Government & Politics

Actor Zakes Mokae. He now appears in the film "The Serpent and the Rainbow." He began his acting career in his native South Africa where he and playwright Athol Fugard founded the Serpent Theater. They shocked audiences by becoming the first black and white actors to appear on stage together. Mokae continues to appear in Fugard's plays, in addition to his film career.

Walter Polovchak. Polovchak was a 12-year-old Ukrainian immigrant living with his family in Chicago, when he refused to return with them to the Soviet Union. His decision provoked a storm of controversy from his family and authorities in both countries and attracted worldwide media attention. The court battles continued for five years until Polovchak reached his 18th birthday in 1985 and was sworn in as an American citizen.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Rachel and Her Children, by Jonathan Kozol, which examines the plight of the homeless in New York City's welfare hotels.

Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit priest who for the past 20 years has been at the forefront of the peace movement. He has been arrested and spent time in prison many times for his acts of civil disobedience. Berrigan was one the Catonsville 9, who protested the Vietnam war in 1968 by destroying draft records, and a member of the Plowshares 8, who damaged nuclear warheads in 1980. He now works at an AIDS hospice in New York City. Daniel Berrigan recently completed his autobiography; it's titled To Dwell in Peace.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Frantic," the new movie by director Roman Polanski and starring Harrison Ford. Ford plays an American cardiologist whose wife is kidnapped by Middle Eastern terrorists in Paris. Polanski's other films include "Chinatown," "Tess," "Repulsion" and "Rosemary's Baby."

Singer Mick Moloney returns to play two Irish folk songs.

Peter Kornbluh, an information analyst with the National Security Archive in Washington, D.C. Kornbluh is the co-editor of Low Intensity Warfare, an analysis of the numerous counter-insurgency operations the United States is engaged in around the world. Low Intensity Warfare looks at the future of American war-fighting capabilities as they are reoriented toward unconventional conflicts in the Third World.

Mike McAlary, a reporter for the New York paper Newsday. His book Buddy Boys reveals the drama behind one of the biggest New York City police corruption scandals since Serpico. Buddy Boys is the story of how two corrupt cops, Harry Winter and Tony Magno, consented to inform on fellow officers who were routinely robbing drug dealers and then selling the drugs.

Television Critic David Bianculli previews the HBO spoof of political campaigns, "Tanner 88: The Dark Horse." Unlike earlier fabricated campaigns like "Pat Paulsen for President," "Tanner 88" takes its politics seriously. The script is written by "Doonesbury" cartoonist Garry Trudeau, and the direction is by Robert Altman.

Dr. Robert Thurman, the first American to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. He later returned to the United States and established The Institute for Buddhist Studies at the University of Massachusetts. He visited Tibet in the fall of 1987 and is now setting up a Tibet House in New York City.

Lewis H. Lapham, Editor of Harper's Magazine. His new book, Money and Class in America, explores the worship of the dollar - what Lapham calls our "civil religion."

Book critic John Leonard reviews The Trial of Socrates, by the journalist and social critic I.F.Stone.

Television Critic David Bianculli previews "The Man Who Shot John Lennon," the "Frontline" documentary on Mark David Chapman. The program relies on audiotaped psychiatric interviews with Chapman, and on a close analysis of the novel The Catcher in the Rye, which Chapman followed as though it were a script for Lennon's murder.

David Aaron, former deputy director of the National Security Council. His experience as an arms negotiator in the Carter administration provides the background for State Scarlet, his novel about terrorism and nuclear weapons.

Novelist and translator Richard Lourie. His new novel is titled Zero Gravity and follows his successful debut First Loyalty. Lourie has been closely involved with the Russian and Polish underground intelligentsia and the emigre communities in America.

Father Robert Drinan. For ten years, he was a Congressman from Massachusetts. He left his seat when the Pope ordered all priests to leave elected office. He now teaches law at Georgetown University and has recently completed a book on human rights.

Philippine journalist Ninotchka Rosca. For years, she worked as a journalist in the Philippines. After imprisonment by the Marcos regime, she went into political exile in the United States. She returned to the Philippines just as Marcos was losing power. She recalls that period in a book titled Endgame.

Book critic John Leonard reviews The Year of the Barricades: A Journey Through 1968 by the English journalist and historian David Caute.

Language Commentator Geoffrey Nunberg discusses the sanitized language defense experts use to describe nuclear war and weapons.

Adrian Cronauer, the airman disk-jockey whose stint as a rebellious Armed Forces Radio Network announcer during the Vietnam war is the basis for the movie "Good Morning Vietnam," starring Robin Williams. Cronauer, 49, is a former announcer for WQXR in New York and is now studying communications law at The University of Pennsylvania.