Government & Politics

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg has some thoughts on the literal meaning of "the body politic."

Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh. In his new book, "The Samson Option," Hersh contends that Israel has had a secret nuclear arms program for years, had those arms aimed at the Soviet Union for years, and was ready to fire those weapons at Arab capitals during the recent Gulf war. Hersh's previous book, "The Target Is Destroyed," looked at what really happened when Korean Airlines flight 007 was shot down near Japan.

Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela. Their new book, "A Nation of Enemies," examines how Chile, , a country with a long history of democracy, slipped into more than a decade of dictatorship under Augusto Pinochet. Constable is Latin America correspondent for the Boston Globe, Valenzuela is director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University. (The book's published by W.W. Norton).

Editor Ze'ev Chafets (SHAY-fetz) of "The Jerusalem Report," a news magazine published in Israel. He's also the author of "Inherit the Mob," a comic novel about a journalist lured into the Jewish Mafia, baited by a large inheritance. Chafets will talk to Terry about his own life as an American living in Israel and about the upcoming peace talks.

Andrew Whitley, the executive director of the human rights organization, Middle-East Watch. Their new book, "Syria Unmasked," documents the brutal human rights violations that have occurred under the rule of Hafez Asad. (It's published by Yale University Press).

News anchor Dan Rather. As anchor of the CBS Evening News, Rather's probably the most visible journalist in America. He has a new memoir called "I Remember." (It's published by Little, Brown).

We take one last look back at the Clarence Thomas confirmation process, and look ahead to what future confirmation's may be like, with law professor David Kairys (pronounced "carries"). Kairys has a long history in personal freedom and civil rights issues.

Fresh Air producer Amy Salit talks with Wall Street Journal reporter James B. Stewart. Stewart won the Pulitzer Prize for his work on the stock market crash and the inside trading scandal. He's expanded on the insider trading story in his new book, "Den of Thieves." (Published by Simon and Schuster).

We get several views on this weekend's Clarence Thomas proceedings...
First, feminist and Time magazine essayist Barbara Ehrenreich (air-rike) gives her views.

Then Terry talks with Wall Street Journal reporter Michel McQueen about what African Americans think of the hearings.

Finally, we talk with Philadelphia's two editorial cartoonists: Tony Auth (rhymes with "broth") of the
Philadelphia Inquirer, and Signe Wilkinson of the Philadelphia Daily News.

Doctor Jonathan Mann, the director of the 1992 International Conference on AIDS. That conference has already become controversial, because the site of the conference was moved from Boston to Amsterdam. That decision was made because of the U.S. government did not give assurance that people with AIDS would be able to enter the U.S. to attend the conference. Mann is a professor of epidemiology and international health at the Harvard School of Public Health, and the former head of the World Health Organization's Global Program on AIDS.

We discuss Tibet with Robert Thurman. Thurman is professor of Indo-Tibetian Buddist Studies at Columbia University, the organizer of the Year of Tibet activities, and the first American to be ordained a Tibetian Buddist monk by the Dalai Lama.

Writer and political essayist Peter Schneider. Schneider's new book, "The German Comedy: Scenes of Life After the Wall," looks at some of the ironic and funny results of the unification of the Germanys. (It's published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux).

Terry Gross interviews Israeli scholar Mark Heller and Palestinian scholar Sari Nusseibeh ("sorry nah-seb-bay"). The pair spent months debating a way to achieve lasting peace. The plan they came up with is the subject of their new book, "No Trumpets, No Drums: A Two-State Settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." (It's published by Hill and Wang).

Author Norman Mailer. Over the past four decades Mailer's evolved into one of America's most important, and at times most flamboyant, writers. He has a new novel, titled "Harlot's Ghost".

Journalist David A. Vise, deputy financial editor for "The Washington Post." He's the co-author of "Eagle on the Street," the story of the Securities and Exchange Commission's influence on Wall Street and how it contributed to the 1987 crash. The book is based on their Pulitzer Prize-winning series that ran in "The Washington Post." (published by Scribner's).

We check in again with journalist Robert Cullen. He's the former Moscow correspondent Newsweek, and he writes regularly on Eastern Europe for "The Atlantic," and the "New Yorker." CULLEN will talk with Terry about his recent trip to Moscow after the coup and he'll update us on the state of the Soviet military. His new book is "Twilight of Empire: Inside the Crumbling Soviet Bloc."

Journalist and Associate Professor at Hampshire College Michael Klare. He directs the Five-College Program in Peace and World Security Studies. He talks to Terry about Bush's recent call for cutting back of our nuclear arsenal in eastern Europe. Klare says, though, it isn't a sign of disarmament, it's the beginning of a re-armament to fight the wars of the post cold-war era. His 1990 article, "Who's Arming Who?" warned of the growing global violence deriving from the arms trade.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Norman Mailer's new novel, "Harlot's Ghost."

The U.S. Senate begins debate today on confirmation of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court; and Senator Biden has called for hearings examining the confirmation process. Duke University Law Professor Walter Dellinger gives his critique of the confirmation process.

Journalist Molly Ivins from Austin, Texas. She calls herself a "dripping fangs liberal," and believes that by being objective journalists take all the color out of human affairs. She says, "politics ought to be covered the way sports is, as a celebration of heroes and villians." She's taken on Ron and Nancy Reagan, George Bush, and the "bubbas" in the Texas Legislature.