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11:38

Martin Cruz Smith Discusses Writing about the Soviet Union.

Writer Martin Cruz Smith. His latest novel, Polar Star, is his sequel to his 1981 best-seller Gorky Park. In Polar Star, Cruz Smith revives Arkady Renko, the intrepid police investigator hero of Gorky Park. Smith is also the author of Stallion Gate, a novel about the making of the atomic bomb. (Interview with Sedge Thomson)

Interview
27:18

Spy Novelist John Le Carre

Le Carre is the pseudonym of writer David Cromwell, who used to be a spy himself. His newest novel, The Russia House, considers the glasnost reforms of the Soviet Union's Gorbachev administration. Some of Le Carre's past novels include The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Little Drummer Girl, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Interview
03:40

Tatayana Tolstaya's Stories are "Marvelous, Marvelous, Marvelous"

Book critic John Leonard reviews Tolstaya's new book, On the Golden Porch. The author is descended from Leo and Alexander Tolstoy, and has garnered comparisons to Chekov. But Leonard says Tolstaya most reminds him of John Cheever for the way she captures sadness on the page.

Review
09:49

A Prisoner Has the Most Beautiful Dreams

Russian poet Irina Ratushinskaya was sent to a labor camp for her poetry advocating human writes. She continued to write in prison, smuggling her poems out for publication and committing many others to memory. Her memoir, Grey is the Color of Hope, details that time.

27:08

Walter Hill Discusses His New Film.

Walter Hill, the producer, director and writer of "Red Heat," the new cop/action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Belushi. Hill's other directorial credits include "48 Hrs.," "Hard Times," "The Driver" and "Streets of Fire."

Review
27:48

Surviving Soviet Imprisonment.

Natan, formerly Anatoly, Sharansky. He was jailed on trumped up treason and spying charges by the KGB and endured nine years of solitary confinement and a starvation diet before an international campaign forced his release two years ago. His account of his ordeal and the subsequent pressures of celebrity are recounted in his book Fear No Evil.

06:59

Music From the Soviet Union.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a recording of the score for the ballet "The Lady With the Lap Dog" by the Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin. The ballet was performed at the recent Soviet-American Music Festival in Boston. Shchedrin was one of the Soviet organizers of the event.

Review
09:20

Walter Polovchak, "The Littlest Defector."

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.

Interview
09:48

Richard Lourie Satirizes the Cold War.

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.

Interview
53:07

Novelist Martin Cruz Smith.

Philadelphia native and novelist Martin Cruz Smith is best known for his 1981 film "Gorky Park." Prior to that work, Cruz Smith had written about 35 genre novels under various pseudonyms. His latest novel, "Stallion Gate," is set in Los Alamos, New Mexico during the development of the atom bomb. The novel's main character is a Native American who boxes and plays jazz and is the driver and bodyguard for J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Interview
42:42

Fred Kaplan Talks "The Wizards of Armageddon."

Journalist Fred Kaplan's latest book is "The Wizards of Armageddon," which looks at the politics of nuclear warfare and weapons. He joins the show to discuss Defense policy and the budget and the issue of nuclear war in contemporary politics. (Interview by Dave Davies)

Interview

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