Books & Literature

Screenwriter and novelist Bruce Wagner. He wrote the screenplays for "Nightmare on Elm Street 3," and "Scenes from The Class Struggle in Beverly Hills." He's just come out with his first novel, a black comedy, "Force Majeure." It's a collection of his "Bud Wiggins" stories. Wiggins is a struggling screenwriter, actor, and some time chauffeur who is "circling the drain." (published by Random House). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Book critic John Leonard reviews, "Topless: a Novel" by D. Keith Mano, a thriller about a young priest who returns to his former New York neighborhood to help manage the family business. The family's business turns out to be a topless bar and the "girls" there begin to get murdered. Mano's other books include, "Bishop's Progress," "War is Heaven," and "Take Five." ("Topless" is published by Random House.)

Former hostage David Jacobsen. In 1985 he was abducted in Beirut where he was director of the American University of Beirut's Medical Center and was held for 17 months. He was held captive along with Terry Anderson, Tom Sutherland, Ben Weir, and Martin Jenco. He's written about it in, "Hostage: My Nightmare in Beirut." (Published by Donald I. Fine, Inc.) (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Writer Robert Bausch. Bausch's new novel, "Almighty Me," is the story of an average guy who, for one year, is given the powers of God. (It's published by Houghton Mifflin). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Writer Ben Hamper. His funny first-person account of working in GM's auto factory is "Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line." Hamper is a third generation auto worker in Flint, Michigan.

Journalist Stryker McGuire. He covered the Nicaraguan revolution for Newsweek where he is Chief of Correspondents. After the war, he came back to New York but discovered that he hadn't settled in his own mind what he experienced in Nicaragua. He began a 20,000 mile driving trip from North America to South America to try and understand what had happened and to get a different look at Latin America. His book, "Streets with No Names," is an account of that trip. (published by Atlantic Monthly Press.) (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Nature writer Paul Schullery. Schullery has a new collection of essays, called "Pregnant Bears and Crawdad Eyes" (published by the Mountaineers). Schullery also writes and talks often about Yellowstone National Park, where he's lived off and on for 15 years. That's the subject of his earlier book, "Mountain Time: Man Meets Wilderness in Yellowstone" (published by Fireside/Simon and Schuster). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "American Nervousness." It's a new book by Tom Lutz about a turn of the century disease called neurasthenia. Neurasthenia was a term applied to a wide variety of conditions related to just being "stressed out" by 19th century life. Perversely, neurasthenia was taken as a sign of status, that if you suffered from it, it meant you were fashionably sensitive. (It's published by Cornell University Press).

Writer Joyce Schuck (shuck). In 1986, her husband ran for governor of Colorado, and lost in the primaries. But the experience gave Schuck the impetus to interview other wives of politicians. Schuck's book, "Political Wives: Veiled Lives," combines the interviews, along with excerpts from a diary Schuck kept during her husband's campaign. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Mystery writer Sue Grafton. She's known for her "alphabet series" with female detective Kinsey Milhone, "A is for Alibi" through "G is for Gumshoe." Grafton's latest mystery is "H is for Homicide." (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Actor and writer Eric Bogosian. Bogosian's one man, multi-character performances highlight the pressures of modern life and explore the underside of the American Dream. Bogosian's latest show, "Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll" has been released in book form (by Harper Collins) and as a movie. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Writer Gus Lee. Lee's novel, "China Boy" is the story of a young immigrant boy growing up in a rough neighborhood of San Francisco. (The book's published by E.P. Dutton). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Writer John Balaban. Balaban was one of the very few Vietnam-era conscientious objectors who volunteered to go to Vietnam. Once there, he was overwhelmed with the paradoxes of the war...among other things, he found himself picking up a gun, in order to defend a hospital from attack. His memoir of that time, called "Heaven's Face: A Moral Witness in Vietnam" has just been published by Poseidon Press. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Historian Robert Dallek. Dallek's new biography of President Lyndon Johnson, "Lone Star Rising," has been praised for its scholarship, and for painting a more balanced portrait of LBJ than some other recent biographies. Dallek was nominated for an American Book award for an earlier biography, "Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy." ("Lone Star Rising" is published by Oxford University Press).

The former president of NBC news, Reuven Frank. Franks looks back on his career, and the evolution of TV news, in his new memoir, "Out of Thin Air." (published by Simon and Schuster).

Historian Glenda Riley. Riley's new book, "Divorce: An American Tradition," looks at the long history of divorce. Among the book's revelations: the first divorce in America happened way back in 1639 (on grounds of bigamy) and that in 1880 as many as one in 16 marriages ended in divorce. (The book's published by Oxford university Press).

Terry talks about crime watch groups with:
(1) Former chief justice and current judge on West Virginia's Supreme Court, Richard Neely. His new book, "Take Back Your Neighborhood," is about how ordinary citizens throughout the country have come together to protect their communities.
(2) Founder of the Mt. Airy Crime Watch Group in Philadelphia, Mark Hartsfield Two years ago he co-founded the group after witnessing and stopping crime in his neighborhood.

Jazz French horn player Willie Ruff. Ruff's new autobiography, "A Call to Assembly," chronicles his childhood in the South, his enlistment in the army in 1946, his gaining admission to Yale, and his decision to pass on a career in classical music and follow a life in jazz. (It's published by Viking).

Journalists Katie Hafner and John Markoff Their new book "Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier" (Simon & Schuster) is about the growing importance of computer networks, and the growing importance of computer crime.

South African labor leader Emma Mashinini. Mashinini was Secretary of the Commercial, Catering, and Allied Workers Union of South Africa, one of South Africa's biggest trade unions, and was arrested and detained for six months. Mashinini's autobiography, "Strikes Have Followed Me All My Life," has just been published. (by Routledge).