Books & Literature

Carl Sferrazza Anthony is an authority on First Ladies, and the author of a new biography of the determined and unconventional Florence Harding, wife of Warren G. Harding. She met and married Harding while working for a weekly newspaper. It was she who pushed him to the presidency, and then endured his many adulteries. Her husband died after only two years in office but came to be known as the most "scandalous president." After his mysterious death there was speculation that Florence had a hand in his demise.

While writer Fred Haefele's re-evaluated his life's priorities during middle-age, he put together an Indian motorcycle from parts. His memoir is called "Rebuilding the Indian."

Emily Colas has written her first book, a memoir, "Just Checking: Scenes from the life of an obsessive-compulsive." (Penguin-Pocket books). She writes about her many worries and fears about germs, and food poisoning, and her compulsion to trace the design of a star in her head, while having conversations with people. Colas eventually was treated for the disorder.

Writer and housecleaner Louise Rafkin. Her articles have appeared in "The New York Times," "The Utne Reader," and "Los Angeles Times." Her new book about cleaning is "Other People's Dirt: A Housecleaner's Curious Adventures" (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill).

Evan Imber-Black is a family therapist who has written the new book "The Secret Life of Families: Truth Telling, privacy and reconciliation in a tell all society." (Bantam) She makes the distinction about what is a private matter and what is a secret. She is the director of program development at the Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York City and a professor of psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Allen Hornblum is an expert in criminal justice and is the author of the book, "Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison" (Routledge). The book is about the use of prisoners as guinea pigs in the 1950s thru the mid 1970s at the Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia. The prisoners were used to test products like facial creams, skin moisturizers, perfumes, detergents and anti-rash treatments. But they were also the subjects of experiments using more hazardous substances. The experiments were carried out by doctors at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Miriam Nelson of the School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University. Her new book "Strong Women Stay Slim" (Bantam Books) is about the combined effect of strength training and nutrition to keep weight off.

The boxing writer and former agent talks about his new book "This Bloody Mary is the Last Thing I Own: A Journey to the End of Boxing." (Ecco Press). Kendall boxed in college and later became an successful agent for Colin "Sweet C" McMillan who won the World Featherweight Champion. Rendall now writes from his home in Suffolk, England.

Raichlen's new book is "The Barbecue Bible" (Workman Publishing) which includes over 500 recipes which he collected in his worldwide travels researching and tasting the way foods are barbecued in other countries. His travels took him to The Caribbean, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Raichlen wrote the award-winning cookbooks, "Miami Spice" and the "High-Flavor, Low-Fat" series.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Florence Harding" (Morrow) the new biography of First Lady Florence Harding by Carl Sferrazza Anthony.

William Pollack is a psychologist and codirector of the Center for Men at Harvard Medical Center. His new book "Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood" (Random House) is about how the stereotypes about masculinity are hurting young boys. Pollack contends that boys are in crisis, that they are given conflicting messages about what's expected of them, and that research shows that boys are doing less well in school than before, many of them have fragile self-esteem, and that rates of depression and suicide in boys is on the rise.

Gazzaniga is a pioneer in the study of brain-mind relations His new book "The Mind's Past" (University of California Press) is about how our brain and mind construct the past. Gazzaniga is a professor and Director of the Program in cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth College.

Holzman founded the record label in 1950, initially focusing on recording folk and ethnic music. In the 1960s he signed on some of the big pop and rock voices of the era like Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Carly Simon, Jackson Browne, and the Doors. He talks with Terry Gross about working with the Doors. Holman headed Elektra Records for 23 years. He has a new book, "Follow the Music: The Life and High Times of Elektra Records in the Great Years of American Pop Culture" (FirstMedia Books)

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Mr. Midshipman Hornblower" (Little, Brown & Co.), the first book to be reissued in a series by C.S. Forester. The books feature the "man of action" Horatio Hornblower.

Michaels talks about growing up in the sixties and seventies as the daughter of hippies in her new memoir, "Split: A counterculture Childhood." (Houghton Mifflin) Michaels grew up craving the straight life, but as a college student, she came to realize that she shared many of her parent's values. She is a contributing editor at "Threepenny Review" and a poet whose work has appeared in "Salon" and the "New York Times Magazine."

A conversation with our jazz critic, Kevin Whitehead. Kevin's just published a new book, called "New Dutch Swing." (Billboard Books) It's "an in-depth examination of Amsterdam's vital and distinctive jazz scene." Kevin brings along some recordings of his favorite players.

Food critic Ruth Reichl. Her new book is called "Tender at the Bone: Growing up at the Table," (Random House) and it's her memoir of a lifelong passion for food. Reichl has been the restaurant critic for the New York Times since 1993. Prior to that, she reviewed restaurants for the Los Angeles Times. She ran her own restaurant in Berkeley, California in the 1970s.

Maureen Corrigan interviews writer Richard Stevenson. That's a pseudonym for Richard Lipez ("LIP-ehz"). He works in the genre of gay detective mysteries. Since 1981, he's written a series of six books about detective Donald Strachey ("STRAY-chee"). He is also a Washington Post columnist under his real name. Stevenson's latest book is called "Strachey's Folly: A Donald Strachey Mystery." (St. Martin's Press)

Sonia Ancoli-Israel specializes in sleep disorders, including sleep apnea, insomnia and sleep disturbances in the elderly. She is the author of "All I Want is a Good Night's Sleep." (Mosby-Year Book) She directs the Sleep Disorders Clinic at the Veterans Affairs Division of the San Diego Health Care System.

Benjamin Natelson is a neurologist who directs the New Jersey Chronic Fatigue Center. He's just written "Facing and Fighting Fatigue: A Practical Approach." (Yale University Press) He specializes in treating chronic fatigue syndrome. He says that while many people think CFS is all in their heads, there is actually a physiological component to the condtion.