Terry Gross

Poet VIikram Seth (VICK-ram SATE) He was born in India and has lived in England, China and the U.S. He's just completed his first novel -- a novel written in verse, "The Golden Gate" (published by Knopf). David Rieff of "Vanity Fair" says of the book, "At once a bittersweet love story, a wickedly funny novel of manners and an unsentimental meditation on mortality and the nuclear abyss."

Historian Jonathan D. Spence. His new book is "The Search for Modern China" (published by W.W. Norton & Company). Spence is a professor of History at Yale University.

In his 1990 interview with Terry Gross, Safer discussed his groundbreaking coverage of the war in Vietnam. He died Thursday at 84.

Columnist Mike Royko. For more than 26 years, Royko has written a daily column on happenings in his native Chicago and throughout the world, and last year he released his 6th collection of his writings. Along the way, Royko has earned the Pulitzer, the Mencken, and Pyle Award. His column is now carried in more than 500 papers. Royko also wrote "Boss," a best-selling portrait of Chicago mayor Richard Daley. (Rebroadcast. Original date October 26, 1989).

Writer and critic Nelson George. George is one of this county's most prominent chroniclers of black music. He's the black music editor at Billboard, is a columnist for Playboy, and regularly writes for the Village Voice and Essence. George was the editor of a new book called, "Stop the Violence," a collaboration of today's top rappers working to end black on black violence. George's earlier books include a history of Motown called "Where Did Our Love Go?" and "The Death of Rhythm and Blues."

Journalist Morley Safer. His first book is "Flashbacks: On Returning to Vietnam" (published by Random House). In 1965 Safer went to Vietnam as CBS'S correspondent. His famous report of U.S. marines torching the Cam Ne hamlet in August 1965 angered the White House with threats to expose SAFER'S "Communist ties" unless CBS fired him. Safer went back to Vietnam in 1989 as a correspondent for 60 Minutes, and out of this trip came "Flashbacks," a look back at the war and an examination of Vietnam today.

Cartoonist and Animator Bill Plympton. His work combines the humorous and the grotesque. Most recently his "Plymptoons" have been showing on MTV. His award-winning animated cartoons, "25 Ways to Quit Smoking," "How to Kiss," "Your Face," and "Drawing Lesson," have appeared in numerous animated film festivals. Before he took up animation, Plympton's political cartoon strip was syndicated in 25 newspapers. His other illustrations and cartoons have been featured in Harpers, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, The New York Times, and others.

Business executive Max DePree. DePree turned his company, a once obscure office furniture manufacturer, into the "nation's most admired corporation" (according to Fortune magazine). DePree has published his thoughts on enlightened management in a book called, "Leadership Is An Art." Whereas most management books these days push an Attila the Hun approach, DePree's is closer to Saint Francis of Assisi. (Rebroadcast. Original date November 16, 1989).

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Miami Blues," starring Alec Baldwin, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Fred Ward.

Writer Allan Bérubé (bah-RUE-bay). To research his new book is "Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women In World War II," Bérubé spent ten years interviewing gay and lesbian veterans, searching out wartime letters, and consulting newly declassified government documents. Bérubé found that hundreds of thousands of gays entered the military despite a procedure for screening out homosexuals. In his interview with Terry, Bérubé, talks about what it was like in World War II and the situation now for gays in the military.