Health & Medicine

Fisher wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of her novel, Postcards From the Edge, directed by Mike Nichols, and starring Meryl Streep and Shirley McLaine. Best known for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars trilogy, Fisher also has a new novel called, Surrender the Pink. She is the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher.

Aldyn McKean and Tracy Morgan join Fresh Air to talk about their organization's recent efforts to advocate for better and more accessible health care for individuals with the diseases.

In 1985, novelist William Styron fell into a deep depression. He documented the years he was incapacitated by the illness, and how he coped, in his new book, Darkness Visible. Looking back at his early writing, Styron believes depression informed his novels, like The Confessions of Nat Turner and Sophie's Choice.

Gray has a new piece called Monster in a Box, about the wending process of writing an as-yet unpublished, 1600 page novel, titled Impossible Vacations. He says that his autobiographical writing distances him from his real life, including his experience of pleasure.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan talks about her admiration of Erich Auerbach, Leon Trotsky, and Fernand Braudel, writers who were somehow able to write expansive, well-researched books while in prison or exile -- without notes or access to other texts and documents.

Hopper made his film debut in Rebel Without a Cause, and played Frank in Blue Velvet. He directed Easy Rider and the new film The Hot Spot, which stars Don Johnson. Before his recent comeback, he developed a drug problem, which he's since kicked.

Book critic John Leonard reviews the South African author's new epistolary novel, which uses cancer as a metaphor for apartheid. Leonard says it's baffling with a terrible beauty, that spares no one -- including blacks and white liberals.

Sidransky was born to deaf parents, though she herself is a hearing person. Her memoir, In Silence, is about their lives and how she often spoke for them.

Medical writer Ann Giudici Fettner was celebrated by the gay community for her reporting on the AIDS crisis. She has a new book about other viral diseases called Viruses: Agents of Change.

Jeffrey Masson was once a leading advocate of Freudian therapy. In recent years, he's condemned that type of approach. He shares his insights into conventional psychology in his new book, Final Analysis.

James Fogle was a drug addict who, along with others, robbed drugstores to feed his habit. The film Drugstore Cowboy is based on his autobiographical novel of the same name; the book wasn't yet published at the time of production. It's now in stores. Fogle is currently serving a prison sentence, and joins Fresh Air by telephone.

Cunningham's new novel, A Home at the End of the World, is about the friendship and sexual relationships between two men and woman. It was inspired in large part by Cunningham's own ambiguous sexuality, as well as living through the AIDS crisis.

Callen's new book profiles the longest surviving people with the virus, including himself; he was diagnosed in 1982. Also an AIDS activist, he co-founded the People With AIDS Coalition and the Community Research Initiative.

White's books include an autobiographical novel called, "A Boy's Own Story," and the nonfiction work, "States of Desire: Travels in Gay America." White was recently diagnosed with AIDS, and is working on a biography of Jean Genet.

Barkalow was among the first women to enter the military academy at West Point. Her new memoir, "In the Men's House," chronicles her rise from cadet to commander. She currently works in the Pentagon as a special assistant to the Army Chief of Staff.

Critic Owen Gleiberman reviews the newest Stephen King film adaptation, about a romance novelist who is kidnapped and tortured by an obsessive fan.

Television critic David Bianculli reviews the newest installment of the documentary series, "The Koppel Report." It presents a savvy, unexpected, and often sad picture of sexuality abroad.

Psychiatric-social worker Raymond M. Scurfield is the Director of the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Program at the American Lake V.A. Center in Washington State. He served in Vietnam, treating psychiatric casualties. He talks about the typical problems found in combat, the dilemma of sending G.I.'s back into battle, and he speculates on the difficulties G.I.s will face in the Gulf.

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Freud, Dora, and Vienna 1900," by historian Hannah S. Decker. It's an account of Sigmund Freud's work with his patient Dora -- a case which has often been viewed and critiqued through the lens of contemporary feminist scholarship.

Johnson says he feels, by virtue of being talented writer, he has the responsibility to report on conflict zones. His new novel is "Resuscitation of a Hanged Man," about a man recovering from a botched suicide attempt who goes on to be a private investigator.