Books & Literature

Thupten Jinpa was a refugee in India as a child, became a monk at a Tibetan monastery, and is the translator, editor and annotator of "The World of Tibetan Buddhism," written by the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

Professor John Dominic Crossan is a native of Ireland, ordained as a priest in the U.S. (he left the priesthood in 1969), and now teaches biblical studies at DePaul University. He is a founding member of the Jesus Seminar, a group of scholars who meet to determine the authenticity of Jesus' sayings in the Gospels. Crossan's latest book is Who Killed Jesus: Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of The Death of Jesus.

We continue our conversation with Professor John Dominic Crossan, whose new book "Who Killed Jesus" has just been released. In this half, he talks about the historical significance of crucifixion, as well as how Crossan has practiced his faith since leaving the priesthood.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews two summer thrillers: The Rainmaker by John Grisham (Doubleday), and Poison by Kathryn Harrison (Random House).

Dr. Thomas J. Moore is Senior Fellow at George Washington's Center for Health Policy Research and author of the new book, Deadly Medicine: Why Tens of Thousands of Heart Patients died in America's Worst Drug Disaster. He tells the story of a certain line of drugs that prevented irregular heartbeats but were consequently shown to be dangerous and even fatal. Yet the drug remained on the market due in large part to the giant pharmaceuticals power over the FDA.

Maxwell has a new collection of short stories All the Days and Nights. He was fiction editor of the New Yorker from 1936-1976. He worked with such authors as J.D. Salinger, Jon Cheever, Jon Updike, Eudora Welty and scores of others. Jon Updike has said Maxwell's voice is "one of the wisest in American fiction. It is, as well, one of the kindest.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the imaginative author's comic novel, Moo.

Writer Jan L. Waldron was 17 when she gave her baby daughter, Simone, up for adoption. Waldron's own mother was adopted, and in turn left her children when Waldron was eleven. In Giving Away Simone: A Memoir, Waldron tells of the parting and then meeting again with her eleven-year-old daughter, now renamed Rebecca. Rebecca is the fifth generation of women in the family to be abandoned by their mothers; in reuniting with her, Waldron is determined to break that cycle of leaving.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Wonder Boys," by Michael Chabon. His first novel, a best seller, "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" was originally written as his Master's Thesis in college.

In 1989, Lau became a best-selling author with her first book: Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid, a memoir of her years on the streets as a suicidal drug addicted teenage prostitute. She also wrote two books of her poetry: You Are Not Who You Claim and Oedipal Dreams. Her latest is a collection of short stories titled Fresh Girls and Other Stories. The 23 year old writer lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Journalist and rock historian Daniel Wolff has written a new biography, You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke. Wolff was aided in his research by many people who were close to Cooke, including S.R. Crain, a co-founder of the Soul Stirrers and later Cooke's manager. Crain also joins the conversation.

Dr. Jody Heymann is a physician, and author of the new book Equal Partners: A Physicians Call for a New Spirit of Medicine. She chronicles her own story of turning from physician to patient overnight after suffering a seizure and consequent brain surgeries. The extremes of care she received revolutionized her perception of a physician's role in patient treatment.

Ann Charters, the biographer of Jack Kerouac, has just edited two new collections of his writings: The Portable Jack Kerouac, and Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters. In this interview,she reads from some of Kerouac's letters, and discusses how he translated his life into his work. Charters teaches at the University of Connecticut.

Ed Gillespie, co-editor of the book The Contract With America and policy and communications director of the House Republican Conference. He believes the welfare reforms outlined in the Republican agenda are accurate assessments of what is needed to correct the current welfare system.

Fresh Air commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Anne Frank. The book is a newly expanded edition of the famous text which Anne's father Otto Frank, the only survivor, published.

Mamet's new novel is a conversation between a grandmother and granddaughter preparing a traditional Passover meal. The grandmother reveals the horrific family history of living through the Polish Pogroms. Mamet also wrote Glengarry Glen Ross, Writing in Restaurants, and the screenplays for The Untouchables and Hoffa.

Biographer Deirdre Bair has written acclaimed biographies of Samuel Beckett and Simone de Beauvoir. Her newest subject is writer and diarist Anais Nin. A reviewer in the Kirkus Reviews writes, "Bair's Nin emerges as the complex woman she was, a woman who inspired both wrath and passion in those whose paths crossed hers. It's called Anais Nin: A Biography.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg reflects on his five-year-old daughter's developing literary tastes.

Peter Leschak battles forest fires in the Northwoods and the West. He’s not a smoke jumper; he’s a grunt-hiking to remote locations, putting out fires sometimes on his hands and knees -- spark by spark. For the rest of the year, he writes. His new memoir is called Hellroaring.

Lee has written two volumes of poetry, Rose and The City in Which I Love You. He's won many awards for his work, including the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. He's just completed a memoir about his family's refugee experience in America, The Winged Seed. Lee was born in Indonesia; his parents were from China, where his father had been private physician to Mao. After escaping Southeast Asia, the family ended up in a small town in Pennsylvania, where his father headed an all-white Presbyterian church.