History

Book critic John Leonard reviews Dream Time by poet and literary critic Geoffrey O'Brien. The book is a meditation on the turbulence of the sixties.

Book critic John Leonard reviews the novel Children of the Arbat, by the Russian writer Anatoly Rybakov.

Cinematographer Nestor Almendros. The films he has photographed include "Sophie's Choice," "Kramer vs. Kramer" and "Days of Heaven," for which he won the Academy Award. He has directed the photography for films by Eric Rohmer and Francois Truffaut. Almendros worked in Havana in the early years of the Castro regime before he had a falling out with the authorities.

Exiled South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela. In the 60's, Masekela was probably best known for his instrumental hit, "Grazing In The Grass." More recently, Masekela performed with Paul Simon during his the Graceland tour.

Israeli novelist Amos Oz. He lived on a kibbutz for many years and is a veteran of the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973. His books include A Perfect Peace, In the Land of Israel and his new book, Black Box.

J. G.Ballard, the author of the largely autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun, which film director Steven Spielberg made into a movie of the same name last year. Ballard was born in Shanghai and was interned by the Japanese during World War II. He has written 19 books.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "White Mischief." It's the true story of high life and murder in British Colonial Kenya. It stars Greta Scacchi, Charles Dance ("The Jewel and the Crown") and Joss Ackland.

Rock historian Ed Ward takes on the notion that old-time rock and roll had no message or meaning, that it was simply fun. This is the message that the purveyors of collections of 50s and 60s hits are conveying in ads that recall the "fun" of the era without also evoking the harsher realities.

Television Critic David Bianculli reviews the new ABC series "China Beach." Like "M*A*S*H," "China Beach" features the medical corps that tend to the wounded. But unlike "M*A*S*H," most all the main characters in "China Beach" are women - the nurses who work in the operating rooms and run the USO clubs - and the setting is Vietnam.

Guest book critic Le Anne Schreiber reviews Night Over Day Over Night, the first novel by American Paul Watkins.

Film director Alan Rudolph. His films include "Choose Me," "Trouble in Mind," "Welcome to L.A." and "Made in Heaven." His latest film, "The Moderns," which took ten years to make, is set in the ex-patriot community in Paris in the 1920s and features many actors and actresses who have appeared in his earlier films, such as Keith Carradine and Genevieve Bujold and Geraldine Chaplin.

Novelist, journalist and columnist Nicholas Von Hoffman. He's the author of 10 books, including Organized Crimes and Make-Believe Presidents. He's written for The Washington Post, The Chicago Daily News, and almost every major magazine. His latest work is titled Citizen Cohn, The Life and Times of Roy Cohn.

Ken Tucker reviews a home video documentary about Fairport Convention, one of the most eclectic folk bands of the 60s and early 70s.

Television news commentator David Brinkley. For 14 years, starting in 1956, he and Chet Huntley co-anchored "The Huntley-Brinkley Report." He now anchors the Sunday morning ABC news program "This Week with David Brinkley." Brinkley has written an account of how Washington was transformed by America's entry into World War II. The book is titled Washington Goes to War: The Extraordinary Story of the Transformation of a City and a Nation. (Interview by Faith Middleton)

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a recording of the score for the ballet "The Lady With the Lap Dog" by the Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin. The ballet was performed at the recent Soviet-American Music Festival in Boston. Shchedrin was one of the Soviet organizers of the event.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a 1973 recording of the South African quintet Spear, featuring saxophonist Dudu Pukwana. Like many of South Africa's best-known jazz artists, Pukwana emigrated in the middle 60s, settling in England and helping to spark the rich jazz scene there.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Biloxi Blues," the new film based on Neil Simon's Broadway play of the same name. The film stars Matthew Broderick and was directed and produced by Mike Nichols.

Paul Kennedy, professor of history at Yale University and author of the new book The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000. In it, Kennedy contends that all great powers have floundered over their inability to limit foreign commitments in the face of rising domestic obligations. The book has introduced the term "imperial overstretch" to the political vocabulary. (Interview by Faith Middleton)

Television critic David Bianculli reviews a new HBO documentary "Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam." It's combines footage of the war with the voices of actors like Robert De Niro and Sean Penn reading letters the troops wrote home.

Nicholas Daniloff. He was a reporter in the Soviet Union for U.S. News and World Report when he was arrested and accused by Soviet authorities of being a spy. He was eventually released after President Reagan agreed to swap a Soviet KGB agent arrested on charges of spying in New York.