Government & Politics

Urban planner and designer Lawrence Halprin designs public spaces which take into consideration how people move through a city -- a process he likens to dance choreography.

Writer Joe McGinniss lived in the Toms River, New Jersey area to investigate how the community reacted to the murder of Maria Marshall at the hands of her husband. Two of Marshall's sons eventually came to believe in their father's guilt; the youngest still maintains his innocence. A book about that experience is called Blind Faith.

Susan Brownmiller's book is based on the murder case of Lisa Steinberger, a six-year-old victim of child abuse. The trial is still ongoing. Book critic John Leonard says Waverly Place weaves through New York's Greenwich Village in ways reminiscent of Balzac and Celine.

Film critic Stephen Schiff says January isn't the best month for movies; screenwriter John Patrick Shanley's latest cop drama is no exception -- the January Man is so quirky that it's hard to take seriously.

For six years, Joseph Pistone worked undercover for the FBI to investigate the Mafia. His testimony helped convict over one hundred people, including those involved with the Pizza Connection heroin operation. His new memoir is titled Donnie Brasco -- the name he used when working with crime families.

Feminist scholar Barbara Katz Rothman says that feminists must confront the cultural shift toward privileging the unborn fetus over the pregnant women. New technologies and the rise of paid surrogacy, Rothman argues, have contributed to this change.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Eva Hoffman's new memoir, Lost in Translation, about the writer's childhood in Eastern Europe and later move to North America. Leonard says the book deserves the same praise as other literary memoirs like Nabokov's Speak, Memory and Kingston's The Woman Warrior.

In an effort to identify a body, Philadelphia police once dressed and photographed the corpse, then distributed the photo to the public. This macabre act inspired Shubin's latest novel, Never Quite Dead.

Jane Kramer regularly writes about the culture and politics on the continent. She says immigration -- and the xenophobic response to immigrants -- has played a big part in shaping Europe's changing identity.

Janet Levine is a white, liberal South African woman and anti-apartheid activist. She later resigned from public office and exiled herself in the United States; she believed that whites' unavoidable complicity with racist policies undermined the efforts of black activists. Her memoir new memoir is called Inside Apartheid.

Wilkinson says she is one of three women cartoonists on the national scene. She works for the Philadelphia Daily News and contributes to Ms. Magazines. Wilkinson joins Fresh Air to discuss the efficacy of her work, and the legal and editorial risks involved with her trade.

Ward Just is a former journalist who now writes fiction about the inner workings of American politics. Book critic John Leonard says his unassuming new novel, Jack Gance, about a Congressional candidate, has heart.

Journalist Jack Newfield has cowritten a book with Wayne Barrett, City for Sale, about the corruption associated with New York City mayor Ed Koch, who is currently serving his third term. Newfield calls attention to the political influence of organized crime and the nepotism involved in filling civil service positions.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the movies Naked Gun and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. He says both films have to teach viewers how to deal with their idiosyncratic pacing in order to fully appreciate the comedy.

Book critic John Leonard says that Len Deighton's thriller Spy Hook, the first in a planned trilogy, lacks the edge of the author's earlier work, and spends too much time setting up the sequels.

New Yorker staff writer Alex Shoumatoff has a new book of essays called African Madness, about his travels throughout the continent. He joins Fresh Air to talk about the brutal reign of Emperor Bokassa in the Central African Republic, Dian Fossey's blind spots regarding the human populations near gorilla habitats, and the spread of AIDS.

As a young man, Democratic Socialists of America co-chair Michael Harrington worked as social worker in St. Louis -- an experience which he credits with leading him to a life of service. Fatherhood readjusted his priorities; he moved to the suburbs and felt less conflicted about earning money. He is now a writer and social commentator. His new memoir, called The Long-Distance Runner, is about his struggle with cancer.

Healey's organization works on behalf of prisoners of conscience around the world. His latest strategy to raise awareness for this issue is to stage rock concerts featuring politically-minded performers like Bruce Springsteen, U2, and Stevie Wonder. Healey was a Catholic priest in the 1960s, but found he had more opportunities to pursue humanitarian work in the secular world.

Lady Borton performed humanitarian work in Vietnam during and after the war. Her experiences in that country with refugees had a profound effect on her. She lives simply and, like many combat veterans, grapples with PTSD and flashbacks. Borton's book about Vietnamese refugees is called Sensing the Enemy.

Organized crime groups in China, called triads, have become some of the biggest forces in the international heroin trade. Writer Gerald Posner links their rise to the power vacuum left by the Sicilian mafia, as well as the policing policies of Chinatowns throughout the U.S. Posner's book about the subject is called Warlords of Crime.