Terry Gross

Actor Peter Fonda is probably best known for his role in the cult-classic road movie Easy Rider. His new picture, 3:10 to Yuma, is a Western — a remake of the 1957 film. Fonda, son of actor Henry Fonda, is author of the memoir Don't Tell Dad.

Diagnosed with cancer for the third time, Susan Sontag signed on for a harsh treatment regimen in hopes it would keep her alive. But it only added to her suffering. Her son, journalist David Rieff, has published a memoir about his mother's "revolt against death."

Two million patients get bacterial infections from health-care workers each year. Nearly 100,000 of them die as a result. Dr. Richard Shannon argues that those infections — and deaths — are preventable.

Historian Drew Gilpin Faust writes that Civil War deaths — both their number and their manner — transformed America. Her new book is This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War.

James Hansen, a leading NASA climate scientist, says the Bush administration has tried to silence his warnings about global warming. Writer and scientist Mark Bowen wrote a book on the affair: Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming.

In Paul Thomas Anderson's new film There Will Be Blood, the young actor Paul Dano plays a rural preacher at odds with the oilman (Daniel Day-Lewis) at the center of the story. Dano previously appeared in Little Miss Sunshine, playing the teen who was an elective mute.

Columnist Bob Sullivan covers Internet scams and consumer fraud for MSNBC.com, where he writes a column called The Red Tape Chronicles. His new book is about the hidden fees found in many phone, cable, credit card and other bills.

The Foo Fighters latest album, Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace is nominated for a Grammy for album of the year. Dave Grohl, the group's leader, talks about the band's evolution, and about his past role as drummer for the band Nirvana.

Investigative reporter David Cay Johnston explores in his new book how in recent years, government subsidies and new regulations have quietly funneled money from the poor and the middle class to the rich and politically connected.