Books

Gladys Hansen is the archivist for the city of San Francisco. She's just written "Denial of Disaster," a book about the 1906 earthquake which corrects misinformation perpetuated about the quake.

Writer Stefan Kanfer. Kanfer's latest book is called "A Summer World: The Attempt to Build a Jewish Eden in the Catskills, from the Days of the Ghetto to the Rise and Decline of the Borscht Belt." The Borsht Belt nurtured a generation of comics and defined a culture. Kanfer talks about the lives of the people who frequented the Catskill resorts, and the reason those resorts are now in decline.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Goodnight!," by Soviet novelist Andrei Sinyavsky (AHN-dray Sin-YAV-skee). Sinyavsky was the first writer in the Soviet union to be convicted for the opinions voiced by his imaginary characters, and the book straddles the line between fiction and non-fiction as it tells the story of Sinyavsky and his alter ego/pseudonym, Abram Tertz.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Easter Island, The Mystery Solved," by Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl.

Sports writer Rick Telander (TAL-en-der). Telander's new book, "The Hundred Yard Lie," is a scathing indictment of the college football system. Telander says college football makes millions and millions of dollars while bathing itself in a false light of amateurism. The players, meanwhile suffer physical pain, financial corruption, and educational starvation. Telander has seen college football from both sides of the fence. He's a staff writer for Sports Illustrated and a former all-conference cornerback for Northwestern University.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan looks at the Nancy Drew mystery series. The venerable series of girls' books have been updated for the 90s.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "The Labyrinth of Exile," Ernst Pawel's (pronounced "Powell") biography of Theodore Herzl, the founder of Zionist movement.

Knitwear designer Kaffe Fassett (the first name rhymes with "safe," the last name rhymes with "basset"). He's elevated needlework from a simple craft to an art form. Fassett started out as a painter, but while working in England he visited a Scottish wool mill, and was dazzled by the colors and textures he discovered there. He's since made tapestries, clothes, chairs, and other objects, and authored several books that have influenced textile designers.

Tom Shales, Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic for the Washington Post. He has a new collection of essays, "Legends: Remembering America's Greatest Stars," which takes a look at such stars as Jackie Gleason, Bing Crosby, Natalie Wood, and Gilda Radner.

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews an English translation of the novel, "The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman," by Polish writer Andrzej Szczypiorski. Although it was a bestseller in Europe, the novel was banned in Poland because of the writer's involvement with Solidarity. With the recent political changes, Szczypiorski's book is now published in Poland and in July he was elected to the Polish Senate.