Government & Politics

Activist and preacher Jim Wallis is the editor of "Sojourners" magazine, and the author of the new book, "The Soul of Politics." In it, he asserts that "the world isn't working," and neither the liberal left nor the conservative right know how to fix it. Wallis says the solution will come from a new morality that combines social justice and personal responsibility.

Editor, author, and Jewish theologian Michael Lerner is founder and editor of "Tikkun" magazine, a bimonthly Jewish critique of politics, culture, and society. In his new book, "Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation," Lerner presents a new interpretation of Jewish texts and history, and a new approach to God and prayer.

Author and activist Mahnaz Afkhami lobbied for many years for women's rights in her native Iran. For the past fifteen years, she has been in exile from her country for this work. During that time, she talked with other women in exile from all over the world. Twelve of these women's stories are recorded in her new book, "Women in Exile."

Computer viruses are computer users' worst nightmare, but a mystery to many of us. Computer expert Corey Sandler has written an easy-to-understand article about viruses in the September issue of "PC Computing." Today, Sandler explains how viruses work and talks to virogens, the writers of virus programs.

China scholar Orville Schell has written nine books about China, as well as contributed to magazines and television. His latest book, "Mandate of Heaven," examines the Tiananmen Square massacre and looks at how the younger generation will come to power. He says popular culture has become the newest arena for dissent and political change.

Journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn were Beijing correspondents for "The New York Times" from 1988 to 1993. They won a Pulitzer Prize for their reporting of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. They have just written a book called "China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power." It explores the contradiction in China of a booming economy paired with terrible human rights abuses, as the country struggles to become a new world power.

British mystery writer Anne Perry is the author of 19 crime novels based in Victorian England. It was recently discovered that, forty years ago, Perry took part in a murder. She was 15 and on medication for an illness she had at the time. She went to jail for five and a half years. Her newly released 20th book, "The Sins of the Wolf" is about a nurse imprisoned for a crime she didn't commit.

James Carville was President Clinton's chief strategist in the 1992 election. Mary Matalin was a top political aide to George Bush. They dated during the campaign and are now married. They've just written a book together, "All's Fair: Love, War, and Running for President," that tells the story of their unlikely romance.

Journalist Mark Danner has reported from Haiti for "The New Yorker" since 1986. He's in Port-au-Prince, and talks about what's happening there now.

Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the new Robert Redford film, about a real-life game show scandal in the 1950s.

Legal journalist Stephen Adler. He is legal affairs editor of "The Wall Street Journal." He's written a new book about what's wrong with the jury system and how it can be fixed: "The Jury: Trial and Error in the American Courtroom," Adler looks at the history of the jury system and how our attitudes about juries have changed over the years.

Former First Lady, Barbara Bush. She's written her memoir, which she describes as a story of a "life of privilege." The book chronicles her early life, her marriage to George Bush during World War Two at the age of 19, and the political path that took them to the White House. She also writes about a depression she fell into in the mid-1970s in which she wept each night in the arms of her husband, and had thoughts about crashing her car into a tree or oncoming auto. The depression finally lifted on its own.

Jonathan Mann, M.D. talks about the connection between health and human rights. Mann is the director and one of the founders of the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center For Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health. He was the founding director of the World Health Organization's Global AIDS Program from 1986-1990.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the new British colonial comedy, directed by Bruce Beresford.

Mike Hudson is a contributing editor for "Southern Exposure," a public policy magazine. He recently wrote a series of stories on the "poverty industry" -- how pawn shops, finance companies, and rent-to-own stores charge high interest rates, sometimes as high as 35%, to people who can almost never pay them back.

Adrienne Germain is Vice President for the International Women's Health Coalition, which works to improve women's reproductive health care and rights in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. She will serve as one of the delegates to next month's U.N. International Conference on Population and development in Cairo. She is also co-author of "Population Policies Reconsidered," about channelling efforts to control the population not only through fertility programs, but also by offering broad-spectrum health care to women.

In 1985, Maull was sentenced to 25 years in prison for drug smuggling. Since then, he has devoted most of his time in prison to working with dying prisoners, and to teaching Buddhist practice and meditation. In 1988, Maull helped establish the National Prison Hospice Association, which establishes hospices to help dying prisoners prepare for death. Maull is also a devout Buddhist. After establishing a meditation group in his own prison in Springfield, Missouri, he founded the Prison Dharma Network, for prisoners who want to become involved in Buddhist study and meditation.

Dibango is considered one of the founders of world music. His first album, "Soul Makossa," was a big hit in 1973. His latest album is called "Wakafrika" and blends traditionally African music with European pop. This album features such artists as Youssou N'Dour, Peter Gabriel and Sinead O'Connor. His new autobiography is "Three Kilos of Coffee."

Susan Walker is refugee specialist working with Physicians for Human Rights, an organization of health professionals which investigates and tries to prevent violations of international human rights law. She was recently a member of a team that conducted an "early warning" assessment of Burundi, the country which borders Rwanda. The team warns that Burundi may soon face a bloody civil conflict similar to Rwanda's.

Marty Moss-Coane talks to the Turki about his youth in Palestine and how the Israeli-Arab conflict influence his politics. His new book is called "Exile's Return." Turki now lives in the United States.