"Trying Times" is Worth Watching This Season.

Veteran TV journalist David Brinkley His book, Washington Goes to War, was a surprise best-seller last year and has just been released in paperback. The book, based on Brinkley's personal experiences and reflections, told the story of Washington in the early 40s, and how both the government and town itself were transformed by the responsibilities thrust on them as a result of the war. (Rebroadcast. Original date 7/6/89).

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the album, "Blue John," by organist Big John Patton. Paton cut a series of progressive jazz organ albums for Blue Note records in the 60s, then dropped out of sight for a decade, recently re-emerging on some of John Zorn's albums. Patton actually recorded "Blue John" in 1963, but it's just been released on CD and it's the only example of Patton's Blue Note work that's currently available.

Writer Jill Ker Conway. Her new memoir, The Road From Coorain, describes her rugged childhood in the Australian outback, and her move to school in the big city of Sydney as a young woman. Later Conway left Australia to study in America, where she became a historian and the first woman president of Smith College. She is also the author of two books on the role of feminism in history. (Rebroadcast. Original date June 7, 1989).