Authors Peter Huchthausen and Gary Shteyngart on this edition of Fresh Air. Peter Huchthausen is the author of K19: The Widowmaker: The Secret Story of the Soviet Nuclear Submarine. The true story of a barely averted catastrophe aboard the nuclear powered submarine has been adapted into a film of the same name starring Harrison Ford. Huchthausen served as technical director on the film. On July 4, 1961, the sub was taking part in a military exercise in the North Atlantic. A pipeline in a reactor's cooling system ruptured. In a race against time, the crew worked to improvise a repair. Until now, the story has been kept secret. Huchthausen is a retired US Navy captain who served as naval attachi in Moscow from 1987 to 1990. The movie opens nationwide on July 19, 2002. Gary Shteyngart's debut novel, The Russian Debutante's Handbook, is receiving critical acclaim. The main character of the book, like Shteyngart, is a Russian-American Jew who emigrated to the US as a child. In a New York Times Magazine cover article, Daniel Zalewski wrote, "Gary Shteyngart has rewritten the classic immigrant narrative - starring a sarcastic slacker instead of a grateful striver. And after all his parents have done for him!" (Broadcast Date: July 2, 2002)