Books

Essayist Paul Gruchow has a new collection of essays called The Necessity of Empty Places, which celebrates the American wilderness. Rejecting the macho, survivalist approach to confronting nature, Gruchow sees the wilderness as a place of meditation and discovery.

Pinsky says he's suspicious of literary criticism, even though he often writes it himself. His new book, Poetry and the World, looks back on his past, including growing up in New Jersey.

Peter Sichrovsky's lives in Austria, and is the child of Holocaust survivors who grew up alongside the children of former Nazis. He is interested in how the generation after World War II dealt with their parents' experiences during this time, either as perpetrators or victims of violence. Sichrovsky's books include Strangers in Their Own Land and Born Guilty.

Hamilton says he'll always be pigeonholed as a New Yorker cartoonist; his work regularly appears in that magazine. His new novel, The Lap of Luxury, is about marrying into a rich family.

The British journalist reports on Washington politics for The Nation, Spectator, and Harper's. He's frustrated by the tendency of news outlets to avoid reporting facts about political figures that may seem partisan or outwardly critical. A collection of his columns, titled Prepared for the Worst, has just been published.

Erwitt got his start early, shortly after he left the Army. He's worked as a photojournalist and commercial photographer, and takes personal pictures as well. Erwitt's new book is called Personal Exposures.

The fiction writer sought adventure, so he followed the Equator around the world. His new book describes the different cultures, colonial vestiges, and natural phenomena of his various stops -- many of which the locals described as the "middle of nowhere."

Ron Haver spent several years searching for the missing half-hour from "A Star is Born," starring Judy Garland and James Mason. He found most of the lost footage and has written a book recounting his search for the lost scenes, the restoration, and the making of the 1954 motion picture classic. Haver is director of the film deaprtment at the Los Angeles County Museum.

New Yorker art writer Calvin Tompkins looks at the state of the art world. He says there has been a rise in corporate-owned collections, which often exclude more provocative or sexually-themed works.

John Cheever's son Benjamin collected the author's letters in a new book. He joins Fresh Air to talk about John Cheever's sexuality, relationship with their family, and the impact of his death.