Government & Politics

Linguist Geoff Nunberg talks about corporate language.

TV critic David Bianculli reflects on how networks covered the presidential campaigns.

Satirist and columnist Harry Shearer. He is one of the creators of and performers in the mock-rock group Spinal Tap, and he is also the host of the syndicated NPR radio program, "Le Show" and a weekly commentator on ABC TV's World News Now. Shearer will give some of his impressions of the 1996 electoral campaign.

Recently, the Food and Drug Administration conditionally approved the sale of RU486, the French abortion pill, in the United States. The drug won't be available widely until mid-next year. Dr. Elizabeth Newhall works in a clinic in Portland, Oregon, where they have been testing the drug with their patients.

Nationally syndicated columnist and author Roger Simon. He's covered every presidential election for the past twenty years. He'll give us his impression of this year's election, the day after. Simon wrote the book "Road Show" about the 1988 presidential election. He's currently working on a book about this year's campaign which will be out next year.

Director of the Brookings Institution Center for Public Management, John Dilulio, Jr. He's also a professor at Princeton University and member of the Council on Crime in America. He's just co-authored a new book called Body Count, in which he and others warn that though violent crime by juveniles may be down now, the worse is yet to come. They blame violent crime not on economic poverty, guns, or the use of lack of prisons.

President and founder of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives Jerome Miller. When he was commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (1969-1972), he closed down the state reform schools and placed residents in community programs because of the brutal, inhumane way the residents were treated. His "experiment" turned out to be a success. He wrote about it in the book "Last One Over the Wall: The Massachusetts Experiment in Closing Reform Schools."

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the newest show by Steven Bocho productions, "Public Morals." It's a new spin on a cop show: a sitcom.

Documentary film producer Paul Stekler. He co-produced the new film series, "Vote for Me - Politics in America," a look at how American culture is reflected in local politics. This PBS series examines the various things candidates will do in their campaigns to be elected. Also interviewed was Maggie Lauterer, the subject of one "Vote for Me" episode. She's a former journalist and first-time candidate who ran for Congress in North Carolina, and lost.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the police drama "EZ Streets" which premieres on CBS Sunday Night. He says it's the best new show on television.

The sixty-year-old writer talks with Terry Gross about his new book "Angela's Ashes." The memoir recounts his childhood experience growing up in the slums of Ireland. McCourt lives in New York.

Journalist and author Edward Behr talks with Terry Gross about his new book "Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America." Behr has written ten other books including: "The Last Emperor," and "Hirohito: Behind the Myth."

Cochran talks with Terry Gross about his new book "Journey to Justice." The book is co-written by Los Angeles Times reporter Tim Rutten. Cochran discusses his role in winning Mr. Simpson a not-guilty verdict in the slayings of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

TV Critic David Bianculli previews the new season of the X-Files and the new show Millennium, both created by Chris Carter.

Oz is a veteran of the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and is a leading activist for peace between the Arabs and the Israelis. He's written his 11th novel, "Don't Call it Night." Oz received the German Publishers Peace Prize in 1992. Terry will also talk with him about the latest violence in the Middle East.

Director of Political Coverage for ABC News Hal Bruno. He'll talk with Terry about how the network is covering the upcoming election. As political director, Bruno works with the producers and correspondents for all ABC news programs including "World News Tonight," "Nightline" and "This Week With David Brinkley." He's been with ABC News since 1978.

Professor of Sociology Charles Moskos. He teaches at Northwestern University. He's written many articles on race relations in the military for the New York times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tiribune, and The New Republic. He's co-authored a new book about the U.S. Army's success at integration: "All That We Can Be: Black Leadership and Racial Integration the Army Way."

The Australian-born activist helped found and was the first president of the Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and the Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament (WAND). Her new autobiography "A Desperate Passion" is about her life, activism, and the effect of notoriety on her personal life. In 1985 PSR's umbrella affiliate, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, received the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Prize winner and activist talks with Terry about his newest book "The Open Sore of a Continent: A Personal Narrative of the Nigerian Crisis." It's been nearly a year since the Nigerian military government executed dissident writer Ken Saro-Wiwa. The killing sparked international protests that today has left Nigeria politically isolated. The events that led up to the execution in November 1995 mark Nigeria's decline from a thriving post-colonial state to its present military dictatorship.

Washington Post reporter Leon Dash won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for his eight part series "Rosa Lee's Story." He has turned that into the new book ,"Rosa Lee: A Mother and Her Family in Urban America." It shows Lee's day to day life in one of Washington D.C.'s poorest neighborhoods.