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The "Detective of Death."

Medical Examiner and "detective of death", Michael Baden, the former Chief Medical Examiner of New York City. Baden argues that there is a national crisis in forensic medicine. He writes that the search for scientific truth is often sullied by the pressures of expediency and politics. His memoir is "Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner" (Ivy Books).

22:22
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Other segments from the episode on January 12, 1994

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, January 12, 1994: Interview with Michael Baden; Interview with Timothy Garton Ash; Review of the album "I Puritani."
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14:56

Former Soviet Block Countries and NATO.

British Journalist Timothy Garton Ash. George Kennan has compared Garton Ash's powers of political observation to those of de Toqueville's. ASH's beat is Eastern Europe, and he has been on hand to chronicle the popular disavowal of Communism there (Garton Ash's classic account of the Prague Uprising in 1986 is "The Magic Lantern"). His most recent book concerns the German Re-Unification, and what Germany's role will be in the new Europe: "In Europe's Name: Germany & the Divided Continent" (Random House).

Interview
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05:13

Rare Recording of Pavarotti and Sills.

Classical Music critic Lloyd Schwartz on a live performance of Bellini's opera "I Puritani" which features Luciano Pavarotti and Beverly Sills. (Legato Classics)

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22:36

Michael M. Baden Discusses the Insights to be Gleaned from Autopsies.

Medical examiner Michael M. Baden. In his new book, Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner, Baden, the former chief medical examiner for New York City, reviews the record of famous autopsies of the last 30 years as evidence of a pattern of bungled investigations of unnatural deaths. Baden, who has been a medical examiner for 30 years, views his profession as a historian or anthropologist who revisits ruined or questionable autopsies in the hopes of correcting history. Baden is now director of the forensic sciences unit for the New York State Police.

Interview
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35:29

Coroner's Tale: Naming the Dead in Louisiana

Louisiana State medical examiner Louis Cataldie was the coroner for the East Baton Rouge Parish in Louisiana from 1998 to 2003. When Hurricane Katrina hit, Dr. Cataldie helped to evacuate patients and set up field hospitals. He also aided the injured and investigated deaths.

Interview

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Daughter of Warhol star looks back on a bohemian childhood in the Chelsea Hotel

Alexandra Auder's mother, Viva, was one of Andy Warhol's muses. Growing up in Warhol's orbit meant Auder's childhood was an unusual one. For several years, Viva, Auder and Auder's younger half-sister, Gaby Hoffmann, lived in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan. It was was famous for having been home to Leonard Cohen, Dylan Thomas, Virgil Thomson, and Bob Dylan, among others.

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