American Politics

National security correspondent Roy Gutman takes a look at the tense relations between the United States and Nicaragua, in light of the conflict between the Contras and Sandinistas. His new book about the topic is called Banana Diplomacy.

Investigative journalist Paul Eddy, co-author of The Cocaine Wars, which traces the course of cocaine from the hills of Bolivia to American street corners, and the domination of the market by a group of drug barons based in the resort town of Medellin, Colombia. The book also details the extent of cocaine corruption in both Dade County, Florida (Miami) and the Bahamas. Eddy writes for the Insight Team, the investigative arm of the Sunday Times of London.

Standup comic Will Durst. Durst's passion is politics, and the election season is providing him with plenty of material.

David Martin, Pentagon correspondent for CBS News and co-author of The Best Laid Plans, an account of America's flawed war against international terrorism.

Michael Harrington, a political scientist, author and co-chairman of the Democratic Socialists of America. His 1962 book, The Other America, caught the attention of President John Kennedy and became the handbook for Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. Harrington's central theme is that poverty is growing, not shrinking, and that the free market has proven inadequate to the task of reducing it. His more recent works include The New American Poverty and The Next Left. His latest work, The Long-Distance Runner, is his autobiography.

Journalist David Wise. His new book, The Spy Who Got Away, is the story of Edward Lee Howard, the CIA agent who divulged secrets to the Russians and then eluded an FBI dragnet to flee to the Soviet Union. The book is based on six days of interviews with Howard in Budapest and reveals a CIA coverup of suspicions about Howard's character and the agency's refusal to share the information with the FBI's counterintelligence division. Wise, a former Washington bureau chief for the New York Herald Tribune, has written extensively on espionage.

Tony Auth, political cartoonist for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Auth's single-frame cartoons appear in more than 100 papers around the country through syndication. A new collection of his cartoons has just been published. It's titled Lost in Space: The Reagan Years.

Hedrick Smith, the Washington correspondent for The New York Times. His new book looks at power and how it works in our nation's capital. (Interview by Faith Middleton)

Singer and actor Kris Kristofferson. His hit songs "Me and Bobby McGee," and "Help Me Make it Through the Night," earned him acclaim as a country singer. His musical success led him to films, and he went on to act in westerns ("Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid"), comedies ("Semi-Tough"), and musicals ("A Star is Born"). In the past few years, he's appeared in the TV mini-series "Amerika" and "Blood and Orchids."

The first of a two-part interview with comedian and political satirist Al Franken. Along with partner Tom Davis, Franken has written for and performed on "Saturday Night Live" since 1975. This first part focuses on Franken's political satire, which is in full bloom during the current presidential primary season.