Defense analyst and professor Michael Klare, author of Rogue States and Nuclear Outlaws: America's Search for a New Foreign Policy. The book explores the current tendency of the Pentagon to focus on Third World countries as the new threat to U.S. national security. Klare is defense correspondent for The Nation, a frequent commentator on National Public Radio, and Professor of Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College.
Writer Jan L. Waldron was 17 when she gave her baby daughter, Simone, up for adoption. Waldron's own mother was adopted, and in turn left her children when Waldron was eleven. In Giving Away Simone: A Memoir, Waldron tells of the parting and then meeting again with her eleven-year-old daughter, now renamed Rebecca. Rebecca is the fifth generation of women in the family to be abandoned by their mothers; in reuniting with her, Waldron is determined to break that cycle of leaving.
Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Wonder Boys," by Michael Chabon. His first novel, a best seller, "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" was originally written as his Master's Thesis in college.
In 1989, Lau became a best-selling author with her first book: Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid, a memoir of her years on the streets as a suicidal drug addicted teenage prostitute. She also wrote two books of her poetry: You Are Not Who You Claim and Oedipal Dreams. Her latest is a collection of short stories titled Fresh Girls and Other Stories. The 23 year old writer lives in Vancouver, Canada.
South African journalist Allister Sparks has written about secret negotiations that started in 1986 between South African leaders and then-jailed political prisoner Nelson Mandela. The meetings ultimately led to the dismantling of Apartheid. Sparks' new book is Tomorrow is Another Country. He served as South African Correspondent for The Observer and for The Washington Post from 1981-1992. He lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the new film starring Jessica Lange. He says its focus on message over narrative makes it a poor fit for the big screen, better suited for network TV.
Egoyan's newest movie won the International Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival at the 1994 awards. Exotica is considered his breakthrough movie. Andrew Sarris of the New York Observer says when the movie ended, "I sat stunned in the theater...Exotica [was] high on my ten best list."
Journalist and rock historian Daniel Wolff has written a new biography, You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke. Wolff was aided in his research by many people who were close to Cooke, including S.R. Crain, a co-founder of the Soul Stirrers and later Cooke's manager. Crain also joins the conversation.
Dr. Jody Heymann is a physician, and author of the new book Equal Partners: A Physicians Call for a New Spirit of Medicine. She chronicles her own story of turning from physician to patient overnight after suffering a seizure and consequent brain surgeries. The extremes of care she received revolutionized her perception of a physician's role in patient treatment.
Tamahori made the New Zealand film "Once Were Warriors." It takes a front-line look at an urban Maori family plagued by poverty, violence and alcoholism. The movie recently became the top grossing film in New Zealand history. Star Rena Owen joins the conversation later in this segment.
Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker looks back at the music of Doc Pomus, who died in 1991. There's a new tribute album to him out, called "Till the Night Is Gone."
Judith Musick is the director of the Ounce of Prevention Fund, a pregnancy prevention and teenage-parent programs in Illinois, and author of the new book, "Young, Poor and Pregnant: The Psychology of Teenage Motherhood." Musick believes that impoverished adolescent girls become young mothers as an attempt to create a future and an identity.
Bass has a new gospel album, "No Ways Tired." Her R&B hit "Rescue Me" came out in 1965. She was given no credits and no royalties for the song. Soon after, disenchanted with the industry, she retired to raise a family. In recent years, she has been on a comeback while getting back to her roots as a gospel singer.
Michael Tonry is a professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Minnesota. His new book, Malign Neglect: Race Crime, and Punishment in America, discusses how our current approach to fighting crime victimizes disadvantaged black Americans. He calls for a reform of sentencing and parole policies.
Ann Charters, the biographer of Jack Kerouac, has just edited two new collections of his writings: The Portable Jack Kerouac, and Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters. In this interview,she reads from some of Kerouac's letters, and discusses how he translated his life into his work. Charters teaches at the University of Connecticut.
