Places & Travel

Peebles is the son of the legendary director Melvin Van Peebles. His film New Jack City is set in Harlem, and features a grim, gritty, and violent world of crack dealers and users.

We explore the roots of the Israeli-Arab problem with Charles Smith, a professor of Middle Eastern history at San Diego State University, and the author of "Palestine and the Arab Israeli Conflict."

Professor Bill Beeman of Brown University discusses the historical and cultural background of the Kurdish population in the Middle East. Without a country of their own, the Kurds have taken what support they can get from other players in the region. With the Gulf War over, there has been a Kurdish uprising in Iraq, which threatens Saddam Hussein.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Graham Parker's new album, "Struck by Lightning." He says it breaks the singer's streak of flops.

Joe Stork discusses how the region's political powers have shifted since conflict in Iraq has ended.

Book critic John Leonard reviews a new Pablo Picasso biography, by the artist's friend John Richardson. The book reveals how Picasso was often cruel to women, deeply apolitical, and overworked.

Two interviews in this segment. First, Charles Tripp discusses the the stability of Saddam's government, and the current civil war in Iraq. Tripp's a lecturer at. the University of London. Next, we discuss Syria's role in the post-war Middle East with Patrick Seale, the author of "Asad: The Struggle for The Middle East."

Professor R.K. Ramazani is a professor of Government and Foreign affairs at the University of Virginia. He'll discuss the current uprisings in Southern Iraq, and whether the U.S. should worry about the rebels being backed by Iran.

Terry talks again to some of the our guests from earlier in the Gulf coverage. Two interviews in this segment:

Iraq emigre Laith Kubba, the leader of the London based group, "The Conference on Human Rights and Democracy in Iraq." He talks with Terry about planning for democracy in a post-Saddam era.

Now that combat has ended in the Persian Gulf, Fred Halliday, professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics speculates on the fate of Iraq's dictator, who, as of now, remains in power.

Amichai is one of his country's leading poets. Born in Europe, he fought in the Israeli army through many of the country's conflicts. He contemplates war in his new collection of poetry, "Even a Fist was Once an Open Palm with Fingers."

Book critic John Leonard reviews the author's newest book, about his journey through Yemen. Leonard appreciates the window into Middle Eastern culture, which the West often overlooks.

Terry talks with the great violinist Isaac Stern. Last week he was performing a concert in Israel when the sirens went off signaling a missle attack. The audience put on their gas masks, and the orchestra left the stage. But Stern stayed and continued to play.

Fred Halliday, professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics, discusses some possible motives for the Soviet Union's attempt to find an end to the Gulf War -- including how these negotiations could affect relations with the United States. He'll also give us a primer on the history of the Soviet Union's relations with Iraq.

Say's brother is Terry Anderson, the Associated Press reporter who's been held hostage in Lebanon since March 1985. During the past five years, Say has worked to free her brother, and to keep the American government, and the American people from forgetting her brother's plight. Her new memoir documents that ordeal.

We talk with Iraq emigre Laith Kubba, the leader of the London-based group, "The Conference on Human Rights and Democracy in Iraq." He'll give his view of this morning's peace proposal, and he'll discuss the feasibility of democracy in a post-Saddam Iraq.

In honor of Saint Valentine's Day, film critic Owen Gleiberman reviews the 1946 romance, "Humoresque," with Joan Crawford and John Garfield. He says no recent romance films capture Hollywood's early edginess.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "The Search for the Pink Headed Duck," by Rory Nugent, about his travels to India and Tibet. He says Nugent is a "splendid quack" whose stories are exotic and sometimes hard to believe.

We look at the state of human rights in the region--particularly in Iraq before the start of the Gulf War--as well as elsewhere around the world. Kenneth Roth, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch, shares his insights.

World music critic Milo Miles profiles Ali Farka Toure, a guitar player from Mali. Milo says Toure's influences are from Africa, but his sound has a lot in common with American blues.