Helen Prejean's book, "Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States" (Random House) details her experience working with death row inmates in Louisiana. Prejean has come to believe that the death penalty is not only ineffective as a deterrent, but that the government can't be trusted to decide who should live and who should die. Prejean is a Roman Catholic nun.
After researching and writing about girl gangs, psychologist and criminologist Anne Campbell decided to tackle the question of why men commit the majority of violent crimes. In her book "Men, Women and Aggression" (Basic Books), Campbell says the key lies in what men and women think their own aggression means: control, or loss of control?
Writer Edward Bunker. Bunker wrote the crime fiction classic "No Beast So Fierce," which first came out in 1973, about a former criminal trying to go straight. The book has been out of print since 1986, and has just been reissued. It was the basis of the film Straight Time, which starred Dustin Hoffman. Bunker spent almost 20 years in jail himself, and used his experiences as the basis of his book. He's also written 2 other novels, many essays, and screenplays for Straight Time and The Runaway Train.
TV critic David Bianculli reviews this weekend's HBO miniseries, "Laurel Avenue," about a large working class African American family in St. Paul, Minnesota.
There are fewer second basemen in the Baseball Hall of Fame than players in any of the other positions. Joe Morgan is one of the few. Today we rebroadcast an interview with the former Houston Astro and Cincinnati Red. Morgan was with the Reds in the 70's, along with Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, and Tony Perez, when the team was so successful it was known as the Big Red Machine. In 1975 and 76 Morgan was named most valuable player, leading the Reds to the world series championships both times. Altogether, Morgan spent 22 years in the major leagues. (REBROADCAST FROM 4/21/93)
Writer Thom Jones was a boxer in the Marines in the mid-1960s. He was supposed to ship out to Vietnam, but he suffered an epileptic seizure, which he believes was caused by too many punches to the head. So instead of shipping out, he was thrown out. The rest of his unit did go to Vietnam, where they were ambushed and killed. Jones turned to writing, but couldn't get anything published, so he became a high school janitor. He is finally experiencing literary success this year with the publication of his collection of short stories "The Pugilist At Rest" (Little, Brown).
Musician and record producer, Ron Levy. He was asked to played in B.B. King's band, when he was just out of high school. He went on to form "Ron Levy's Wild Kingdom, and recorded with the "luminaries" of the late seventies blue wave revival: Kim Wilson and Jimmie Vaughan and others. He started producing for Rounder Records and ended up working with old blues legends on Rounder's Blues label. Levy has long championed the Hammond B-3 organ which has come back into vogue. And he has a new Wild Kingdom release, "B-3, Blues and Grooves." (Rounder).
Author Susanna Kaysen. At age eighteen, she was hospitalized in Boston's McLean Psychiatric Hospital. Her two years there, from 1967-1969 and experiences of the other young women of her ward are the subject of Kaysen's book, "Girl, Interrupted" (Turtle Bay Books).
Actress and Stanford Theater Professor, Anna Deavere Smith. She performs solo, multi-casted pieces, the scripts of which are transcripts of interviews with real participants of events. "Fires in the Mirrors" (aired on PBS) gave voice to the many facets of the Crown Heights riots.
President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of New York City, Alexander Sanger. Terry will talk with him about his work there, and about carrying on the work that his grandmother, Margaret Sanger pioneered. One of the projects they are involved in is training doctors in abortion practices. This is in response to a drop in training programs in OB/GYN residency programs, where it's fallen 50 percent since 1985.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a number of new recordings conducted by composer Pierre Boulez (Boo-LEZZ). Three new discs of Stravinsky, Bartok, and Debussy (on Deutsche Grammophon). The Erato label has a new recording, and so does Sony (Boulez's greatest hits).
Peter Kinder, from Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini & Co., Inc., a firm that provides social research on U.S. Corporations to investment professionals. He's just co-written the new book, "Investing for Good: Making Money While Being Socially Responsible." (HarperBusiness).
In Bosnia, Cambodia, Somalia, and other countries, the role of U.N. peacekeeping forces is being redefined. Brian Urquhart, former U.N. Under-Secretary General, talks about what these forces are up against and what they can reasonably achieve.
TV critic David Bianculli reviews the latest episode of the television documentary series, CBS Reports. This installment follows the famed Gulf War general as he returns to Vietnam for the first time in decades.
