As the guest editor of “Critical Inquiry,” Henry Louis Gates, Jr. covered the importance of Black writers and their contributions. Because there is no color blindness is the western world, explained Gates, pointing out that one is a Black writer or a Black doctor is important to society. Gates also covers the issue of race not being solely about Black and white people but rather it has to do with multi-ethnic and multi-cultural people.

Mr Barnard discusses being a writer and biographer. He strongly discusses the theory, What is literature? and states, "If the work(writing) enriches the person reading and causes deep thought it is literature." He is working, at the time of broadcast, on the papers, notes manuscripts of Upton Sinclair preparing to . He was also writer in residence at Roosevelt University at the time of broadcast.

Discussing the book "M.I.A., or, Mythmaking in America" (published by L. Hill Books) with the author Professor H. Bruce Franklin.

Discussing the book "Lincoln" with the author Gore Vidal.

Author George Thayer speaks with Studs Terkel about Thayer’s book “The War Business: The International Trade in Armaments,” the business of weapons manufacturing, the arms trade, and what part the United States plays in international arms dealing. Terkel plays an audio clip of his interview with Gerald P. Nye, a Senator from South Dakota, and both Terkel and Thayer read excerpts from Thayer’s book.

Discussing the book, "The Kennedy Imprisonment: A Meditation on Power," and interviewing the author Garry Wills.

Discussing the book, "Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence," and interviewing the author Garry Wills.

Gar Alperovitz, historian, writer, and political economist, discusses the bombing of Hiroshima, the Potsdam Conference, and the American confrontation with Soviet power.

Discussing the book "Lessons From the Big House: One Family's Passage through the History of the South: a Memoir," (published by Down Home Press) with author Frye Gaillard.

Historian Eric Goldman discusses his time as special consultant for President Lyndon B. Johnson and his book "The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson."

Discussing the book "Klaus Barbie: The Shocking Story of How the U.S. used this Nazi War Criminal as an Intelligence Agent: a First Hand Account" (published by Acropolis) with the author Erhard Dabringhaus.

Doris Kearns Goodwin talks about her book and her relationship with President Johnson.

Delving into their Irish immigrant backgrounds is what makes Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, "The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga" stand out from other books. Although they had wanted to settle on a farm in the West, the Fitzgeralds ended up in Boston. Goodwin talks a lot about Rose Fitzgerald and her husband, Joe Kennedy.

Discussing the books written by Nat Hentoff for young people: "The First Freedom: The Tumultuous History of Free Speech in America," and the novel, "Does This School Have Capital Punishment?" Includes oral reading from the books.