Spider specialist at London's Natural History Museum Paul Hillyard. His 1994 book is "The Book of the Spider: From Arachnophobia to The Love of Spiders" (Random House)
Henry Foster Jr., M.D. is Senior Advisor to President Clinton on Teen Pregnancy Reduction and Youth Issues. He founded the I Have a Future program to encourage at-risk youth to stay in school, and to build self-esteem. Foster was nominated by Clinton to be U.S. Surgeon General but his nomination was withdrawn because of controversy over Foster's record on abortion. He has a new book, "Make a Difference." (Scribner)
Commissioner for New York's Child Welfare Agency, the Administration for Children's Services Nicholas Scoppetta. He recently called for an expansion of foster care for the city's children, including "neighborhood based" care. Scoppetta understands well the struggles of children in foster care. As a five year old boy, he was taken out of his home in New York's Little Italy for neglect, and lived in several foster institutions for six years.
Poet and undertaker Thomas Lynch has combined his two occupations to produce his new book, "The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade." (W. W. Norton) The work is a collection of essays whose topics range from the scheme to use cemeteries as golf courses to poignant stories from his twenty year career as an undertaker. Lynch says he thinks that the meaning of life is connected to death, and his book primarily discusses the impact of the dead on the living.
Television producer Tom Fontana has collaborated with Barry Levinson on the critically acclaimed drama "Homicide: Life on the Street." The team is now premiering a new adult drama for HBO, called "Oz," which FONTANA also wrote. "Oz" is a realistic look at an experimental unit of a maximum security prison whose aim is to rehabilitate its inmates. Each episode focuses on a specific theme, such as sex or capital punishment, and how it affects the characters. "Oz" debuted on July 12 on HBO and can be seen on Mondays at 11 PM ET.
Former prison warden Tekla Dennison Miller wrote a memoir called "The Warden Wore Pink" (Biddle Publishing Company) about her twenty year career as a warden of a men's maximum security prison. She describes the experience of women in corrections and reveals the reality of prison life.
Rock historian Ed Ward remembers soul singer and songwriter Paul Kelly. He had one big hit in 1970. (Warner brothers released a compilation of his recordings in 1996)
Guitarist Link Wray. He's credited with inventing the "power chord" in the 1950s. His first big recording hit was "Rumble" an instrumental piece that he wrote. When he went to record it in the studio he wasn't happy with the sound on the amp, so he pierced holes in the speaker cone to create additional distortion. Later guitarists like Pete Townshend and John Lennon were influenced by his work. Wray's other hits include "Rawhide" and the Batman Theme. Rhino records released "Rumble: the Best of Link Wray" in 1993.
Mystery writer Donald Westlake has written 70 novels and screenplays (including "The Grifters" and "The Stepfather"). He is known for his novels which combine laughs with thrills, and which show equally incompetent criminals and law enforcement. His recurring characters include a bungling burglar named John Dortmunder, and a gun-for-hire named Parker. Westlake has also written novels that parody the world of publishing and supermarket tabloids. His latest novel is a crime novel about downsizing, "The Ax" (Mysterious Press/Warner Books)
Eric Foner is the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University. He has published numerous works on the American Reconstruction after the civil war, a period whose problems with promoting racial and economic justice in a diverse country remain relevant to America today.
Writer Cari Beauchamp is the author of the new book, "Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood" (Scribner). She was the highest paid writer, male or female, for three decades, and was also the first woman to win an Academy Award twice for screenwriting. Her stories were directed by George Cukor, John ford, and King Vidor. She was married four times (she has said, "I spent my life searching for a man to look up to without lying down.") But her friendships with women in Hollywood were legendary.
Artist William Christenberry is known for his portrayal of the American South in his work. He has spent 35 years rendering images of the architecture and the landscape of his birthplace, rural Alabama, in drawings, sculptures, and photographs. His art deals with Southern heritage with both affection and aversion.
Director John Woo grew up in Hong Kong and directed numerous films there before coming to Hollywood. He has established himself as a master of action thrillers and is known for his elaborate action scenes. Woo also directed the American films Broken Arrow, and Hard Target." His new blockbuster film starring John Travolta and Nicholas Cage is called "Face/Off." It's in theaters now.
