Journalist and writer Tom Wolfe discusses his controversial writings and his time spent as a celebrity figure.

Studs Terkel has a brief conversation with Tom Wolfe and reads "Las Vegas (What?) Las Vegas (Can't hear you! Too noisy) Las Vegas!!!!" from Tom Wolfe's collection "The Kandy-Kolored, Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby." Songs of the 20's interspersed throughout: "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" Cole Porter "Puttin on the Ritz" Irving Berlin "Look for the Silver lining" Jerome Kern/B.G. DeSylva "Sunny Side Of the Street" Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields

Discussing the book "Unto this hour" a novel about the American Civil war with the author Tom Wicker.

Author Susan Brownmiller discusses and reads from her book “Waverly Place”, a fictional story heavily inspired by the Lisa Steinberg child abuse case of 1987. Brownmiller discusses the details of the case and how domestic abuse, law enforcement, and the judicial system affected the outcome of this case. Studs plays "She Sits on the Table" - Tom Paxton (1980).

In Susan Brownmiller's book, "Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape," Brownmiller shows her audience how and why rape is a crime of one's mind and not one of passion. According to Brownmiller, rape is man's dominance over a woman.

Studs Terkel and Tom Wolfe discuss Wolfe's first collection of essays, "The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby". Terkel and Wolfe begin their conversation by listening to and discussing an excerpt from an interview with a young motorcycle enthusiast named Chuck. Topics of conversation include Wolfe's writing process and personal history, the generation gap, class and income disparity, motorcycle culture, Las Vegas, and stock car racing.

Terkel comments and reads from Mississippi notebook II

Peter Lyon discusses the book "Success Story: The Life and Times of S. S. McClure." Includes recitation of "Immortality" by William Jennings Bryan.

Novelist Oriana Fallaci discusses and reads from her book "Inshallah", a fictional book chronicling the experiences of a group of Italian soldiers on a 1983 peace keeping mission in Beirut. The interview focuses on the book, its characters, and the larger themes at play throughout the novel. Studs Terkel briefly discusses Fallaci's previous book, "Interview with History." Studs plays "Hajartak Part 3 Start (Your Love is Heartless Gives You Hell Poem)" - Oum Kalthoum.

Content Warning: This conversation includes racially and/or culturally derogatory language and/or negative depictions of Black and Indigenous people of color, women, and LGBTQI+ individuals. Rather than remove this content, we present it in the context of twentieth-century social history to acknowledge and learn from its impact and to inspire awareness and discussion. Almost all the characters in Robert Kotlowitz's book, "The Boardwalk" are fictitious with the exception of Teddy, a Jewish, 14-year-old boy, who Kotlowitz explains is Robert Kotlowitz.

In "Goodbye Land," Jose Yglesias travels to Galicia, Spain, his father's native province. Yglesias found a number of cousins who remembered his father. Time was spent in a tavern owned by one of his cousins, talking about what they recalled about Yglesias' father. His cousins viewed Yglesias' travels to Spain as an event; a millionaire traveling to Spain and they showered him with an abundance of gifts.

With his book, "Hunting Mr. Heartbreak: A Discovery of America," Jonathan Raban wanted to see if, in the 20th century, a man could have a new life in America. Raban traveled to New York City, to the deep south in Alabama, to Seattle and finally to the Florida Keys.