American Politics

Dr. Irving Rust's Planned Parenthood clinic in the South Bronx challenged a ban on federally funding family planning clinics giving information on abortion. The case went to the Supreme Court last week, and the court upheld the lower court decision. Terry talks with Dr. Rust about his work at the clinic and his experience going before the Supreme Court.

E.J. Dionne's new book is an analysis of what's gone wrong in American politics. He will soon start publishing a column in the Washington Post.

Dees co-founded the Southern Poverty Law Center and has been involved in civil rights cases for years. In 1988 he made legal history when he fashioned a seven million dollar verdict against the Klu Klux Klan that effectively bankrupted the group. He has a new memoir out, called "A Season for Justice: The Life & Times of Civil Rights Lawyer Morris Dees."

Investigative journalist Bob Woodward. His new book, "The Commanders," examines the key defense figures of the Bush Administration, and their role in shaping policy during the Middle East crisis.

Writer P. F. Kluge. He was a Peace Corp volunteer in Micronesia, a group of 2000 islands in the Pacific. He's written a book, "Edge of Paradise," contrasting the exotic quality of this "lost paradise" with the worst aspects of American culture that the Micronesians seem to be drawn to.

Marin is writing a long essay on the moral basis for pacifism, nationalism, and war. His reflections were precipitated by the war in the Gulf.

Garbus recently defended Peter Matthiessen's controversial book, "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse," against two separate libel suits. Among many other projects, Garbus is currently helping to write a new constitution for Czechoslovakia.

Barney Rosset published such controversial works as "Tropic of Cancer" and "Last Exit to Brooklyn," as well as Victorian literature considered by some to be pornographic Several years ago he was forced out of Grove and started his own publishing house, Blue Moon.

We speak with two reporters about the aftermath of the Gulf War:

Tim Weiner reports on national security issues and the justice department for the Philadelphia Inquirer. In 1988, he won his second Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles on secret Pentagon spending. He discusses the A-X weapon - a stealth bomber which has just been put into production. It's predecessor, the A12, was cancelled because of cost overruns and unnaccountability.