Society & Culture

Novelist Peter Quinn is the author of "Banished Children of Eve" about the Irish in New York City during the Civil War. He's also contributor to the new six-hour PBS series "The Irish in America: Long Journey Home" (January 26-28). There's also a companion book "The Irish in America" (Hyperion).

Historian Taylor Branch. He won the Pulitzer Prize for the first book of his planned trilogy of the Civil Rights movement: "Parting the Waters: America In the King Years 1954-63" (now in paper, Simon & Schuster) His new book "Pillars of Fire: America In the King Years 1963-65" (Simon & Schuster) begins where the other book ended, and covers what he considers the peak years in the movement. At the center of the book are Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy, LBJ, and J. Edgar Hoover.

Film Critic John Powers reviews "Afterglow" and "Live Flesh".

Professor of History at Columbia University Eric Foner discusses the new study guide by the producers of the film "Amistad." Though Foner finds the film "interesting historical(ly)" he is critical of the guide because of it's inaccuracies. Foner says the guide "erases the distinction between fact and fabrication," using composite characters instead of real ones, and that the guide misrepresents the significance of the Amistad incident. (Foner's editorial about this appeared on The New York Times Op-Ed page, December 20, 1997)

We remember Judge Leon Higganbotham, who died yesterday at the age of 70.

Author, and advocate for children, Geoffrey Canada. He is President of the Rheedlen Centers for Children and Families in New York City. He's written a new book about the crisis among young boys, and the need to redefine their sense of manhood. He writes that "Our belief about maleness, the mythology that surrounds being male, has led many boys to ruin. The image of male as strong is mixed with the image of male as violent." Canada's new book is "Reaching Up for Manhood: Transforming the Lives of Boys in America" (Beacon Press).

Linguist Geoff Nunberg on the controversies of the 1950s over the grammar of commercials.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg on the word "cult."

Azeezaly Jaffer is Executive Director of Stamp Services for the U.S. Postal Service. This branch has introduced the popular stamp collecting program which features pop-culture icons on the stamps. Some of the Post Office’s most popular stamps include: Elvis Presely, Marilyn Monroe, and Bugs Bunny.

Historian Hugh Thomas has written a new major work on the history of slavery, "The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870" (Simon & Schuster). It's based on his thirty years of research in archives and libraries throughout the world. His book includes written accounts, published for the first time, and an examination of the traders and the countries who profited most. Kirkus Reviews calls the book "A masterful survey." Thomas is a former professor of history and Chairman of the Centre for Policy Studies in Britain.

Michael Barson is the author of the new book "Teenage Confidential: An Illustrated History of the American Teen (Chronicle Books, illustrated by Steven Heller). The book traces the evolution of the "teen" and the concept of the "teenager" which didn't exist before World War 2. The book also collects teenage artifacts, like movie posters, magazine covers, and advertisements.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "The Gay Metropolis" (Houghton Mifflin) by Charles Kaiser.

Barbara Neilson a social worker at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. She works with children with congenital abnormalities, and their families.

Dr. Antoine Khoury (ann-TWAN COR-ee), head of the division of urology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He works with many parents of children born with ambiguous gender.

Cheryl Chase, executive director of the Intersex Society of North America. The society was set up to serve and provide peer support and medical information for hermaphroditic people who, at birth, exhibited some sexual organs of both genders. Chase was classified male at birth, but was "reassigned" female at 18 months.

Claire Tomalin, author of the biography "Jane Austen: A Life" (Knopf). The biography addresses Austen's world, family, and works, many of which in recent years have inspired popular film versions. Tomalin is also the biographer of Mary Wollstonecraft and Nelly Ternan.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Nightmare on Main Street" (Harvard) by Mark Edmundson about our culture's obsession with the Gothic.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg comments on efforts to preserve the French Language.

Brigadier General William A. Moorman is Staff Judge Advocate for the Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia. He talks about why Lt. Flinn was forced to resign and states the Air Force’s policy concerning sexual conduct.