Biography & Memoir

White South African writer Rian (rhymes with "neon") Malan. Malan is an Afrikaner, descendent of a family that settled in South Africa over three hundred years ago, and Malan's great-uncle was the chief architect of the Apartheid system. Malan only realized the horror of Apartheid after he became a crime reporter for a Johannesburg paper. What he learned led him to leave South Africa, and spend the next eight years in exile.

Writer Le Anne Schreiber. A successful journalist at the New York Times, and their first woman sports editor, Schreiber left her career at the Times to go live in rural upstate New York. Then she found out her mother had cancer and was given only a few months to live. Schreiber kept a journal during the period of her mother's illness until she died. This journal served as the basis for Schreiber's memoir about her mother's death, "Midstream: The Story of a Mother's Death and a Daughter's Renewal."

Art historian Steven Naifeh (NAY-fay) and writer Gregory White Smith. They've co-written a biography of painter Jackson Pollock. The pair spent eight years and conducted more than 2-thousand interviews to understand the life and work of one of the 20th century's most influential artists. (Interview by Sedge Thomson)

Police artist Douglas P. Hinkle. Hinkle spent seven years as a forensic artist with the Athens, Ohio police department. He's written a book, called "Faces of Crime," about his experiences, and about the inexact science of obtaining criminal descriptions. (Interview by Sedge Thomson)

Journalist Eddy L. Harris. Harris' book, "Mississippi Solo," is Harris' chronicle of his 23-hundred mile journey down the Mississippi by canoe. This was by no means an idyllic voyage for a black man traveling alone, and Harris faced racism and the threat of violence, in addition to the normal problems of such a lengthy journey. (Interview by Sedge Thomson)

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Goodnight!," by Soviet novelist Andrei Sinyavsky (AHN-dray Sin-YAV-skee). Sinyavsky was the first writer in the Soviet union to be convicted for the opinions voiced by his imaginary characters, and the book straddles the line between fiction and non-fiction as it tells the story of Sinyavsky and his alter ego/pseudonym, Abram Tertz.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Near the Magician: A Memoir of My Father, Edmund Wilson." It's a memoir of the great 20th century critic written by his daughter, Rosalind Baker Wilson.

Author Rick Bass. His new book, Oil Notes, is a journal based on Bass' experience as a geologist looking for oil throughout the American West. Bass has also written short stories, essays, and environmental journalism. (Rebroadcast. Original date 7/11/89).

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Isara" (ih-sare-ah) Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka's (wolly Soy-enk-ka) memoir about his father.

Jazz vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. He introduced the vibes to the jazz world and remains one of it's undisputed masters. In the 1930's he played with the Benny Goodman's band -- being one of the first blacks to play with a white band. He's just written an autobiography, "Hamp." Al Capone and Louis Armstrong also play surprising roles in his life.

Former first lady Nancy Reagan. When the Reagans entered the White House, Nancy was a relatively anonymous first lady, best known for her strident "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign. But toward the end of President Reagan's second term, it became more apparent that Nancy Reagan's role in running the government was much larger than imagined, and it turns out many of her and her husband's decisions were influenced by a California astrologer. Nancy Reagan has a new memoir, called "My Turn."

Anthropologist Richard Nelson. His new book, "The Island Within," is an account of Nelson's explorations of an uninhabited island near his Pacific Northwest home.

Veteran arms negotiator and diplomat Paul Nitze. Nitze has spent nearly 50 years at the highest levels of this country's foreign policy, and advised every President from F. D. R. to George Bush. He helped form the Marshall Plan after World War Two, dealt with the Berlin War and Cuban Missile crises, and engaged in the famous "walk in the woods," during the U-S/Soviet INF treaty negotiations. Nitze has just written a memoir of his public life, called "From Hiroshima to Glasnost."

Former U.S. senator James G. Abourezk (AB-er-esk). In his new memoir, "Advise and Dissent," Abourezk tells of Arab-American heritage, his coming of age in the North Dakota Indian country, his early political days, his 8 years in Congress, and his decision not to run for re-election in 1979. These days Abourezk is an attorney in Washington, D.C., and is National Chairman of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Animation director Chuck Jones talking About the Road Runner, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Pepe Lepew.

Travel writer and essayist Jan Morris. In her 1974 autobiography "Conundrum," Morris talked about her search for sexual identity and her sex change operation. The sequel, "Pleasures of a Tangled Life," is a collection of personal essays describing the experiences and sensations that have brought Morris pleasure over the years.

Computer expert Clifford Stoll. When Stoll discovered a 75-cent accounting discrepancy in his work as systems manager at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, he thought the intruder was a student prankster. But after tracking the hacker for almost a year, Stoll discovered an international spy ring, operating out of West Germany, which sold the data it collected to the Soviets. This is the subject of his book "The Cuckoo's Egg".

Book critic John Leonard reviews a new biography of Allan Ginsberg.

NFL referee Jerry Markbreit (MARK-brite). His book, Born To Referee, is an inside look at the world of football through the eyes of a referee. Markbreit began calling the shots at high school games and made his way up to the pros.

John Gerassi (jer-assy), former journalist, currently a professor of political science at Queens College of the City University of New York. He's written an unusual biography of Jean-Paul Sartre. Gerassi is Sartre's official biographer and was a personal friend, yet he is neither totally objective or uncritical. The book includes Gerassi's own observations as well as material culled from over 100 hours of interviews with Sartre and complete access to Sartre's papers.