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"Seven Seconds that Broke the Back of the Century."

Novelist Don DeLillo. His most recent novel, Libra, is based on the assassination of President Kennedy and the various conspiracy theories that continue to swirl around the tragedy. It became an immediate bestseller when it was published last year, and is now at the top of the paperback best seller lists. DeLillo's eight previous novels, starting with Americana and the bestseller and American Book Award winner White Noise, all revolve around conspiracy theories and the public's conviction that public events are never what they seem. (Rebroadcast. Originally broadcast on Tuesday, August 9, 1988.) (Interview by Sedge Thomson)

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Other segments from the episode on August 15, 1989

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, August 15, 1989: Interview with Allan Burns; Commentary on the Woodstock Festival; Interview with Don DeLillo; Review of Peter Handke's novel "The Afternoon of the Writer."
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22:19

Allan Burns' New Program About A Public Radio Station.

Television producer and screenwriter Allan Burns. He co-created "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Rhoda," "He and She," "Lou Grant" and "The Munsters," a body of work that has earned him 8 Emmys. Burns has a new series this fall on NBC titled "FM." It's about the on-the-job and at home travails of a public radio program director. (Interview by Sedge Thomson)

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Transcripts are created on a rush deadline, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of Fresh Air interviews and reviews are the audio recordings of each segment.

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Language commentator Geoff Nunberg wonders why it's so hard for writers to craft realistic, natural-sounding dialogue when we are surrounded by speech in our daily lives. He says it may take a special kind of attentiveness to hear -- and remember -- how people really talk.

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"Libra" is a "Cold, Brilliant Moon of a Book"

Book critic John Leonard says that Don DeLillo's new novel is the culmination of the author's career writing great books. The heavily-researched, well-orchestrated story posits that the JFK assassination was an elaborate plot to regain Cuba, and was intended to have been near miss rather than a successful murder.

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"Seven Seconds that Broke the Back of the Century"

Novellist Don DeLillo doesn't like talking about his novels; but he says there's much to discuss about his newest book Libra, based on the assassination of John F. Kennedy. DeLillo sought to fill in the gaps of that story, including what motivated gunman Lee Harvey Oswald.

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