Books & Literature

Frank Robinson, manager of the Baltimore Orioles. In 1975, he became the first black manager in baseball, and today he is the only one. As a player, Robinson was legendary. He is the only player ever to win the Most Valuable Player award in both leagues; and his 586 home runs place him behind Hand Aaron, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays on the all-time list.

Journalist Teresa Carpenter. Her new book, Missing Beauty, is the story of the obsession of a medical professor for a Boston prostitute, and obsession that ended with the prostitute's murder. Carpenter is a staff writer for The Village Voice and won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for her reports on three murders, including those of former congressman Allard Lowenstein and Playmate Dorothy Stratten.

Writer Gerald Clarke. Clarke's biography of writer Truman Capote has just been published. Capote was the author of the seminal work In Cold Blood, but his writing was overshadowed by the excesses of his lifestyle and his reputation as the clownish fixture of the talk show circuit. Clarke's biography was 14 years in the making and was undertaken with Capote's full cooperation. Clarke has written extensively for Time magazine.

Writer and humanitarian Elie Weisel. Weisel won the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize for his message of "peace and atonement and human dignity." A concentration camp survivor, he has been the most impassioned and poetic supporter of efforts to memorialize the six million Jews who died in Hitler's death camps. He is author of 24 works, including Night and Dawn. His latest work, a novel, is titled Twilight.

Journalist David Wise. His new book, The Spy Who Got Away, is the story of Edward Lee Howard, the CIA agent who divulged secrets to the Russians and then eluded an FBI dragnet to flee to the Soviet Union. The book is based on six days of interviews with Howard in Budapest and reveals a CIA coverup of suspicions about Howard's character and the agency's refusal to share the information with the FBI's counterintelligence division. Wise, a former Washington bureau chief for the New York Herald Tribune, has written extensively on espionage.

Natan, formerly Anatoly, Sharansky. He was jailed on trumped up treason and spying charges by the KGB and endured nine years of solitary confinement and a starvation diet before an international campaign forced his release two years ago. His account of his ordeal and the subsequent pressures of celebrity are recounted in his book Fear No Evil.

Author Gerald Petievich. Petievich spent 15 years as a U.S. Secret Service agent. His experiences as a member of the Los Angeles Federal Strike Force against Organized Crime and Racketeering inspired his book To Live and Die In L.A. He later co-wrote the screenplay for William Friedkin's film of the same name. Petievich's new novel is called Shakedown.

Writer Geoffrey O'Brien. His new book, Dream Time: Chapters from the Sixties, is an exploration of the phenomena of the 60s, from strobe lights and miniskirts to Be-Ins and Transcendental Meditation. O'Brien attempts to capture the cultural, social and political ferment of the era, as opposed to an objective, historical accounting. O'Brien is also the author of Hard Boiled America," a survey of paperback crime fiction.

Writer Barbara Garson. Her writing includes the anti-war (Vietnam) play MacBird! and the book All the Livelong Day, a study of the blue-collar life of the assembly line. Her latest book, The Electronic Sweatshop, explores white collar automation - the way computers are being used to transform secretaries, executives and professionals into clerks.

Writer Paul Theroux. Since his first book, Waldo, was published in 1966, Theroux has written prolifically. His extensive travels have taken him through Africa, Asia and Central America, and a central theme of his work is the ironic examination of the clashing and mingling of Western and Third World cultures. Theroux's newest book, Riding the Iron Rooster, is an account of his travels by train through China.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Thank God for the Atom Bomb, a new book of essays by University of Pennsylvania professor Paul Fussell.

Writer Doris Lessing. Since her first novel, The Grass is Singing, published in 1950, she has written many books and plays, including the Children of Violence series, The Golden Notebook, and more recently Shikasta and her "space-fiction" series. Her new novel is titled The Fifth Child. Fresh Air book critic John Leonard once described Mrs. Lessing as "one of the half-dozen most interesting minds to have chosen to write fiction in English in this century."

Writer Dominick Dunne, who in his fiction and non-fiction writes about the troubled lives of New York City's jet setters. His latest novel is titled People Like Us, and is set amid Manhattan's upper class. Dunne's other novels include The Winner and The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, both bestsellers. Dunne contributes regularly to Vanity Fair, writing lengthy profiles of society celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor and Claus Von Bulow.

Actress Patty Duke. At the time of her 1962 film "The Miracle Worker," Duke was the youngest actress to win an Oscar, for her role as Helen Keller. At 16, she was the youngest actress in television to have a prime-time series built around her. The success, however, masked personal misery which included depressions that led to suicide attempts and a string of failed marriages. Duke has written an autobiography titled Call Me Anna.

Language Commentator Geoffrey Nunberg examines the idioms of Berkeley, California, one of the most liberal and tolerant communities in America.

Writer Orville Schell. His latest book, Discos and Democracy: China in the Throes of Reform, chronicles one year in China's rush toward Democracy, and the country's continuing love-hate relationship with the West. Schell's work appears regularly in The New Yorker.

Scottish writer William Boyd. His latest novel, The New Confessions, follows the political and cinematic adventures of a monomaniacal filmmaker. Boyd's earlier novels include Stars and Bars and An Ice Cream War.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Dream Time by poet and literary critic Geoffrey O'Brien. The book is a meditation on the turbulence of the sixties.

Novelist and essayist Harry Crews. His nine novels include All We Need is Hell and The Gospel Singer. Oftentimes, the main characters of Crews' works are outsiders; The central character of Crews' most recent work, titled The Knockout Artist, is a boxer who specializes in knocking himself out. Crews' three works of nonfiction include the autobiography A Childhood, Blood and Grits, and Florida Frenzy.

Baseball great Willie Mays, one of the most potent all-round players in the history of baseball. In his 22 seasons in the major leagues, Mays played in 21 All-Star Games, batted over .300 and hit 660 home runs. His autobiography, Say Hey, has just been published. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)