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Novelist Cynthia Kadohata on Her Nomadic Novel and Childhood.

Novelist Cynthia Kadohata. Her first novel, The Floating World, is a `road novel' about a second generation Asian American teenager who leads a nomadic life with her parents as her father travels the country from one job to the next. As her journey unfolds, the protagonist struggles to find her place in her family and in America. Kadohata's short stories have appeared in The New Yorker and the quarterly The Pennsylvania Review. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

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Other segments from the episode on July 18, 1989

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, July 18, 1989: Interview with Amy Wilentz; Commentary on Bobby "Blue" Bland; Interview with Cynthia Kadohata; Review of Martin Cruz Smith's novel "Polar Star."
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22:06

Amy Wilentz Discusses the Politics and Government of Haiti.

Journalist Amy Wilentz. Her first book, The Rainy Season, Haiti since Duvalier, is an account of Haiti since the overthrow of President-for-Life Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, and of how the country's hope for reform gave way to despair when it was clear Haiti's new leadership couldn't, or wouldn't, reverse 40 years of chaos and stagnation. The book is also an account of how Wilentz was transformed by the story, of how the epochal change Haiti was going through, and its stunning contrast of poverty and corrupted wealth, overwhelmed her first assumptions.

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06:53

On the Myth that White Fans and Performers Kept the Blues Alive.

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles Bobby "Blue" Bland, a blues performer who began as B.B. King's personal valet in the early 50s and who still performs today. His best-known hits include "I Pity the Fool," "Touch of the Blues," and his rendition of "Stormy Monday." Bland achieved his greatest success in the late 50s when he was teamed trumpeter and arranger Joe Scott.

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36:35

The Nation Earl Warren Made

Journalist Jim Newton's new book, Justice For All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made, looks at the life of the Supreme Court Justice who presided over such landmark decisions as Brown v. Board of Education. Newton is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, sharing in the awards given to the Los Angeles Times for coverage of the Los Angeles riots in 1992 and the 1994 earthquake.

Interview
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15:48

Poet David Mura on His Japanese Ancestry

Mira is a third-generation Japanese-American who, in 1984, visited Japan for the first time. His own grandfather left that country at the turn of the century, and during World War II Mura's parents were interned in a relocation camp. He's written a memoir about his heritage, called "Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei."

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