Places & Travel

Anthropologist and co-founder of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, Mercedes Doretti. The group was founded in 1984 to investigate the fate of persons who had been “disappeared” by the former Argentinean military regime. The team consisting of an anthropologist, pathologist, radiologist, ballistic expert, and an archaeologist exhume grave sites, and the sites of massacres to determine the truth behind what happened, and to identify skeletal remains. Since their initial work in Argentina, the EAAF has worked in many other countries to investigate human rights abuses.

Travel writer Colin Thubron. His new book about his travels In the heart of Siberia Is "In Siberia" (HarperCollins). It's the third In his trilogy on the Russian landmass which Includes "Where Nights Are Longest" and "The Lost Heart of Asia." Thubron has also written books on the Middle East, China, and Central Asia.

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Waiting" (Pantheon) by Ha Jin the winner of this year's National Book Award for fiction, a novel which is set in China during the Cultural Revolution.

Critic Milo Miles reviews some Cuban records that aren't by the Buena Vista Club: "Casa de la Trova" (Detour Records), "Bossa Cubana" by Los Zafiros (World Circuit/Nonesuch label), and "Estrellas de Areito" (World Circuit/Nonesuch label).

Writer Michael Lewis is the author of "The New New Thing" (Norton) about the Silicon Valley and the man behind the newest billion dollar-making venture. Lewis is also the author of the bestseller, "Liar's Poker" and has been the American editor of the British weekly, "The Spectator" and senior editor at The New Republic.

Writer and director Ziad Doueiri ("ZEE-odd Doe-AIR-ee") is making his feature film debut with, "West Beirut." It's set in 1975 during the Lebanese civil war and is largely autobiographical. The film received accolades from the Cannes Film Festival, and the Toronto International Film Festival. Doueiri and his family left Lebanon for California in 1983. Before making this film, Doueiri, was cameraman for all of Quentin Tarantino's films.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Motherless Brooklyn" (Doubleday) by Jonathan Lethem, a mystery novel set in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the 4 CD box set "Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in Los Angeles (1921-1956)" (Rhino).

Choying Drolma is a Tibetan Buddhist nun who practices a contemplative system of Buddhism called Cho. As part of that system, she also sings religious songs and chants. Their music was recorded by guitarist Steve Tibbetts who then created guitar arrangements around it. The result was the CD "Cho" (newly released on Hannibal Records). Drolma is currently on tour with Tibbetts and her fellow nuns.

Writer Philippe Wamba ("Phil-EEP WAM-bah"). He is the son of an African father and a African-American mother. His new book looks at the affinity between African-Americans and Africans, the things that divide them, and they myths they each hold about the other. It's called "Kinship: A Family's Journey in Africa and America" (Dutton). Wamba has lived in both countries. His father, Prof. Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, is currently leader of the rebel faction in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Writer and flight attendant Elliott Neal Hester. He writes the bimonthly column "Out of the Blue" for the online magazine, Salon. He's also working on an upcoming book about flying the "not so friendly skies."

U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Pete Peterson. He's a former Florida congressman and a former P.O.W. during the Vietnam war. He spent almost seven years as a prisoner of war. Now everyday, living in Vietnam, he passes by the Hanoi Hilton, the building that held him. Peterson is the subject of a new PBS documentary, "Assignment Hanoi." (It airs on many PBS stations September 7th).

Adventure writer Randy Wayne White. He wrote the "Out There" column for "Outside" magazine for many years. He's now a monthly columnist for "Men's Health" and is the author of the new book, "The Sharks of Lake Nicaragua: True tales of adventure, travel, and fishing." (The Lyons Press).

Steve Erlanger is the Central Europe and Balkans Bureau Chief for The New York Times. He reports from Prague, Czech Republic on the aftermath of the NATO bombings in Yugoslavia. During the war, he filed reports from Belgrade.

Music critic Milo Miles comments on a recent concert he went to featuring Brazilian pop singer Caetano Veloso. He's currently touring in the United States promoting his new album "Livro" on the Nonesuch label.

Craig Stanford studies chimpanzees and gorillas in Uganda. In early March, Hutu rebels kidnapped 14 westerners including his field assistant. 8 of the hostages were killed. Stanford had left the region before the attack. Stanford talks about the political situation and its impact on the wildlife there. He is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Southern California. He is the author of "The Hunting Apes," and "Chimpanzee and Red Colobus."

Serbian filmmaker Goran Paskaljevic (GOR-en) (pas KAL yeh vich) His new black-comedy "Cabaret Balkan," a fictional account of life in Belgrade on the eve of the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the civil war in Bosnia. Shot entirely at night over a two-month period in 1998. It has received a European Critics Award for "best film" last year. Paskaljevic attended the famed Prague film school and has gone on to make such films as: "Someone Else's America," "Tango Argentino," and "Time of Miracles."

American guitarist and composer Ry Cooder. Cooder produced a new CD by Ibrahim Ferrer (ph), one of the singers with the band. A new documentary film called "Buena Vista Social Club," produced by Cooder, tells the story of these musicians.

Dan Fesperman is the former Berlin Bureau correspondent for the Baltimore Sun 1993-1996. From there he extensively covered Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. He has drawn for his experience there for the setting of his new crime novel "Lie in the Dark." (Soho) It is about a Sarajevo homicide detective who must do his job while corpses pile up from the on-going civil war.

Editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe, Frederick Kempe. As a journalist, he's covered Germany for over twenty years, and is also the son of German immigrants. His new book "Father/land: A Personal Search for the New Germany" (Putnam) is his exploration into his family's past in Germany, and an analysis of Germany today.