History

Writer Jack Beatty has written a biography of four-time Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, called "The Rascal King." Curley, an Irish-Catholic, is a Massachusetts legend, having run in 32 elections, serving as governor, congressman, and mayor. While Curley could be dismissed as an old-fashioned machine politician, Beatty portrays him as a forerunner of the modern entrepreneurial politician.

Head of the National Security Archive Tom Blanton helped research "The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962," scheduled for release today, thirty years after the incident. In the book, newly released documents and top-secret files reveal how close the U.S. came to a nuclear entanglement. In 1987, the National Security Archive filed suit against the U.S. government for failing to produce the documents they requested. Since then, there has been more compliance with the archive, especially since the Russian government has agreed to allow the U.S. to release the Kennedy-Krushchev letters.

Reporter Douglas Franz of the Los Angeles Times. He and reporter Mark Waas first broke the story that the Bush Administration continued to guarantee loans and to export military equipment to Iraq in late 1989 even though intelligence reports warned that Baghdad was developing a nuclear weapon and ballistic missiles. The Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating an alleged cover-up by the C.I.A. and the Justice Department related to a loan to Saddam Hussein of five billion dollars in the years before the war, some of which was used to finance Iraq's arms program.

Journalist Mark Perry is the Author of "Four Stars: The Joint Chiefs of Staff." His most recent book is "Eclipse: The Last Days of the C.I.A:" It examines the power struggle that took place after William Casey died, and after the fall of the Soviet Union. He also dispells the notion that the C.I.A. is still a highly effective and powerful organization.

Schwarzkopf commanded American troops in the Mideast during the Gulf War. He's got a new memoir, "It Doesn't Take a Hero," in which he claims "hawks" in the Bush administration pushed to start a land offensive against Iraq before troops were ready and diplomatic efforts were exhausted.

Fresh Air producer Amy Salit interviews Linda McCartney. She has a new book of photographs, "Linda McCartney's Sixties: Portrait of An Era." The book is a collection of photographs taken of rock groups and personalities from the decade. She's married to Beatles' bassist Paul McCartney.

Rock historian Ed Ward tells us about the infamous "riot" on Sunset Strip and how it galvanized and inspired Los Angeles bands.

Martinez was born of Mexican-Salvadoran parents and raised in Los Angeles. His new book, "The Other Side," is a collection of reports, interviews, diary entries, photographs and poems that reflect living on the border between the "first world" of Los Angeles and the "third world" of El Salvador. He speaks with guerrillas in exile, earthquake survivors, war orphans and linerationist priests, which he juxtaposes with accounts of racial tension in the schools, Latino Graffiti art, and hip hop.

Kremlin insider Georgi Arbatov. His new book, "The System," is a memoir of his long political career as Director of the Institute for the USA and Canada, the Soviet Union's most influential foreign policy think-tank. He was not a dissident or an enemy of the system; rather, he worked within it. His book begins with his World War II career, chronicles the repressive Stalin era, the Cold War, the August 1991 coup attempt and its aftermath. He's been an adviser to every Soviet leader from Khruschev to Yeltsin.

Simic won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990. He edited a new anthology of Serbian poetry called "The Horse Has Six Legs." He came to the U.S. when he was 15. He'll talk to guest host Marty Moss-Coane about poetry, growing up in Yugoslavia, andt what it's like to witness the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Sheehan won a Pulitzer Prize for his best-selling book, "A Bright Shining Lie," about America's disastrous involvement in Vietnam. He was Vietnam correspondent for the New York Times during the war, and was the man who broke the Pentagon Papers story. His new book, "After the War was Over" is about his trip to Vietnam three years ago, the first time he'd been back since the fall of Saigon in 1975.

James Adams is the Washington bureau chief for the Sunday Times of London, and former Defense Correspondent. He's written several books, including, "Engines of War: Merchants of Death and the New Arms Race." He'll talk with guest host Marty Moss-Coane about the military options in Bosnia.

Professor of Slavic Languages at the University of Wisconsin Toma Longinovic. He is Serbian, but has been in the U.S. for about ten years. He still has family in Sarajevo. He'll talk with guest host Marty Moss-Coane about the history of Muslims in the region, and about his concerns for his family.

The Army Major was one of few women held P.O.W. during the Gulf War. She's a physician and was on a search-and-rescue mission when the helicopter she was in was shot down by Iraqis. Five crew members were killed in the crash. Cornum and three others survived and were immediately taken prisoner by Iraqi soldiers. Cornum broke both arms and was sexually molested by one of her captors.

Journalist Andres Oppenheimer is the senior foreign correspondent for The Miami Herald. He spent more than five months in Cuba researching his new book, "Castro's Final Hour," which looks into how the country has been affected by the collapse of Soviet Union, which had provided ample material support to Castro's government.

Journalist Frederick Kempe is a foreign correspondent and Berlin Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal. He spent five weeks traveling thru Sibera and has written an account of it in, "Siberian Odyssey." In many areas, Kempe was the first American there. He visited a nomadic tribe of reindeer herders, a former Gulag site, and the site of a Stalinist mass grave, talking to survivors of the former, and children of victims from the later. Kempe made the trip shortly before the August 1991 coup that ushered out the Communist Party.

Drakulic's recent book is called "How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed." Now we'll talk to her about living in Zagreb, the capitol of Croatia. Refugees from nearby Sarajevo are flowing into the city from their civil war-torn country.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Chinese Roundabout: Essays in History and Culture," by Jonathan D. Spence. Leonard says it's an improvisatory and obsessive take on the China and the way Westerners look at it.

Wills has analyzed the legendary speech in a new book called "Lincoln At Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America." He says that, speaking for only three minutes that day, Lincoln changed the history of American political thought.

Thomas Blanton is the Executive Director of the National Security Archive, and a nationally recognized expert on the Iran-Contra scandal. We talk to him today in the wake of the indictment of former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger. The trial is set for November 2, one day before the presidential election, which raises the possibility that President Bush might face some embarrassment, since as Vice President he attended some of the meetings concerning arms shipments to Iran.