -- most, he says, aren't very good. The new Jodi Foster movie The Accused, loosely based on a high-profile gang rape trial, leans too heavily on the lurid details of the case, and not enough on developing an interesting narrative.
Theologian Harvey Cox. His new book is "Fire From Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-first Century." It is estimated that by the year 2010, there will be more Pentecostals than all other non-Catholic Christians put together. Cox traces the growth of the religion from its origins in a converted stable in Los Angeles in 1906 to its present membership of 410 million worldwide.
Civil liberties lawyer Alan Dershowitz is known as a defender of free speech and an advocate for the right to a passionate defense. Dershowitz has defended many controversial figures and is currently involved in the Claus von Bulow and Jack Henry Abbott cases. He has been a professor at Harvard Law School since the age of twenty-eight. His new book is "The Best Defense."
Through his first band, La Perfecta, labeled "the band with the crazy roaring elephants," Palmieri was credited with originating Latin jazz's trombone sound in New York during the sixties. In 1994, Palmieri's lobbying culminated in the announcement of a new Grammy Award category for Afro-Caribbean Jazz.
Burmese writer Pascal Khoo Thwe has written his autobiography From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey. (HarperCollins). Thwe grew up part of a tiny remote tribe in Burma which practiced a combination of ancient animist and Buddhist customs mixed with Catholicism. He was the first member of his community to study English at University. When a brutal military dictatorship took over Burma, Thwe became a guerrilla fighter in the movement for democracy.
Kieran plays, Roman Roy, one of three self-involved adult siblings vying to take over Waystar Royco, the family-run media conglomerate, after their elderly father retires or dies. Roman, the youngest brother, is known for his slimy sense of humor and casual zingers.
Norma McCorvey. She was the plaintiff in Roe vs. Wade. In the lawsuit she was called Jane Roe to shield her privacy. In her new book "I Am Roe" (Harper Collins), she tells her story. She was poor, alone and pregnant. Her case became a landmark Supreme Court decision--it gave women the right to choose abortion. But McCorvey ended up giving birth to the child because the Supreme Court decision came too late.
The investigation of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff has taken many twists and turns. As investigators gauge the extent of Abramoff's influence with lawmakers of both parties, an associate of Abramoff's has pled guilty to conspiracy. Reporter Philip Shenon has been covering the case for The New York Times.
Esther Rolle played a maid in the television show Maude, a role which she hoped would subvert the racist tradition of mammy characters typically given to African American actresses. Rolle now works mostly in theater, and is featured in a production of Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding.
Captain John Marley, instructor for international human rights training in Rwanda and Cambodia, and Marine Captain Peter Sennett, who first visited Rwanda in 1995 and now trains prosecutors and criminal investigators working for social justice. Both are working with prosecutors handling genocide cases in Rwanda.
