Health

Social policy analyst David L. Kirp The author of many books on education in America, David Kirp's latest, Learning by Heart," describes the battles in 7 different communities over whether to allow children infected with AIDS to attend local schools.

Writer Michael Dorris. He and his wife, Louise Erdrich, have written several novels together, including Love Medicine and Yellow Raft in Blue Water. Both are part Native American, and Dorris spent several years of his childhood on an Indian reservation. He has adopted many children, one of which he later discovered was born with fetal alcohol syndrome. Dorris's new book, The Broken Cord, is about this syndrome, and also his personal story of dealing with it in his family.

At 65, Kuhn was forced to retire from her job solely because of her age. In 1969, she founded the Gray Panthers, which advocated for the rights and dignity of older people. Early on, the group also participated in the anti-war movement. Kuhn joins Fresh Air to talk about aging and the different expectations placed on people of her generation.

Sociologist Barry Glassner's new book Bodies explores the pressures Americans face to conform to particular standards of health and beauty. He says this cultural expectation -- which even extends to the workplace -- has led to a proliferation of diet and exercise programs, which most participants are doomed to fail.

Cleve Jones, founder of the Names Project, which inspired the sewing of three-foot by six-foot panels in memory of victims of AIDS. The project culminated in the assembly of the patches in Washington last October in a quilt the size of two football fields. A 24-city tour of the quilt to raise money for AIDS research starts later this month. (Interview by Faith Middleton)

Andrew Weil. He's a doctor of holistic medicine and an ethnobotanist, which is the study of how medicinal plants are used in different cultures. (Interview by Faith Middleton).

A discussion about what it's like to test positive for the HIV antibody but not have AIDS. The panel includes members of the New York City group Body Positive, a support group that counsels people who have tested positive for the antibody.

Dr. Allan Brandt, a researcher in the history of science and medicine will discuss the social history of sexually transmitted diseases such as VD and AIDS.

Robert J. Lifton is a psychiatrist and author who is a board member of the group Physicians for Social Responsibility. His works include "Indefensible Weapons: The Political and Psychological Case Against Nuclearism" and "Home from the War: Vietnam Veterans: Neither Victims Nor Executioners." His latest book, "The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and The Psychology of Genocide," investigates the capacity for human cruelty and is based on interviews with former Nazi doctors and their surviving victims.

Pennsylvania Representative Russell Letterman is part of a group of legislators who have proposed legislation to require couples applying for marriage licenses to take one of the current tests for the virus that causes AIDS. Letterman and his cohort maintain that this should be done despite the fact that current tests (including one approved yesterday) are unreliable and can only confirm exposure to the virus. Letterman joins the show to explain his position. (Interview by Amy Salit)