Places & Travel

Anthropologist and documentary filmmaker David Feingold talks about the Peruvian Shining Path guerrillas, their connection to the drug trade, and their impact on the elections in Peru. His new film, "Washington/Peru: We Ain't Winning," is about U.S. efforts to stop the drug flow from Peru.

Anastasia is a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. His beat is the Mafia; most recently he's been covering the Robert Simone trial where the prosecution rested its case today. Simone was attorney for Philadelphia mob boss Nicky Scarfo and has been accused of crime activity, attempted extortion and participating in discussions of murder. Simone was turned in by a government informant.

World music critic Milo Miles reviews "Mambo" by Remmy Ongala, which features polyrhythmic folk sounds and smart lyrics about the social issues affecting his home country of Tanzania.

Film critic John Powers reviews the new movie about interracial friendships and relationships. He says the film's message is remarkably different from Spike Lee's recent "Jungle Fever," which explores similar themes.

Writer Jack Beatty has written a biography of four-time Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, called "The Rascal King." Curley, an Irish-Catholic, is a Massachusetts legend, having run in 32 elections, serving as governor, congressman, and mayor. While Curley could be dismissed as an old-fashioned machine politician, Beatty portrays him as a forerunner of the modern entrepreneurial politician.

Lessing is the author of more than thirty books, including, "The Fifth Child" and "The Golden Notebook." She grew up in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), but was exiled for twenty-five years when she began to speak out against the oppressive white-ruled government. Lessing has just written a new book, "African Laughter," a personal story about the trips she took to Zimbabwe between 1982 and 1992.

Reporter Douglas Franz of the Los Angeles Times. He and reporter Mark Waas first broke the story that the Bush Administration continued to guarantee loans and to export military equipment to Iraq in late 1989 even though intelligence reports warned that Baghdad was developing a nuclear weapon and ballistic missiles. The Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating an alleged cover-up by the C.I.A. and the Justice Department related to a loan to Saddam Hussein of five billion dollars in the years before the war, some of which was used to finance Iraq's arms program.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "African Laughter," Lessing's memoir of the four times she visited the country of her birth--now called Zimbabwe--and her impressions of its changing social and political climate.

Stephen Schiff reviews "Hero," directed by Stephen Frears and starring Dustin Hoffman, Joan Cusack, Geena Davis, and Andy Garcia. It's got a twisting plot reminiscent of films from the 1930s and '40s.

Pekarkova emigrated from Czechoslovakia in 1985. She has worked in New York as a cab driver for four years. Her novel "Truck Stop Rainbows: A Road Novel," was published this year. lt deals with a rebellious young woman in communist Czechoslovakia who hitchhikes around the country, trying to raise money to buy a wheelchair for her invalid friend.

John Leonard reviews Ellroy's "White Jazz," the final installment of his tetralogy of crime novels. The story reveals the darkest elements of Los Angeles life in the 1950s.

Holland made the critically acclaimed and controversial film, "Europa Europa." Her latest film is "Olivier, Olivier," about a woman reunited with her son six years after he disappeared at the age of nine. Many of her movies deal with the life of Polish Jews, especially during World War II.

The debut writer's first book of short stories is "The Boy Without a Flag: Tales of The South Bronx." It's an autobiographical collection about the people in his neighborhood. He has said, "I write about the rancid underbelly of the American Dream." He's also in a punk rock band called Urgent Fury.

Kremlin insider Georgi Arbatov. His new book, "The System," is a memoir of his long political career as Director of the Institute for the USA and Canada, the Soviet Union's most influential foreign policy think-tank. He was not a dissident or an enemy of the system; rather, he worked within it. His book begins with his World War II career, chronicles the repressive Stalin era, the Cold War, the August 1991 coup attempt and its aftermath. He's been an adviser to every Soviet leader from Khruschev to Yeltsin.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews "Motor City" by Bill Morris. It's his first book, and deals with the auto industry and a whole host of cultural figures from the 1950s.

Simic won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990. He edited a new anthology of Serbian poetry called "The Horse Has Six Legs." He came to the U.S. when he was 15. He'll talk to guest host Marty Moss-Coane about poetry, growing up in Yugoslavia, andt what it's like to witness the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Critic John Powers reviews "Single White Female," the new psychological thriller starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bridget Fonda.

World music critic Milo Miles surveys the work of Caetano Veloso. Miles says that, of the musician's many albums, each features both knockout songs and slow bores. But that doesn't diminish from his cultural impact -- and ever improving output.

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "American Mythologies" by Marshall Blonsky, which seeks to recover the meaning behind the totality of American cultural production, from fast food to news anchors to pornography. Corrigan admires the project, but says Blonsky doesn't seem to like or respect his subjects.

James Adams is the Washington bureau chief for the Sunday Times of London, and former Defense Correspondent. He's written several books, including, "Engines of War: Merchants of Death and the New Arms Race." He'll talk with guest host Marty Moss-Coane about the military options in Bosnia.