Government & Politics

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "The Napoleon of Crime" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Aug. 15) a biography of Adam Worth, the most famous criminal of the Victorian Age by London Times reporter Ben Macintyre.

Journalist Nate Thayer Reports on Cambodia's trial of Pol Pot. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Forensic psychologist Barbara Kirwin has examined hundreds of murderers. One of her most infamous patients was Joel Rifkin, the Long Island Serial Killer, who pleaded insanity. Her book is called "The Mad, the Bad and the Innocent: The Criminal Mind on Trial- Tales of a Forensic Psychologist." (Little, Brown, & Co.) (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Journalist Mike McAlary has reported on police in New York for the New York Post and has written several books on the subject as well. His latest project has been a novelization of the new movie "Cop Land" (Miramax Books/ Hyperion) which will be in theaters this summer. The movie, written by James Mangold, stars Sylvester Stallone and Robert DeNiro. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Former Massachusetts State Senator Joseph Timilty. In 1993 he was indicted for conspiracy to commit fraud in a condominium development project. He refused to plea bargain, was arrested and spent four months in prison. His new memoir is of those four months: "Prison Journal." (Northeast University Press)

Former prison warden Tekla Dennison Miller wrote a memoir called "The Warden Wore Pink" (Biddle Publishing Company) about her twenty year career as a warden of a men's maximum security prison. She describes the experience of women in corrections and reveals the reality of prison life.

Gavin De Becker is a violence prevention specialist. He deals with risk assessment for the U.S. Government and corporations. He also advises on domestic abuse, stalkers and workplace violence. He is author of the new book “The Gift of Fear” published by Little, Brown & Company. He heads a 46 member Los Angeles company called Gavin De Becker Inc.

Anthropologist Joseph Opala lived in Sierra Leone for the past 23 years. In May of this year, the Sierra Leone army staged a coupe and Opala thought he would be safe in the hotel where the Nigerian general was staying. Instead, the hotel became a target and caught on fire from the attacks. Opala had to help other people get out of the country and was eventually evacuated himself. He'll talk about his experience.

Journalist Stan Sesser. He is a former staff writer for the New Yorker and the senior fellow of the Human Rights Center at the University of California at Berkeley. Sesser has been following the events leading up to today's takeover of the British-ruled Hong Kong by the Chinese government.

Film critic John Powers reviews "Face Off," which stars Nicholas Cage and John Travolta.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new Clare Boothe Luce biography, "Rage for Fame."

Mary Anne Hunter, the president of the Fair Hill Burial Ground Corporation. A member of the Quaker community, Hunter led the Quaker community in the restoration of the burial ground, which had fallen into disrepair and had been taken over by drug dealers. North Philadelphia itself has the highest murder rate in the city. Community activists have sought to make Fair Hill a place where people can go safely to enjoy a clean, green space and to visit an historical landmark in which historically important people, such as abolitionist Lucretia Mott, are buried.

Teacher Ron Whitehorn has also involved himself and his students in the restoration of Fair Hill. A teacher at the Julia De Borgeos Middle School, Whithorn has tried to help urban children overcome the odds and add to their own community. He is joined by 12 year-old Sofia Gonzales, a student who has been active in the program. She is tired of the image of North Philadelphia as an urban wasteland and wants to prove that she lives in a neighborhood where people care.

Community activist Peaches Ramos has been working to rid the neighborhood of drug dealers. She lives across from Fair Hill and has led community efforts to clean it up and make it safe.

Steve Lopez was an award-winning columnist for the "Philadelphia Inquirer" for twelve years. In his novels, Lopez confronts political corruption and greed as he did in his columns. His new novel is called "The Sunday Macaroni Club" (Harcourt Brace and Company). Lopez is now Senior Writer-at-large for Time Magazine.

Magubane has been photographing life in South Africa for over 40 years, depicting the reality of life under Apartheid, including the Soweto uprising and the Sharpeville massacre. He was the first black South African to win a photography prize in his country. But he also endured 586 days in solitary confinement, six more months in jail, and five years of "banning" in which he wasn't allowed to work. He's published 11 books.

Earlier this year, 75 year old South Carolina resident Mary Moran had the unique opportunity to go to Sierra Leone with other members of her family. Moran's mother had taught her a song in an African language which had been in the family since an ancestor had been brought over from Africa two hundred years ago. In 1989, through the efforts of anthropologist Joseph Opala and ethnomusicologist Cynthia Schmidt, it had been discovered that this song, composed in the Mende language, was still sung by certain villagers in Sierra Leone.

Alibhai-Brown describes her family's experience as Asians in Uganda in her autobiography "No Place Like Home." (Virago Press) Alibhai-Brown's family, like many others, was forced out of East Africa by president and military leader Idi Amin, twenty-five years ago. Alibhai-Brown moved to England and earned an degree in English at Oxford. Her freelance work is now published in the "Guardian," the "Observer," and the "Independent."

Priscilla Hayner, a Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute, New School for Social Research, has been studying truth commissions. She is the author of numerous articles on the subject and is now working to complete a book. She will discuss the importance of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Author Mark Behr talks about his experience spying on his peers as a college student for the South African government and his subsequent public confession of his actions. His novel "The Smell of Apples" (Picador USA) is the story of a young boy growing up in South Africa at the time of apartheid and it explains how a person could be convinced that apartheid is a morally legitimate form of government.