Interview

""The interview is the DNA of journalism,"" notes Clyde Haberman in his introduction to this collection of Dreifus's interviews with movers and shakers, which have appeared in the New York Times, Playboy, TV Guide and Modern Maturity. She makes good on his claim. Dreifus's format is straightforward question-and-answer. Her theme is ""personal interest in the way power works, in the ways individuals affect history, in how history changes character."" Each interview is placed in context to explain its first publication. Dreifus also discusses where and why she has restored previously deleted material. If this sounds like a journalism textbook, very quickly the sheer power of personality takes over the careful annotation and often dated subject matter. Dreifus offers us the opportunity to listen to voices as diverse as the Dalai Lama, Toni Morrison, Dan Rather and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. She wins over Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and her household by repeatedly hanging about on the off-chance that an opportunity to talk will arise. Richard Dreyfuss, a reluctant who lets her trail after him as he looks for a Manhattan apartment, finally gives in and even becomes a friend. One of the most memorable interviews is with the three doyennes of National Public Radio: Cokie Roberts, Nina Totenberg and Linda Wertheimer, all of whom are much more accustomed to being the interviewer. When Dreifus turns the tables, they reveal a great deal about their pioneering roles as political journalists in a male world and even more about their close friendship and mutual support. Not all the pieces are equally interesting, but the variety of the voices here makes irresistible reading. (July)