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  • 2: Biographer BARBARA LEAMING. She's written a new biography of Katharine Hepburn, in which she places the actress' life in the context of her family's history: one of tragic and political importance. Katherine Hepburn's grandfather committed suicide, as did her brother. In fact Hepburn discovered the body of her 15 year old brother. Hepburn's mother was a major figure in the radical suffrage movement, and a friend of Margaret Sanger. Katharine Hepburn is published by Crown. Leaming is also the author of a biography of Orson Welles.
  • SCOTT SIMON SPEAKS WITH DR. DAVID LONG, HISTORIAN AND PROFESSOR OF LAW AND HISTORY AT MANATEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE IN BRADENTON, FLORIDA, ABOUT HIS NEW BOOK "THE JEWEL OF LIBERTY," PUBLISHED BY STACKPOLE BOOKS. THIS WORK ABOUT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1864 IS BEING CALLED THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK WRITTEN ABOUT ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN MANY YEARS. NPR'S BOB EDWARDS READS FROM ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
  • Documentary film maker WINFRIED BONENGEL. In 1993 BONENGEL made the film "Profession: Neo Nazi," which follows Ewald Althans, a rising leader on Germany's neo-nazi scene. Althans is different from the stereotypical neo-nazi: intelligent, successful and well-dressed. The film ignited one of the fiercest debates on documentary film making in Germany's history. The film was barred from many states and the distributor was forced to withdraw it from circulation
  • MONDAY'S MARCH, AND THE LEADERSHIP OF ONE OF ITS CONVENERS, THE NATION OF ISLAM'S MINISTER LOUIS FARRAKHAN, HAS SPARKED DEBATE ACROSS AN ESPECIALLY RACE-SENSITIZED NATION. WEEKEND EDITION'S DANIEL SCHORR DISCUSSED THE MARCH AND ITS MEANING WITH TWO WELL-KNOWN AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMENTATORS: RONALD WALTERS, CHAIRMAN OF HOWARD UNIVERSITY'S POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT, AND GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND AMERICAN CULTURE ROGER WILKINS.
  • This documentary by Peabody award winning producer David Isay is an oral history of Iolene Catalano, a woman who lived with drug abuse and prostitution, and who died last year of AIDS. Isay recorded more than 30 hours worth of interviews with Iolene, who wanted, before her death, to let the world know that she was something more than an addict or criminal, that she was a poet and singer. Please note the content and language advisory at the top of this DACS.
  • In a straight party line vote the Senate Banking Committee today approved a measure to indefinitely extend the Whitewater committee. NPR'S Jon Greenberg reports Democrats argued that the further into this election year the committee hearings go, the greater the appearance of political motives. In vain, Democrats also appealed to Republicans' sense of history and fairness by pointing out that when Republicans asked for an early end date on the Iran/Contra investigation, Democrats agreed. Today, though, Republicans said too many questions remain and too many witnesses are unavailable until the conclusion of the McDougal-Tucker trial by the Independent Counsel.
  • In the first of two reports on the current Supreme Court, NPR's Nina Totenberg reports on the Justices' increased propensity to strike down federal laws. This past term, the Supreme Court issued numerous rulings that affected the other two branches of the federal government. It struck down several major federal laws and invalidated the FDA's attempt to regulate tobacco as a drug. Some legal scholars see this as a return to earlier periods in the Court's history, when it more aggressively scrutinized federal laws and policies.
  • Alex Van Oss visits the nation's oldest lending library, the 250-year-old Redwood Library and Athenaeum in Newport, Rhode Island. Still in its original neo-classical building, the Redwood is steeped in history and contains numerous antique books. Heirloom portraits and Greek sculptures adorn the hallways. Thomas Jefferson was an early visitor. Henry and William James were regular brousers, as were Edith Wharton, Emma Lazarus, and Julia Ward Howe.
  • Minnesota Republican Rod Grams is considered one of the most vulnerable US Senators facing re-election this fall. He's a staunch conservative in a state with a long history of progressive politics, but he's also a maverick in a state known for its independence. Anemic poll numbers and a modest legislative record brought lots of challengers into this month's Democratic primary, but the big field may prove to be Grams best defense. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo reports.
  • This week, Polish-born Jan Karski, one of the first people to report an eyewitness account of the Nazi Holocaust to the West, died in Washington D.C. Host Jacki Lyden speaks with Karski biographer Tom Wood. Wood is the author of Karski: How One Man Tried to Stop the Holocaust. Jan Karski was a liason officer for the Polish underground during World War II and a retired history professor at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. He was 86.
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