Terry Gross

Humorist Alice Kahn looks at the 28-year relationship between Barbie and Ken, America's best-known dolls.

Film Director Bob Swaim, best known for the 1982 thriller "La Balance." His new film, "Masquerade," stars Rob Lowe and Meg Tilly. It's the first film Swaim has made in America; it was shot in New York State for MGM. Swaim, who has spent the last 20 years in France, first moved to Paris in 1965 to study anthropology with Claude Levi-Strauss.

Mary Gordon. Her novels include The Company of Women and Final Payments, an acclaimed exploration of a Catholic upbringing. Her recent collection of short stories is titled Temporary Shelter.

Gary Giddins, jazz critic for The Village Voice and author of the books Celebrating Bird: the Triumph of Charlie Parker, and Rhythm-a-ning: Jazz Tradition and Innovation in the 80s. He is the founder of the American Jazz Orchestra, which performs important and neglected jazz works of the past.

Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit priest who for the past 20 years has been at the forefront of the peace movement. He has been arrested and spent time in prison many times for his acts of civil disobedience. Berrigan was one the Catonsville 9, who protested the Vietnam war in 1968 by destroying draft records, and a member of the Plowshares 8, who damaged nuclear warheads in 1980. He now works at an AIDS hospice in New York City. Daniel Berrigan recently completed his autobiography; it's titled To Dwell in Peace.

Jazz composer and conductor Bill Lee. He composed the scores for the films "She's Gotta Have It" and "School Daze," both written and directed by his son, Spike Lee. "School Daze," Spike Lee's most recent film, is loosely based on his experiences at Moorehead College in Atlanta, the same college Bill Lee and his father attended.

Cartoonist Charles Burns. His comics are grotesque stories of alienation. Burns' new book of cartoons is titled Hard-Boiled Defective Stories.

Jazz pianist Sumi Tonooka plays an excerpt from "Out From Silence," a work inspired by her mother's internment in a camp for Japanese-American during World War II. Tonooka is joined by Ronnie Seldin, playing the shakuhachi, a traditional Japanese flute.

New York Times reporter Martin Tolchin. His new book, Buying Into America: How Foreign Money Is Changing the Face of Our Nation, documents the massive infusion of foreign capital in America, and analyzes its ramifications. Written with his wife, professor Susan Tolchin, the book highlights America's growing dependence on foreign investments.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Frantic," the new movie by director Roman Polanski and starring Harrison Ford. Ford plays an American cardiologist whose wife is kidnapped by Middle Eastern terrorists in Paris. Polanski's other films include "Chinatown," "Tess," "Repulsion" and "Rosemary's Baby."