History

James Bennet just completed his 3-year stint as Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times. He wrote the cover story for this week's New York Times Magazine: "A Nation Unto Himself: Where is Ariel Sharon Leading Israel?"

Her new film Stander is based on the true story of Andre Stander, a young white policeman in Johannesburg, South Africa, who in the 1970s became a notorious bank robber.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the espionage novel Dark Voyage by Alan Furst about the hunting of merchant ships by German U-boats during World War II.

Franks, formerly the commander in chief of the U.S. Central Command, led the American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. He says the United States did not anticipate the insurgency that followed the invasion of Iraq, and he warns against underestimating Osama bin Laden. He's written a new memoir, American Soldier.

Carmen bin Laden is the sister-in-law of Osama bin Laden. In 1974 she married Yeslam bin Laden; they separated 14 years later. Carmen only met her brother-in-law a few times. She's written a new memoir, Inside the Kingdom: My Life in Saudi Arabia.

The Democratic senator from West Virginia has served in Congress for 51 years, 45 of them as a senator. Byrd is ranking minority member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and has twice been president pro tempore of the Senate. He is also a former majority leader. Byrd is author of a new book called Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency. Byrd is a vocal opponent of the Iraq war and has criticized the most of the Bush Administration's post-Sept. 11 policies. He is also author of a four-volume history of the Senate.

Los Angeles Times journalist Greg Miller and military interrogation supervisor Chris Mackey talk about The Interrogators. The book provides an inside look at methods used to extract information from prisoners in Afghanistan.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, a documentary that explores the psychological drama of the heavy metal band.

Exum's new memoir, Man's Army: A Soldier's Story from the Front Lines of the War on Terrorism, recounts his experiences fighting in Afghanistan. In 2002, Exum fought with the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan, where soldiers were often fighting a brutal guerilla war against the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Diamond is a professor of political science and sociology at Stanford University and an expert on democratic development and regime change. He is the coordinator of the Democracy Program of the new Center for Democracy, Development and Rule of Law at Stanford's Institute for International Studies. Diamond spent three months earlier this year advising the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.

Journalist Larry Tye examines the social history of the porter in Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class. Tye says that the job was one of the best for African Americans at the time, and that it was a foothold in the American workplace. Tye reports for The Boston Globe.

Filmmakers Israel Goldvicht and Tom Roberts went inside Israeli prisons to examine the minds of suicide bombers. Their documentary, Suicide Bombers, is part of the PBS series "Wide Angle." They spoke with three failed bombers, one bomb builder and one recruiter. The show premieres Thursday, July 1, on PBS.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews The Americanization of Ben Franklin by Gordon S. Wood.

His new book is Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar. It's a biography of the former Soviet leader. Stalin was often described as an enigma. This exhaustive account of his life seeks to banish the mystery. Montefiore has traveled extensively through the former Soviet Union, and has written for many publications, including The New York Times and The Spectator.

Critic John Powers reflects upon recent media attention on former presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.

Beilin is the leader of Israel's social democratic party, a member of the Knesset and a former government minister. He was an initiator of the 1993 Oslo Accords, and 10 years later, was an architect of the Geneva Accord, a framework for peace between Israel and Palestine. Beillin has written a new book, 'The Path to Geneva: The Quest For a Permanent Agreement, 1996-2004.'

O'Rourke started out writing comedy in the 1970s for The National Lampoon. Later he was a commentator-reporter for Rolling Stone. Now he is a correspondent for Atlantic Monthly. His new book is Peace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism. O'Rourke is also the author of Eat the Rich, Parliament of Whores and All the Trouble in the World.

Bamford is the former investigative producer for ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. He's the author of the bestsellers Body of Secrets and The Puzzle Palace. He's also written investigative cover stories for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. His new book is A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies.

New York Times Foreign Affairs columnist Thomas Friedman is the reporter/narrator of the Discovery Channel documentary, The Other Side of Outsourcing — about jobs going to India. (Thursday, June 3 at 10 p.m. EST). Friedman has written about outsourcing and globalization in his columns. He is the author of the best-selling book Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes for his coverage of the Middle East.

Pieter-Dirk Uys (pronounced "Peter Dirk Ace") is known for politically charged performances, touching on AIDS and apartheid. He's described himself as a "middle-aged, fat, bald Afrikaner Jewish drag queen from Cape Town." Writing in The New Yorker, Calvin Trillin called Uys South Africa's leading satirist. He's just won an Obie Award for his one-man show Foreign AIDS, performed at the La MaMa Theater in Manhattan last year. Uys' present show is Elections and Erections, now in London at the Soho Theater.