Books & Literature

World music critic Milo Miles checks out "Samba," writer Alma Guillermoprieto's (geair-mo-prer-toe) new book on Brazil's most famous musical form, and how it pervades Brazilian life and culture.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Jimmy Breslin's new biography of Damon Runyon.

Journalist Susan FaludiI ("fah-lude-ee"). Her new book, "Backlash," looks at how the gains women made as a result of the feminist movement are being reversed and undermined. (It's published by Crown).

World music critic Milo Miles reviews some current books on African music. His big recommendation is "Sweet Mother: Modern African Music," by Wolfgang Bender (published by University of Chicago Press).

Writer and political essayist Peter Schneider. Schneider's new book, "The German Comedy: Scenes of Life After the Wall," looks at some of the ironic and funny results of the unification of the Germanys. (It's published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux).

Maureen Corrigan reviews "Low Life," by Luc Sante (pronounced "luke sahn-tay"). The book explores the every-day existence of New Yorkers a century ago.

Author Norman Mailer. Over the past four decades Mailer's evolved into one of America's most important, and at times most flamboyant, writers. He has a new novel, titled "Harlot's Ghost".

Writer Jake Lamar. In his new memoir, "Bourgeois Blues," Lamar examines the issue of race in his life, and in American society. (published by Summit Books).

Children's author Maira (pronounced "my-rah") Kalman. Her latest kid's book is called "Ooh-La-La, Max In Love." (It's published by Viking).

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?" the latest book from political columnist Molly Ivins. (It's published by Random House).

Book critic John Leonard reviews Norman Mailer's new novel, "Harlot's Ghost."

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz is also a poet, and today he reads one of his poems about leaves changing color.

Journalist Sam Dillon. Dillon was part of the Miami Herald's team of reporters that won a Pulitzer Prize for their reporting on the Iran Contra scandal. His new book, "Comandos: The CIA and Nicaragua's Contra Rebels," looks at the history of the contras during their ten year struggle with the Sandinistas. ( published by Henry Holt).

Film critic Pauline Kael talk to us from her house in Massachusetts. Kael spent years reviewing movies for The New Yorker. Her final collection of New Yorker reviews has just been published. It's called "Movie Love: Complete Reviews 1988-1991. (It's published by William Abrahams).

Writer and critic Doris Grumbach. In her new memoir, "Coming Into The End Zone," Grumbach chronicles the 70th year of her life, faces the specter of her impending death, as well of the deaths of several of her friends due to AIDS. (It's published by Norton).

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Sexual Personae," Camille Paglia's (pag-lee-ah) controversial analysis of the sexes.

Cartoonist and novelist Jeff Danziger. Danziger is the political cartoonist for the Christian Science Monitor, and his cartoons are featured in more than one hundred newspapers around the country. Danziger's just written his first novel. It's called "Rising Like The Tucson," and it's a dark comedy about the Vietnam War. (It's published by Doubleday).

June Reinisch the Director of the Kinsey Institute, and the principle author of "The Kinsey Institute New Report on Sex." In it, she debunks many myths Americans have about sex, and she discusses what she calls the "sexual illiteracy" of many Americans. (It's published by St. Martin's Press).

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz is also an accomplished poet. The U.S. Information Agency recently sent Lloyd to Brazil for a lecture tour. He tells us he found a country with a huge love of poetry.