Books

National Political correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, Ronald Brownstein. He has collaborated on a new book, Storming the Gates: Protest Politics and the Republican Revival (Little, Brown and Company, written with Dan Balz, national editor of the Washington Post). In the book they look at how the Republicans captured Congress, so shortly after the defeat of George Bush in the presidential election, and how the Republican party has changed dramatically in the last ten years.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Anita Brookner's novel "Incidents in the Rue Laugier."

Tom Blanton is the editor of the book "White House E-Mail: The Top Secret Computer Messages The Reagan/Bush White House tried to Destroy." It is published by New Press. Blanton is the executive editor of the National Security Archive, a freedom of information advocacy group. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Biologist Joel E. Cohen. He heads the laboratory of populations at Rockefeller University in New York City. His new book is "How Many People Can the Earth Support?" (W.W. Norton). Cohen's book is "neither an alarmist tract nor a cornucopian lullaby." Cohen considers the central population issues: Has rapid population growth, brought us close to destruction? And what is the carrying capacity of the earth?

Political satirist Al Franken. He was one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live. He's won four Emmys for his writing on the show. His most popular character is Stuart Smalley, the new age cable TV host. He left the show last season. His new book "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations" (Delacorte Press) is his look at American politics and the Republican revolution. The Kirkus Reviews writes, "he attacks with a wonderful lack of civility. . .and he does it with two murderous weapons: satire and facts. . ."

Washington Editor of "The Atlantic Monthly," and NPR commentator James Fallows. He won a National Book award for his 1981 book "National Defense" about the post Vietnam War era national defense establishment. Fallows new book examines what has gone wrong with the media, how it has failed to meet its public responsibilities, and what can be done about it. His new book is "Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy," (Pantheon).

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Salman Rushdie's new book, "The Moor's Last Sigh." (Pantheon).

First Lady Hilary Rodham Clinton. Mrs. Clinton, a longtime children's advocate, talks about her new book, "It Takes a Village; And Other Lessons Children Teach us." [Simon & Shuster]. And she addresses the Whitewater and White House travel office issues, and the challenges of being the First Lady.

Writer Jon Krakauer. Jon Krakauer is a contributing editor for Outside magazine, and the author of "Into the Wild" [Villard Books]. "Into the Wild" tells the story of a young man's rash and tragic journey into the Alaskan wilderness. Christopher Johnson McCandless gave away all his money to charity, abandoned his car and possessions, hiked into the woods and within four months had starved to death.

On April 10, 1995 Kenneth S. Stern, the American Jewish Committee's advisor on hate groups warned authorities that some kind of "incident" is likely to occur on April 19, 1995. The second anniversary of the Waco fire. He was proved right. A bomb destroyed the Federal building in Oklahoma City. The bombing raised the suspicion that the bombing suspect, Timothy McVeigh might have ties to a militia. Stern's has written, "A Force Upon The Plain: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate" which has been published by Simon and Schuster.