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27:55

AIDS and the Heterosexual Community: Differing Viewpoints.

Drs. William Masters, Virginia Johnson and Robert Kolodny discuss their controversial book Crisis: Heterosexual Behavior in the Age of AIDS. They argue in the book that the risk to the heterosexual population posed by the AIDS virus has been dramatically understated. Drs. Masters and Johnson are best-known for their work on sexuality, particularly the book Human Sexual Response. Also, a seven-minute interview with Nancy Padian, who is directing a California study into the transmission of AIDS in heterosexual couples.

03:30

Inside Roy Cohn's Skin.

Book Critic John Leonard reviews two new biographies of Roy Cohn, the counsel for the Senate committee conducting the McCarthy trials, and McCarthy's aide and confidante.

Review
27:17

Ed White Discusses Coming Out.

Ed White, author of the autobiographical novels A Boy's Own Story and The Beautiful Room Is Empty, which tell of his coming of age and maturing as a gay man. White now lives in Paris and writes for Vogue magazine. (Interview by Faith Middleton)

Interview
09:45

The Names Project's AIDS Quilt.

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)

Interview
27:15

George Whitmore Discusses Living with AIDS.

George Whitmore, author of Someone Was Here, profiles of people whose lives have been transformed by AIDS, like the 32-year-old New York advertising executive, a counselor in a gay men's health center, health workers at an AIDS clinic in a municipal hospital. The book grew out of a highly acclaimed 1985 article in The New York Times Magazine about a man with AIDS and his counselor at a health center.

Interview
09:54

Jeanette Winterson on Her Novels and Pentecostal Upbringing.

Writer Jeanette Winterson. Her autobiographical first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, is the coming-out story of a young British girl raised in an evangelical household who must come to the religion's severe view of right and wrong. Winterson was the recipient of the Whitbread Prize for best first novel and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for best writer under thirty-five. Her new book, "The Passion," is a historical novel set at the time of the Napoleonic wars.

Interview
09:38

How AIDS Affected Gay Life

Andrew Holleran has writes about the lives of gay men. Now that several years have passed since the height of the AIDS epidemic, he's observed a kind of resignation to mortality and changing sexuality within his community.. Holleran's new collection of essays is called Ground Zero.

Interview
09:34

Detective Novelist Joseph Hansen

Hansen's books feature a gay man in the hyper-masculine role of private detective. Hansen himself is gay, and hopes that his novels will help his readers become more accepting of homosexuality.

Interview
27:24

Poet, Essayist and Activist Audre Lorde

Lorde is open about her identity as a black lesbian feminist; she hopes her visibility will help other women like her feel less alone. She joins Fresh Air to talk about her romantic relationships with men and women, and the tensions between African American and feminist communities. Her new collection of essays, A Burst of Light, deals with her experience with breast cancer.

Interview
28:12

Writing Paul Robeson's Biography

Martin Bauml Duberman was personally selected by Robeson's son to write about the legendary African American actor and activist. Duberman says he brought to bear own experiences in the theater and as a gay man while working on the book. He joins Fresh Air to discuss his research, as well Robeson's political activity and the effect government surveillance had on his mental health.

Interview
09:47

Susie Bright Celebrates Women's Sexuality

Contrary to many other feminist activists, Bright believes that the anti-pornography movement discourages women from exploring their sexuality and developing what she calls an "erotic literacy." She edits the S&M-themed magazine On Our Backs, which revels in fantasies that are at once controlled and dangerous.

Interview
09:22

Author Dennis Cooper on Sex and Death

Cooper says his new novel Closer -- which features explicit depictions of sex acts -- is meant to disturb, but not shock or arouse. While honing in on the experiences of gay men, Cooper sidesteps the issue of AIDS; he says sexuality generates enough anxiety on its own.

Interview

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