Terry Gross

The New Yorker's former Middle East correspondent has written a memoir: Prisoners: A Muslim & A Jew Across the Middle East Divide. Goldberg won the National Magazine Award for Reporting in 2003 for his coverage of terrorism.

Judea Pearl is the father of slain journalist Daniel Pearl and author of I am Jewish. Professor Akbar Ahmed teaches Islamic Studies at American University. The two are collaborating on a series of interfaith dialogues across the country and abroad. Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan in 2002, while reporting on Islamic extremists. Judea Pearl is a professor at UCLA, and President of the Daniel Pearl Foundation. Akbar S. Ahmed is the author of Islam Under Siege.

Tanya Erzen is the author of the new book, Straight to Jesus: Sexual and Christian Conversions in the Ex-Gay Movement. It's about New Hope Ministry, a residential program for evangelical Christian men in the San Francisco Bay area who are struggling with homosexuality. It's part of a larger movement to convert gays to the straight Christian life.

Shawn O'Donnell is a former ex-gay and a Christian. He was involved with Exodus for many years, before he left the program and to live as gay man. His story was part of the documentary Fish Can't Fly.

Alan Chambers is the president of Exodus, the largest evangelical group devoted to converting homosexuals to heterosexuals. He himself was a gay teen and young adult before the church helped him overcome his homosexuality.

Minimalist composer Steve Reich, who celebrated his 70th birthday last week, is considered one of our foremost living composers. Nonesuch Records has released a new box set, Phases: A Nonesuch Retrospective, and in New York City, there will be a month-long series of dance performances, concerts, and workshops at BAM, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. Interviews with Reich originally aired May 11, 1999 and March 31, 1989.

As president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Andy Stern led his union -- along with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and several others -- out of the AFL-CIO to start the Change to Win Federation, the first new labor movement in 50 years.

Former presidential Cabinet member James A. Baker III's new memoir offers some insights right of the bat in its title, Work Hard, Study...and Keep Out of Politics!: Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life. Baker served as chief of staff and treasury secretary under President Reagan, and was also secretary of state and chief of staff under President George H.W. Bush.

Journalists Mark Halperin and John Harris have collaborated on a new book, The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008. Halperin is the political director of ABC News and creator of "The Note," its online tip sheet. Harris is the national political editor of The Washington Post. They write that the United States is "on the brink of what promises to be one of the most intensely fought and consequential presidential elections in its history."

Journalist Bob Woodward's new book, State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III, is a follow-up to his previous books on the Bush administration. In the new book, Woodward says that the Bush administration has avoided telling the truth about the Iraq war to the public, to Congress, and to itself. Woodward is an assistant managing editor of The Washington Post and has been a newspaper reporter and editor for 35 years.