Books & Literature

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews the new memoir by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., "Colored People."

Playwright, NPR commentator, housecleaner and former elf to Santa, Davis Sedaris. He launched his radio commentator career with his "SantaLand Diaries," broadcast during NPR's "Morning Edition in 1992. His humor has been described as a "caustic mix of J. D.

The biggest event in soccer, the World Cup, takes place in the United States this month (June 17 - July 17), in nine different cities. Journalist Pete Davies will talk with Terry about the game so few Americans know about. He's written a new book about the game and the upcoming event, "Twenty-Two Foreigners in Funny Shorts: The Intelligent Fan's Guide to Soccer and World Cup '94." (Random House).

Scholar and activist Henry Louis Gates, Jr. He's Professor of English and Chairman of Afro-American Studies at Harvard and one of Afro-American studies most visible and controversial proponents. Gates believes that Black studies should be a methodology, not an ideology, and that you don't have to be black to teach African-American literature.

Mary Previte, superintendent of the Camden County (NJ) Youth Center. Previte, the great granddaughter of missionary pioneer Hudson Taylor, grew up in China with her missionary parents. During World War II, she and her fellow students and teachers spent three years in a Japanese concentration camp. Previte credits the structure her teachers' created with making the horrific experience bearable. For the past twenty years, Previte has run the youth center, a holding center for boys and girls charged with serious crimes.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan on the legacy of Dashiell Hammett, who was born one hundred years ago today.

Mystery writer Walter Mosley. He's written a new book in his series about gumshoe hero Easy Rawlins. It's called "Black Betty" (Norton). Betty's a shark of a woman who leaves dead men in her wake. Like the other books in the series, "Black Betty" has Easy in post-War, but pre-present South Central L.A.--this time the year is 1961. Mosley gained public attention when then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton said that Mosley was his favorite mystery writer.

Writer Mikal Gilmore, youngest brother of executed killer Gary Gilmore. Gilmore's 1977 death --at his own request-- by firing squad in Utah, was the first American execution in ten years. Brother Mikal finds seeds of his brother's two murders sown far back in Gilmore family history, and its Mormon roots.

Civil rights attorney and law professor Jack Greenberg. He was just out of law school--a white Jewish man from the Bronx when he joined the fledgling NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). Greenberg took over the helm of the LDF from his mentor Thurgood Marshall when Marshall was appointed to the Federal Court of Appeals. During Greenberg's tenure there, the LDF litigated some of the watershed cases of the civil rights struggle. He has just published a memoir of his 35 years at the LDF.

Author and physician Abraham Verghese. An Indian raised in Ethopia, Abraham Verghese arrived in the United States in 1980 as a rookie doctor. Upon completing an internship in infectious diseases, Dr. Verghese accepted a position in the rural, Appalachian town of Johnson City, Tennessee. The year was 1985 and AIDS had begun to ravage large metropolitan areas. Within the year, Dr. Verghese was treating his first case of AIDS in this rural outpost.

Writer and teacher Reynolds Price A native of North Carolina, Price has written works known for their sense of place and off-beat characters. He's a prolific and a varied writer: he 's written short stories, poems, plays, and essays, and since the publication of his first novel, "A Long and Happy Life," in 1962, he's published more than two dozen books. In 1984 Price was diagnosed with spinal cancer, and became paralyzed from the waist down. Cancer, though, didn't slow his writing down.

Author Michael Dorris. His work is wide-ranging in topic and emotional impact. In his earlier book "The Broken Cord" he wrote of his struggle to understand the severe health and behavior problems of an adopted son, Abel, who had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Abel, a Native American, died in an accident after a difficult life. Dorris himself is part Modoc Indian. He founded the Native American Studies Program at Dartmouth College where he now teaches Anthropology.

Author Melba Beals. Forty years ago today the United States Supreme Court ruled that school segregation was unconstitutional in "Brown v. Board of Education." Three years later, Beals and eight other black teenagers chose to attend the all white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. In the process Beals suffered a school year marked by unremitting violence and hatred. Danny, the soldier assigned to protect her, warned her that she too would have to become a soldier.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews "Where the Girls Are" by media theorist Susan J. Douglas.

Historian and author Garry Wills. He looks at leadership in his new book "Certain Trumpets: The Call of Leaders" (Simon & Shuster). Wills chooses a broad spectrum of leaders--FDR, Harriet Tubman, Socrates, Martha Graham and others--and examines their leadership qualities and the bases of their success. He looks at the relationship between leading and following. He responds to the charge by some that there is now a dearth of leaders. And he sets forth his understanding of the universal conditions of leadership.

Author Robb Forman Dew. In her novels--"Dale Loves Sophie to Death" (Harper Perennial) and "Fortunate Lives" (Harper Perennial)--Dew explored the ambiguities and intricacies of families. So she thought she understood the complexities of family love. But then her son informed her he was gay. Dew has written a new memoir about her son's coming out and the family evolution that followed. It's her non-fiction debut and it's called "The Family Heart" (Addison-Wesley).

Peru's eminent novelist and former presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa. Llosa is the author of many books including "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter," (which was made into a movie, based on his own relationship with his 32-year old aunt, who he married at the age of 19), "The Storyteller," and "In Praise of the Stepmother." A London Times writer says of Llosa's novels that they are "among the finest coming out of Latin America." Llosa lived for many years in Europe.

Performance poet Sekou Sundiata. Often he performs with his music ensemble, "Dadahdoodahda." A Village Voice critic wrote of Sundiata, ". . . like Billie Holiday, Sundiata surprises with images and tumbling phrases that blend with subtle rhythmic variations. Dadahdoodahda provided enough familiar riffs and melodies to fill a dance floor. . .

Poet Lloyd Van Brunt. He grew up poor and white in Oklahoma. He writes, in the The New York Times magazine section, "To be poor in a country that places a premium on wealth is in itself shameful. To be white and poor is unforgivable." (March 27, 1994). Van Brunt says poor whites have no defenders ("white trash" they are called) and they are made to feel ashamed of themselves because of the assumption that they "should" be able to make a success of themselves. Van Brunt's father abandoned the family, his mother died when he was 8.

Former Mouseketeer, Annette Funicello. At the age of 12, she was discovered by Walt Disney at a dance recital; he was looking for kids for his new show, "The Mickey Mouse Club." Funicello became the "most popular" Mouseketeer, and went on to star in a number of Disney films: "The Shaggy Dog," "Babes in Toyland," and "The Monkey's Uncle." Before she went to star in the beach party movies for which she is also known, Disney requested that she wear a one-piece bathing suit instead of a bikini. Funicello agreed.