Staff writer for The Times of London, Eve Ann Prentice. She's been visiting the Balkans regularly since her first assignment there in 1978. She's reported on wars in Bosnia and Croatia. She and other journalists recently made a trip into Kosovo, led by pro-Serbian French philosopher Daniel Schiffer. During the trip, in southwest Kosovo, their party was hit by NATO bombing. Their driver and interpreter was killed in the raid.
Editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe, Frederick Kempe. As a journalist, he's covered Germany for over twenty years, and is also the son of German immigrants. His new book "Father/land: A Personal Search for the New Germany" (Putnam) is his exploration into his family's past in Germany, and an analysis of Germany today.
Teenage gay rights activist Michael Bisogno (bis-SOYN-yo) talks about being the victim of gay-bashing in New Jersey. Bisogno who served as co-president of his school's Gay-Straight Alliance group was brutally assaulted by 15 of his fellow high school students. Following his recovery, Bisogno later filed charges and is now an advocate fighting against hate-crimes.
Gay rights activist Kelli Peterson talks about her controversial efforts to a gay and lesbian support group in her high school. She is the subject of the recent film "Out of the Past" which received the 1998 Sundance Film Festival's Audience Award for "Best Documentary." Peterson's effort was suppressed by the School board and the Utah legislature which passed a law banning all extra-curricular clubs in schools. THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW.
Actor and now author Bill Murray. He's co-written the new book "Cinderella Story : My Life in Golf." with George Peper. Cinderella Story is really two books. The first is a string of anecdotes about Murray's club-wielding adventures with a number of celebrities including: Jack Nicklaus, John Denver, Clint Eastwood, and Hunter Thompson. The book is also an autobiography of a kid who started out caddying for 60 cents a half-hour with his brothers.
Singer Mel Torme died Saturday at age 73 of complications from a stroke. We'll hear an interview Terry Gross did with Mel in 1988. For more than 50 years, Torme was one of most accomplished and versatile pop and jazz singers. Known for years as "The Velvet Fog," Born Melvin Howard Torme to Russian-Jewish immigrants in Chicago on Sept. 13, 1925, Torme first made his reputation in the Big Band era as a songwriter, arranger, drummer and singer. He later sang in MGM musicals.
Film critic John Powers reviews "Limbo" by director John Sayles.(Lone Star, City of Hope, Eight Men Out) This is the story of an Alaskan fisherman (Strathairn) who has been away from the sea for years because of a tragic accident, who falls in love with a traveling lounge singer
The Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura. He's got a new memoir called, "I Ain't Got Time to Bleed: Reworking the Body Politic from the Bottom Up." (Villard).
Former chief United Nation's hostage negotiator Giandomenico Picco. He has written about his experiences in the new book "Man without a Gun: One diplomat's secret struggle to free the hostages, fight terrorism, and end a war." (Times Books) Picco helped negotiate the release of more than a dozen western hostages being held by Islamic militants in Lebanon. He currently serves as president of GDP Associates, an international consulting firm in New York city, and is founder of the Non-Governmental Peace Strategy Project based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Editor in chief of Simon & Schuster Michael Korda. In his previous memoir, "Man to Man" he chronicled his ordeal with prostate cancer. In his new book "Another Life: A Memoir of Other People" (Random House) he tells about the world of publishing and his rise from assistant editor to editor in chief. Along the way, Korda worked with writers Jacqueline Susan, Graham Greene, Tennessee Williams, and Harold Robbins.
Writer Kurt Andersen is a columnist for The New Yorker, and was co-founder and editor of Spy magazine. He's just written his first novel, "Turn of the Century" (Random House) a sprawling, satirical, futuristic novel of sorts set in February 2000.
Niall Ferguson is the author of "The Pity of War: Explaining World War I." (Basic Books) Ferguson is Fellow and Tutor in Modern History at Jesus College, Oxford. (England) His other books include "Paper and Iron," and "The House of Rothschild." Ferguson talks about why W.W.I was the century's worst war and why he blames Great Britain for prolonging the war.
Book critic Maureen Corrigan gives us her "summer reading list." She recommends: "The Drowning People," "A New Song," "Other People's Children," "Last Rites," and the reprinted classic "Fail-Safe."
Singer, songwriter, pianist Ben Folds of the piano-bass-drum trio, Ben Folds Five. They're best known for their hit "Brick" a ballad about an abortion, in which the word "abortion" is never used. The band, from North Carolina, has been in existence since 1994. It includes drummer Darren Jesse and bassist Robert Sledge.
The host and creator of "This American Life" Ira Glass. The show can be heard on 350 public radio stations nationwide. There's a new Rhino double CD: Lies, Sissies, & Fiascos: The Best of This American Life." This Friday (May 28th) IRA is a guest on "The David Letterman Show.
Congressman Richard Gephardt. He's the Democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives and has written a new book, "An Even Better Place: America in the 21st Century" (Public Affairs). In it he writes about the "cycle of destruction" in politics, the personal attacks on the character and integrity of politicians by other politicians and how it effects the country at large and our sense of democracy.
