Terry Gross

Journalist Bill Turque is Washington correspondent for Newsweek and author of the new biography, “Inventing Al Gore” (Houghton Mifflin). Turque covered both of Gore’s vice presidential campaigns and the Clinton White House. He began work on the book in 1997

Religion scholar and former nun Karen Armstrong. She’s the author of the bestselling book, “A History of God.” Her new book, “The Battle for God” examines the fundamentalist movement in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic faiths that began to emerge in the 1970s. She writes that today’s fundamentalist movements differ from previous ones, in that they are no longer throwbacks to the past, but are complex movements that are shaped by the modern culture they also decry.

Actor John Cusack He stars in the new film “High Fidelity” based on the novel of the same name. He plays a 35 year-old used record store owner who keeps top-five lists for everything, and can’t keep a relationship. By the time Cusack was 22 he had a number of films to his credit: “The Sure Thing,” “Eight Men Out,” “Say Anything,” and “Fat Man and Little Boy.” Later he went on to make “The Grifters,” “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” “The Thin Red Line,” and “Grosse Pointe Blank” which he cowrote.

Jerome Groopman, MD. His new book is "Second Opinions: Stories Of Intuition And Choice In A Changing World Of Medicine." (Viking) The Harvard Medical School doctor and researcher says patient and doctor should be working together, using intuition, cutting-edge science and personal values to make critical medical decisions. The book's case histories include Goodman’s infant son, who was misdiagnosed in a hospital emergency room and almost died.

Host of ABC'S "Nightline" Ted Koppel. Today is the 20th anniversary of the show (first aired March 24th, 1980). Koppel has won every major broadcasting award, including 30 Emmys. He’s interviewed over ten-thousand people. He was born in Lancashire, England, and started his career as a desk assistant and reporter for WMCA Radio in New York City. Terry originally talked to him when his memoir was published. It's called "Nightline: History in the Making and the Making of Television" (Times Books, by Ted Koppel and Kyle Gibson). (Originally aired 5/30/96)

Actress Joan Cusack. She has received two best supporting actress Oscar nominations -- in 1988 for her role in Working Girl, and in 1997 for her role in In and Out. Her other movies include Broadcast News, Addams Family Values, Grosse Pointe Blank, Arlington Road, The Cradle Will Rock and Runaway Bride. She stars with her brother John Cusack in the new film High Fidelity, based on the novel by Nick Hornby. (High Fidelity opens March 31st)

Writer Ted Heller. His new book is “Slab Rat.” Heller was responsible for the famous “Separated at Birth” feature in Spy Magazine, a concept that has lived on long after the publication. His new book is a satire about a magazine staffer who will do just about anything to get ahead. Heller has also worked at a number of magazines, including Details, Premiere and Vanity Fair.

Writer Ernesto Quinonez His debut novel, “Bodega Dreams” (Vintage books), is set in Spanish Harlem. Like his narrator, Quinonez is half Ecuadorean, half-Puerto Rican. A reviewer in the Kirkus Reviews writes of the book, “Edgy, street-smart. . . An admirable debut, brimming with energy and refreshingly devoid of genre clichés.”

Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim turns 70 on this day, Wednesday, March 22nd. We commemorate the occasion with 1988 interview with him. He discusses his work on “West Side Story” (for which he wrote lyrics), “Gypsy” (lyrics), and his own musical “Sweeney Todd.” Sondheim learned his craft from Oscar Hammerstein, who was a neighbor and surrogate father to him. Sondheim’s other musicals include “Company,” “Follies,” and “Sunday in the Park with George.” (REBROADCAST from 11/10/88).

Tens of thousands of African-American men, women, and children were lynched by mobs in the United States between 1882 and 1968. Some of these lynchings were photographed, and the photos were saved as souvenirs, and were even sometimes used as postcards. Antique dealer James Allen came across these disturbing images and began to collect them. His collection is currently on display at the New York Historical Society. The book about Allen’s collection, called “Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America” (Twin Palms Publishers) was published earlier this year.