Books & Literature

The legendary singer started performing when he was four, and became a traveling musician as a teenager. He has a new autobiography, as a well as an album called Reunion. He joins Fresh Air to talk about his decades-long singing and songwriting career.

Russian poet Irina Ratushinskaya was sent to a labor camp for her poetry advocating human writes. She continued to write in prison, smuggling her poems out for publication and committing many others to memory. Her memoir, Grey is the Color of Hope, details that time.

Landesman's name isn't well known, but her songs are, like "Ballad of the Sad Young Men" and "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most." She was part of the 1950s Beat scene, and now lives in London.

Book Critic John Leonard reviews The Shah's Last Ride by journalist William Shawcross. The book documents the Iranian leader's rise with the help of Western intervention, and his overthrow during the Islamic Revolution.

The writer has also worked as a diplomat. Artistically and professionally, he has explored the cultural and political identity of his home country. His new book is about the poet Sor Juana; Paz says her life mirrors his own in several ways.

Simon Frith is a rock critic and sociologist. He believes the genre has been emptied of its rebellious spirit, and is often sanitized or commercialized by the corporations that distribute it. Yet recent developments in rock have some benefits: its globlalization has allowed for the participation of lesser known, international artists; music videos have the untapped potential for further artistic expression.

Guest critic Maureen Corrigan revisits Bel Kaufman's autobiographical novel Up the Down Staircase, about a rookie high school teacher who must contend with limited institutional support. Corrigan herself is a college instructor, and believes many of Kaufman's insights still ring true twenty years later

Journalist Elaine Shannon's new book, Desperados, looks at the international impact of the illegal drug trade. She says that major banks and state governments have been complicit in drug trafficking by accepting bribes and laundering money. The U.S. government has faced difficulty curtailing these crimes, in part because of its desire to maintain diplomatic relations with the countries involved.

The writer's new book, An Empire of Their Own, examines the long-neglected history of how a group of Jewish European emigrees created the screen's idea of the American Dream, and how America adopted that dream.

Paul Nitze has advised both Republican and Democratic presidents over the decades on arms control. While working in the Reagan administration, he helped reopen negotiations with the Soviet Union. Nitze also reluctantly advocated for the Strategic Defense Initiative as a deterrence program. Journalist Strobe Talbott's new book, Master of the Game, details Nitze's career.

Book critic John Leonard says that Greene has trained readers to fill the gaps in his novels and flesh out his sometimes underdeveloped characters. Leonard is a longtime admirer of the author, but says his newest book is more of a notebook than a polished novel.

Musa Mayer's memoir explores her relationship with her father, painter Philip Guston. Mayer and Guston were close; she says she was his confident. But Mayer didn't really know who he was as a person until she interviewed family members after Gunston's death.

Book critic John Leonard reviews historian Jonathan Spence's newest work, about a Chinese convert in France who is institutionalized by a Jesuit priest name Jean-Francois Foucquet. Leonard says that the historical novel feels more like a poem about history.

Writer Nick Tosches wrote the book Hellfire, profiling rock progenitor Jerry Lee Lewis. Now he has a novel called Cut Numbers, about small-time loan sharks in New York City.

Investigative reporter Howard Kohn has covered stories like the Patty Hearst kidnapping and the death of Karen Silkwood. When his father's health started to fail, Kohn decided to move back to the family farm in Michigan. His new memoir, The Last Farmer, documents that experience, and considers the relationship between parents and their adult children.

Eric Kraft created a literary alter ego named Peter Leroy; Leroy's exploits were chronicled in newsletters and, later, eight novels. Kraft's newest book, Herb 'n' Lorna, is about Leroy's grandparents, who sell erotic jewelry.

Book critic John Leonard says that Andrew Vachss' new Burke detective novel Blue Belle, about the disturbing world of child porn and prostitution, is not for the faint of heart. He has this review.

Harold Brodkey is famous for working on his as-of-yet unpublished novel for the past thirty years. Some critics think he's brilliant; others call him a fraud. His work deals with consciousness and memory.

Bassist Milt Hinton pushed his instrument to new territories in jazz. He was also an avid photographer, who took pictures other noteworthy musicians during their tours across the country. His new memoir and photography collection is called Bass Lines. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says the book brings Hinton out of the shadows.

Hwang's celebrated play dealt with Western ideas of women and Asian culture. His newest work is a musical about alien abductions called 1000 Airplanes on the Roof. Philip Glass composed the music.