Terry Gross

An excerpt from the new public radio program "This American Life" by Ira Glass. Miles Davis' biographer shares his memories, and funny stories about Davis. "This American Life" premiers nationally in June.

Actor Harrison Ford. He's starred in "Star Wars," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," "Witness," and "The Fugitive." His latest film is, "Sabrina." It's out on video soon. (REBROADCAST from 12/19/95)

Mountain climber and writer Jon Krakauer was with the group of climbers who were climbing Mt. Everest May 10-11 when a storm hit. Eight climbers were killed. Jon Krakauer was covering the climb for Outside Magazine. Terry Gross will talk with him about it. Krakauer is also the author of the book "Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains" (1990, paperback Dell)

Writer Karen Armstrong is the author of the best-seller "A History of God." Her new book examines how the city of Jerusalem became the holy city for Jews, Christians and Muslims. Armstrong's new book is "Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths," (Knopf)

Philip Hilts, correspondent on health and science policy for The New York Times. His new book is "Smokescreen: The Truth Behind the Tobacco Industry Cover-up" (Addison-Wesley). Hilts first broke the story of the now-infamous Brown and Williamson tobacco papers, which revealed when tobacco executives first learned about the addictive nature of nicotine and the dangers of smoking. Hilts' stories for the New York Times led to Congressional hearings.

"Society" Pianist Peter Mintun for a concert and interview in the Fresh Air Studio. He specializes in popular song classics of the 1920s, 30s and 40s. He just finished an engagement at the Carlyle Hotel's Bemelmans Bar in New York City and returns there in August. His recordings can be found on the Premier Recordings Label.

Temple Grandin is one of the nation's top designers of livestock facilities. She is also autistic. Grandin was also one of the subjects in Oliver Sacks' book, "An Anthropologist On Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales". In Grandin's book, Thinking in Pictures: and other reports from my life with Autism she describes how her inner-autistic world has led her to develop animal empathy. Her book is published by Doubleday 1995. (REBROADCAST FROM 11/27/95)

Clinical neurology professor and doctor Oliver Sacks. He is the author of six books about his patients, people with autism, Parkinson's Disease, Tourette's Syndrome, and other neurological disorders. Sacks was portrayed by Robin Williams in the 1991 film version of his book "Awakenings." His other books include "A Leg to Stand On," and "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat." His newest is "An Anthropologist On Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales," which tells the stories of the disorders of seven of his subjects. (Alfred P.

Novelist Kaye Gibbons. She's the author of several acclaimed novels: Ellen Foster and Charms for the Easy Life. One reviewer says "Gibbon's brilliance lies in examining with unsentimental tenderness a family poised on the brink of disaster." Gibbons' novel, Sights Unseen (Putnam) is about a girl's life with her manic-depressive mother. Gibbons herself has the illness, and she'll talk with Terry about that. (Rebroadcast of 9/14/1995)

Psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison is an authority on manic-depression, and the author of the 1993 book Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, (Free Press/MacMillan). Jamison disclosed her own 30-year battle with manic-depression in the recent memoir, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness (Knopf). Jamison is Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. (Rebroadcast of 9/14/1995).