Primus is also an actor, and appeared in the TV-show, "Cagney & Lacey," and the films "Absence of Malice," and "New York, New York." He's taught acting and directed for the stage. His first film is a Hollywood satire, "Mistress," about a man trying to get his film made. The idea of it came from his own experience in Hollywood. It stars Robert DeNiro, Eli Wallach, and Laurie Metcalf. It's also the first film to be produced out of De Niro's new production company, Tribeca.
Scott Lively is the Director of Communications for the Oregon Citizen's Alliance, the group that brought an anti-gay initiative to the ballot, known as Ballot Mesaure 9. It would amend the Oregon constitution to outlaw "promoting, encouraging or facilitating homosexuality." Terry also talks to Peggy Norman, who manages the campaign against the measure, called "No on 9."
Robert Knight, director of the Cultural Studies Project at the Family Research Council (FRC), a Washington-based lobbying group that concerns itself with family values. He says that the two-parent heterosexual family is the foundation of civilization, and that anything else is dysfunctional (that includes homosexuals and one-parent households).
Kremlin insider Georgi Arbatov. His new book, "The System," is a memoir of his long political career as Director of the Institute for the USA and Canada, the Soviet Union's most influential foreign policy think-tank. He was not a dissident or an enemy of the system; rather, he worked within it. His book begins with his World War II career, chronicles the repressive Stalin era, the Cold War, the August 1991 coup attempt and its aftermath. He's been an adviser to every Soviet leader from Khruschev to Yeltsin.
Jamieson is the Dean of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. She's been called "the leading academic authority on politics and advertising" by the New York Times. She'll talk about negative campaigning by both parties, and give her take on the recent conventions. Her new book, "Dirty Politics: Deception, Distraction and Democracy," is about how TV ads and speeches shape contemporary campaigns.
TV critic David Bianculli considers network TV's new trend of premiering new shows up to a month earlier than they used to. That, combined with the constant schedule changes, is contributing to a changing television landscape.
Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews "Motor City" by Bill Morris. It's his first book, and deals with the auto industry and a whole host of cultural figures from the 1950s.
For the past 15 years, Arendsen has played with the amateur women's softball team, the Raybestos Brakettes. They've just won their third national championship in a row.
Liebman shocked his political associates and friends when he announced in 1990 that he was gay. His new autobiography is "Coming Out Conservative." Liebman joins Fresh Air to talk about his frustration with his party's family values platform, which he says is just a code word for homophobia.
Policy Director for Pat Buchanan, Terry Jeffrey. He'll talk to guest host Marty Moss-Coane about the conservative agenda that Pat Buchanan and other conservatives are putting forth, and about the religious and cultural war Buchanan spoke about Monday night at the GOP convention.
Political consultant Samuel Popkin. He's an advisor to the Clinton campaign and author of "The Reasoning Voter," a book about how voters chose candidates. He'll talk with Marty about the importance of family values on the campaign, as well as the role of the women in the political process.
Doyle's first book, "The Commitments," was published in 1987 and made into the hit movie of the same name, about a working-class Dublin band with soul. His inspiration for the book were the students he teaches in a north Dublin school. Doyle has continued writing about Barrytown, a mythic suburb of Dublin, and about the Rabbitte family, which has appeared in several of his novels.
Sean and Judy Barron. This son and mother have written a book together, "There's A Boy in Here," about Sean's escape from autism. Sean tells of the rigid rules he developed to control the world which had been terrifying to him since birth. Sean's parents refused to let him withdraw, and after years of interrupting his isolation, he gradually emerged. Sean has graduated from college and is pursuing a degree in occupational therapy.
Simic won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990. He edited a new anthology of Serbian poetry called "The Horse Has Six Legs." He came to the U.S. when he was 15. He'll talk to guest host Marty Moss-Coane about poetry, growing up in Yugoslavia, andt what it's like to witness the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Dafoe was once pigeonholed as a villain, but he's since earned a wide variety of film roles. He's starred in "Platoon," "The Last Temptation of Christ," "Mississippi Burning," and "Wild at Heart." He's currently starring in the new Paul Schrader film, "Light Sleeper," along with Susan Sarandon.
