Places & Travel

Book Critic John Leonard reviews Chile: Death in the South by Jacobo Timmerman. Timmerman is the former Argentine journalist who was imprisoned for publishing the names of the people who disappeared at the hands of Argentina's dictatorship in the mid-70s. His account of his ordeal was titled Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number.

John Doe and Exene Cervenka, songwriters and vocalists with the L.A. rock band X. Their new album, their sixth, is called "See How We Are."

Film Critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid," the new film based on the screenplay by Hanif Kureishi, who also wrote the screenplay for 1985's surprise hit "My Beautiful Launderette."

Book Critic John Leonard reviews The Redemption of Elsdon Bird, a first novel by Noel Virtue.

New York Times columnist William Geist, who wrote the paper's popular "About New York" column. He has collected his favorite columns in a book titled City Slickers. Geist recently left the Times and is now a contributor for the CBS News show, "CBS Sunday Morning."

CBS News Producer Leslie Cockburn. Since 1984, she has covered the United States' involvement with the Nicaraguan Contras. Her reports have aired on "60 Minutes" and "West 57th Street." Her new book is titled Out of Control: The story of the Reagan Administration's secret war in Nicaragua, the illegal arms pipeline, and the Contra drug connection.

Writer Jan Novak. He has just published his second English novel, titled The Grand Life. His first was titled The Willys Dream Kit. Novak emigrated to the United States from Czechoslovakia 17 years ago.

Book Critic John Leonard reviews "Perfect Gallows," a mystery by Peter Dickinson.

Brendan Gill. He has written for The New Yorker magazine for more than 50 years, writing poems, prose, profiles and film and theater reviews. Gill also writes about architecture and has just written a biography of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Book Critic John Leonard reviews A Way of Hope, the autobiography of Solidarity leader Lech Walesa.

Journalist John Conroy. Conroy lived in a poor Catholic neighborhood in violence-torn Belfast, Northern Ireland. He recorded stories of the life there in his book Belfast Diary.

Edna Buchanan, Pulitzer Prize-winning police reporter for the Miami Herald. Buchanan has written a book that details her daily routine. It's titled The Corpse Had a Familiar Face.

Writer Tom Wolfe, known for his "New Journalism" in the 60s and 70s. His books from that period included The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, Radical Chic and Mau Mauing the Flak Catchers and The Right Stuff. His new book, his first novel, is titled The Bonfire of the Vanities.

Writer Joan Didion. Known for her self-reflective essays and reporting, Didion is one of America's most important writers. Her books include A Book of Common Prayer, Slouching Toward Bethlehem and Salvador. With her husband John Gregory Dunne, she co-wrote the screenplay for "True Confessions." Her new book is titled Miami.

Canadian writer and naturalist Farley Mowat. Mowat has written widely on nature and wildlife and championed the cause of harp seals, whales, wolves, Eskimos. His books include A Whale for the Killing, The Boat Who Wouldn't Float and Never Cry Wolf. His latest book, Woman in the Mists, is the story of Dian Fossey, the American woman who studied and lived with the mountain gorillas of Rwanda, Africa. Fossey was murdered at her remote base camp in 1985. (This is the first part of a two-part interview with Mowat.) (Contains portion of Dian Fossey interview; May 12, 1982).

Book Critic John Leonard reviews The Dresden Gate the novel by Michael Schmidt that explores the misbegotten efforts of Europeans to export their systems of civilization - religion, government, culture - on the Latin American soul.

Hanif Kureishi, a Pakistani-Briton, wrote the screenplay for 1985's surprise hit "My Beautiful Laundrette," which explored the oppression of Pakistanis in England. His new film is titled "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid."

Father Niall O'Brien. He has worked for over 20 years as a missionary priest in the Philippines. He was imprisoned by the Marcos regime because he helped the poor to start self-reliant Christian communities. He continues his work in the Philippines under the Aquino government.

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles The Stooges, A Detroit group that was pioneered punk, even before the famed British punk bands.

Book Critic John Leonard reviews Belfast Diary, the non-fiction account of the civil war that has flared through Northern Ireland. The author is Chicago journalist John Conroy.