History

Former White House Director of Counterterrorism Daniel Benjamin has co-authored the book The Age of Sacred Terror with Steven Simon, the former Senior Director of Counterterrorism. Benjamin and Simon began writing the book more than a year before Sept. 11, 2001. As director and co-director at the National Security Council, they saw the rise of al Qaeda. In the book, they warn about the new generation of terrorists and set out to understand the enemy. Additionally, the authors wish to explain how we let our defenses down and what to expect in the future.

Pulitzer Prize-winning economist Daniel Yergin will talk about the changing economy of oil in light of the possibility of war with Iraq. Yergin's 1991 book, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power, is highly acclaimed. He is president of Cambridge Energy Research Associates. His new book, co-authored with Dr. Joseph A. Stanislaw, is The Commanding Heights: The Battle Between Government and the Marketplace that is Remaking the Modern World. The Prize was adapted into an eight-hour PBS/BBC series.

Charles Tripp is senior lecturer in the Department of Political Studies, at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He's the author of A History of Iraq.

Two editors from Jane's Information Group talk about the war on terrorism and the potential attack on Iraq. Charles Heyman is the editor of Jane's World Armies and the author of The Armed Forces of the United Kingdom. Alex Standish is the editor of Jane's Intelligence Digest. Standish also produces television and radio documentaries for the BBC.

Muslim journalist M.J. Akbar is founder and editor-in-chief of The Asian Age, an English language newspaper published in India. He's also the author of five books, including his latest, The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict Between Islam & Christianity.

Writer Sarah Vowell is a contributing editor for public radio's This American Life. She's also the author of the book Take the Cannoli, and the new book of her pieces, The Partly Cloudy Patriot

Film Critic David Edelstein reviews the reissue of the classic silent film Metropolis which is now in theaters.

Jazz singer and guitarist John Pizzarelli. He's played in cabarets and jazz clubs around the world, and co-starred in the Broadway revue Dream: A Salute to the Songs of Johnny Mercer. Pizzarelli usually performs with his trio, modeled on the Nat Cole Trio, featuring guitar, piano and bass. His latest CD is Rare Delight of You: John Pizzarelli with the George Shearing Quintet.

Performance poet Sekou Sundiata. He is one of New York's notable spoken word artists, blending lyrics of urban dwelling with music. Born in Harlem, he is a professor of English Literature at The New School for Social Research. He's released several CDs of his work, including The Blue Oneness of Dreams and Urban Music. He's published a new journal (in pamphlet form), Heart: Human Equity Through Art.

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson first became known for his work with Fairport Convention. He's since gone solo and is known for his dark songs which blend elements of British folk ballads and the blues. He's released a number of solo albums, Mirror Blue and Rumor and Sign. Rykodisc also compiled a retrospective of his work, Watching the Dark: The History of Richard Thompson. Currently, Thompson is performing a show he calls A Thousand Years of Pop Music, which includes British and American folk songs, jazz and pop.

Greg and Lauren Manning. During the attacks on the World Trade Center, Lauren Manning was badly burned. While she was in the hospital, her husband, Greg, sent daily e-mails to friends and family chronicling Lauren's progress. They've been collected in the new book, Love, Greg & Lauren: A Powerful True Story of Courage, Hope, and Survival.

Robert Jay Lifton is Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the Graduate School University Center and director of The Center on Violence and Human Survival at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at The City University of New York. He's written books on many topics, including the Japanese cult which released poison gas in the Tokyo subways, Nazi doctors, Hiroshima survivors and Vietnam vets.

TV critic David Bianculli has some thoughts on the Sept. 11 anniversary coverage.

New York City Police Detective Dave Fitzpatrick. He took thousands of photographs on Sept. 11, many of them from a police helicopter high above the city. He also spent two months at Ground Zero photographing the rescue efforts. Many of his photographs and that of other police officers are featured in the book, Above Hallowed Ground: A Photographic Record of September 11, 2001.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg considers the effect of Sept. 11 on our language.

New York Times reporters James Glanz and Eric Lipton. The two have written extensively about the structure of the World Trade Center towers since Sept. 11. They've written a biography of the towers, looking into the design decisions that unwittingly helped lead to their collapse. Their story appears in this Sunday's (Sept. 8, 2002) New York Times Magazine section.

New York Times journalist Thomas L. Friedman. His new book, Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11, is a collection of recent Times columns. They span the period from December 2000 to June 2002. Friedman was awarded the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary for these columns. This is Friedman's third Pulitzer. His other books are From Beirut to Jerusalem and The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization.

He is one of few western reporters to interview Osama bin Laden, which he did in 1998. Hes collaborated on the new book, The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, and Why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop It. (Hyperion). In the book they retrace the movements of al-Qaeda leading up to the September 11th attacks.

While working at a blueprint shop in Charleston, South Carolina, a customer brought in some Confederate money to order a blowup. The imagery shocked Jones. The money showed slaves. Jones began to collect the brown and gray money with slaves picking cotton, corn and tobacco and loading barrels cheerfully. He then created large scale full color paintings based on the images. The art is now on display at America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Father James Martin is associate editor of America the national Catholic magazine. Hes written a new memoir,Searching for God at Ground Zero, (Sheed & Ward) about the days following the September 11th attacks when he abandoned his editing duties to go and be with the rescue workers at the site of the ruined World Trade Center. Hes also the author of a memoir about his spiritual journey from the corporate world to the priesthood: In Good Company: The Fast Track from the Corporate World to Poverty, Chastity and Obedience