Books & Literature

We remember crime novelist George V. Higgins. He was found dead at his home on Saturday, apparently of natural causes. He was 59. He was best known for his best seller, "Friends of Eddie Coyle," published in 1972. (REBROADCAST from 9/30/1986)

Writer and Emergency doctor Frank Huyler (HIGH-ler). Huyler has transformed his experiences working in emergency rooms and hospitals into a series of short stories. His new book is called "The Blood of Strangers: Stories from Emergency Medicine (University of California Press)." His poetry has appeared in a number of publications including the Atlantic Monthly.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Motherless Brooklyn" (Doubleday) by Jonathan Lethem, a mystery novel set in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Victoria Price is the daughter of actor Vincent Price, who was best known as the "King of Horror" for his performances in horror films. Victoria is the author of the new book: "Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography." (St. Martins).

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new novel "Headlong" (Henry Holt) by British author Michael Frayn.

Soul singer Barry White, the sweet-talking, deep-voiced performer who rhapsodizes about love. His hits include "My First, My Last, My Everything," "Never Never Gonna Give Up," and "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More." Before he became a hit as a solo performer, White put together the female vocal trio, Love Unlimited and founded the Love Unlimited Orchestra, a 40 piece ensemble to accompany himself and the trio. White has a new autobiography, "Barry White: Love Unlimited." (written with Marc Eliot, published by Broadway books).

Journalist Bill Minutaglio writes for The Dallas Morning News. He's also just written a biography of presidential hopeful and Texas Governor George W. Bush. It's called "First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty" (Times Books).

We remember basketball great Wilt Chamberlain who died yesterday at the age of 63 from an apparent heart attack. In 1991 he was interviewed on Fresh Air at the publication of his memoir, "A View From Above." (REBROADCAST from 11/1/91)

Writer Rick Whitaker has written a new memoir about the two years he spent as a male prostitute in New York City: "Assuming the Position: A Memoir of Hustling" (Four Walls Eight Windows). At that time Whitaker also was writing a novel, addicted to drugs, and indulging in his love of highbrow culture. Whitaker is a graduate of Hunter College, with a degree in philosophy.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man" (Morrow) by Susan Faludi. It's a non-fiction account of the myths and betrayals American society has perpetrated on men. Faludi's first book was the highly acclaimed "Backlash."

Writer Edmund Morris. His biography of former president Ronald Reagan, "Dutch," (Random House) has garnered a lot of controversy. Morris uses a fictional narrator to tell much of the story, taking unprecedented artistic liberties. This is the first biography authorized by a sitting president, and it took Morris fourteen years to finally complete the work. Morris, a South African by birth, is the author of "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt," which won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award. He is currently at work on a second volume of the Roosevelt biography.

Historian Christopher Andrew is the author of the new book "The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB" (Basic books). The book is based on the documents smuggled out of the KGB archives by Vasili Mitrokhin, who worked for 30 years in the foreign intelligence archives of the KGB. In 1972 he began making notes and transcripts of the archives which he then smuggled out daily and hid. He defected to Britain in 1992.

Journalist and staff writer for The New Yorker Nicholas Lemann is the author of the new book "The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy" (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux). It's a social history of how reformers in the mid 1940s set upon universal testing criteria (the Educational Testing Service, purveyors of the SAT) as a way of creating a new democratic elite, drawn from every section and every background of America. And it's about how that 50 year old system has failed.

From the WNBA'S Houston Comets, Cynthia Cooper. She's twice been voted the league's Most Valuable Player. She's written a new autobiography about her rise from an inner-city childhood in Los Angeles, to becoming a pro-basketball player. Her new book is "She Got Game: My Personal Odyssey" (Warner Books)

Journalist Patrick Tyler is a correspondent for the New York Times, based in Moscow. Previously he was the Beijing Bureau Chief for the paper. He's written a new book about 30 years of U.S./China relations: "A Great Wall: Six Presidents and China: In Investigative History." (A Century Foundation Book)

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Tis" Frank McCourt's sequel to "Angela's Ashes."