Journalism

For the past year, veteran war correspondent Anthony Shadid has been reporting on the Arab uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Tunisia. Last March, he was kidnapped and beaten by security forces in Libya. "It remains one of the scariest moments of my life," he says.

Newt Gingrich made a fortune from the businesses he started after leaving Congress in 1999. Washington Post reporter Karen Tumulty explains how Gingrich "transfigured himself from a political flameout into a thriving business conglomerate."

New York Times advice columnist Philip Galanes details how to handle breakups, cellphone calls and food allergies — among other topics — in his book Social Q's: How to Survive the Quirks, Quandaries and Quagmires of Today.

Tim Arango, the Baghdad bureau chief for The New York Times, shares personal stories from his time covering the war, including how he tracked down the subject of a famous photograph. He also talks about what the U.S. troop withdrawal means for the future of Iraq -- and what will happen after the troops are gone.

The Vanity Fair critic was an aspiring writer when he arrived in a turbulen Manhattan in 1972. In his memoir, Lucking Out, he writes about the crime and culture (and pornography) he discovered there.

David Carr, who writes the Media Equation column for The New York Times, says that despite cuts, the future of journalism has never looked brighter. "I look at my backpack that is sitting here and it contains more journalistic firepower than the entire newsroom that I walked into 30-40 years ago," he says.

Many people who live close to gas drilling sites complain of serious illnesses. But there are few concrete data to help explain why they're getting sick. Investigative reporter Abrahm Lustgarten says weak industry regulations also make it hard to establish a clear connection between gas drilling and health effects.

NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel details what it's like to report from some of the more dangerous war zones on the planet. He also discusses his recent dispatches from Egypt and Libya, where he was subject to tear gas attacks and artillery fire.

Journalist Alissa J. Rubin has spent most of the past 10 years reporting on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. On Thursday's Fresh Air, Rubin talks about the growing corruption and violence in Afghanistan, from which 33,000 U.S. troops are expected to withdraw by the summer of 2012.

New Yorker Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza spent four days with Michele Bachmann and her staff aboard their campaign jet in late June. His profile looks at the writers, beliefs and books that Bachmann has specifically mentioned as influences in her life.