Books & Literature

Speechwriter Peggy Noonan. In 1984 she was hired away from CBS news to write speeches for Ronald Reagan.

Journalist Itabari Njeri (it-tah-BAR-ay en-jerry). Her new book, "Every Good-bye Ain't Gone," is a touching and at times humorous memoir of growing up black in Harlem and Brooklyn during the 50s.

Richard Barnet, co-founder of the Institute for Policy Studies. Barnet discusses the end of the Cold War and the implications for U.S. domestic and foreign policy. His new book is "The Rocket's Red Glare." (It's published by Simon and Schuster).

Book critic John Leonard reviews Ann Beattie's new novel, "Picturing Will." (It's published by Random House).

Author Budd Schulberg. Fifty years ago, Schulberg's first novel, "What Makes Sammy Run?" was a huge success and introduced America to the character of Sammy Glick...a man totally obsessed with making it. Schulberg's other novels include "The Harder They Fall" and "The Disenchanted," and his screenplay for the movie, "On The Waterfront" earned Schulberg an Oscar. Schulberg was also involved with the 'red scare' of the 40s and 50s, and testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Reporter Tom Rose. Rose covered the 1988 rescue of three California grey whales that were trapped in the ice off Barrow, Alaska. The plight of those whales became an international media event. Rose has now written a book about the media hype surrounding the event, called "Freeing the Whales: How the Media Created the World's Greatest Non-Event." (Published by Birch Lane Press, division of Carol Publishing Group, NY).

Journalist Michael Norman. Norman served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, and his memoir, "These Good Men: Friendships Forged from War," he tells the stories of some of the men he served with. Norman, a former columnist for the New York Times, spent 5 years looking for his comrades, traveling from Oklahoma to London, finding out what had happened to them in the 20 years since the war and trying to understand how his own life had been changed.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Daddy, We Hardly Knew You." It's writer Germaine Greer's memoir of her father. He spent the first 5 years of her life away in the Australian Air force during World War 2. Upon his return, and until his death in 1983, he was quiet, distant, and would never talk about the war. This book is both Greer's memories of her father's life, and her investigation into what he did during those missing five years.

White South African writer Rian (rhymes with "neon") Malan. Malan is an Afrikaner, descendent of a family that settled in South Africa over three hundred years ago, and Malan's great-uncle was the chief architect of the Apartheid system. Malan only realized the horror of Apartheid after he became a crime reporter for a Johannesburg paper. What he learned led him to leave South Africa, and spend the next eight years in exile.

Writer Le Anne Schreiber. A successful journalist at the New York Times, and their first woman sports editor, Schreiber left her career at the Times to go live in rural upstate New York. Then she found out her mother had cancer and was given only a few months to live. Schreiber kept a journal during the period of her mother's illness until she died. This journal served as the basis for Schreiber's memoir about her mother's death, "Midstream: The Story of a Mother's Death and a Daughter's Renewal."

Art historian Steven Naifeh (NAY-fay) and writer Gregory White Smith. They've co-written a biography of painter Jackson Pollock. The pair spent eight years and conducted more than 2-thousand interviews to understand the life and work of one of the 20th century's most influential artists. (Interview by Sedge Thomson)

Geographer Wilbur Zelinsky. Zelinsky is one of five editors who compiled "The Atlas of Pennsylvania," a massive, and beautiful, book of maps depicting hundreds of different facts about one state...everything from where the most dairy cows are, to what the favorite baseball teams are in different counties, to where you can still find Bald Eagles. Zelinsky is a professor of geology at Penn State University.

Mystery writer Ed McBain (also known as Evan Hunter). He's known for his finely detailed "87th Precinct" mysteries. Mystery fans call McBain's books "procedurals" for their close attention to police procedures. McBain also wrote, under a his real name (which he legally changed in 1952), the screenplay for the movie, "The Blackboard Jungle." (Interview by Sedge Thomson)

Writer and civil engineer Henry Petroski. His new book, "The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance" is a 400 page examination of the history and evolution of a deceptively simple tool. (Interview by Sedge Thomson)

Novelist and short-story writer Ann Beattie. In 1976 Beattie published her first novel, "Chilly Scenes of Winter," and since then she has gained a reputation as a writer of the 60's generation. "Chilly Scenes of Winter" was made into a movie by Joan Micklin Silver. Beattie's other books include "Falling in Place," "The Burning House," and "Love Always." Her latest novel is "Picturing Will." (Interview by Sedge Thomson)

Leonard Koren. He's written, "283 Useful Ideas From Japan," which lists innovative products and services in Japan. It includes such things as the two-headed public telephone, a combination sink/toilet, and capsule hotels. Koren has been an architect, graphic designer, and publisher. He works and lives in San Francisco and Tokyo. (Interview by Sedge Thomson)

Book Critic John Leonard reviews the book, "The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance" by Henry Petroski.

Writer and adventurer Lawrence Millman. His new book, "Last Places," recounts Millman's journey along the old Viking route across the North Atlantic from Norway to Newfoundland. He traveled as primitively as possible, fought off dive-bombing skuas (pterodactyl-like birds with five-foot wingspans), stayed with an Eskimo hermit endowed with supernatural powers, and camped in some of the world's most pristine spots. His writing has been compared to Bruce Chatwin and Edward Hoagland.

Military historian John Keegan. His new book, "The Second World War," recounts the strategies and battles of the war by looking at the three major theaters (the West, the East, and the Pacific) in both the early and late years of the war. Keegan, one of today's foremost military historians, is best known for analyzing the effects of war on the individual soldier. He taught for many years at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in Britain, and is now the Defense Correspondent of The Daily Telegraph in London.

Scientist and writer Dr. Arno Penzias (PEN-zee-us). He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1978 for his work supporting the big-bang theory of the universe. Now, as vice-president of research at AT&T he's responsible for innovation and risk-taking. Though Penzias is at the forefront of technological development, he remains aware of its human implication. His book, "Ideas and Information" is a crash course on the history of computers and communications-technology and is addressed to the general reader.