Communism

Author Adam Ulam (OO-lom) ("om" as in bomb) Director of the Russian Research Center and Gurney Professor of History and Political Science at Harvard. His new book is "The Communists: The Story of Power and Lost Illusions 1948-1991." (published byScribner's). He's also the author of "The Bolsheviks.

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).

Writer, poet, and commentator Andrei Codrescu. His thoughts regularly appear on "All Things Considered," and he also recently reported for ATC on the changes in his native country, Romania.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Magic Lantern," journalist Timothy Garton Ash's account of the democracy movement in Eastern Europe.

Historian Jonathan D. Spence. His new book is "The Search for Modern China" (published by W.W. Norton & Company). Spence is a professor of History at Yale University.

Czechoslovakian writer and publisher Josef Skvorecky (shkor-et-skee). Since fleeing Czechoslovakia in 1968, Skvorecky and his wife have lived in Toronto, where they run "68 Publishers," an outlet for dissident writers. For years, the output of his publishing house has been smuggled into his former homeland, and secretly passed from hand-to hand, keeping alive the voices of Czech writers such as Vaclav Havel and Milan Kundera.

Soviet commentator Vladimir Pozner (poez-ner, not pahs-ner). Pozner is a fixture on American talk shows...an intelligent, affable, understandable interpreter of Soviet events and policies. Pozner was born in France, grew up in Brooklyn, and moved to the Soviet Union at age 19. In his new book, "Parting With Illusions," Pozner looks back on his life, talks about the Soviet Union under leaders from Stalin to Gorbechev, and discusses the recent "ending" of the cold war. (The book's published by the Atlantic Monthly Press).

Writer Timothy Ryback. He's just written a book chronicling the history of rock music in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. In the book, "Rock around the Bloc," RYBACK shows how rock music has been a presence there from the mid-1950's beginning with the Elvis Craze, and continuing with Beatlemania, and punk and heavy metal music. The rock movement spawned officially sanctioned bands as well as underground groups. Ryback says the recent events in Eastern Europe were foreshadowed in 1988 when government policy on rock bands were loosened there.

Former diplomat and journalist William Attwood has a new book about the Cold War, called The Twilight Struggle. Reflecting on the history of McCarthyism, relations with communist countries, and undercover operations, he believes the Cold War's end is in sight.

The editor of The Nation has a new book about the blacklisting of Hollywood actors during the McCarthy era. He talks about how the issue of nuclear proliferation is affecting the political right and left, and the difficulties journalists face when navigating copyright issues.

Lawrence Weschler examines Poland's labor movement in his new book, Solidarity. He reflects on how the Solidarity organization's actions call into question the virtues of Western capitalism.

Yugoslavian journalist, critic, and feminist Slavenka Drakulic (SLA-vinka DRA-coo-lich). Her new book of essays is "How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed," (published by Norton & Co.)

John Powers reviews "Kleo," the new Netflix series about a young woman who's an East German assassin as communism is collapsing in the late '80s.