Terry Gross

Called by some baseball purists the finest first baseman in the game, Keith Hernandez played with the St. Louis Cardinals, the New York Mets, and the Cleveland Indians. He is the winner of 11 consecutive Golden Glove Awards for fielding, and played in two World Championships. Hernandez is the author of the book Pure Baseball: Pitch by Pitch for the Advanced Fan. His newest book First Base Hero (Golden Books) is a childrens book about a boy who wants to grow up to play major league baseball. This interview first aired on February 24, 1994.

Journalist 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. Rosen will talk about some of these technologies — and what civil libertarians think of them.

Journalist Jeffrey Toobin discusses his profile of Attorney General John Aschroft, published in this week's issue of The New Yorker. Toobin is a staff writer for The New Yorker and a legal analyst for ABC News. His books include Too Close to Call: The Thirty-Six-Day Battle to Decide the 2000 Election (Random House); A Vast Conspiracy; and The Run of His Life.

British actress Julie Christie stars as a doctor in the new Hal Hartley film, No Such Thing. Her other films include Doctor Zhivago, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Shampoo, Heaven Can Wait, and Nashville. She won the Oscar for Best Actress for her work in the 1965 film Darling.

Poet Donald Hall returns to the show to discuss his new collection of poetry, The Painted Bed, much of it written in mourning for his late wife, poet Jane Kenyon. Hall received the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in poetry for his collection, The One Day, and the 1990 Frost Medal from the Poetry Society of America for Old and New Poems.

Last year, Gates uncovered a manuscript of a novel purportedly written in the 1850s by an African American woman who had been a slave. It is the first known work of its kind and has great historical and literary significance. The Bondwomans Narrative by Hannah Crafts, edited by Henry Louis Gates, has just been published (Warner Books). Well talk with Gates about the process of finding, authenticating and publishing the novel. Gates is the W.E.B. DuBois Professor of Humanities and chair of the Department of African-American Studies at Harvard University.

He wrote and starred in his films which include the hipster comedy Swingers and Made (which he also directed). In each film he teamed up with fellow actor and friend Vince Vaughn. Recently he also starred in the romantic comedy Love and Sex. His latest project is a new talk show series Dinner For Five which he created and hosts for the Independent Film Channel

Journalist Laura Blumenfeld is the author of the book, Revenge: A Story of Hope (Simon & Schuster). In 1986 her father was shot while visiting Israel. The bullet grazed his head. Ten years later, while a reporter for The Washington Post, Blumenfeld went in search of the shooter as a way to deal with her own feelings of revenge. She found his family who in turn led her to him. She developed a friendship with them, before they knew who she really was.

David Blumenfeld served as rabbi for 12 years in Glen Cove, New York. He began his career as a U.S. Army chaplain. In the eighties he was an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Hebraic Studies at Long Island University. Currently, he is the Director of Department Services to Affiliated Congregations at the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

Singer and songwriter Steve Earle has a new CD, Sidetracks, featuring several unreleased and underexposed tracks. This is his 11th full-length CD. He's the author of last year's acclaimed book, Doghouse Roses, a collection of short stories. Earle is also politically active. He currently serves as a board member of the Journey of Hope and is affiliated with both the Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and the Abolitionist Action Committee. This interview was originally broadcast July 30, 1996.