We remember Anthony Mazzocchi, who died Saturday at the age of 76. He was a lifelong labor activist and a longtime union official who led the drive for the Occupational Safety and Health Act. In 1996, he founded the Labor Party in the United States. This interview first aired July 26, 1995.
Investigative journalist Robert Bryce. His new book is Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego and the Death of Enron. It's a gossipy, irreverent analysis of the Enron scandal. Bryce has written about Enron since 1997.
Former White House Director of Counterterrorism Daniel Benjamin has co-authored the book The Age of Sacred Terror with Steven Simon, the former Senior Director of Counterterrorism. Benjamin and Simon began writing the book more than a year before Sept. 11, 2001. As director and co-director at the National Security Council, they saw the rise of al Qaeda. In the book, they warn about the new generation of terrorists and set out to understand the enemy. Additionally, the authors wish to explain how we let our defenses down and what to expect in the future.
Journalist Jonathan Landay co-wrote an article in yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer called "Officials' Private Doubts on Iraq War." Landay and his co-writers say that "Intelligence professionals and diplomats... privately have deep misgivings about the administration's double-time march toward war." The report says the White House is spreading misinformation that includes distortion of Saddam Hussein's ties with al Qaeda, overstatement of international support, and understatement of repercussions of a Middle East war.
Pulitzer Prize-winning economist Daniel Yergin will talk about the changing economy of oil in light of the possibility of war with Iraq. Yergin's 1991 book, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power, is highly acclaimed. He is president of Cambridge Energy Research Associates. His new book, co-authored with Dr. Joseph A. Stanislaw, is The Commanding Heights: The Battle Between Government and the Marketplace that is Remaking the Modern World. The Prize was adapted into an eight-hour PBS/BBC series.
Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller, authors of the new book, Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live (Little Brown and Company). The book is a history of the late-night comedy mainstay, which first aired in 1975. Shales and Miller interviewed the shows' producers, writers, cast members and guest hosts, including Lorne Michaels, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Al Franken, Will Farrell, Tom Hanks and many more. Tom Shales is the Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic of The Washington Post and a movie critic for NPR's Morning Edition.
Journalist Richard Preston is the author of the best seller The Hot Zone, about the ebola virus. His new book, The Demon in the Freezer, is about the smallpox virus and the scientists at the CDC who are working with live smallpox in order to develop a drug that could fight it — should the virus be used in biological warfare. The smallpox virus was eradicated from humans in 1979. Now it can be found — officially — in two high-security freezers: one at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, and at Vector Institute in Siberia.
Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews It's all Relative: Tillis Sings Tillis, an album of country classic songs written by Mel Tillis and performed by his daughter, Pam Tillis.
He's written a new biography of blues legend Muddy Waters who is credited with inventing electric blues and creating the template for the rock and roll band. The book is Can't Be Statisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters. (Little, Brown). Gordon also produced and directed an accompanying documentary of the same name which will be shown as part of the PBS American Masters series next year. Gordon's other books are It Came From Memphis, and The King on the Road. He also produced the Al Green box set, Anthology.
Paul Feig is the creator of the now-defunct TV comedy series Freaks and Geeks. He's just written a new book Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence (paperback, Three Rivers Press). Feig was an actor before moving on to writing for TV and film.
Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices (Pantheon) a collection of stories of real women in China taken from a call-in talk show in China by journalist Xinran. Xinran was host of the talk show.
Iraq expert Kenneth Pollack's new book is The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq. He has studied Iraq and Saddam Hussein for 15 years. During the Clinton administration, Pollack served as director for Gulf affairs at the National Security Council, where he was one of the people responsible for implementing U.S. policy toward Iraq. Before that, he was a Persian Gulf military analyst in the CIA. In 1990, Pollack was among the very few analysts to predict the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. He is also the author of Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991.
Linguist Geoff Nunberg talks about presidents and language, and the pronunciation of nuclear as "nucular," a mispronunciation that dates all the way back to the era of Eisenhower. The underlying cognitive causes and social implications are considered.
Actor Joe Pantoliano plays Ralph Cifaretto on the HBO series The Sopranos. He has appeared in more than 60 films, including Memento, The Matrix and The Fugitive. He has a new memoir called Who's Sorry Now: The True Story of a Stand-Up Guy (E. P. Dutton). Pantoliano talks about growing up in Hoboken, N.J., and his acting career.
Reeve died Sunday of heart failure at the age of 52. He was best known for starring in the Superman film series. A 1995 horseback riding accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. After the accident, he became a worldwide advocate for spinal cord research. This interview was originally broadcast on Sept. 30, 2002.
Actor Christopher Reeve. A 1995 horseback riding accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. Recently, with intensive physical therapy, Reeve announced that he has regained motion and feeling in his fingers and in other parts of his body. This is incredible news to scientists, who assumed he would never move again. Reeve was totally paralyzed for five years. Then, one morning two years ago, he found he could move one finger. Reeve is still dependent on a wheelchair and respirator. He's just written a book, Nothing Is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life.
His new film Pipe Dream opens in New York this week. Donovan has also co-starred in The Opposite of Sex, Insomnia, and many films with the independent director, Hal Hartley.
