When asked, Jen Kruuse said he wrote his book, “A War for an Afternoon,” as a result of life being madness. As a morale booster, to make the men of the SS army feel invincible, they were ordered to exterminate the town of Oradour-sur-Glane, France. The women and children of the town were rounded up, placed in the town’s church and the church was burned. All the men of the town were shot dead. The entire incident, explained Kruuse, was madness, pure madness.

In the first part of this program Studs Terkel discusses French theater with critic Jean Vilar. In the second part, Studs and Eugène Ionesco discuss Ionesco’s work and the Theater of the Absurd.

Long-time film critic Vincent Canby talks about his first novel, Living Quarters, which explores the impermanence of life.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

Studs talks to the longtime literary critic, editor, and historian about his life, as told through the memoir, And I Worked at the Writer's Trade, as well as a previous book, Exile's Return: A Literary Odyssey of the 1920s.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

Discussing the novel, Hot to Trot, and interviewing the author, John Lahr, also well-known as a drama critic.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

The biographer gives Studs some insight into the research that went into his book, Malcolm Lowry: A Biography.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

Discussing the 18th International film festival with a panel of jurors: including David Robinson and John Russell Taylor of the London Times, Jay Scott of the Toronto Globe and mail, Albert Johnson of the San Francisco Chronical, William Woolf of the New

Norman Podhoertz discusses his book "Making It" his memoir about American intellectual life and academia. Discussing the parallels in the relationships between politics, money and education.

Discussing "Les Brown's Encyclopedia of Television," (published by Visible Ink Press)with the author and television critic Les Brown.