Writer and director Paul Schrader directed the new film Autofocus, about the life of actor Bob Crane. Schrader wrote the screenplays for a number of classic films, including Taxi Driver and Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese directed). Films he directed include Affliction, The Comfort of Strangers and American Gigolo.
We remember historian Stephen Ambrose who died Sunday at the age of 66. A college professor, Ambrose became a best-selling author late in life with his book D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II. He wrote several military history volumes including Citizen Soldiers. He was consultant for the film Saving Private Ryan and his book Band of Brothers was the basis of the 2001 HBO mini-series. Ambrose also wrote Undaunted Courage about the Lewis and Clark exploration to the West. This interview first aired Aug. 15, 2001.
Film critic John Powers reviews Punch Drunk Love, the new film from writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson. Anderson's previous films include Magnolia and Boogie Nights.
T.V. critic David Bianculli reviews two made-for-TV movies airing this Sunday: Gleason, on CBS, about the life of comic Jackie Gleason, and Showtimes Bang, Bang, Youre Dead, a one-act play that recalls the dramatic programming of TVs early days.
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.
