Parenting & Families

Kent Walker is the oldest son of Sante Kimes, the 66-year old con-artist and convicted killer. Last year Kimes was convicted along with her other son Kenny Kimes of murdering an elderly Manhattan millionaires. The two have also been connected to the deaths or disappearances of three other wealthy people. Sante Kimes has been dubed the "Dragon Lady." Her other crimes include shoplifting, arson, and slavery. Kent Walker's book is "Son of a Grifter"

The Car Talk guys talk with Terry about their first garage and more.

Judith Wallerstein is an expert on the effects of divorce on children and is the co-author of the new book “The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce” (Hyperion) which is based on a 25 year study following the lives of children whose parents had divorced. The book explores how the divorce of their parents decades ago continues to affect them into adulthood. She is also the founder of the Judith Wallerstein Center for the Family in Transition

Husband and wife song writing team, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, the duo responsible for such songs as “You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling,” “On Broadway,” “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” “Here You Come Again,” “Don’t Know Much,” and more. The two met when they were both working in the famous songwriting landmark, the Brill Building— Mann as a composer and Weil as a lyricist. The two have been writing ever since. In edition to their many pop hits, Mann and Weil have also written songs for films.

Writers, professors, and brothers Frederick & Steven Barthelme. They've written a new memoir "Double Down: Reflections on Gambling and Loss" (Houghton Mifflin). After both their parents died within a year and a half of each other, the two grieving brothers went on a gambling spree that lasted years, and cost them their inheritance. They write, "We were on our own in a remarkable new way, and we were not ready."

Film critic John Powers reviews ."My Son the Fanatic." Miramax Films describes it as a contemporary love story set against a comic clash of generations and cultures. Eastern fundamentalism meets Western hedonism over the kitchen table of a Pakistani family in the industrial north.

Film director Nancy Savoca and actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste talk with Terry Gross on-stage at the Sundance Film Festival. Savoca's film "The 24 Hour Woman" received its world premiere at the film festival. Actress Jean-Baptiste stars in the film.

Our classical music critic will read two of his poems written about his 94 year old mother who has Alzheimer's and in a nursing home. The poems are: "The Two Horses (A Memory)" and "He Tells His Mother What He's Working On."

Film critic John Powers reviews "Happiness," the ironically titled new film by Todd Solondz.

Film critic John Powers reviews "Beloved" the new film adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel. The film shot largely in the Philadelphia area, stars Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new novel "Reservation Road" by John Burnham Schwartz. It's published by Knopf.

Reeve Lindbergh joins us to talk about life with her father. She's a writer whose memoir about her father and mother Anne Morrow Lindbergh, "Under a Wing" (Simon & Schuster) will be published in October 1998. Her other books include the children's titles "The Midnight Farm," and "The Day The Goose Got Loose." Other books include "The Names of the Mountains" and "Nobody Owns the Sky: The Story of 'Brave Bessie' Coleman."

John Powers reviews "One True Thing," adapted from the Anna Quindlen movie of the same name.

Dickey has written a new memoir about his relationship with his father, the late poet and novelist James Dickey. It's called "Summer of Deliverance: A Memoir of Father and Son" (Simon & Schuster). Dickey writes that his father was "a great poet, a famous novelist, a powerful intellect, and a son of a bitch I hated." But Dickey writes that he also loved his alcoholic, abusive father. And as an adult, he picked up his relationship with his father again, after a 20 year absence.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Lost in Translation," a new romance set in China.

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.

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."

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.

Novelist Scott Spencer. His new book "The Rich Man's Table" (Knopf) is the story of a boy who discovers he is the illegitimate son of a legendary folk singer, a character said to be based on Bob Dylan. Spencer's previous novels include "Men in Black," and "Endless Love."

Film critic John Powers reviews "He Got Game" the new film by Spike Lee starring Denzel Washington.