Williams spent the first ten years of his life believing he was white in segregated Virginia, and that his dark-skinned father was Italian. When his parents' marriage ended, his father took him and his brother to Muncie, Indiana, where the boys learned that they were half black. Williams' new memoir "Life on the Color Line" is about the struggle and repression he faced growing up between the races. Publisher's Weekly calls it "(an) affecting and absorbing story."
Political satirist and impressionist Jim Morris began lampooning the presidents around the time Reagan was sworn in to office. Since then he's impersonated Bush and Clinton, as well as presidential contenders, Michael Dukakis, Paul Tsongas, and Ross Perot. The New Yorker says of Morris, "Like an obsessive character actor, Mr. Morris doesn't just impersonate his subjects; he becomes them."
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The Washington Post, David Maraniss. He's just completed a new biography of President Clinton, "First in His Class." In researching the book, Maraniss interviewed more than 400 people, including Clinton's friends, relatives, and colleagues. One reviewer writes, "the portrait of Mr.
Robert Rector is a policy analyst at the conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation. He is credited wiith being the driving force behind the rightward swing of the newest GOP welfare reform. He believes the welfare system creates illegitimacy, and that, "the more you spend [on welfare] the more clientele for the programs you create." He also believes to bring people out of their "behavioral poverty," they need to work for their assistance.
Child care innovator and reformer Richard Clifford. In 1993-94 he took a year leave from his professorship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to establish and direct the North Carolina Smart Start Early Childhood Initiative under Governor Hunt. The program is a working model of partnership between public and private groups. It has been considered a success and is being expanded into other counties of North Carolina.
TV critic David Bianculli previews tonight's episode of "Mad About You," which features a guest appearance by Carl Reiner as Alan Brady -- the character he played on "The Dick Van Dyke Show."
Professor Nicholas Negroponte's new book "Being Digital" explores the future of new information technology and how it will challenge today's perceptions of the future. Ten years ago, Negroponte created the now famous and innovative Media Laboratory at MIT. He believes a fundamental change in how we live is coming with the newest computer technologies. He is also a popular columnist for Wired Magazine.
The Australian director made the new film based on the popular nineteenth century novel. In 1978, Armstrong's career took off with the critically acclaimed film "My Brilliant Career" -- the first in Australia directed by a woman. Armstrong has garnered many film awards since, including the Australian Film Institute Awards, U.S. National society of Film Critics Award, and a best film at the Festival International de Creteil, France.
Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews two new murder mysteries: the London-set "Original Sin," by P.D. James and "Cranks and Shadows" by K.C. Constantine, which takes place in post-industrial Pennsylvania.
The New Yorker called Trevor"probably the greatest living writer of short stories in the English language." Besides his eight volumes of short stories, he has written eleven novels, several plays for stage and for radio and television, and stories for The New Yorker, The New York Times, and other magazines. Early last year he published his memoir, "Excursions in the Real World," in which he writes about his family and childhood in Ireland. His most recent novel is "Felicia's Journey."
Professor Michael Kazin's new book, "The Populist Persuasion: An American History," explores the rise and change of populism and its effect on the political structure. He examines populism's roots as a leftist, liberal movement, and how populist ideas came to be used as rhetoric of conservative Presidents Nixon and Reagan.
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)
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.
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."
