Terry Gross

Graham Allison is an expert on nuclear weapons and national security. In his new book, Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, he argues that avoiding a catastrophic nuclear event needs to be a higher priority for the U.S. government.

Filmmakers Josh Marston and Orlando Tobon discuss Maria Full of Grace, their film about a Colombian girl who swallows pellets of narcotics and travels on a plane to New York. In real life, Tobon runs a travel agency that arranges transport back to Colombia for dead smugglers, who have died when the pellets burst.

Lisa Scottoline's Killer Smile was inspired by a secret in her family's past: Her immigrant-Italian grandparents were listed as "enemy aliens" during World War II, and the FBI raided their house. But her grandparents did nothing wrong and were never accused of anything.

Dr. Mark Hochberg is the CEO of the College of Physicians in Philadelphia, a private medical society that was founded in 1787 that includes the fourth largest medical historical library in the country, and the Mutter Museum. He'll talk about his colleague Gretchen Worden.

Dowd's new book collects more than 100 of her columns from the New York Times. Bushworld begins with George H.W. Bush and continues with the presidency of George W. Bush. Dowd won a Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for her commentary on the Clinton impeachment.

Franks, formerly the commander in chief of the U.S. Central Command, led the American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. He says the United States did not anticipate the insurgency that followed the invasion of Iraq, and he warns against underestimating Osama bin Laden. He's written a new memoir, American Soldier.

Carmen bin Laden is the sister-in-law of Osama bin Laden. In 1974 she married Yeslam bin Laden; they separated 14 years later. Carmen only met her brother-in-law a few times. She's written a new memoir, Inside the Kingdom: My Life in Saudi Arabia.

Maher hosts the HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher, which just began a new season. Like his previous show, Politically Incorrect, he features a roundtable of guests who make jokes and talk politics. The show is broadcast Friday nights at 11 p.m. Maher is also the author of When You Ride Alone, You Ride with Bin Laden.

He was the Weekend Update anchor on Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2000, and was known for his satirical coverage of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. He's now starring in Comedy Central's Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. It airs on Comedy Central (Monday through Thursday, 11:30 p.m. EST).

His colorful, chaotic, bold, vibrant and often comic paintings of New York City feature the spectrum of life from prostitutes, thieves and gamblers to tourists, shoppers and moms and dads. When he was 20, nearly 50 years ago, Grooms moved to New York City from Nashville, and his visceral reaction to the city has informed his paintings since. There's a new book of his work (the first major book on Grooms in 20 years), Red Grooms.