Paulsen is a prolific writer of children's books. He began writing over twenty years ago, when he was coming to terms with his alcoholism. For many years he and his wife lived in poverty in rural Minnesota. This changed when Paulsen won the Newberry Award for children's fiction in 1985 with "Dogsong." His most recent adult book is "Clabbered Dirt, Sweet Grass." It celebrates American farm life and recounts the activities of a multigenerational farm family.
Our rock historian Ed Ward has a profile of Sleepy John Estes. He was one of the trailblazers whose songs become American classics. After years of subsistence farming following his initial success, Estes was rediscovered, and made a good living playing in and around Chicago.
The ACLU recently announced its Arts Censors of the Year, a list that includes acting NEA chair Anne-Imelda Radice, Rev. Donald Wildmon, Oliver North, feminist Catherine MacKinnon, and the Duval County, Florida Public School District. We talk with Marjorie Heins, the director of the ACLU's Arts Censorship Project, about what earned the aforementioned this dubious distinction.
The novelist is best known for his books for adults--A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, The Crown of Columbus, which he wrote with his wife, writer Louise Erdrich, and The Broken Cord, about his adopted son's struggle with fetal alcohol syndrome. His latest book, Morning Girl, is for children. It's about the Taino, the 15th century Native Americans Columbus first encountered
Maureen Corrigan, who is a lapsed Catholic herself, reviews the book Catholic Girls, a collection of essays by other lapsed Catholics. The writers' feelings about being raised Catholic range from nostalgic to angry.
TV critic David Bianculli reviews a new documentary about the Beatles' classic album on the Disney Channel. He says it covers familiar ground -- but producer George Martin's segments breaking down each song's elements make it worth checking out.
Foley directed the movies "Reckless" and "After Dark, My Sweet." His newest film is the screen adaptation of David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross." The stage version won a 1984 Pulitzer Prize. The movie, starring Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon and Ed Harris, deals with men working in a real estate office who, because of the bad economy, must work in cut-throat conditions in order to survive.
Williams is a a writer and naturalist-in-residence at the Utah Museum of Natural History. Born a Utah Mormon, Williams has written several books about the environment and the West, such as "Coyote's Canyon" and "Earthly Messengers." Her most recent book, "Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place," concerns her mother's unsuccessful battle with cancer and the flooding of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge by the rising Great Salt Lake waters.
Stephen Schiff reviews "Hero," directed by Stephen Frears and starring Dustin Hoffman, Joan Cusack, Geena Davis, and Andy Garcia. It's got a twisting plot reminiscent of films from the 1930s and '40s.
After nine years of stand-up comedy, Reynolds wrote a one-man show based on his life, called "Only the Truth is Funny." After ten months of sold-out shows, he was discovered by the agents to Woody Allen and David Letterman. He then moved his show to New York City. His new book is based on his solo show.
Pekarkova emigrated from Czechoslovakia in 1985. She has worked in New York as a cab driver for four years. Her novel "Truck Stop Rainbows: A Road Novel," was published this year. lt deals with a rebellious young woman in communist Czechoslovakia who hitchhikes around the country, trying to raise money to buy a wheelchair for her invalid friend.
Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the song "Read My Lips" by the group A Thousand Points of Night -- which is actually musician and producer Don Was. The song samples President Bush making a number of contradictory statements.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the new CD, Tippecanoe & Tyler Too! It features political ballads and campaign songs from earlier in America's history.
Kirn was raised a Mormon on a Minnesota farm, and has been an editor for "Vanity Fair" and "Spy" magazines. His first collection of stories, "My Hard Bargain," was published two years ago. His most recent book, "She Needed Me," is about religion and redemption.
Professor of Political Science John Schwarz of the University of Arizona has just co-written a new book called "The Forgotten Americans: Thirty Million Working Poor in the Land of Opportunity." The authors challenge conventional wisdom: they found that the working poor are neither uneducated nor unskilled, that they encompass all age, ethnic, and racial groups in the U.S.; and that the situation can't necessarily be blamed on declines in domestic manufacturing or decreases in industrial productivity.
John Leonard reviews Ellroy's "White Jazz," the final installment of his tetralogy of crime novels. The story reveals the darkest elements of Los Angeles life in the 1950s.
Schwarzkopf commanded American troops in the Mideast during the Gulf War. He's got a new memoir, "It Doesn't Take a Hero," in which he claims "hawks" in the Bush administration pushed to start a land offensive against Iraq before troops were ready and diplomatic efforts were exhausted.
A liberal in his early years, Will joined the conservative camp while studying at Oxford. He is regarded as one the most intellectual conservative thinkers in his field. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1977. His most recent book is "Restoration," which argues that term limits for Congresspeople could improve the legislative process and discourage a divided government.
English actress Helen Mirren. She stars in "Prime Suspect," a three-part thriller premiering this week on public television's "Mystery" series. Mirren has preformed with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the films "The Comfort of Strangers," "Age of Consent," "The Long Good Friday," and "Excalibur."
