Society & Culture

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reflects on the opening of the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Gay Rights March, two events which overlapped recently in Washington, D.C.

Journalist Randy Shilts is the national correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle. His book, "And the Band Played On," was one of the earliest written about the AIDS epidemic and it's impact on the gay community. Shilts' new book is about gay life in the military, called "Conduct Unbecoming." He started the it in 1988, before the current debate about gays in the military.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the "This Boy's Life," based on the book of the same name. The movie stars Robert DeNiro and Ellen Barkin, and features a great performance by star Leonardo DiCaprio.

The athlete is proud of his career as a second baseman, as well as a well-rounded player. He has a new memoir called "Joe Morgan: A Life in Baseball."

O'Toole is the star of "Lawrence of Arabia," "The Lion in the Winter," and "My Favorite Year." He has a new autobiography about the start of his career, called "Loitering with Intent.

Gomez is based in San Francisco. Her new show, "Memory Tricks," is running at the Public Theater in New York. Gomez talks about her mother, who worked as an exotic dancer, and who now suffers from Alzheimer's disease.

Gaines wrote "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" and "A Gathering of Old Men." He talks about growing up in rural Louisiana and his new novel, "A Lesson Before Dying," which brings together two black men -- one a teacher, the other a death row inmate.

Stegner died today. We remember him with a rebroadcast of our April, 15, 1992 interview, which coincided with the publication of his book "Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs."

Larry Colton has a new memoir called, "Goat Brothers." it's about he and his faternity brothers at the University of California at Berkeley in the early 1960s and what happened to them. They were superjocks who are unprepared for life after college. One reviewer writes, "a gripping, often painful look at lives that went right and awry in about equal measure."

Crowe was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents Reagan and Bush. He's now chair of Clinton's foreign intelligence advisory board. In the late 1980s, Crowe developed an unusual friendship with his Soviet counterpart, Marshal Sergei F. Akromeyev, who later committed suicide after being accused of taking part in the Soviet coup. Crowe urged Bush to delay the start up in the Gulf War. And later, he endorsed Clinton for president. His new book is called, "The Line of Fire"

A reading by Gary Paulsen from his new book, "Eastern Sun, Winter Moon." It details a harrowing story of the violent way his mother protected him from a potential predator.

Paul Rudnick is an essayist, novelist, and playwright. His latest play on off-Broadway is a comedy called "Jeffrey," about a man who swears off love and sex because of his fear of AIDS. Rudnick also wrote the Broadway play, "I Hate Hamlet," about John Barrymore's ghost. He writes a column in "Premiere," called "If You Ask Me," in which he adopts the voice of a quintessential Jewish mother who critiques movie stars' personal lives.

The Pulitzer-prize winning columnist for The New York Times writes about issues and events that affect women and families. She has a new collection of her work, "Thinking Out Loud."

Nilsson founded the Tenderloin Action Group in San Francisco. He works with "drifters and dreamers who shared the same conundrums of heart and head that confront us all." The organization has a grass-roots theatre group and are putting together a film, "Chalk," a pool-hall drama, about and starring homeless actors. Nilsson began the project as a way to alleviate his own feelings concerning his younger brother, who lived on the street.

The world of New York drag queens was captured on film long before "Paris Is Burning." In 1968, a movie called "The Queen" documented the Miss All-America Camp Beauty Pageant. The film was a sensation in New York City; it was even shown at the Cannes Film Festival. This month "The Queen" has been revived for a short run at New York's Film Forum. Terry talks with Jack Doroshow also known as Sabrina, the organizer and mistress of ceremonies of the 1968 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Pageant.

Kim Rich has written a new memoir, "Johnny's Girl," about growing up in Anchorage, Alaska during the oil boom years. Her father was a notorious underworld figure in the city who operated illegal gambling houses and massage parlors all over the city. He was eventually murdered.

Commentator and D.C. resident Maureen Corrigan talks about venturing carless into the suburbs.

Writer Allan Berube wrote the book, "Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women In World War II." He spent ten years interviewing gay and lesbian veterans, searching out wartime letters, and consulting newly declassified government documents. He found that hundreds of thousands of gays entered the military despite a procedure for screening out homosexuals. Terry will talk with him about the ban on gays in the military and the hearings going on now, and whether it should be repealed.

Harris is the writer and director of "Just Another Girl on the IRT." She became one of few African-American women film directors to have her film released nationally. The film won the special jury prize for a first-time film maker at the Sundance Film Festival. It's about a high school junior, Chantel, who is an A-student, with a gift of gab and an attitude.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews the author's debut crime novel, "Bucket Nut."