Terry Gross

Biographer Tad Szulc has a new book called Pope John Paul II: The Biography. It details the Pope's early years in Poland through his climb to the papacy after being elevated to archbishop in 1963. Szulc traveled with the Pope extensively, had access to many of his private papers and interviewed many of the Pope's old schoolmates, friends and fellow priests. Szulc is a former New York Times bureau chief.

Simms is the creator of the new NBC sit-com "News Radio." He previously worked as writer for both the "The Larry Sanders Show," and "Late Night with David Letterman."

Kaminer's new book, It's All the Rage offers insights into our culture's larger questions of individual responsibility, victimization, punishment, innocence and guilt. Kaminer is also a contributing editor to the Atlantic Monthly and Public Fellow at Radcliffe College.

Haggard has been on the country music scene since the early sixties and has more number one hits than any country music star except Conway Twitty. Recently, two tribute albums of his songs were released: Mama's Hungry Eyes and Tulare Dust. Haggard was also recently inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

We continue our interview with NPR reporter and All Things Considered producer/host Linda Wertheimer. In this segment, she talks about her experiences as a woman during the early days of her career.

Wertheimer has been with NPR since the network first went on the air with All Things Considered, May 3, 1971, which she now hosts. Wertheimer has come out with a book that looks back at some of the key events in American history as they were covered by NPR sations, called Listening to America.

Al Franken is a writer and actor on "Saturday Night Live." His characters have included the one-man mobile uplink unit, Pat Robertson, Paul Tsongas, and Stuart Smalley, host of "Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley." In 1992, Franken published a book under Stuart's name; Stuart's new project is an upcoming movie called "Stuart Saves His Family."

Thupten Jinpa was a refugee in India as a child, became a monk at a Tibetan monastery, and is the translator, editor and annotator of "The World of Tibetan Buddhism," written by the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

We continue our conversation with Professor John Dominic Crossan, whose new book "Who Killed Jesus" has just been released. In this half, he talks about the historical significance of crucifixion, as well as how Crossan has practiced his faith since leaving the priesthood.

Professor John Dominic Crossan is a native of Ireland, ordained as a priest in the U.S. (he left the priesthood in 1969), and now teaches biblical studies at DePaul University. He is a founding member of the Jesus Seminar, a group of scholars who meet to determine the authenticity of Jesus' sayings in the Gospels. Crossan's latest book is Who Killed Jesus: Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of The Death of Jesus.