Showing results by author "Terry Gross" in All Categories

Former presidential speechwriter Michael Waldman and publisher Andre Schiffrin on this edition of Fresh Air. Waldman's new book is called POTUS Speaks: Finding the Words that Defined the Clinton Presidency. From 1993 to 1999, Waldman was a special assistant and chief speechwriter to Bill Clinton.

Composer Charles Strouse on this edition of Fresh Air. His Broadway musicals include Bye Bye Birdie, Annie, Applause, It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman, and Golden Boy, which originally opened on Broadway in 1964 and starred Sammy Davis, Jr. The show will be revived later this month by City Center Encores in New York. Strouse also composed music for film and TV, including "Those Were the Days," the theme song for TV's All in the Family.

Filmmaker Peter Jackson and photographer Doug Niven on this edition of Fresh Air. Peter Jackson directed Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. The film has been nominated for 13 Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Picture and Screenplay. His other films include Heavenly Creatures and The Frighteners. The New Zealander is also slated to direct the other two upcoming films of the Hobbit trilogy, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Paralympic gold medallist Chris Waddell and actor Guy Pearce on this edition of Fresh Air. Chris Waddell has won metals in both the winter and summer Paralympic Games, competing as both an alpine mono-skier and a wheelchair racer. Waddell is currently competing in the Paralympics in Salt Lake City. He has already won a silver medal this week. Guy Pearce is currently starring in the films The Time Machine and The Count of Monte Cristo.

Editor in chief of Gourmet magazine Ruth Reichl and former deputy commissioner of baseball Stephen Greenberg on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Ruth Reichl's is a former restaurant critic for The New York Times and the author of Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table, a memoir of her lifelong passion for food, which was a best seller. She continues her story with the new book Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table.

The United Nation's high commissioner for human rights, Mary Robinson on this edition of Fresh Air. Robinson is also the former president of Ireland. She discusses the murders last week of three U.N. human rights workers in West Timor. (Broadcast Date: September 13, 2000)

Singer Vernel Bagneris and writer Gary Paulsen on this edition of Fresh Air. Vernel Bagneris wrote, directed and starred in the 1979 hit show, "One mo' Time." It's being revived and opens on Broadway this week at the Longacre Theater. The setting is a hot, sultry night at New Orleans' Lyric Theatre in the 1920s. Bagneris performs Charlestons, rags, cakewalks, and other songs of the Vaudeville age, including "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," "Down in Honky Tonk Town," and "Everybody Loves My Baby."

Anti-violence activists Rochelle and Anthony Yates on this archival edition of Fresh Air. On July 18, 1988 the Yates' five-year-old son Marcus was killed in gun crossfire between two drug dealers fighting for turf in a corner store. There were 11 children in the store playing video games, two others were shot but survived, one of them was Marcus' six year old brother.

Filmmaker Jamsheed Akrami is a scholar of Iranian film. His two documentaries are Dreams Betrayed and Friendly Persuasion: Iranian Cinema After the Revolution. Together, they explore Iranian filmmaking before and after the 1979 revolution. In Iranian films, male and female characters are not allowed to touch, ever, and women must be veiled at all times. Despite these and other limitations, Iranian cinema has garnered international critical acclaim.

Once Were Warriors director Lee Tamahori and star Rena Owen, and Dr. Jody Heyman on this archival edition of Fresh Air. Once Were Warriors is a critically acclaimed film that takes a front-line look at an urban Maori family plagued by poverty, violence and alcoholism. The movie was the top grossing film in New Zealand history.

Singer Brenda Lee and authors Jane Farrell-Beck and Colleen Gau on this edition of Fresh Air. Brenda Lee is one of the early rock 'n' roll singers, with hits such as "I'm Sorry", "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", and "Break It To Me Gently." She's just been inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, class of 2002. She's also in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Lee was born Brenda Mae Tarpley in Atlanta. At the age of 13, in 1957, she made her debut at the Grand Ole Opry.

Founder of the Federal Witness Protection Program Gerald Shur and journalist Pete Earley on this edition of Fresh Air. They've collaborated on the new book, WITSEC: Inside the Federal Witness Protection Program. Shur started the program in the 1960s after realizing that many witnesses would not testify because they were afraid of being killed as a result. WITSEC assigns a new identity and relocates witnesses and their dependents.

Journalist Steven Waldman and former Congressman Timothy J. Penny on this archival edition of Fresh Air. Waldman's book The Bill: How the Adventures of Clinton's National Service Bill Reveal What is Corrupt, Comical, Cynical - and Nobel - about Washington, follows Bill Clinton's plan to revamp the college loan system, from idea to implementation.

The economics of motherhood and the history of circumcision on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Economics journalist Ann Crittenden is a former reporter for The New York Times. She's the author of the new book The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World Is Still the Least Valued. In the book, Crittenden writes about the cost to mothers when their work is unrecognized and undervalued.

Writer Evelyn Lau and defense analyst Michael Klare on this edition of Fresh Air. In 1989, Lau became a best-selling author with her first book: Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid, a memoir of her years on the streets as a suicidal drug-addicted teenage prostitute.

On this edition of Fresh Air, host Terry Gross speaks with Mamoun Fandy, Professor at the Near-East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. He's written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and regularly for The Christian Science Monitor. His latest book is Saudi Arabia and the Politics of Dissent. Plus, classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reflects on what music he has and has not been listening to.

On this edition of Fresh Air, host Terry Gross speaks with Nicholas de Torrente, the executive director of the USA division of the French medical relief organization Doctors without Borders. During August, he was in the Northern Territory of Afghanistan checking on the work of the organization. Doctors without Borders had to negotiate with the Taliban to do their work. After the terrorist attacks, the organization evacuated all foreign workers from the country, leaving their Afghani staff behind.

Syndicated columnist and biographer Richard Reeves and Pakistani novelist and New Yorker writer Moshin Hamid on this edition of Fresh Air. Richard Reeves' most recent book is President Nixon: Alone in the White House. He's also written books about Presidents Reagan, Kennedy, Clinton, and Ford. Reeves lived in Pakistan during the 1980s.

Director of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Liz Thompson and Film Forum Director Bruce Goldstein on this edition of Fresh Air. The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council brought art, dance, and performance to World Trade Center Plaza. They had offices in WTC building five; a number of their artists had studio space in tower one. One of their artists, sculptor Michael Richards, was killed in the attack. Liz Thompson was at a meeting in tower one when the attack took place.

Journalists Monica Yant Kinney and Tom Ginsburg of The Philadelphia Inquirer on this edition of Fresh Air. The two covered the protests during the Republican National Convention. They'll pick up the story since the convention, and discuss the lawsuits filed against the city on behalf of the protesters.