Showing results by author "Terry Gross" in All Categories

Satirist Al Franken and actor Michael J. Fox on this edition of Fresh Air. Al Franken's new book spoofs how-to-succeed books. It's called Oh, The Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or, Failing That, Happiness. Franekn is former co-producer of Saturday Night Live where he created the self-help guru Stuart Smalley ("I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!"). He's also the author of Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations.

Actor Patrick Warburton and composer Aaron Jay Kernis on this edition of Fresh Air. Patrick Warburton's best known for his recurring role on Seinfeld as Elaine's laconic boyfriend, Puddy. Though he only appeared in nine episodes, he became one of the show's favorite characters. Warburton currently stars in the new FOX show The Tick. He could also be heard as the voice of Joe on Fox's animated series The Family Guy.

Writer Richard Lourie and South African writer and actress Pamela Gien on this edition of Fresh Air. His new book is a biography of the Russian scientist, dissident, and Nobel peace prize winner Andrei Sakharov. He's considered one of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century. Sakharov created Russia's H-bomb, but later underwent a moral awakening and confronted his country over issues of nuclear responsibility and human rights. Lourie also translated the Sakharov's memoirs.

Correspondent for The National Catholic Reporter John Allen and French film director Laurent Cantet on this edition of Fresh Air. John Allen covers the Vatican for the paper and has a regular column, "The View From Rome." This week American Cardinals are meeting in Rome to discuss the sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church in the U.S. Laurent Cantet has made two feature films, both of which focus on the world of work, and the toll that work can take on our lives.

Journalists Sebastian Junger and Charles Sennott on this edition of Fresh Air. Sebastian Junger's just returned from Afghanistan where he was traveling with the Northern Alliance. Last year,he was also in Afghanistan following Ahmad Shah Massoud, (known as the "Lion of Panjshir"), the legendary leader of the guerrilla war against the Soviets, who had been fighting the Taliban.

Remembering Frank Sinatra on this edition of Fresh Air. Shawn Levy is the author of Rat Pack Confidential: Frank, Dean, Sammy, Peter, Joey & the Last Great Showbiz Party. It's about the circle of showbiz pals who played and later performed together. It included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop.

Ugandan Aids activist Noverine Kaleeba on this edition of Fresh Air. She works with UNAids, a United Nations organization in Geneva. She's also on the Ugandan committee on Aids, and founded The Aids Support Organization in Uganda. Kaleeba lost her husband to the disease; four of her siblings are HIV positive as are a number of their children. Kaleeba is also author of the book, We Miss You All: Noerine Kaleeba-Aids in the Family. (Broadcast Date: April 22, 2002)

Former US President Jimmy Carter and US Senator James Jeffors on this edition of Fresh Air. Jimmy Carter's the author of a number of books including a memoir about his boyhood, An Hour Before Daylight. His latest is a memoir, Christmas in Plains. Carter and his family has spent the last 48 Christmases in Plains, through out his Navy career, his stint as Governor and his tenure as President.

On this edition of Fresh Air, host Terry Gross speaks with Michael Pollan. To learn more about the meat industry in the US he bought a calf, and then followed the process from fattening it to slaughter. He wrote about it in the Sunday, March 31st issue of The New York Times Magazine. The article "Power Steer" is the cover story. Pollan is also the author of the book, The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World.

Program Director for the International Center for Transitional Justice, Paul Van Zyl and Professor of Women's Studies in religion at the Harvard Divinity School Leila Ahmed on this edition of Fresh Air. As program director for the International Center for Transitional Justice, Paul Van Zyl helps emerging democracies to reckon with the human rights abuses in their past. Van Zyl is from South Africa and was the executive secretary of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Journalist Jeffrey Rosen and Jeffrey Toobin on this edition of Fresh Air. Jeffrey Rosen's article in this coming Sunday's New York Times Magazine is about the CIA's effort to partner with Silicon Valley to develop new anti-terrorist technologies. The CIA has founded a venture-capital firm that funds the development of cutting edge technologies that may be useful for national security, in particular new techniques for finding terrorists.

Actress Angie Dickinson and Professor Gerald Early on this edition of Fresh Air. Angie Dickinson played an undercover cop in the TV series Police Woman from 1974-78. Her film roles include Dressed to Kill, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Pretty Maids all in a Row, and Ocean's Eleven which she made in 1960 with the Rat Pack: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr.

Bosnian filmmaker Danis Tanovic on this edition of Fresh Air. His new film No Man's Land is about three soldiers trapped in a trench between enemy lines, during the war in Bosnia. During the war in early 90s, Tanovic was the Bosnian army's cameraman, documenting the war for the army archive. He also directed many documentary films about the war and his hometown of Sarajevo.

Guest host Peter Clowney talks with John Cameron Mitchell on this archive edition of Fresh Air. He wrote, directed and starred in the off-broadway hit rock musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, with songs by Stephen Trask. The play has just been made into a new film, also directed by and starring Mitchell. The film won the Audience Award for Drama and the Directing Prize at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.

International studies professor Larry Goodson on this edition of Fresh Air. Larry Goodson is associate professor of international Studies at Bentley College, Waltham, Massachusetts. He's the author of the book, Afghanistan's Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics, and the Rise of the Taliban. Goodson writes that Afghanistan has "become the archetype of a failed state and a perfect example of how nonstate actors move into the vacuum created when a state fails."

Actress Sarah Jessica Parker on this archive edition of Fresh Air. She's been acting for most of her life, including playing Annie on Broadway, the young bimbo in L.A. Story, and a fed-up fiancée in Honeymoon in Vegas. This is her fourth season starring in the HBO hit series Sex and the City, as Carrie, a columnist who writes about the sexual mores of New Yorkers. Terry Gross recorded this interview with Parker live before an audience at Martha's Vineyard in July.

On this edition of Fresh Air, Terry Gross speaks with Bharati Mukherjee, an Indian-born writer who emigrated to the US as a college student. Her new novel is Desirable Daughters. It's about a traditional Brahmin family transformed by contemporary culture. Plus, and comic book writer Gerard Jones talks about why children need make-believe violence.

Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg and writer, actor, director, comedian, and radio host Harry Shearer on this edition of Fresh Air. Jeffrey Goldberg's article in the current New Yorker magazine is about Saddam Hussein's chemical attacks on the Kurds in 1988. There is also new evidence of Hussein's ties to Al Qaeda. Goldberg has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2000. His specialty is foreign reporting with an emphasis on Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Writer/producer Judd Apatow and novelist, screenwriter and biographer, A.E. Hotchner on this edition of Fresh Air. Judd Apatow's new series for FOX is called Undeclared. He's billed as the creator/executive producer. It's about a group of geeky college freshmen. Apatow also worked on the Emmy award winners Freaks and Geeks and The Ben Stiller Show.

New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik on this edition of Fresh Air. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani appointed him the 40th police commissioner of the City of New York in August of 2000. Prior to that, he was the commissioner of the Department of Correction. He began as a prison warden in New Jersey. He joined the NYPD as a beat cop on Times Square. He's just written a book, called The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice.