The truth about vultures, with Wayne Grady and Mike Wallace. Grady's new book, "Vulture: Ghastly Gourmet," (Sierra Club Books) describes in words and photographs the life of the vulture. Wallace is the Los Angeles Zoo's vulture specialist. He is the Curator of Conservation and Science at the zoo, as well as being the Condor Species Survival Program Coordinator for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association.
Jury consultant Jo-Ellan Dimitrius. She's consulted in over 600 trials, including O-J Simpson's and Rodney King's. Dimitrius' company, Forensic Technologies International, uses techniques like random phone surveys to learn about public attitudes. In jury questionnaires and interviews, Dimitrius says he can get potential jurors to reveal their pre-dispostions. In her new book, "Reading People: How to Understand People and Predict Their Behavior," (Random House) she discloses some of the tricks of her trade.
In the tradition of the documentary "Sherman's March," Geoff Dyer has written a book about trying to write D.H. Lawrence's biography. "Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling With D.H. Lawrence" (Farrar Strauss Giroux) ends up being both a biography and an autobiography. Dyer lives in Oxford, England, and has published several other books, including "Ways of Telling," a critical study of the art critic John Berger.
Rock Critic Ken Tucker reviews the new album from Garbage, entitled "Version 2.0." (Almo Sounds) Garbage's debut album, released in 1995, has sold over 4 million copies.
Malachy McCourt is best-selling author Frank McCourt's ("Angela's Ashes") younger brother. He's just written a memoir of his own, entitled "A Monk Swimming." (Hyperion) It picks up where Frank's left off, in 1950s America. Malachy is also an actor and has had featured roles in the films "The Devil's Own," "She's the One," and "The Bonfire of The Vanities."
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the latest releases of the Budapest String Quartet. The group was the quartet in residence at the Library of Congress for 25 years, beginning in the late 1930s. Bridge Records is issuing a series of classic live performances from that period.
Ellen Schrecker re-examines the McCarthy era in her new book, "Many are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America." (Little, Brown) She writes that despite the unfairness of the House Un-American Activities Committee, accusations were generally accurate. It's the first complete post-Cold War account of the McCarthy era. Schrecker is a professor of History at Yeshiva University in New York.
Author Harvey Klehr. He's co-authored a new book that examines how the Soviets controlled the American Communist party. The Communist Party as it existed in the United States is the only radical party in America to be governed by a foreign country. "The Soviet World of American Communism" draws information from documents in recently opened Soviet archives (with co-authors John Earl Haynes & Kyrill M. Anderson; Yale University Press). Klehr is a professor of Politics and History at Emory University.
Film critic John Powers reviews two new films. "Henry Fool" is writer/director Hal Hartley's latest. Also, "Mister Jealousy" stars Annabella Sciorra and Eric Stoltz. It's about a man whose insane jealousy threatens his love life.
Peter L. Stein is producer, director and writer of the documentary "The Castro." It will air nationally on PBS this Friday, June 12. "The Castro" is the name of a San Francisco neighborhood that is at the heart of the city's gay community. His film recently won a Peabody Award. He serves as Executive Producer of KQED's series Neighborhoods: The Hidden Cities of San Francisco. AND We'll also hear from Cleve Jones who lived in the Castro district where he became involved in the gay-rights movement. He is featured in Stein's film.
Whit Stillman is the writer, director and producer of the new film "The Last Days of Disco," which opened nationally late last month. The film portrays the disco scene in New York in late 1970's to the early 1980's. Stillman also wrote and directed the films "Metropolitan" and "Barcelona." Stillman has also written for Vogue, The Village Voice, The Guardian, and El Pais.
Joshua Quitner and Michelle Slatalla are authors of "Speeding The Net: The Inside Story of Netscape and How It Challenged Microsoft." (Atlantic Monthly Press) Quittner is the computer columnist for Time magazine and an assistant managing editor at Time Inc's on-line site Pathfinder. Slatalla writes a technology column for The New York Times. They have also collaborated on the books: "Masters of Deception," "Flame War," "Mother's Day," and "Shoo-Fly Pie to Die."
Peter D. Goldsmith is author of "Making People's Music: Moe Asch." (Smithsonian Books) The book explores the history of folk music in America. He uses the life of Moe Asch who was the founder of Folkways Records to tell that story. Asch recorded with such legendary folk singers as: Pete Seeger and Woody Gutherie. Peter D. Goldsmith is an anthropologist who grew up to listening to Folkways records. He currently an adjunct associate professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
Standup-comic Bob Newhart. This Friday he performs at Carnegie Hall in New York City as part of the Toyota Comedy Festival. Newhart has been a part of the American comedy landscape since 1961 when his debut comedy album "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart" became a surprise hit. (Now available on CD, on the Warner label) Since then he's starred in three TV shows, including the Peabody award winning original "The Bob Newhart Show." And appeared in numerous films.
Novelist Richard Bausch's newest book is "In the Night Season." (Harper Collins) some of his books include: "Good Evening Mr. and Mrs America and All the Ships at Sea," "Rebel Powers," and "Violence." He is also known for his stories which have been published in "The Atlantic Monthly," "Esquire," "Harper's," "The New Yorker," "Playboy," and "The Southern Review." Bausch lives in rural Virginia.
Armistead Maupin is the author of "Tales of the City." It depicted San Francisco gay and straight lifestyles in the 1970's. In 1994 "Tales of the City" was adapted into a controversial PBS miniseries. His second novel from 1980 "More Tales of the City" (Harper Perennial) has been adapted into a Showtime channel miniseries that begins airing this month.
