Terry Gross

Professor Marc Roberts is a professor of Political Economy and Health Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Kennedy School of Government. He'll discuss the economics of health care and health care reform in America.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews CB4, the new satirical comedy produced by Nelson George, and starring Chris Rock and Phil Hartman of Saturday Night Live.

Professor Robert Jay Lifton is distinguished professor of psychiatry and psychology and director of the Center on Violence and Human Survival at John Jay College, City University of New York. He's been studying cults and fundamentalist groups for many years. Lifton will talk about the armed cult in Waco, Texas run by David Koresh of the Branch Davidians--how typical they are, and what can be done to deal with them.

Roth is best known for his books "Goodbye, Columbus" and "Portnoy's Complaint." Since the publication of his first book, Roth has been controversial for his treatment of Jewish themes. Some readers think his satirical take is anti-Semitic. His novel "Portnoy's Complaint," a sexual autobiography of a young lawyer, was labeled obscene by some because of its descriptions of masturbation and sexual conquest.

NPR correspondent and writer Frank Browning. He has a new book about gay culture, "The Culture of Desire: Paradox and Perversity in Gay Lives Today."

Executive producer and writer, Tom Fontana. He was writer and producer for the TV show, "St. Elsewhere." He's currently executive producer, along with filmmaker Barry Levinson, of "Homicide: Life on the Street," a new cop drama on NBC. Reviewers say it goes beyond formula to offer a "more complex psychological portrait" of crime fighters and criminals.

Kaplan edited the new edition of Bartlett's book of quotations. Formerly in the publishing business, he wrote biographies of Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain, two of the most often quoted men in American history. Bartlett's last edition was published in 1980.

Writer and professor Mary Jo Weaver teaches Religious and Women's Studies at Indiana University. Her new book is, "Springs of Water in a Dry Land." It's about the double bind that many Catholic women find themselves in, of either living within a institutionalized and oppressive church structure, or rejecting a church which is a source of spiritual enrichment. Weaver argues that it is possible for a woman to be a feminist and remain Catholic.

Attorney and writer Mary Frances Berry. She's a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and a professor of history and law at the University of Pennsylvania. She's written a new book about the tradition of "mother-care" in our society, the notion that women have principal responsibility for childcare.

Writer Dorothy Allison's new novel is called "Bastard Out of Carolina." It's about a poor South Carolina family's history of violence and incest, and is largely autobiographical. She says that she doesn't like most abuse literature out today because it tends to eroticize trauma. Allison has also written a book of short stories called "Trash" and a book of poems called "The Women Who Hate Me."