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Writer William Vollmann Brings History Alive through Fiction

Vollmann's latest book, "Fathers and Crows," is a historical novel that's part of his Seven Dreams Series. It's about "the spiritually charged wars of belief" between the Iriquois and French Jesuits in Canada from the 16th to 18th centuries. He's also written about Afghanistan and prostitution.

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Other segments from the episode on August 14, 1992

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, August 14, 1992: Interview with Tom Brokaw; Commentary on Caetano Veloso; Interview with William Vollman; Review of the film "Single White Female."
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06:09

A Primer on Caetano Veloso

World music critic Milo Miles surveys the work of Caetano Veloso. Miles says that, of the musician's many albums, each features both knockout songs and slow bores. But that doesn't diminish from his cultural impact -- and ever improving output.

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Philip Roth: On Writing, Aging And 'Nemesis.'

Roth, who has been writing novels for more than a half-century, explains how he comes up with his ideas — and why he continues to write every day. In his latest work, Nemesis, he imagines a fictional polio outbreak set in his hometown of Newark, N.J., during the 1940s.

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Journalist Turned Novelist Ward Just.

Writer Ward Just. Just's new novel, "The Translator," is a thriller set in Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Just has written nearly a dozen other novels, including "Jack Gance" and "The American Ambassador." Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Just was a journalist, covering the Vietnam War for Newsweek. ("The translator" is published by Houghton Mifflin). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

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Novelist E.L. Doctorow Reimagines the Past

The author's books follow the lives of fictional characters in real historical situations. Several of them have been made into films. Doctorow's newest novel, Billy Bathgate, takes place in the criminal underworld of early-twentieth-century New York City.

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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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This fake 'Jury Duty' really put James Marsden's improv chops on trial

In the series Jury Duty, a solar contractor named Ronald Gladden has agreed to participate in what he believes is a documentary about the experience of being a juror--but what Ronald doesn't know is that the whole thing is fake.

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