Books

Author Robert Kanigel discusses his new biography, "The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency." (Viking) Taylor was a nineteenth century pioneer of business management. He developed Taylor's Scientific Management, a system which would encourage higher efficiency by creating more stressful work which was rewarded with higher wages.

Smith is the author of the book "Private Matters," about our contradictory ideas about privacy. She's the daughter of novelist Bernard Malamud.

Ken Emerson talks about the subject of his new biography, Stephen Foster. Foster was a nineteenth century songwriter who had a strong impact on American music. He was the composer of many familiar songs including, "Oh! Susanna," "Camptown Races," and "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair." Emerson says Foster was heavily influenced by black music. And even though the music was often performed in the offensive black-face style, his songs sometimes betray a sympathy for African-Americans.

Ochs has one of the world's largest private collections of record covers. He has a new book collecting covers from the 1950s to the 1990s, "1000 Record Covers" (Taschen Publishers, Germany). He talks with Terry Gross about his favorite recordings though, and brings them for us to hear.

Garfield has reported on the oddities of America for "All Things Considered" and in his syndicated column. His new book "Waking Up Screaming from the American Dream" (Scribner) is a collection of stories about the bizarre measures people have taken to live the American dream.

Journalist and College Professor Anne Matthews talks about why college tuition is skyrocketing, and how campus culture and student expectations have changed over the years. Her new book is called "Bright College Years."

The University of California at Berkeley Professor of Sociology has a new book called "The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home & Home Becomes Work." It's about how work has become the refuge for harried Americans who find the demands at home more difficult than those at work. It's based on her research, interviewing employees for three years at a Fortune 500 company.

Historian James McPherson is a Professor of American History at Princeton University. He's written eleven books about the Civil War, including his Pulitzer Prize winning book, "Battle Cry of Freedom." His latest book is "For Cause & Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War" (Oxford University Press). Drawing on 25,000 letters and 250 private diaries, McPherson looks at why so many soldiers willingly risked their lives to fight in the war.

Hughes has been Time magazine's art critic for more than 25 years. He is the author of a number of books and the recipient of a number of awards, most recently one from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His latest book is "American Visions: The Epic History of Art in America" (Knopf). There's also a companion 8-part PBS series which he hosts, beginning May 28.

Gottman talks about what are some of the key factors that lead to either a good or bad marriage. He has studied hundreds of marriages, and found common behaviors that happy couples share. Gottman is author of "Why Marriages Succeed or Fail," "What Predicts Divorce" and "The Heart of Parenting." Gottman is a professor of psychology at the University of Washington.