Society & Culture

The host of NPR's Talk of the Nation, Ray Suarez. He's the author of the new book, "The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration, 1966-1999" (The Free Press)

Linguist Geoff Nunberg reports from Rome where he's been watching the coverage on the NATO bombings, and the Kosovo refugees.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Show Me a Hero : A Tale of Murder, Suicide, Race, and Redemption" by New York Times reporter Lisa Belkin. It examines the fallout from a federal court order requiring Yonkers, NY, to desegregate by moving hundreds of its poor minority residents into public housing on the middle-class side of town.
Description (Program)

New York Times science writer Natalie Angier talks about her new book "Woman: An Intimate Geography." (Houghton Mifflin)She is also a Pulitzer Prize recipient for her writing in The Times. Her other books include: "The Beauty of the Beastly," and "Natural Obsessions." She lives in Takoma Park, Maryland.

Journalist David Goodman. He's written a new book about post-apartheid South Africa, "Fault Lines: Journeys into the New South Africa" (University of California Press). He tells the story of four South Africans whose lives are divided by race and/or class. Goodman has written for The New Yorker, The Nation, Boston Globe, and the Village Voice. Archbishop Desmond Tutu says of his book, "A searingly honest b

Linguist Geoff Nunberg reflects on the borrowing of English words in Europe.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg reflects on Europanto, a form of language aimed at allowing Europeans to talk with each other without using English all the time.

Novelist Arthur Golden wrote the bestseller, "Memoirs of a Geisha" which was on the New York Times Bestseller List for one year. It's now out in paperback, and a movie version will be made by Stephen Spielberg. "Memoirs of a Geisha" was GOLDEN's debut as a novelist.(

This Monday, 2/8/99, PBS will air the documentary "The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords." This is the first documentary to provide an in-depth examination of the history of African-American newspapers. We'll hear from the film's producer, Stanley Nelson and from Vernon Jarrett, a black journalist featured in the project.

Film director Nancy Savoca and actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste talk with Terry Gross on-stage at the Sundance Film Festival. Savoca's film "The 24 Hour Woman" received its world premiere at the film festival. Actress Jean-Baptiste stars in the film.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg remarks on the Senate's awkwardness in discussing sexual contact in the Clinton impeachment trial.

We remember writer and urbanologist WILLIAM WHYTE. He died yesterday at the age of 81. The former editor of Fortune Magazine began a second career studing the life of urban cities. Whyte was best known for his 1956 book "Organization Man," a groundbreaking work that examined the mechanized rituals and routines of the corporate culture. His other books included, "The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces" (1980), and "City" (1989). (REBROADCAST from 2/22/89)

Linda Douglass is the senior congressional correspondent for ABC News. She'll talk about how she handles rumors and allegations of officials' sex lives, and she'll tell us her opinion of the Flynt investigations.

T.J. Leyden is a former skinhead who now works for the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Tolerance, speaking out against hate and hate crimes. Leyden is 32 years old. He joined the Hammerskin, a Neo-Nazi group when he was 14, later became a recuiter, and left it at the age of 29. Now he is a consultant for the Center's Tools for Tolerance Program and speaks out around the country to school groups, church groups, law enforcement and military units.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg comments on language as a source of national pride and independence.

Husseini writes for the Jordan Times, the country's only English-language daily. Her reporting on "crimes of honor" has brought to light the practice of a woman being murdered by her own relatives when it's thought the woman brought dishonor upon them. In one instance a 16 year-old schoolgirl was killed by her older brother because her younger brother raped her. Police and prosecutors have taken little notice of "honor killing" but that attitude has begun to shift because of Husseini's efforts.

Nationally syndicated sex advice columnist Dan Savage has written a collection of his Q & A's in "Savage Love" published by Plume books. He is also an associate editor at The Stranger, a weekly alternative paper in Seattle.

New York writer Daniel Drennan has written a new collection of essays about life in Manhattan. His book "The New York Diaries: Too True Tales of Urban Tramau" is published by Ballantine Books.

Historian and author Deborah Gray White has compiled a new history of black women and their struggle against racism and male chauvinism. It's called "Too Heavy a Load: Black Women in Defense of Themselves 1894-1994" (W.W. Norton) White is a professor of history at Rutgers University and the co-director of the Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis.

South African Judge Tandaswa Ndita. Her focus is family law. She's been educating rural communities about the new constitution and the new rights accorded to women. For the first time under the law, women are no longer considered household property, and have been given the status of personhood. The Judge can also be seen in the new documentary "A Woman's Place" which premieres nationwide on PBS, November 27th.