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22:55

Writer Edmund White on Gay Love and Culture

White is the author of seven books, including "Forgetting Elena," "States of Desire: Travels in Gay America," and "Genet: A Biography," for which he was awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Lamda Literary Award. He has a new collection of essays from the past 25 years, "The Burning Library," many of which focus on gay life in America.

Interview
15:10

A Look at the Global Spread of Infectious Disease

Writer Laurie Garrett has been a science reporter for NPR, New York "Newsday," "Omni," and other publications. She wrote the new book, "The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance." It explores the emergence of new infectious viruses like AIDS and Ebola, and the new strains of known diseases that are resistant to many treatments. Garrett examines the conditions that favor the spread of these microbes and looks at possible solutions to stop the diseases.

Interview
15:42

Author Doris Grumbach on Filling the Silences of "Solitude"

Grumbach has written a second memoir, which picks up where her first, "Coming into the End Zone," left off. "Fifty Days of Solitude" chronicles her life in Maine, her travels, and coming to terms with mortality. Grumbach is a book reviewer for National Public Radio, and was literary editor for "The New Republic.

Interview
45:55

Dispelling Myths of American Sexuality

Sociology professor John Gagnon co-authored the new book "Sex in America: A Definitive Survey." This two year study overturns common beliefs about sexual practices in America, and finds that "the public image of sex in America bears virtually no relationship to the truth." Gagnon claims that this study is more representative of the population because they used a scientifically selected group, instead of a random sample.

Interview
22:30

Containing the Deadly Ebola Virus

In 1989, there was a small outbreak of an extremely contagious virus, the Ebola virus, in a lab in Reston, Virginia. The Army was brought in to stop the spread of the disease. The disease causes its victims to bleed to death. Richard Preston has written a new book about the incident, called "The Hot Zone."

Interview
22:53

Writer Lucy Grealy on Finding Her Face

As a child, Lucy Grealy spent five years being treated for cancer, which left her face disfigured. She has since had over thirty reconstructive procedures and years of living with a distorted self-image. She's just written "Autobiography of a Face," her memoir about coming to terms with looking less than perfect in a society that values female beauty.

Interview
16:18

Basketball Coach and Former Addict John Lucas on "Winning a Day at a Time"

Lucas was the number one draft pick for the NBA in 1976, before his career went downhill as a result of drug use. He conquered his addiction and started a recovery program for other drug-addicted athletes. He coached the San Antonio Spurs to the playoffs twice, and is now the head coach, general manager, and vice president of the Philadelphia 76ers. Lucas has just written a memoir, called "Winning a Day at a Time."

Interview
16:08

The Worldwide Link Between Health and Human Rights

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.

Interview
22:38

Jill Ker Conway Continues Her Story in "True North"

Conway grew up in a remote sheep station in the Australian outback, and later became the president of Smith College. Her girlhood memoir, "The Road from Coorain," was a bestseller, In her new book, "True North," she continues her story, writing about organizing for women's rights on campus, and creating a marriage in which she and her husband are equal partners. Conway was the first female vice president of The University of Toronto, and from 1975 to 1985 was the president of Smith.

Interview
22:33

Dracula Through the Lens of Criminal Psychology

Psychiatrist and novelist Roderick Anscombe. He oversees a psychiatric ward at a hospital outside of Boston, and has written a new novel that retells the Dracula myth, called "The Secret Life of Laszlo: Count Dracula." Anscombe says he wanted to "humanize" Dracula by making him more a man than a monster. In writing the book, Anscombe drew on his previous experience working with the criminally insane.

Interview
45:42

Providing Medical Care to Homeless Populations

Dr. David Hilfiker is a physician who left a rural family practice in Minnesota to treat the urban poor. In his new book, "Not All of Us Are Saints," he describes his frustration both with the system that allows people to live in poverty, and with the patients who frequently flout his medical advice. Hilfiker's first book, "Healing the Wounds" won the "American Medical Writers Associatin" prize, and was named among the "Best Books of the Year" from the NYT Book Review.

Interview
44:44

How Poetry Preserves our Individuality in the Corporate World

David Whye is a poet who uses poetry to teach corporate executives and employees how to find satisfaction in the workplace. In his new book, "The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America," Whyte looks at the ways people can use their careers not only as a means to earning a living, but as a way of finding personal happiness. He has served as a consultant for such companies as AT&T and Kodak, and runs a small press in Seattle, Washington.

Interview
43:46

The Current State of AIDS Research

Dr. Mark Feinberg is the director of the Virology Research Laboratory at San Francisco General Hospital and the Associate Director of the UCSF Center for AIDS Research. He just returned from the 10th International Conference on AIDS in Japan. For the past ten years, Feinberg has been studying how the HIV virus causes AIDS; recently he has focused on people who have had the HIV virus for many years, but have not yet shown AIDS symptoms.

Interview

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