Government & Politics

The former New York Times reporter was based in Poland from 1979-1982 during the rise of the Solidarity movement and martial law. Darnton just returned to Poland and wrote about it for the New York Times. He'll talk with Terry about his observations.

Peter Schweizer, author of "Friendly Spies: How America's Allies are Using Economic Espionage to Steal our Secrets." He is a consultant for "NBC News," and has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new crime show on Fox, produced by Robert De Niro.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Point of No Return," directed by John Badham. Schiff says, despite the movie's sleaze, it may be good for Bridget Fonda's career.

Economics correspondent for CBS This Morning Robert Krulwich discusses President Clinton's economic plan. A former NPR correspondent, he's best known for making money matters interesting and accessible.

Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia Abdulaziz A. Sachedina joins Fresh Air to discuss the recent worldwide rise of Islamic fundamentalism.

Journalist Robert Cullen was Newsweek's Moscow bureau chief in the Soviet Union. He has a new book The Killer Department." It's about one detective's eight year hunt for the man known as "the most savage serial killer in Russian history." Cullen is also the author of, "Twilight of Empire: Inside the Crumbling Soviet Bloc," about the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Officer Jim Galipeau works with gangs in Los Angeles, and is currently trying to raise money for a program for older gang members. He'll talk with Terry about the truce between gangs that began last spring, just before the riots; the differences between Hispanic and Black gangs, and inner city and suburban gangs; the impact of the riots, and the possibility of riots in the future. Galipeau has been a probation officer for 27 years. He's a Vietnam vet, and when he was a teenager, he was a street fighter and drug addict.

Professor Marc Roberts is a professor of Political Economy and Health Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Kennedy School of Government. He'll discuss the economics of health care and health care reform in America.

Journalist Ray Bonner lived in Africa from 1988 until January of this year. He has a new article in "Mother Jones" about why the U.S. sent Marines into Somalia. He questions our role as the world's "missionary." Bonner also reported from Central America. Just recently he was exonerated for reporting on a massacre in El Salvador. Officials denied the event, but archeologists have since uncovered a mass grave.

New York Times journalist Jane Perlez has been covering Africa since 1988 and has been credited with recognizing stories before the rest of the media. She was reporting on the trouble in Somalia, and the threat of famine a year ago, long before it became the focus of world attention.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Mad Dog & Glory," starring Robert De Niro and Bill Murray.

Investigative journalist Tom Powers has written a new book about the German attempt to get an atomic bomb, the threat that terrified American scientists and military during World War II. The book is "Heisenberg's War." At the center of the story is German physicist and Nobel laureate Werner Heisenberg. While other preeminent scientists left Germany with the rise of the Reich, Heinsenberg chose to stay to defend what was left of "good science." The program weapons program failed.

Journalist, professor, and historian Christopher Simpson teaches at American University in Washington, D.C. Last month the U.N. Security Council voted to create a new international tribunal to try those accused of war crimes in the Balkan conflict. Simpson has written a new book about the use of mass murder as an instrument of state power, beginning with World War I, called "The Splendid Blond Beast." Simpson shows how those who commit such crimes are rarely punished, like high-ranking SS killers from World War II.

Journalist Robert Kaplan has been a foreign correspondent for "The Atlantic," and "The New Republic." In the 1980s and early 1990s, he was the first American writer to warn of the coming crisis in the Balkans. His latest book, "Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History," is a political travel book about his journeys through southern Austria and Croatia, Old Serbia and Albania, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece.

Writer and filmmaker Stephen Trombley's latest project is a book and documentary, "The Execution Protocol: Inside America's Capital Punishment Industry." The book has little to do with the morality of taking a life; rather, It's about the practical considerations involved with performing executions.

One of the most respected war surgeons, Dr. Chris Giannou. He was director of surgical operations in Somalia with the International Committee for the Red Cross from February '92 until January '93. He helped set up field hospitals, and taught and performed war surgery. Before that, Giannou spent over two years in a Palestinian Refugee Camp, which was under constant siege. Giannou wrote a book about it, called "Besieged: A Doctor's Story of Life and Death in Beirut."

Award-winning historian Michael Beschloss just co-authored a new book, "At the Highest Levels: The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War." He and co-author Strobe Talbot were in contact with officials in both American and Soviet governments, and in NATO. They show the close tie between George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev, which "eventually caused both men to lose touch with their domestic constituencies."

Former Police Commissioner of Philadelphia Willie Williams replaced the controversial Los Angeles Police Department chief Daryl Gates. Williams' challenge has been to improve the relationship between the police and the community, and to build-up morale within the force. Williams has also had to prepare the department for possible further disturbances in the community, in light of the April riots over the Rodney King verdict.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Love Field," starring Michelle Pfieffer, who earned an Oscar nomination for her performance.