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No Celebrity Was Spared from Walter Winchell's Wrath

Walter Winchell was the man who legitimized gossip columns, tabloid news, and celebrity watching. He rose from a poor New York family to become one of the most read columnists, and eventually consulted with F.D.R. and Joe McCarthy. Writer Neal Gabler has written a biography about Winchell. "Winchell: Gossip, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity" helps explain the man who was the source of our current celebrity-obsessed culture.

21:10
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Other segments from the episode on October 12, 1994

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, October 12, 1994: Interview with Tim O'Brien; Interview with Neal Gabler.
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22:24

Author Tim O'Brien Returns to Vietnam

Novelist Tim O'Brien has been called "one of our most eloquent writers about Vietnam" (Playboy). "In the Lake of the Woods" is his new novel about a man whose involvement in the war is much like O'Brien's. Both were at the My Lai massacre, and they shared a need to be accepted -- which drove them to serve in the war.

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Neal Gabler, Inside Walt Disney

For his new book, Walt Disney: The Triumph of American Imagination, entertainment expert Neal Gabler was given complete access to the Disney archives. His biography begins when Disney was just a glimmer of an idea, and ends at the entrance to the Walt Disney mausoleum.

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Daughter of Warhol star looks back on a bohemian childhood in the Chelsea Hotel

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