Journalists

Poet James Merrill. The son of the founder of the Merrill Lynch brokerage house, Merrill took to Europe at age 24, a newly published poet "meaning to stay as long as possible". That was in 1950. His new memoir "A Different Person" (Knopf) details his two and a half years there, and features encounters with psychoanalysts, new and old lovers, and Alice Toklas. Merrill is the author of eleven books of poems, the winner of two National Book Awards, the Bolligen Prize for Poetry, and the Pulitzer Prize.

Howell Raines is editorial page editor of "The New York Times." He's written a new "fishing" memoir, one that's part sporting autobiography and part guide-book for the middle years of life. "Fly Fishing Through the Midlife Crisis," (William Morrow & Company). RAINES also won the Pulitzer Prize for "Grady's Gift," a New York Times Magazine article about his friendship with a black woman in segregated Birmingham. (Rebroadcast from 9/16/93).

James Fallows is the Washington editor of "The Atlantic Monthly." He has a new book, "Looking at the Sun," (Pantheon) to be published in February about the Asian economy. He's written a three part series of articles drawn from the book in the Atlantic (the last one appears in the Jan 94 issue).

Emmy-Award winning documentary filmmaker and producer, Thomas Lennon. His newest documentary examines the interaction between the tabloid press and the mainstream media: "Tabloid Truth: the Michael Jackson Scandal" (which airs on PBS stations February 15th). By watching the story of alleged sexual abuse swell from verifiable news to national spectacle, Lennon questions the state of American journalism, as CNN fights for the same stories once relegated to the National Inquirer.

Reporter for The Washington Post Nathan McCall. He's written a new autobiography, "Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America." (Random House). When McCall was twenty years old he was sent to prison for armed robbery.

Doctor of Psychology and editorial writer for the New York Times, Brent Staples. His new memoir is "Parallel Time: Growing Up in Black & White" (Pantheon). In 1984, Staples' younger brother, a cocaine dealer, was murdered. Staples began a process of reconsideration of the major questions in his life: his distance from his family by graduate study at the University of Chicago; the demise and racial divisions of his industrial hometown in Pennsylvania. On missing his brother's memorial, Staples writes "Choose carefully the funerals you miss."

Novelist, journalist and columnist Pete Hamill. He's written seven novels, including "Flesh and Blood" and "Loving Women." Most recently he was editor-in-chief at the New York Post. His latest book is a memoir of the years he spent drinking: "A Drinking Life: A Memoir." (Little, Brown & Co.) Hamill quit drinking twenty years ago. One reviewer in Publishers Weekly writes of HAMILL's new memoir, "This is not a jeremiad condemning drink, but a thoughtful, funny, street-smart reflection on its consequences." (REBROADCAST from 1/19/94)

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the new movie starring Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte. Schiff says it never manages to get beyond kind of cute.

Columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer Steve Lopez. He's just written his first novel, "Third and Indiana" about the hard life of North Philly. The origin of the story was a two-paragraph item Lopez read in the paper about a 14-year-old boy shot and killed on a drug corner. He was disturbed by the casualness and brevity of the report. Terry talks with Lopez about his new book, and about his popular columns.

James Carville was President Clinton's chief strategist in the 1992 election. Mary Matalin was a top political aide to George Bush. They dated during the campaign and are now married. They've just written a book together, "All's Fair: Love, War, and Running for President," that tells the story of their unlikely romance.