Memoir

Author and labor attorney Thomas Geoghegan (GAY-GUN). He was an observer for the dissident faction in a United Mine Workers election in the 1970s and he defended steelworkers stripped of their pension rights in the 1980s. He's written a new book, "Which Side Are You On?: Trying to be for Labor When it's Flat on its Back," which looks at the decline of the labor unions in the 1980s from the view of someone who came to join the union staff as a young idealistic lawyer hoping to use the law as an instrument for social change. (published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

Former hostage David Jacobsen. In 1985 he was abducted in Beirut where he was director of the American University of Beirut's Medical Center and was held for 17 months. He was held captive along with Terry Anderson, Tom Sutherland, Ben Weir, and Martin Jenco. He's written about it in, "Hostage: My Nightmare in Beirut." (Published by Donald I. Fine, Inc.) (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Writer Ben Hamper. His funny first-person account of working in GM's auto factory is "Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line." Hamper is a third generation auto worker in Flint, Michigan.

Journalist Stryker McGuire. He covered the Nicaraguan revolution for Newsweek where he is Chief of Correspondents. After the war, he came back to New York but discovered that he hadn't settled in his own mind what he experienced in Nicaragua. He began a 20,000 mile driving trip from North America to South America to try and understand what had happened and to get a different look at Latin America. His book, "Streets with No Names," is an account of that trip. (published by Atlantic Monthly Press.) (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Writer John Balaban. Balaban was one of the very few Vietnam-era conscientious objectors who volunteered to go to Vietnam. Once there, he was overwhelmed with the paradoxes of the war...among other things, he found himself picking up a gun, in order to defend a hospital from attack. His memoir of that time, called "Heaven's Face: A Moral Witness in Vietnam" has just been published by Poseidon Press. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

The former president of NBC news, Reuven Frank. Franks looks back on his career, and the evolution of TV news, in his new memoir, "Out of Thin Air." (published by Simon and Schuster).

Jazz French horn player Willie Ruff. Ruff's new autobiography, "A Call to Assembly," chronicles his childhood in the South, his enlistment in the army in 1946, his gaining admission to Yale, and his decision to pass on a career in classical music and follow a life in jazz. (It's published by Viking).

South African labor leader Emma Mashinini. Mashinini was Secretary of the Commercial, Catering, and Allied Workers Union of South Africa, one of South Africa's biggest trade unions, and was arrested and detained for six months. Mashinini's autobiography, "Strikes Have Followed Me All My Life," has just been published. (by Routledge).

Part two of our interview with Sonny Bono. Today, he talks about the Sonny and Cher years, their breakup, and his going on to be elected mayor of Palm Springs, California. Bono has a new autobiography, called "And The Beat Goes On" (published by Pocket Books).

The first of a two-part interview with Sonny Bono. Today, Bono discusses his early years in the record business, his work with Phil Specter, and his meeting Cher. Tomorrow, he talks about the Sonny and Cher years, their breakup, and his going on to be elected mayor of Palm Springs, California. Bono has a new autobiography, called "And The Beat Goes On" (published by Pocket Books).