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Robert talks with Peter Bernstein about his book, Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk. Bernstein's book looks at the role of risk in society and the history of evolving views of risk. Bernstein says in life, risk is a given and he's interested in how people calculate risk in decision making.

NPR'S Eric Weiner reports that the Bhutto family history is marked by both power and tragedy. The father of recently deposed prime minister Benazir Bhutto was hanged by his political opponents. And there are allegations that Benazir Bhutto indirectly contributed to her brother's death. Some Pakistanis are now saying that the Bhutto name has been indelibly scarred by Benazir Bhutto's recent behavior.

Historian and author NELL IRVIN PAINTER. She is a Professor of American History at Princeton University. She's written a biography of the ex-slave and fiery abolitionist who was born Isabella Van Wagenen and rechristened herself Sojourner Truth. "Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol." (W.W. N

Scott talks to Stanford history professor Estelle Freedman about her new biography, "Maternal Justice: Miriam Van Waters and the Female Reform Tradition." Van Waters worked for the cause of socially disadvantaged women at the Massachusetts Reformatory for Women in Framingham from 1932 to 1957. (The University of Chicago Press, 1996)

From Chicago, George Ofman (OFF-mun) reports on today's suspension of controversial pro basketball star Dennis Rodman. Rodman, a forward for the defending NBA champion Chicago Bulls, was suspended without pay for at least 11 games and fined 25-thousand dollars for kicking a courtside photographer during a game this week. It is the second-longest suspension in National Basketball Association history.

that went into the 1996 election campaign, the most expensive in American history. Democrats and Republicans alike created new ways to raise and spend millions of dollars. Washington lobbyists say the pressure to contribute was enormous, as were the amounts they were asked to donate.

Robert Siegel talks with Jenny B. White, associate professor of anthropology at Boston University, about the history of the secular government in Turkey. White is also author of Islamist Mobilization in Turkey: A Study in Vernacular Politics (Studies in Modernity and National Identity), published by University of Washington Press, Oct. 2002.

NPR's Greg Allen reports on a slice of French history in the small Missouri town called Old Mines. This weekend, historic wax cylinder recordings made in the 1930s documenting the French ancestry of the town are being returned to the place where they were recorded.

Dina Temple-Raston reports from Rwanda on the thousands of open-air, informal courts trying suspects in the 1994 genocide between Hutus and Tutsi. The government hopes this airing out of crimes will close the book on a horrific chapter of Rwandan history. Critics say the process is horribly arbitrary and is ignoring the crimes of the Tutsi.

In the second part of our series on debt in America we'll hear about the boom in cash-out mortgage financing and about the history of debt in our society. The book mentioned is Credit Card Nation: The Consequences of America's Addiction to Credit, published by Basic Books; Dec., 2001.