Government & Politics

Journalist Sean Kelly's 1993 book, "America's Tyrant: The CIA and Mobutu of Zaire" provides context for the unrest now in Zaire. Thirty years ago, Kelly covered Mobutu's rise to power. Kelly was with the Voice of America for twenty years. Now he teaches at American University in D.C.

Journalist Adam Hochschild's recent article in the New Yorker "Mr. Kurtz, I Presume" considers the colonial history of Zaire -- once known as the Congo -- looking for the prototype for Kurtz the fictional greedy ambitious white man of Joseph Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness."

Reich reflects on his four years in the Clinton administration and why he stepped down. His new memoir is "Locked in the Cabinet."

Lea Rabin, the widow of the slain Isreali Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. She's written a new memoir: "Rabin: Our Life, His Legacy," (G.P. Putnam). Rabin was assassinated in November 1995.

Goldstone serves on South Africa's Constitutional Court. From 1991-1994, he headed the Commission of Inquiry regarding public violence and intimidation, otherwise known as the Goldstone Commission. More recently, he was Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. This month he'll be lecturing at a conference at the University of California at Berkeley.

Sergeant Tom Leisner and detective Jim Moffit with the Philadelphia police force. They were responsible for helping to convict Richard Ramos, the leader of a drug ring that included his mother, two brothers, and his sister, among others. The group's success in drug sales brought in $20 million and caused the destruction of the neighborhood. Leisner was stationed in the first mini-station in the city to keep closer watch over drug dealings.

Writer Michael Ignatieff's article "Unarmed Warriors" appears in the March 24, 1997 issue of The New Yorker. He writes about the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the increased dangers that workers have been exposed to, although they are considered neutral and carry no weapons. In Rwanda in 1994, 36 workers were killed in the war, and in Chechnya last December, six staff members were murdered.

In light of the deaths of rappers Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur, a discussion on the culture of rap and the violence that surrounds it with Chicago police officer Eric Davis. He's a member of the rap group the Slick Boys. Davis and two other officers founded the group in 1991 to provide positive role models for the inner-city kids they encountered on their jobs every day. The group has received national acclaim for their songs about the importance of getting an education and staying off of drugs and out of gangs.

In 1995, Divakaruni's short story collection "Arranged Marriage" garnered three awards. Her new novel, "The Mistress of Spices," tells the story of a woman whose knowledge of the healing power of spices takes her on a supernatural adventure. Divakaruni teaches creative writing at Foothill College in California and is president of MAITRI, a support hotline for South Asian women.

Foreign editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, David Zucchino. In his new book "Myth of the Welfare Queen," he turns his attention to his own town, Philadelphia, where he follows the lives of two welfare mothers, Odessa Williams and Cheri Honkala. One reviewer writes, "David Zucchino has shattered unequivocally the stereotype of women receiving welfare."

Judge Alex Kozinski is on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Since the 1970's he has had to make decisions on cases involving the death penalty. But, although an advocate of this controversial form of punishment, he finds it difficult to enforce. In a recent New Yorker article ("Tinkering with Death", 10 Feb 1997), he recalls his experience the first time he wrote an opinion for such a case. Kozinski also writes for the Wall Street Journal's Op-ed page and other publications.

In the wake of Xena: Warrior Princess's success, TV critic David Bianculli reviews three new TV shows: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Daria, and Spy Game. He says they're all fun to watch.

The Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center was Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation with the Department of Health and Human Services. He resigned last September because of his disapproval of President Clinton's welfare-reform bill. Edelman criticizes the bill as not promoting job obtainment and as damaging to the lives of poor children and legal immigrants.

Pulitzer-Prize winning writer Garry Wills has published books on Nixon, Reagan and Kennedy, as well as a critical profile of Ross Perot. His latest book is a look at the relationship between politics and popular culture via celebrity, "John Wayne's America: the Politics of Celebrity."

TV critic David Bianculli previews two new TV shows that are popping up in this post-sweep period: "The Practice" on ABC and a revamped "EZ Streets" on CBS. He says both are worth watching.

Film critic John Powers reviews the new film, "Donnie Brasco" about an FBI agent who goes undercover to infiltrate the mob. It stars Johnny Depp and Al Pacino.

One of the most popular writers of the legal thriller genre, John Grishim. The prolific writer has seven novels to his credit. His eighth and newest is "The Partner." He recently returned to practicing law.

Saul Friedlander is the author of "Nazi Germany and the Jews, Vol. 1: The Years of Persecution 1933-1939." He examines the period looking at how Hitler's "murderous rage" and ideologies, converged with internal political pressures, and attitudes of German and European societies to create the Holocaust. Friedlander was born in Prague and was seven when his parents hid him in a Catholic seminary in France where he took on a new identity. His parents died in the Holocaust. Friedland now teaches at Tel Aviv University and at UCLA.

Daniel Jonah Goldhagen is the author of the controversial book "Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust." He offers evidence that ordinary Germans knowingly cooperated in the Holocaust, that they were motivated by anti-Semitism, not by economic hardship, coercion, or psychological pressures, as usually put forth by historians. Goldhagen is Associate Professor of Government and Social Studies at Harvard University.

Journalist Stan Sesser is a former staff writer for the New Yorker and the senior fellow of the Human Rights Center at the University of California at Berkeley. He's been following the imminent takeover of the British-ruled Hong Kong by the Chinese government. He says while Hong Kong will most likely preserve its economic freedom, the July 1 takeover calls into question the future of its democratic government and civil-liberties laws.