Places & Travel

The German-born writer's memoir documents her parents' involvement in World War II. Reichel grew up in Hamburg after the end of the war, as the country dealt with the guilt of its Nazi past. She says the pain of that history was felt by all citizens, even if it was deeply repressed.

Book critic John Leonard says Barry Hannah's southern, hard-drinking life echoes that of William Faulkner. Hannah's novel Boomerang also evokes the author's sometimes scary, creeping spirit.

China expert Orville Schell says that students in that country are fighting for American-style democracy and greater freedom of expression. In light of the recent Tiananmen Square protests, Schell joins Fresh Air to discuss the history and future of anti-establishment movements.

Turkish-born writer Alev Lytle Croutier has a new book about harems. Contrary to their popular associations with polygamy, these spaces were most commonly used to isolate women slaves and family members from the outside world. Croutier herself grew up in a harem with her mother.

Conway grew up in Australia and was home-schooled until college. Her new memoir, The Road from Coorain, looks at how her academic pursuits eventually led her to become Smith College's first woman president.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan is no fan of minimalist literature, which she derides for its familiar, navel-gazing themes. By contrast, she admires T. Coraghesson's expansive, political, and historical fiction. Unfortunately, his approach is better suited to the novel, rather than the short stories in his latest collection, If the River Was Whiskey.

The Dutch stage and screen actor is often cast as a Russian character, including in the new movie Scandal. In the Netherlands, he often worked with director Paul Verhoeven. In the U.S., he's best known for his role as a womanizer in Crossing Delancey.

Television critic David Bianculli reviews the series finale of the glossy crime show. He says the ending was as contrived as the past few seasons -- big on action, short on character development.

Rock historian Ed Ward says that several 1950s and '60s bands associated with San Francisco actually came from nearby cities and towns. He looks at some of the over looked, truly local, drug-fueled bands of that era.

Writer Stuart Brand joins Fresh Air to talk about the technology-focused business culture that's developing in the Bay Area. He says it's turned San Francisco into a kind of global frontier town.

Language commentator Geoff Nunberg reflects on his home city, and the cultural and linguistic differences that separate the natives from the tourists.

Writer and ecological historian STEPHEN PYNE. His latest book, Fire on the Rim, A Firefighter's Season at the Grand Canyon, explores the intricacies of fire management, man's relation to the rural western environment, and the summer ritual that changes the canyon and the people who try to protect it. Pyne worked as a firefighter for 15 season's on the northern rim of the Grand Canyon. Pyne describes a life where the firefighter lives in isolation for four months, defined by the fires and the capriciousness of lightning.

The author's new book, about a fifteen year old girl's longing for adventure, takes the form of a memoir -- but the story is invented. Schwartz joins Fresh Air to talk about her protagonist's sexuality and the boundless power of fiction.

The queen of New Orleans soul would have been a bigger star if she had moved to New York or Los Angeles earlier in her career, argues rock historian Ed Ward. Despite her local success, Thomas only had a few national hits. But by all accounts, she's happy now, performing in regional blues circuits and raising her four children.

Book critic John Leonard says the historian's newest work, called Citizen, is intellectually reprehensible, ignoring both past and present scholarship to craft a familiar and tired narrative of French democracy. Yet the writing is lovely, and propelled Leonard to the end of the book, kicking and screaming.

In 1934, twenty-one-year old Philby became a spy for the Soviet Union. British journalist Phillip Knightley conducted several interview with him, which became the basis for his biography, called The Master Spy.

Rock critic Ken Tucker says the music coming out of Los Angeles today has come a long way from the soft rock sound of the 1970s. But no one style dominates the city -- there's some good pop and rock, but Tucker is most excited by rap artists from Compton.

Film critic Stephen Schiff says that Louis Malle's Murmur of the Heart was overshadowed by the string of exceptional movies also released in 1971. The film is shocking in its sexuality and subtlety.

Matthiessen is a naturalist and novelist who co-founded The Paris Review. His nonfiction has explored Zen Buddhism and American Indians, among other topics. A new collection of his short stories, spanning his entire career, his nearly four-decade long career, just been published.

Rock critic Ken Tucker considers the recent trend of British bands taking their cues from American soul music, with varying success. Recent examples include songs by Simply Red, The Pasadenas, Boy George, and Fine Young Cannibals.