Historian John Dower is the author of "Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II" (W.W. Norton) about the aftermath of the war on Japan, and the American military occupation. Dower says he wanted to capture a sense of what it meant to start over in a "ruined world" for people at all levels of society and how that time became a "touchstone for affirming a commitment to 'peace and democracy.'" Dower is the Elting E. Morrison Professor of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Journalist Fred Hiatt is a member of the Editorial page staff for the Washington Post. He's also the paper's former Russia correspondent. He'll discuss Russia's position on the Serbs, and the NATO bombings.
Music historian Craig Monson talks about 17th century nun Lucrezia Vizzana who was part of a little known group of women composers. Monson is author of the new book "Disembodied Voices: Music and Culture in an Early Modern Italian Convent." (University of California Press) He is a Professor of Music at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Show Me a Hero : A Tale of Murder, Suicide, Race, and Redemption" by New York Times reporter Lisa Belkin. It examines the fallout from a federal court order requiring Yonkers, NY, to desegregate by moving hundreds of its poor minority residents into public housing on the middle-class side of town.
Description (Program)
Soprano singer Deborah Roberts sings on the new CD "Lucrezia Vizzana: Musica Secreta." It features music composed by Vizzana and other 17th century nuns in Italy.
Former United Nation's Chief weapons inspector Scott Ritter spent seven-years hunting down Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. He has written about his experience in "Endgame: Solving the Iraq Problem Once and for All." (Simon and Schuster) He resigned his U.N. post in August 1998 claiming the U.N Security Council and the U.S. Government had fatally undermined his team's ability to do its job. Ritter served as an Intelligence officer in the U.S. Marines for eight-years.
Former hostage Terry Anderson talks about his 100-million dollar lawsuit against the government of Iran. He alleges Iran supported the Islamic extremists who kidnapped him and held him hostage for seven-years. The former Associated Press Middle East correspondent now teaches journalism at Ohio University. The lawsuit was filed last week in U.S. District Court in Washington. The Iranian government denies any role in his captivity. We'll first listen back to an excerpt from Anderson's 1993 (12/28/93) interview with Terry. And then we have their current interview.
We remember jazz singer Joe Williams who died yesterday at the age of 80. Williams begin singing professionally at age 17, influenced by Erskine Tate, Jimmy Noone and Coleman Hawkins. In 1954, he became Count Basie's number one singer and was perhaps the principal reason the band was the dominate big band of the 50s and 60s. His hits include "Every Day (I Have the Blues)" and "All Right, Ok, You Win." He started performing as a soloist in 1961. (REBROADCAST from 6/20/89)
The New York Times' Roger Cohen puts in a call from Berlin. Cohen reported from Bosnia during the war there. He's the author of the book, "Hearts Grown Brutal: Sagas of Sarajevo."
To discuss the situation in Kosovo and the NATO bombings, a talk with Julia Glyn-Pickett the spokeswoman for Belgrade station Radio B92, the leading independent radio station in Serbia, one of three provinces of the Republic of Yugoslavia. Earlier this week the Yugoslavian government banned the station from broadcasting and journalists were forbidden to talk with foreign media about the situation. The government also expelled journalists from Britain, France, the U.S., and Germany. The journalist will speak to us from London.
New York Times science writer Natalie Angier talks about her new book "Woman: An Intimate Geography." (Houghton Mifflin)She is also a Pulitzer Prize recipient for her writing in The Times. Her other books include: "The Beauty of the Beastly," and "Natural Obsessions." She lives in Takoma Park, Maryland.
Screenwriter Stephen Schiff talks about writing the scripts for "True Crime" and "Deep End of the Ocean."He first established his reputation as a film critic for Vanity Fair and Fresh Air. He also wrote film essays and profiles for The New Yorker. He served an unprecedented three terms as chairman of the National Society of Film Critics. His first screenplay was for the most recent film adaptation of Lolita.
Composer John Barry. He's best known for his 11 James Bond scores, including "Goldfinger," and "Thunderball." Barry has won five Oscars: for the song and score of "Born Free," and for scores for "Lion in Winter," "Out of Africa," and "Dances with Wolves." He has a new CD compilation of his work, "John Barry: The Hits & The Misses" (Play it Again label).
