Places & Travel

A look at social policy in light of the Los Angeles -- and national -- turmoil with sociologist Christopher Jencks. Does welfare work? Did Johnson's Great Society fail, as the Bush administration now posits? Or is it the fault of the massive cutbacks of the Reagan-Bush era? Jenck's new book is called "Rethinking Social Policy: Race, Poverty and The Underclass." (Harvard University Press) (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Monday's Warriors" by Maurice Shadbolt, about Maoris fighting the British Imperialists in New Zealand. (published by David Godine)

World music commentator Milo Miles reviews the new album by the Terem ("Ter-yem") Quartet from St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad). It's a group that couldn't have existed in the past. (Realworld Records)

Janet Clayton, assistant editor of the editorial page of the Los Angeles Times. We spoke with her yesterday; we check in again with her today.

Tony Massengale, who works with gangs in Los Angeles.

Ice-T, the Los Angeles based rap musician.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "The Playboys," set in an Irish border town and starring Aidan Quinn (Samuel Goldwyn).

From the AME church in south L.A., where a rally was held after the announcement of the verdict, Mark Whitlock. He headed a security force organized by the church to stand between the police and protesters in order to head off violence.

From the Los Angeles Times, Assistant Editor of the editorial page Janet Clayton. In addition to functioning in her official media capacity, she'll be leaving work early to visit her mother, who lives in the curfew zone.

Irish screenwriter and novelist Shane Connaughton co-wrote the screenplay for "My Left Foot." Now he's written the screenplay for the new film "The Playboys," starring Aidan Quinn and Albert Finney.(Samuel Goldwyn) He also has a new novel out called "The Run of The Country." (St. Martin's Press)

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "City of Quartz" by Mike Davis (Vintage), a non-fiction look at the city of Los Angeles.

Rock and roll historian Ed Ward remembers The Memphis Jug Band.

New York Times reporter Elaine Sciolino. She was the first American and the first woman to interview the Ayatollah when he came into power in 1979. She was expelled from Iran ten years ago and recently returned there for the first time since to cover the elections. Terry talks with her about the changes she saw in Iran from the ten years previous.

Writer Wallace Stegner. His novels and essays are often based in the West where he grew up and lived for many years. Stegner started the creative writing program at Stanford University in California, which he ran for 26 years. He's now in his eighties. His new book of essays is called "Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs." (Random House)

Film director Roland Joffe. His movies include, "The Killing Fields," and "The Mission." His latest film is "City of Joy," based on the book of the same name by Dominique Lapierre about life in the slums of Calcutta.

British writer Richard Rayner. His new semi-autobiographical novel is "The Elephant," about a son's relationship with his father. The father steals a lot of money, fakes his own death, and disappears for ten years. Once reunited, the two engage in scandalous exploits. One reviewer wrote that the novel progresses from the picaresque to the poignant "densely woven with brilliantly macabre, hilarious details..." (published by Random)

Novelist James Lee Burke. He's been writing for 35 years but he's best known for his more recent detective novels about Dave Robicheaux (ROW-bah-show), a recovering alcoholic, who is also a troubled Vietnam vet, and a New Orleans police lieutenant. The books are: "The Neon Rain," "Heaven's Prisoners," "Black Cherry Blues," and "A Morning for Flamingos." His fifth Robicheaux novel is, "A Stained White Radiance." (published by Hyperion).

World music commentator Milo Miles explores the eerie music of the master musicians of Jajouka, Morocco.

British elections are coming up this week: We'll look at the elections, and how the British media is covering them, with New York Times London correspondent William Schmidt.

William Taubman is a political science professor at Amherst College. He was recently in Moscow as one of the scholars invited to help open up the archives of the government under Communism. He was able to get a sense of the day to day workings of the Soviet empire.