Books & Literature

Part II of our interview with "Mr. Horror," writer Stpehen King. He'll talk with Terry about his greatest fear, his first writing efforts and his childhood.

In light of the current debate over abortion and "family values," critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new biography of social reformer and birth control champion Margaret Sanger, by Ellen Chesler.

Part I of a two-part interview with "Mr. Horror," writer Stephen King. To date, he's written 24 novels, 19 feature films, two mini-series, and one TV movie. He ushered in a whole new era of horror with his first novel, "Carrie," published in 1974. He's got a new novel, "Gerald's Game," which deals with sadomasochism.

Appiah is Professor of African-American Studies at Harvard. He was born in Ghana to Anglo-Ghanaian parents. His father Ghanaian and his mother British. His new book is "In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture," a collection of essays that one reviewer calls a, "groundbreaking. . . analysis of absurdities and damaging presuppositions that have clouded our discussions on race, Africa, and nationalism since the 19th century."

Book critic John Leonard reviews Nobel Prize-winning writer Joseph Brodsky's new book of essays, "Watermark," which use Venice as a jumping-off point for a series of reflections on life.

Monette's book "Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir," published in 1988, was one of the first memoirs to be published about AIDS. It told the story of his lover's two year struggle with AIDS. Since then, Monette has watched another lover die of AIDS, and has been diagnosed with AIDS himself. Monette's new memoir about his life before he came out of the closet at the age of 25 is called "Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story."

Producer Naomi Person talks with writer Edward Jones. He's just published a new collection of short stories, "Lost in the City," about the "lives and souls" of black people living in Washington, D.C. This is his first book.

In the first ten years of the AIDS epidemic, the Food and Drug Administration approved only two drugs to treat the disease. Yet a third drug, approved last month, took only eight months. Health economist Peter Arno's new book, "Against The Odds" tells how AIDS activists have sparked sweeping reforms of the drug approval process, and sped up access to drug development for all illnesses.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Chinese Roundabout: Essays in History and Culture," by Jonathan D. Spence. Leonard says it's an improvisatory and obsessive take on the China and the way Westerners look at it.

Wills has analyzed the legendary speech in a new book called "Lincoln At Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America." He says that, speaking for only three minutes that day, Lincoln changed the history of American political thought.

Critic Maureen Corrigan compares the speeches of Abraham Lincoln and George Bush by way of two new books: "Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America," by Garry Wills, and "Bushisms: President G.H.W. Bush in his own Words," compiled by the editors of the "New Republic."

Straley just published his crime novel "The Woman Who Married a Bear," about a hard-drinking private eye in Sitka, Alaska who writes haiku, has a failed career, and a wife who has left him. Straley is himself a criminal investigator for the state of Alaska.

Journalist Richard Ben Cramer won a Pulitzer Prize for The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1979. His new book, "What it Takes: the way to the White House," explores the lives of the candidates who ran for president in 1988, and tries to discover what made them think they could lead the United States.

Writer Alice Walker. Her new book, "Possessing The Secret of Joy," is about Tashi, an African woman who lives most of her life in North America, and yet submits to the tribal custom of female circumcision. Walker's other books include "The Color Purple," which was made into a film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, and "The Temple of My Familiar." The character Tashi has made peripheral appearances in those books. ("Possessing The Secret of Joy" is published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.)

Journalist and biographer Nick Tosches. His new biography is "Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams," (by Doubleday). It's about singer Dean Martin but it also looks at the culture that created him. He was part of the mob culture, and Hollywood's "Rat Pack." The book also delves into the reasons for the infamous breakup between Dean Martin and his comedy partner, Jerry Lewis. Dean Martin is now 75 years old.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Alice Walker's new novel, "Possessing the Secret of Joy," (Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich).

Physician and photographer David Heiden. Heiden worked in the refugee camps of eastern Sudan during the Ethiopian famine of 1985. His book, "Dust to Dust," chronicles the experience using his personal journal entries and photographs. Heiden has also been a medical relief worker at refugee camps in Thailand and Somolia. (published by Temple University Press, Philadelphia).

Marian Wright Edelman is the founder of the Children's Defense Fund, a Washington advocacy group that works to prevent teen pregnancy, and provide for children's health, education and employment. The Los Angeles Times has called her "the most powerful advocate in America for children." She was the first black woman admitted to the bar in Mississippi.

Former Democratic presidential candidate Paul Tsongas. He talks with Terry about the campaign process and being on the campaign trail. Also his book, "Heading Home," has just been reissued. It's about his fight with and recovery from cancer. (Vintage Books).

One of Canada's best-known writers Mordecai Richler. He's a novelist, journalist and screenwriter. His novels include, "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz," and "Solomon Gursky Was Here." His new book about Quebec's language-obsessed separatist movement is "Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! Requiem for a Divided Country," (by Alfred A. Knopf). In October a referendum will be voted on in Quebec which could create a separate, French-speaking nation.