Books

Biographer Laurence Bergreen has just written a biography of Al Capone, called "Capone: The Man and the Era," which challenges many of America's popular beliefs about the famous gangster. Bergreen reveals the complexity of Capone's life by focusing on the personal details of his life -- his marriage, his role as a loving father, and generous giver. Bergreen has also written biographies of James Agee and Irving Berlin.

James Reston, Jr. has written a biography of Galileo, called "Galileo: A Life." In it, he explores how Galileo was publicly humiliated for supporting the theory that the Earth revolved around the sun. Reston recently wrote a cover story for "Time Magazine," on the comet crash into Jupiter, before the crash became national news.

Anthony Aveni is one of the pioneers in the field of archaeoastronomy, which traces how different cultures throughout the ages have interpreted the skies and planets. He has just written a book, "Conversing with the Planets." In it, he weaves together cosmology, mythology, and anthropology, to look at the significance of stars and how they have been perceived in various cultures. Aveni is a professor of Physics and Astronomy, as well as Sociology and Anthropology, at Colgate University.

Fred Waitzkin has written two books about chess. His first, "Searching For Bobby Fischer," is about his young son Josh's gift for the game. The book was made into a movie of the same name. Waitzkin's latest book is called "Mortal Games." It's a portrait of the world chess champion Garry Kasparov as he prepared, in 1990, to defend his title against sworn enemy Anatoly Karpov.

Ian Buruma has just written the book, "The Wages of Guilt," which explores the different ways in which the people of Germany and Japan remember World War II. He seeks to explain why Germany has a collective sense of guilt over its war crimes, while Japan tries to forget its involvement in the war. Buruma's other books include "God's Dust" and "Playing the Game."

David Levy is an amateur astronomer. He's discovered 21 comets, both as an amateur and as part of a professional team. He recently discovered the comet that will crash into Jupiter on July 16th, and the comet is named after him. In a Smithsonian magazine article, he called this comet "the most cataclysmic event observed in our solar system since the dawn of civilization." Levy is a contributor to many astronomical magazines, and is the author of numerous books on astronomy.

James Glab is an airline industry reporter, who is a contributing editor of "Travel and Leisure," "Frequent Flyer" and "Travel Weekly." He recently co-wrote "Rapid Descent," (Simon and Schuster) that looks at how the airline deregulation law, which promised better service and lower airfares, led to chaotic airline fares and deteriorated customer service.

Author/Attorney Stephen Goddard. His new book is "Getting There: The Epic Struggle between Road and Rail in the American Century" (Basic Books). Goddard's interest in trains began as a boy in the 1940s. At that time the regulated railroads were fighting back against the subsidized highways by creating luxurious trains with fancy dining cars that boasted elegant crystal on the tables.

Authority on complementary cancer treatments Michael Lerner. His book is called "Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Approaches to Cancer" (The MIT Press).

Journalist Martha Honey. She worked as a freelance journalist in Costa Rica from 1983 to 1991. Her clients included Times (London), The Nation, ABC television, and National Public Radio. In 1984, she and her husband, Tony Avirgan were covering a press conference called by contra leader Eden Pastora Gomez, when a bomb exploded killing three journalists, and injuring dozens of other people, including Pastora, who was the intended target. (Tony Avirgan was also one of the people injured.) Honey and Avirgan and other journalists set out to find the person(s) responsible.