Memoir

Investigative reporter Howard Kohn has covered stories like the Patty Hearst kidnapping and the death of Karen Silkwood. When his father's health started to fail, Kohn decided to move back to the family farm in Michigan. His new memoir, The Last Farmer, documents that experience, and considers the relationship between parents and their adult children.

The soul icon still sings with the 1960s vocal group. Williams remembers the producers who wrote and recorded the Temptations' hit songs, and how they were able to capture soul and emotion on tape. He has a new memoir, simply called Temptations.

Yeager broke the sound barrier flying the X-1 jet plane. The accomplishment not only helped revolutionize aviation; it put him in the public eye. He later appeared on the cover of Time Magazine and television commercials. His newly-published second memoir is called Press On!.

In the 60s, Goodwin was a speechwriter for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and later worked for presidential candidates Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy. He's written a book that looks back at that period. It's titled Remembering America.

The veteran journalist is also considered one of the founders of neoliberalism. Peters says more people can, like him, do what they love for a living if they focus less on money and more on the work. By choice, Peters pays himself a modest salary--less than what many reporters make today.

William Novak is the go-to ghostwriter for famous people who want to publish a memoir. He's best known for Lee Iacocca's autobiography. Novak is now working with First Lady Nancy Reagan.

Kirk Douglas says that growing up in abject poverty was an advantage: he had nowhere to go but up. Often known for his tough guy roles, he also enjoys playing men who are weak, lost and vulnerable. He started his own production company to make movies he believed had depth and substance. His new autobiography looks back on his career so far.

Samuel Delany's new memoir is called The Motion of Light in Water. Delany sees himself as part of newer, left-of-center generation of science fiction writers. He joins Fresh Air to talk about his position in the margins as a genre writer and a black gay man, his dyslexia, and his perspective on the AIDS epidemic.

Mulcahy wrote for the New York Post's Page Six, and now works for New York Newsday. While the column she now helms features salacious stories, she considers certain topics off-limits, like AIDS and the outing of gay and lesbian public figures. Mulcahy's new memoir is called My Lips Are Sealed.

Despite his association with the 1960s anti-war movements, SDS co-founder and current California State Legislator Tom Hayden says he was as unlikely to become a beatnik in the 50s as he was a hippie in the 60s. His new memoir, which reflects on his political activity over the decades, is called Reunion.