While traveling for his book - American Journey: Traveling with Tocqueville in Search of Democracy in America - Richard Reeves was surprised to learn how much people really loved America and being Americans.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

Paul Wilkes discusses his book, Trying Out the Dream: a Year in the Life of an American Family, about a blue-collar worker and his family adapting to suburban life in the 1970s.  Includes a clip from an interview with steelworker Mike Lefevre.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

While in a Dusseldorf prison, Gitta Sereny spent 70 hours interviewing Franz Stangl, the commandant of the Treblinka extermination camp. Her book, "Into That Darkness: An Examination of Conscience," questions how could an ordinary man with a wife and children become such an evil monster. Stangl rationalized his job by saying he never hurt anyone, that he never murdered anyone. Sereny said in the end, the only guilt Stangl harbored was that of still being alive.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

Poor people, welfare, and egalitarianism are among the topics in Richard Elman's book, "The Poorhouse State: The American Way of Life on Public Assistance."  Elman shares some people's individual stories and he points out the problems with the system.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

Discussing the book, The Seven Sisters: the Great Oil Companies and the World they Made, and interviewing author Anthony Sampson.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

A reporter for WMAQ-TV, an NBC affiliate, Pat Thompson talks about her background and her TV reporting career. Ms. Thompson loved to read books, to be in other locales. Going into TV was the result of realizing she received her news mostly from the television.

The American author and staff writer at The New Yorker talks about the Solidarity movement in Poland, as further detailed in his book, The Passion of Poland.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations