Society & Culture

Writer Eva Hoffman moved with her family from Poland to the Canada when she was thirteen. Her new book about assimilating into the culture of her new country is called Lost in Translation. Hoffman is also an editor for the New York Times Book Review.

Peter Nabokov cowrote a book with Robert Easton about the dwellings of American Indians, which he uses as a lens through which to learn more about their lives and traditions. For his research, Easton lived near several reservations and visited the homes of Native American families.

Critic-at-large Laurie Stone reviews the actor and playwright's latest performance piece, about growing up and a teenage stint in a juvenile home.

The British author and travel writer recently passed away. His acclaimed books include Songlines, a semi-fictional account of the myths that structure the lives of Australia's aborigines, and the travel book In Patagonia.

Oklahoma-born Singer writes the Talk of the Town feature for the magazine, as well as profiles of ordinary people in New York. A new book, Mr. Personality, collects the best of his New Yorker pieces.

Guest critic Leslie Savan says the portrayal of women in recent television commercials reflects what she calls the "gal" archetype -- clumsy but charming, and always insecure, they never have the upper hand at home or work.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg considers how the ways communities describe themselves is changing. The emergence of the term "African American" is of particular interest; Nunberg thinks it suggests a shift away from appearance toward place of origin.

Conductor John McGlinn says that his decision to bring back the controversial language of Jerome Kern's classic musical posed some challenges, but was necessary to recapture the poignant and insightful nature of the work. McGlinn's efforts can be heard on a new CD on the EMI label.

Wayans wrote, directed, and starred in the new movie I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka, which is both a parody of and homage to the blaxploitation movies of the 1970s. He says those films were notable for creating more complex roles for African American men.

Feminist scholar Barbara Katz Rothman says that feminists must confront the cultural shift toward privileging the unborn fetus over the pregnant women. New technologies and the rise of paid surrogacy, Rothman argues, have contributed to this change.

Ashe was a boundary-breaking African American tennis player who won Wimbeldon, the U.S. Open, and the Australian open. He started playing the sport in the 1950s, when courts were still segregated. In 1979, heart bypass surgery cut his career short. Ashe now writes books about the history of the black athletes. His latest, a three volume series, is called A Hard Road to Glory.

Janet Levine is a white, liberal South African woman and anti-apartheid activist. She later resigned from public office and exiled herself in the United States; she believed that whites' unavoidable complicity with racist policies undermined the efforts of black activists. Her memoir new memoir is called Inside Apartheid.

Director Stephen Frears directed the adaptation of the play, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, about a contest of sexual conquest and infidelity. Film critic Stephen Schiff praises how it handles eroticism. Despite some casting missteps, he believes it's "a brilliant tarentella" of a movie.

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.

Harvey Fierstein wrote and stars in the new movie Torch Song Trilogy, which is based on his play of the same name. Fierstein in openly, and hopes his visibility in the acting community will help normalize homosexuality.

Critic-at-large Laurie Stone recently saw the actor and comedian's latest routine, which was notable for avoiding the issue of race entirely. The jokes instead relied heavily on jokes about domestic life, many of which, Stone says, were unfunny and repetitive.

The new Barry Levinson movie, also starring Tom Cruise, tells the story of two brothers, one of whom is severely autistic -- and the inheritor of three million dollars. Film critic Stephen Schiff says, despite Hoffman's masterful performance, Rain Man lacks focus.

Russo's latest book, The Risk Pool, is set in an upstate New York town, similar to where the author grew up. He says he didn't realize until later in his career how much inspiration he could draw from his formative years.

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.

Film critic Stephen Schiff says the movie turns the story of murdered civil rights workers into a stiff police procedural with a reductionist view of race relations.