Terry Gross

James Reston, Jr. has written a biography of Galileo, called "Galileo: A Life." In it, he explores how Galileo was publicly humiliated for supporting the theory that the Earth revolved around the sun. Reston recently wrote a cover story for "Time Magazine," on the comet crash into Jupiter, before the crash became national news.

Writer Shelby Foote has created a niche for himself as a civil war historian. He is best known for his three volume history of the Civil War, called "The Civil War: A Narrative." He has just written a new book, "Stars in Their Courses," which re-creates the three-day Gettysburg Campaign. He was also the narrator of the eleven-hour PBS series "The Civil War," which aired in 1990.

Karolyi coached Nadia Comaneci in the 1976 Olympics, where she was the first person to score perfect tens in Olympic history. Karolyi and writer Nancy Ann Richardson have collaborated on a biography of his life, called "Feel No Fear." The book tells of Karolyi's defection from Romania to the U.S., and how he brought the American gymnasts Mary Lou Retton and Kim Zmeskal into the public eye.

Last week, a cholera epidemic broke out in Rwanda, and the country now has limited medical facilities and few physicians. Dr. John Sundin worked during May and June at the Red Cross hospital in Kigali, Rwanda. He'll talk about the cholera epidemic, and about his experiences working as the only surgeon in Kigali.

Commentator Dagoberto Gilb reflects on how poverty in his Spanish-speaking community and a string unreliable coaches affected the morale and success of his son's Little League team.

Alsop is the music director of the Colorado Symphony. One of the few woman conductors in the world, she has also served as music director of the Lond Island Philharmonic, and has been the guest conductor for many orchestras, including the St. Louis Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Boston Pops Orchestra. Her new CD "Victory Stride," features the work of the African American composer James P. Johnson.

Ladd is a 24-year-old writer who has just published an autobiography, "Out of the Madness." He writes about growing up in the Dallas housing projects with his mother, who was a heroin addict. Ladd describes how he struggled to educate himself and eventually became a writer. His book started out as an article, written when he was 20, and published in "Dallas Life." Ladd currently writes for the "Dallas Morning News," and attends college.

Spy novelist John Le Carre. His novels, almost every one of which is considered a masterpiece of the genre, include "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold," "A Small Town in Germany," "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and "The Little Drummer Girl." To many critics, Le Carre is not simply the finest spy novelist of his era, but perhaps the finest all-around novelist. His new best-seller is called "The Night Manager."

Mystery writer Walter Mosley. He's written a new book in his series about gumshoe hero Easy Rawlins, called "Black Betty." Betty's a shark of a woman who leaves dead men in her wake. Like the other books in the series, "Black Betty" has Easy in post-War, but pre-present South Central L.A.-- this time the year is 1961. Mosley gained public attention when presidential candidate Bill Clinton said that Mosley was his favorite mystery writer. His next book,"RL's Dream" comes out this August.

Burke has been writing for 35 years but he's best known for his more recent detective novels about Dave Robicheaux, a recovering alcoholic who is also a troubled Vietnam vet and a New Orleans police lieutenant. His books include: "The Neon Rain," "Heaven's Prisoners," "Black Cherry Blues," "A Morning for Flamingos" and "A Stained White Radiance." Burke's new book, his eighth Dave Robicheaux novel, is called "Dixie City Jam."