Books

Military historian Clay Blair. His new book is titled The Forgotten War: America In Korea. As a reporter in the Fifties, Blair was the Washington correspondent for Time and Life magazines. He later wrote for The Saturday Evening Post. For the last 23 years, Blair has been writing military histories. In The Forgotten War, he tells how warfare changed during the Korean War, and how this war, a war that the United States didn't win, affected our military strategy.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Rachel and Her Children, by Jonathan Kozol, which examines the plight of the homeless in New York City's welfare hotels.

Gary Giddins, jazz critic for The Village Voice and author of the books Celebrating Bird: the Triumph of Charlie Parker, and Rhythm-a-ning: Jazz Tradition and Innovation in the 80s. He is the founder of the American Jazz Orchestra, which performs important and neglected jazz works of the past.

Cartoonist Charles Burns. His comics are grotesque stories of alienation. Burns' new book of cartoons is titled Hard-Boiled Defective Stories.

New York Times reporter Martin Tolchin. His new book, Buying Into America: How Foreign Money Is Changing the Face of Our Nation, documents the massive infusion of foreign capital in America, and analyzes its ramifications. Written with his wife, professor Susan Tolchin, the book highlights America's growing dependence on foreign investments.

Book critic John Leonard reviews baseball writer Roger Angell's latest collection of essays, Season Ticket. The essays, which previously appeared in The New Yorker magazine, cover the five seasons of play between 1981 and 1986.

Mike McAlary, a reporter for the New York paper Newsday. His book Buddy Boys reveals the drama behind one of the biggest New York City police corruption scandals since Serpico. Buddy Boys is the story of how two corrupt cops, Harry Winter and Tony Magno, consented to inform on fellow officers who were routinely robbing drug dealers and then selling the drugs.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Anthills of the Savannah, a novel by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe.
Description (Transcript)

Lewis H. Lapham, Editor of Harper's Magazine. His new book, Money and Class in America, explores the worship of the dollar - what Lapham calls our "civil religion."

Book critic John Leonard reviews The Trial of Socrates, by the journalist and social critic I.F.Stone.