American author, journalist, and one time New York Times correspondent in Moscow, Harrison Salisbury, discusses his book "The New Emperors: China in the Era of Mao and Deng" They discuss the politics of China and Mr Harrison shares stories of the politicians, and Chinese people he spent time with. Studs shares an excerpt of an interview with physician George Hatem regarding China and her people. The interview closes with; "Che lai" performed by Paul Robeson

Salisbury continues talking about the artists like writers, musicians and dancers being national assets to Russia. In a country with its history of tyranny, Russian society is becoming more permissive and relaxed, explained Salisbury. Khrushchev keeps the peace right now, says Salisbury but wonders, like the title of a new book he's working on, is this "A New Russia?".

Being a correspondent for the New York Times in Moscow gave others the chance to see Russia through Harrison Salisbury's reporting. Inside their country, the people, says Salisbury, they have started to loosen up and they have started to talk to one another. The freedoms of the arts have come back, too.

Journalist and correspondent in Moscow for the New York Times Harrison Salisbury discusses and reads from his novel “The Gates of Hell”, a novel that closely mirrors the life of Russian novelist and Soviet dissident Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. As Salisbury states, the characters in this novel discover the discrepancies between the legend and reality of the Russian revolution in a post-WWII era.

"The Long March: The Untold Story" is a piece of history that took place but wasn't reported by anyone until Harrison Salisbury wrote his book. Salisbury was 75 when he returned to China to talk to people who marched back in October of 1934. Most of the boys and some girls who went on the 6,000 mile/march were peasants.

Harrison Salisbury discusses his book “The 900 Days: The Siege Of Leningrad” and the lasting impact of the siege on the Soviet Union and life in Leningrad during the siege. Salisbury reads a poem by Olga Bergholz.Isabella Zorina discusses a trip to mass graves, including the many young people who were also visiting, some as part of wedding ceremonies, and the music played at the graves. Terkel plays Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, conducted by Leonard Bernstein, at the end of the program.

His experiences as a journalist are what's covered in Harrison Evans Salisbury's book, "A Time of Change: A Reporter's Tale of Our Time". Salisbury believed as a reporter, one truly needed to be at the event, in order to obtain the true story. Once Salisbury questioned if he was living in America because he was asked to switch rooms at a hotel in Birmingham, only to find out later that there were special, bugged rooms for reporters.

Studs Terkel talks to New York Times journalist Harrison E. Salisbury about his book on the Russian Revolution of 1917 entitled, "Black Night, White Snow", detailing the roles of the SR's, Lenin and the Bolsheviks, the Mensheviks, the Narodniks, Kerensky, Kropotkin, Stalin, Zinoviev and more.

Discussing the book "The 900 days" about the siege of Leningrad during World War II.