Journalist Stan Sesser is a reporter covering Southeast Asia for the New Yorker. He has collected some of those pieces in a new book "The Lands of Charm and Cruelty: Travels in Southeast Asia." He discusses the recent elections in Cambodia which featured violence, twenty political parties and massive voter turnout
Allen and Albert Hughes, 21-year old twins, and directors of "Menace II Society." Their mother steered them away from drugs and gangs when they were twelve by buying them video equipment. After making several music videos and short films, they've made their first feature. It's firmly in the gangster genre, an unflinching film about young men growing up in Watts. The film's 23-year old screenwriter Tyger Williams explains: "For every 'good' kid that makes it out of the ghetto, there are five more who don't.
Legendary musician and band-leader Sun Ra died Sunday at the age 79; we pay tribute to his otherworldly brand of jazz with an excerpt from a concert he performed six years ago in Philadelphia
Halberstam has a new book -- a social, political, economic, and cultural history of what he considers the most pivotal decade of the century -- called "The Fifties." His other books include, "The Best and the Brightest" and "The Powers That Be."
Pierce won the "Songwriter of the Year" award at the 1993 Austin Music Awards. A tribute album of her songs performed by other singers, "Across the Great Divide," won the Album of the Year Award. She's originally from Lubbock, Texas, and little known outside the state. Her songs are quirky, and spiritual. Pierce also wrote and performed the one-woman show, ""Bad Girls Upset About the Truth," told in story and song about her problems with men and Jesus.
Rock Critic Ken Tucker on a new direction in rap: PM Dawn's new album: "The Bliss Album: Vibrations of Love & Anger & the Ponderance of Life & Existence".
Psychiatrist Peter D. Kramer wrote "Listening to Prozac," an examination of the larger issues behind drugs that reshape temperament. Prozac is the most widely prescribed antidepressant today, with some four and a half million users since its introduction in 1987. Kramer raises serious questions about this "miracle mood enhancer": are we headed into an age of cosmetic pharmacology?
Kurtz is media reporter for "The Washington Post." He has a new book, called "Media Circus: The Trouble with America's Newspapers." In the book, he looks at how the press has bungled some important stories like the HUD scandal and the S&L mess, the William Kennedy Smith trial, and the Clarence Thomas hearings.
Handler has played leading roles in seven Broadway productions including, "Six Degrees of Separation," "Brighton Beach Memoirs," and "Master Harold. . . and the boys." He's 32 now; seven years ago he was diagnosed with leukemia. He had a bone marrow transplant, and he's now considered free of the disease. He has a new monologue, "Time on Fire," about his four year struggle with leukemia.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews three releases featuring alto saxophonist Lee Konitz,a versatile musician known to be flexible depending on the context or ensemble he's in.
TV critic David Bianculli reviews a new mystery-comedy series NBC seems eager to kill -- once called Smoldering Lust, it's now in a bad time slot with the title "Black-Tie Affair."
The theater director and actor is a member of playwright David Mamet's circle of theater innovators. Macy has most recently starred in Mamet's new play "Oleanna", and was featured in his film "Homocide". They co-founded the Atlantic Theater Company, an ensemble which performs mainly original works by American writers. Members of the company wrote "A Practical Handbook For The Actor", from notes taken during acting workshops led by Mr. Macy. One critic writes that the ensemble "has rescued theater from the mindless".
Journalist David Sheff gained unprecedented access to the toy wizards at the Nintendo Corporation. His new book "Game's Over" explores the Japanese domination of the video-game market.
One of Israel's leading journalists, Tom Segev has a new book,"The Seventh Million: The Israelis and The Holocaust," in which he argues that some Israelis use the Holocaust to encourage Israeli chauvinism and aggression. Segev writes a weekly column on politics and human rights for the daily newspaper "Haaretz."
The NPR broadcast journalist was co-host of the award-winning news magazine "All Things Considered" for fourteen years and the host of the Sunday show "Weekend Edition" from its inception in 1987. She's collected her favorite interviews from the past two decades in a new book, called "Talk."
Spark has been said to "uphold the great tradition of the English Catholic novel." She's a prolific writer, having written 19 novels, including "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," and "Momento Mori." Spark has a new memoir about her first 39 years, called "Curriculum Vitae." It includes stories about school teacher Miss Christina Kay (the character of Jean Brodie was based on her), Spark's marriage at 19 to a man 13 years her senior, their life in Africa, and Spark's early literary career. She's now 74 years old.
