Terry Gross

Actress Mary Beth Hurt. She co-stars in the new thriller "Defenseless."

Political scientist professor William Taubman discusses who wields power in the Soviet Union, in the wake of the past week's events. Taubman had an editorial this weekend in the New York Times saying that the time has come for Mikhail Gorbachev to step down. (Taubman teaches at Amherst College, and is currently working on a biography of Nikita Khrushchev).

Baritone Sanford Sylvan. He portrayed Zhou Enlai in John Adams' "Nixon in China." He's a regular in Peter Sellars' repertory company, having played in "The Marriage of Figaro," and "Cosi Fan Tutte." He's playing the title role in Adams's "Death of Klinghoffer," which has its American premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in September. He also has his first solo record, "Beloved That Pilgrimage," on which he is accompanied by pianist, David Breitman. (on the Nonesuch label).

Editor Vitalli Korotych (Veh-tal-ee Ka-row-tich) of the reformist Soviet magazine, "Ogonyok" (AH-gone-yuck) He talks with Terry about his own questions about the coup, about the lessons learned from it, and about what he thinks should happen now.

Political Science professor Ehud Sprinzak (A-houd Sprin-zack) of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He talks with Terry about how the radical right in Israel is no longer a fringe group but a growing force in Israeli politics and life. His new book is, "The Ascendance of Israel's Radical Right," (Oxford University Press).

We get a personal view of recent events in the Soviet Union, with Soviet emigre writer Mikhail Iossel ("YO-sill"). Iossel's latest book, "Every Hunter Wants To Know: A Leningrad Life," is a collection of short stories about life during the Brezhnev years. (It's published by W.W. Norton).

Admiral Stansfield Turner. The former director of the CIA under Jimmy Carter. He talks with Terry about what he thinks is going on in both the American and Soviet intelligence communities in the wake of the Soviet coup attempt. (Turner has just come out with his second book, "Terrorism & Democracy" (Published by Houghton Mifflin)).

We check in again with journalist Robert Cullen, for his take on the latest events in the Soviet Union. He's a former Moscow correspondent for Newsweek, and he writes regularly on Eastern Europe for The Atlantic and the New Yorker. (Cullen has a book coming out this autumn, titled, "Twilight Of Empire: Inside the Crumbling Soviet Bloc").

Author and labor attorney Thomas Geoghegan (GAY-GUN). He was an observer for the dissident faction in a United Mine Workers election in the 1970s and he defended steelworkers stripped of their pension rights in the 1980s. He's written a new book, "Which Side Are You On?: Trying to be for Labor When it's Flat on its Back," which looks at the decline of the labor unions in the 1980s from the view of someone who came to join the union staff as a young idealistic lawyer hoping to use the law as an instrument for social change. (published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

From the Comedy Central cable channel's "Mystery Science Theater 3000," creator and host Joel Hodgson, and head writer Mike Nelson. Their show spoofs badly made science-fiction movies by talking back to the them, much like you'd talk back to your TV.