Government & Politics

Investigative journalist Mark Hertsgaard examines the relationship between the press and the Reagan administration in his new book, On Bended Knee. Hertsgaard says that Reagan's press team was masterful at manipulating the news media by limiting access to the president, choreographing photo opportunities and television appearances, and disseminating controlled, daily messages to reporters.

In the 60s, Goodwin was a speechwriter for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and later worked for presidential candidates Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy. He's written a book that looks back at that period. It's titled Remembering America.

Father Ralph Beiting's ministry serves the poor of the Appalachian region, which he says was overlooked by the reforms and social programs of the 1960s. He links poverty to the degradation of family life. Despite the difficulties associated with his work, Beiting has fallen in love with the area and its people.

Baker stars opposite Michael Keaton in the new movie Clean and Sober. Previously, she played a sex worker in Street Smart, which gained popularity after its home video release. Baker didn't start acting until she was in her thirties.

The Israeli author's new novel is about a man descended from both a Jewish Holocaust survivor and a Palestinian aristocrat. While Kaniuk fought for the Israeli War for Independence, he also signed -- along with other Israeli and Arab intellectuals and artists -- an agreement advocating for Palestinian independence.

Hesseman played disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever in WKRP in Cincinnati, and now stars as a high school teacher in the comedy Head of the Class. He tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross about how his performances and personal experiences inform each other. Early in his career, Hesseman sold two ounces of marijuana to an undercover police officer; he later had his record expunged.

PBS will soon air the documentary Missile, about the fourteen-week training program for launch operators. TV critic David Bianculli says it gives real life context to the hit film Wargames. Director Frederick Wiseman's signature eschewing of interviews sometimes detracts from the narrative, but the movie is overall worth watching.

Investigative reporter Ralph Blumenthal's new book takes a look at what the FBI called "the pizza connection": a heroin smuggling operation spearheaded by the Italian mafia in the United States. Pizza restaurants were used as drug fronts.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg looks back at the tradition of American political oratory. Debates and speeches drew crowds by the thousands in the 19th century., but television has reduced much of that discourse to soundbites. The rare moments in which we can hear a speech in full remind us of how much fun politics must have been in the past, says Nunberg.

Errol Morris thinks of himself as much a detective as a documentary filmmaker. Known for his off-beat subjects, he's adopted a more serious tone with his new movie, The Thin Blue Line, about a murder investigation in Dallas. Errol believes the man sentenced to death for the crime, Randall Dale Adams, is innocent.

Director Jonathan Demme's newest movie is called Married to the Mob. Film critic Stephen Schiff says the characters become more likable as the film goes on; the slapstick elements not withstanding, the movie is jumpy, romantic, and very funny.

Book critic John Leonard says that Don DeLillo's new novel is the culmination of the author's career writing great books. The heavily-researched, well-orchestrated story posits that the JFK assassination was an elaborate plot to regain Cuba, and was intended to have been near miss rather than a successful murder.

Novellist Don DeLillo doesn't like talking about his novels; but he says there's much to discuss about his newest book Libra, based on the assassination of John F. Kennedy. DeLillo sought to fill in the gaps of that story, including what motivated gunman Lee Harvey Oswald.

While some film critics praise Bruce Willis's sensitive performance, Stephen Schiff says Die Hard's charm is in its fast-paced scenes of jubilant, large-scale destruction. It's this summer's guilty pleasure.

Dennis Smith says that his own history as a firefighter helped him earn the trust of the people he interviewed for his new book. He talks about firefighter training and culture, and shares some of the personal anecdotes he learned during his research. Smith's first book was called Report from Engine Co. 82

Writer Fouad Ajami joins Fresh Air to talk about Beirut, and how it attracted Lebanese who lived in the countryside. The civil war in Lebanon, Ajami says, has led to a collapse of the country's cultural and religious pluralism, which is born out in several internecine conflicts.

TV critic David Bianculli wasn't impressed by the often intrusive coverage of last week's DNC. But watching clips of past conventions on C-SPAN, he was thrilled to see footage of politicians in their prime.

The success of Platoon in theaters has led to the development of several television shows about the Vietnam War. Some viewers might be fatigued by their sheer number; for them, TV critic David Bianculli recommends HBO's Vietnam War Stories.

Actor Clint Eastwood is known for finishing movies quickly and under budget -- that way, he can focus his energies on his pet projects. Film critic Stephen Schiff says the new Dirty Harry movie, The Dead Pool, is an example of Eastwood's sometimes slipshod work.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the police procedural, now in its second season. He admires how the show takes its time with each storyline, exploring one over the course of several episodes -- and often featuring long-term guest stars.