In 1980, Debbie Morris was a 16 year-old high school junior who was kidnapped, raped, and beaten by Robert Lee Willie. Willie's story was portrayed by Sean Penn in the film "Dead Man Walking." She has written about her life in "Forgiving the Dead Man Walking." (Zondervan)
Film critic John Powers reviews two new movies about the horrors of World War II: "Life is Beautiful" and "Apt Pupil." They take wildly different approaches on the subject.
President Carter has written 13 books since leaving office. His latest is "The Virtues of Aging" (Ballantine). In his retirement, Carter founded The Carter Center and launched The Atlanta Project a communitywide effort to attack the social problems associated with poverty.
Updike's newest book features Henry Bech, the moderately well known Jewish-American writer who was the hero of Updike's previous novels, "Bech: A Book," and "Bech is Back." His newest book is "Bech at Bay" (Knopf).
David Remnick is the author of the new book "King of the World" (Random House) about heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali. Remnick was appointed editor of the New Yorker Magazine this year, and is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of "Lenin's Tomb."
Herzog's latest movie is a documentary, "Little Dieter Needs to Fly: Escape from Laos" the true story of Dieter Dengler, the only U.S. pilot to have sucessfully escaped from a North Vietnamese-controlled prison. Herzog's other works include the feature films "Aguirre: The Wrath of God," "Heart of Glass," "Fitzcarraldo," and "Nosferatu."
In light of the recent beating death of gay student Matthew Shepard, a discussion of anti-gay violence with documentary film maker Arthur Dong. In his 1997 film "Licensed to Kill," Dong interviews convicted murderers of gay men and asks them "Why did you do it?" Twenty years ago, Dong himself was the victim of a gay bashing. Dong is a Peabody Award winner and Oscar and Emmy nominated independent filmmaker. His other films include "Coming Out Under Fire," and "Forbidden City, U.S.A."
Hillis is one of the world's leading computer scientists and is the designer of the world's fastest computer. He's also Vice President and Disney Fellow at Walt Disney Imagineering. His new book is "The Pattern on the Stone: the simple ideas that make computers work" (Basic Books)
Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the 50th Anniversary edition of Thomas Merton's spiritual autobiography, "The Seven Story Mountain" (Harcourt Brace).
Visotzky who last examined The Bible's Book of Genesis, now interprets Exodus. His new book is "The Road To Redemption: Lessons from Exodus on Leadership and Community." (Crown) Visotzky's work on Genesis, led a Cover story in Time Magazine and PBS' Genesis series. His work on Exodus caught the attention of Dream Works. The film studio hired him to be a consultant on the animated feature on Exodus, "The Prince of Egypt." Visotzky is chairman of Inter-religious studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary in America.
American Egyptologist Kent Weeks talks about his discovery of the largest tombs ever found in Egypt. It's called KV5 and is the burial ground for the sons of the Pharaoh Ramses the Second who many scholars believe ruled during the Jewish exodus from Egypt. Weeks and his team have discovered more than 150 corridors and chambers buried deep below the hills in the Valley of the Kings. He hopes it will be open to tourists in ten years. He has written about his 1995 discovery and the excavation in his new book "The Lost Tomb" (Morrow).
Ethan Coen makes movies with his brother Joel Coen. Their films include, "Blood Simple," "Raising Arizona," "Barton Fink," "Fargo," and "The Big Lebowski." His stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Playboy, and Vanity Fair. He's written his short story collection, called "Gates of Eden."
Rock historian Ed Ward remembers Charlie Feathers, who tried everything from country music, rockabilly to protest folk. He had such hits as "Tongue-Tied Jill," and "One Hand Loose., which is considered one of the perfect rockabilly songs.
Nelson is best known for her work leading the Mother Earth band from the 1960s and 70s. Her hits included "Down So Low" and "Mother Earth." A collection of her hits "The Best of Tracy Nelson/Mother Earth" (Reprise) came out in 1996. She has a number of albums on Rounder: "Homemade Songs/Come See About Me," "In the Here and Now," "I Feel So Good" and "Move On." She's also got a new recording in which she teams up with Marcia Ball and Irma Thomas, "Sing it!" (Rounder).
Dr. Mehmet Oz is the author of "Healing from the Heart: A Leading Heart Surgeon Explores the Power of Complementary Medicine." (Dutton) He is a cardiovascular surgeon at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. He combines leading western medicine with ancient methods of self healing. The result is faster recovery for patients. He believes our physical health is linked to our spirituality, psychological make-up and emotional well being.
