Terry Gross

Braugher plays Detective Frank Pembleton on the hit NBC series. He was educated at Julliard and is an experienced Shakespearean actor. His other acting credits include the film, "Glory" and the TNT special, "The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson."

House speaker Newt Gingrich has called for abolishing the National Endowment for the Arts. We discuss the pros and cons of federal funding of the arts with two guests. Art critic Hilton Kramer is the founder of the Arts Magazine, "The New Criterion," and is former chief art critic for The New York Times. He's against federal funding for the arts. John Brademas is Chair of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and former Democratic Congressman from Indiana. He also helped write the legislation that created the NEA.

We explore the current controversies over the NEA with Lynn Munson, former Special Assistant to Chairman Lynn Cheney at the NEA and current Research Associate at the American Enterprise Institute, and Paul Goldberger, The New York Times' Chief Cultural Correspondent.

Carter has written eight books since his presidency, including several memoirs. His newest book is a collection of his poems, "Always a Reckoning: and other Poems." Terry will talk with him about his poetry, and about his diplomatic work, including the recent agreements he brokered in Bosnia and Haiti.

Turturro is a regular in the TV-series, "NYPD Blue," as the young detective James Martinez. He's now starring in the new film, "Federal Hill." He also had parts in Spike Lee's films (along with his brother, John) "Do the Right Thing," "Mo' Better Blues," and "Jungle Fever."

Tonight, PBS debuts the documentary series, "America's War on Poverty: Untold Stories from the Front Line." The five-part series examines President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, which he declared during his State of the Union Address in January 1964. It included programs like Head Start, and Job Corps. Terry will talk with Executive Producer Henry Hampton and journalist and consultant Nicholas Lemann.

Editor-in-Chief of Billboard Magazine Timothy White has written a new book that traces the evolution of the "myth" of Southern California through the lens of the Beach Boys and the Wilson family. It's called "The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and the Southern California Experience."

Zwick directed the movies "Glory" and "Legends of the Fall," the TV series "thirtysomething," and the new highly-acclaimed, but under-watched "My So-Called Life.

Biologist Edward Golub's book "The Limits of Medicine," explores the history of medical advances and argues that medicine's new goal should be to extend health, not life span. There will be no "magic bullet" for today's major illnesses like there was for earlier scourges like polio, smallpox and diphtheria, he says. Golub was a professor of biology at Purdue University for twenty years and a director of research in the pharmaceutical industry for five years.

The health care analyst and substance abuse expert was LBJ's assistant for domestic affairs from 1959-65 and Secretary for Health, Education and Welfare under Jimmy Carter from 1977-79. He has written a book about health care reform called "Radical Surgery," and is president of the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, a research and experimental care facility at Columbia University. Terry will be talking to him about health care reform, welfare reform and substance abuse.