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Terry Gross at her microphone in 2018

Terry Gross

Terry Gross is the host and an executive producer of Fresh Air, the daily program of interviews and reviews. It is produced at WHYY in Philadelphia, where Gross began hosting the show in 1975, when it was broadcast only locally. She was awarded a National Humanities Medal from President Obama in 2016. Fresh Air with Terry Gross received a Peabody Award in 1994 for its “probing questions, revelatory interviews and unusual insight.” America Women in Radio and Television presented her with a Gracie Award in 1999 in the category of National Network Radio Personality. In 2003, she received the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Edward R. Murrow Award for her “outstanding contributions to public radio” and for advancing the “growth, quality and positive image of radio.” Gross is the author of All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians and Artists, published by Hyperion in 2004. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, and received a bachelor’s degree in English and M.Ed. in communications from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She began her radio career in 1973 at public radio station WBFO in Buffalo, NY.

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13:17

The Underlying Cause of Fatigue.

Benjamin Natelson is a neurologist who directs the New Jersey Chronic Fatigue Center. He's just written "Facing and Fighting Fatigue: A Practical Approach." (Yale University Press) He specializes in treating chronic fatigue syndrome. He says that while many people think CFS is all in their heads, there is actually a physiological component to the condtion.

31:19

How Modern Society is Effecting Our Ability to Sleep.

Sonia Ancoli-Israel specializes in sleep disorders, including sleep apnea, insomnia and sleep disturbances in the elderly. She is the author of "All I Want is a Good Night's Sleep." (Mosby-Year Book) She directs the Sleep Disorders Clinic at the Veterans Affairs Division of the San Diego Health Care System.

43:57

William Langeweische Discusses What It Feels Like to Fly.

William Langeweische is a writer and a pilot. He grew up around planes and learned to fly when he was a child. His father, a test pilot, wrote a text that is considered to be the bible of aerial navigation ("Stick and Rudder"). Langewiesche has written his own book about flying from a different perspective, called "Inside the Sky: A Meditation on Flight."

21:24

Jury Consultant Jo-Ellan Dimitrius On "Reading People."

Jury consultant Jo-Ellan Dimitrius. She's consulted in over 600 trials, including O-J Simpson's and Rodney King's. Dimitrius' company, Forensic Technologies International, uses techniques like random phone surveys to learn about public attitudes. In jury questionnaires and interviews, Dimitrius says he can get potential jurors to reveal their pre-dispostions. In her new book, "Reading People: How to Understand People and Predict Their Behavior," (Random House) she discloses some of the tricks of her trade.

Interview
27:05

The Truth about Vultures.

The truth about vultures, with Wayne Grady and Mike Wallace. Grady's new book, "Vulture: Ghastly Gourmet," (Sierra Club Books) describes in words and photographs the life of the vulture. Wallace is the Los Angeles Zoo's vulture specialist. He is the Curator of Conservation and Science at the zoo, as well as being the Condor Species Survival Program Coordinator for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association.

21:08

Malachy McCourt Continues the Family Saga.

Malachy McCourt is best-selling author Frank McCourt's ("Angela's Ashes") younger brother. He's just written a memoir of his own, entitled "A Monk Swimming." (Hyperion) It picks up where Frank's left off, in 1950s America. Malachy is also an actor and has had featured roles in the films "The Devil's Own," "She's the One," and "The Bonfire of The Vanities."

Interview
21:44

How Geoff Dyer's Biography Turned Into an Autobiography.

In the tradition of the documentary "Sherman's March," Geoff Dyer has written a book about trying to write D.H. Lawrence's biography. "Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling With D.H. Lawrence" (Farrar Strauss Giroux) ends up being both a biography and an autobiography. Dyer lives in Oxford, England, and has published several other books, including "Ways of Telling," a critical study of the art critic John Berger.

Interview
20:56

The Communist Party and McCarthyism.

Ellen Schrecker re-examines the McCarthy era in her new book, "Many are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America." (Little, Brown) She writes that despite the unfairness of the House Un-American Activities Committee, accusations were generally accurate. It's the first complete post-Cold War account of the McCarthy era. Schrecker is a professor of History at Yeshiva University in New York.

Interview
21:45

New Perspectives on Communism in the U. S.

Author Harvey Klehr. He's co-authored a new book that examines how the Soviets controlled the American Communist party. The Communist Party as it existed in the United States is the only radical party in America to be governed by a foreign country. "The Soviet World of American Communism" draws information from documents in recently opened Soviet archives (with co-authors John Earl Haynes & Kyrill M. Anderson; Yale University Press). Klehr is a professor of Politics and History at Emory University.

Interview
27:37

Whit Stillman and "The Last Days of Disco."

Whit Stillman is the writer, director and producer of the new film "The Last Days of Disco," which opened nationally late last month. The film portrays the disco scene in New York in late 1970's to the early 1980's. Stillman also wrote and directed the films "Metropolitan" and "Barcelona." Stillman has also written for Vogue, The Village Voice, The Guardian, and El Pais.

Interview

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