Aciman is the author of "Out of Egypt: A Memoir." The book follows Aciman's close-knit, flamboyant Jewish family through 50 years of residence in Alexandria. The family was forced to leave Egypt when Aciman was 14, during a long wave of Anti-Semitism and Arab nationalism.
Monette died of complications from the AIDS virus on Friday, at age 49. His 1988 book "Borrowed Time: An Aids Memoir," was the first memoir to be published about AIDS, and won a National Book Award. In it, Monette told the story of his "beloved" friend and lover's two year struggle with AIDS. The book was called "a gallant, courageous love story." In 1992, he wrote a memoir about his own life before he came out of the closet at the age of 25, "Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story." (Rebroadcast)
The NPR foreign correspondent has a new book, called "Sarajevo Daily: A City and Its Newspaper Under Siege." During the height of the conflict, the city was in ruins. But one symbol of hope remained constant for its people: Oslobodjenje, the city's multi-ethnic daily newspaper. When the siege began, the paper's editor vowed, "As long as Sarajevo exists, this paper will publish everyday."
Sexologist Leonore Tiefer has written a new book called "Sex Is Not a Natural Act: and Other Essays." She looks at our society's anxieties towards and ignorance about sex. She also questions what is "normal" sex. Tiefer received a Ph.D. in physiological psychology, and later specialized in clinical psychology to become a sex researcher, sex therapist and an Associate Professor at the Montefoire Medical Center in New York City. Tiefer has also been a sex columnist for the New York Daily News.
Merrill died Monday at age 68. The son of the founder of the Merrill Lynch brokerage house, Merrill traveled to Europe at age 24, a newly published poet "meaning to stay as long as possible". That was in 1950. His memoir "A Different Person" detailed his two and a half years there, and featured encounters with psychoanalysts, new and old lovers, and Alice Toklas. Merrill wrote eleven books of poems, and was the winner of two National Book Awards, the Bollingen Prize for Poetry, and the Pulitzer Prize. (Rebroadcast)
Taylor died Monday at age 65. He played with Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk. His recent book "Notes and Tones: Musician-to-Musician Interviews" features conversations with fellow musicians. It was one of the few books about black jazz musicians by a black man. We replay our 1994 interview with Taylor.
New York Times defense correspondent Michael Gordon and retired Marine Corps General Bernard Trainor. They have collaborated on a book about the Persian Gulf War, called "The General's War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf." The book examines why the war was "an incomplete success."
Golden in the author of the new memoir, "Saving Our Sons." She writes about bringing up her son in Washington D.C., where homicide is the leading cause of death for Black males between 18 and 24. In the preface, she says, "I stopped work on a novel in order to write this book. The unremitting press of young lives at risk, the numbing stubbornness of annual, real-life death tolls, rendered fiction suddenly unintriguing, vaguely obscene."
Graffin is the lead singer of the punk band Bad Religion. The group started 15 years ago and helped pioneer the hard rock/punk style of bands like Green Day and Offspring. Bad Religion's eighth recording is "Stranger Than Fiction," and it's their first on a major label. When Graffin isn't performing, he's spending time with his wife and child or working on his Ph.D. in Biology at Cornell.
Special correspondent Wilbert Rideau is editor-in-chief of the award winning prison magazine The Angolite. He's also an inmate of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, serving a life term for murder. When the prison was under a state of emergency in 1990, warden John P. Whitely was hired. In his five year tenure, Whitely's management style helped turn the prison around garnering national and international attention. It also gained the attention of the inmates, who recently hosted a farewell dinner in honor of the departing warden.
William Greider is a political reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine. His most recent contribution is titled, "Why the Rich Get Richer." Greider speaks with Terry about his most recent article, the status of our economy, and the just announced interest rate hike. Greider is also author of two best-selling books "Secrets of the Temple" and "Who Will Tell the People: the Betrayal of American Democracy."
Steven Levy is an expert on computer technology, a Fellow of the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center in New York, and a columnist for the magazine "Macworld." His new book is "Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer that Changed Everything."
