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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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22:27

Matthew Broderick on "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying"

Broderick is making his singing and dancing debut in the revival of the Frank Loesser musical. He plays J. Pierrepont Finch, an ambitious window washer who climbs the corporate ladder by "fawning, brown-nosing, sucking up and a touch of backstabbing." Broderick is best known for his acting, in such movies as "Torch Song Trilogy," "War Games," and "The Freshman."

Interview
22:30

Novelist Russell Banks Tells the Story of a Troubled Teen

Banks' new novel is Rule of the Bone. It's been compared to Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because of it's young first-person narrator, and use of comedy to convey grim realities. Bank's narrator is 14 year-old Chappie from upstate New York who wears a nose ring and Mohawk. He steals from his parents to pay for dope, is kicked out of the house, and sets off on a low-life adventure.

Interview
15:56

Working to Reform Campaign Finance Laws

Former president of the public affairs non-partisan lobbying group Common Cause, Fred Wertheimer. As president of the organization, Wertheimer led the charge for campaign finance reform, the banning of special-interest honoraria for members of Congress, and a lobby disclosure law. Wertheimer stepped down earlier this year after 14 years as President. He's been called "the capital's most vocal crusader for reforming the political system" by The Wall Street Journal.

Interview
39:46

Violence Against Refugees in Rwanda

Alison Des Forges is a consultant to Human Rights Watch Africa. Last month, the Rwandan Patriotic Army opened fire at a refugee camp. Human Rights Watch says 2000 people were killed. Des Forges visited the camp following the massacre. Des Forges is also the Co-Chair of the International Commission on Human Rights Abuse in Rwanda. She is a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

23:14

The Politics of the Extreme Right in America

Investigator Michael Reynolds with the Klan watch Militia Task Force, with the Southern Poverty Law Center. The task force assisted in the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing. Reynolds outlines the beliefs of many of these right wing groups.

Interview
22:12

Fostering a Renewed Black-Jewish Alliance

Two men influential in their communities: Corner West, professor of Afro-American studies at Harvard, and author of Race Matters, and Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun, a magazine of Jewish political and social commentary, and author of Jewish Renewal. They have collaborated on the new book Jews & Blacks: Let the Healing Begin.

17:13

Screenwriter and Novelist Richard Price

Price's books include The Wanderers, Bloodbrothers, and Clockers, which was a National Book Critic Circle Award nominee. He was also nominated for an Academy Award in 1986 for his screenplay of "The Color of Money." His newest credit is "Kiss of Death," which stars David Caruso, Samuel Jackson and Nicholas Cage.

Interview
22:06

Hanan Ashrawi on Fostering Israeli-Palestinian Peace

Hanan Mikhail-Ashrwai, former spokesperson for the PLO from 1991 to 1993. Ashrawi was the chief spokesperson for the Palestinian delegation at the Middle East peace negotiations. There are two books about her life and her role in the peace process: her personal account, This Side of Peace, and A Voice of Reason: Hanan Ashrawi and Peace in the Middle East by Barbara Victor.

15:29

The Personal History of Katherine Hepburn

Biographer Barbara Leaming has written a new biography of Katharine Hepburn, which places the actress' life in the context of her family's history: one of tragic and political importance. Katherine Hepburn's grandfather committed suicide, as did her brother. Hepburn's mother was a major figure in the radical suffrage movement, and a friend of Margaret Sanger.

Interview

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