Terry Gross

The first of a 25-volume series reprinting the entire Peanuts comic strip has just been published. We feature an interview with the creator Charles Schulz (who died in 2000) just before his final strip ran in the Sunday papers. The first of the books is The Complete Peanuts: 1950-1952 (Fantagraphics Books). (Originally broadcast on Dec. 18, 1990.)

She co-directed the new film, Control Room, a behind-the-scenes look at Al Jezeera, the popular and controversial Arab news channel. The footage was shot before and during the Iraq war last year. The critically acclaimed film has been making the film festival circuit. It opens at the film forum in New York City on Friday, May 21. Also, hear Al Jazeera producer Samir Khader.

Guitarist and singer Marty Grosz and cornet player Randy Reinhart join us for a special in-studio performance in honor of the 100th birthday of Thomas "Fats" Waller. He would have been 100 on May 21. Grosz and Reinhart will perform songs composed by the great pianist and vocalist. Waller wrote many hit songs, appeared in films in the 1930s and 1940s, and wrote Broadway musicals.

In addition to editing The Weekly Standard, Kristol chairs the neo-conservative group called Project for the New American Century. Kristol is also one of the architects of the blueprint for regime change found in the document Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources For A New Century. He advocated regime change in Iraq before Sept. 11.

Gen. Romeo Dallaire was commander of the U.N. peacekeeping forces in Rwanda 10 years ago during one of the worst massacres in modern history. Some 800,000 Rwandans were killed in 100 days. Most of them were Tutsi and moderate Hutu civilians. During that time Dallaire and his troops were denied authority to intervene. The experience changed him, tormented him, and filled him with guilt. He suffered from post traumatic stress syndrome, was suicidal and depressed. He's written a new account, Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda.

Monty Python's Life of Brian — a biblical satire — is being re-released in theatres, 25 years after its first release. We feature archive interviews with four of the players from Monty Python's Flying Circus, starting with Graham Chapman. He was the straight man in the Monty Python troupe, who would come in and break up the skits. A physician by training, he was a writer and activist for gay rights. He died in 1989. (Rebroadcast from July 2, 1987.)

Idle was one of the six original members of Monty Python. He wrote many of the songs from the show, including "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," and he produced a CD, Eric Idle Sings Monty Python, Live in concert. (Big Monkey Records). Idle has also written a number of books, including a comic science-fiction thriller, The Road to Mars: A Post-Modem Novel. (Rebroadcast from Oct. 6, 1999.)

Palin recreated the journey Jules Verne described in Around the World in 80 Days and turned his journey into a successful eight-part BBC television series. He is, of course, also known for his tenure as a member of Monthy Python and his appearances in The Missionary and A Fish Called Wanda. (Rebroadcast from April 17, 1990.)

Post-Python, Cleese is best known for Fawlty Towers and a number of movies, including his 1988 comedy, A Fish Called Wanda. He's also written a book called Families and How to Survive Them with therapist Robyn Skinner, and he makes training films for corporations. (Rebroadcast from Sept. 22, 1990.)

His new book, Moyers on America (The New Press) is a first-ever collection of his essays and speeches. Moyers is the host of Now with Bill Moyers on PBS. He was one of the organizers of the Peace Corps, spokesperson for President Lyndon Johnson, a senior correspondent for CBS News, and producer of many public TV series. Moyers has won 30 Emmy Awards.