Terry Gross

Professor Bill Beeman of Brown University discusses the historical and cultural background of the Kurdish population in the Middle East. Without a country of their own, the Kurds have taken what support they can get from other players in the region. With the Gulf War over, there has been a Kurdish uprising in Iraq, which threatens Saddam Hussein.

World class mathematician and world class juggler Ron Graham talks to us about his two great loves. He works at the AT&T Bell Labs, and is one of the few people in America who can juggle seven balls at once.

McPherson is currently working on a new book about the aftermath of the Romanian Revolution. An excerpt of the book recently appeared in the literary magazine, "Granta."

In 1971, writer Lorene Cary was one of the first black female students to be enrolled at St. Paul's, a private prep school in New Hampshire; Cary grew up middle class in Philadelphia. Her memoir about entering the privileged, elite world of the school is called "Black Ice."

James Fallows, the Washington editor for "The Atlantic Monthly." Fallows will discuss the ways America is still punishing Vietnam through economic means, despite the end of hostilities between the two countries.

The author and educator has written a new book call "A Man Without Words." It's a first-person account of her struggle to teach sign language to a deaf man who had reached adulthood without anyone making any effort to teach him how to communicate.

Film critic Owen Gleiberman reviews "Class Action," the new courtroom drama starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as father-daughter lawyers on opposite sides of a high-profile lawsuit.

Joe Davidson is a Black American reporter who has been covering the recent apartheid reforms for the Wall Street Journal. He shares his take on the situation on the ground, and describes some of the discrimination he's faced.

The young novelist has been vilified for his new novel, which contains many graphic scenes of violence against women, including ape, murder, mutilation, and cannibalism. The book was dropped by its original publisher, and has divided readers and critics alike.

Tammy Bruce of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women. That group opposes Ellis's book, and claims it's scenes of violence against women are pure exploitation, devoid of social commentary. NOW has set up a hotline explaining their objections to the book, featuring an excerpt from the novel.