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Terry Gross at her microphone in 2018

Terry Gross

Terry Gross is the host and an executive producer of Fresh Air, the daily program of interviews and reviews. It is produced at WHYY in Philadelphia, where Gross began hosting the show in 1975, when it was broadcast only locally. She was awarded a National Humanities Medal from President Obama in 2016. Fresh Air with Terry Gross received a Peabody Award in 1994 for its “probing questions, revelatory interviews and unusual insight.” America Women in Radio and Television presented her with a Gracie Award in 1999 in the category of National Network Radio Personality. In 2003, she received the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Edward R. Murrow Award for her “outstanding contributions to public radio” and for advancing the “growth, quality and positive image of radio.” Gross is the author of All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians and Artists, published by Hyperion in 2004. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, and received a bachelor’s degree in English and M.Ed. in communications from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She began her radio career in 1973 at public radio station WBFO in Buffalo, NY.

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22:15

Nancy Reagan Writes Her Memoirs.

Former first lady Nancy Reagan. When the Reagans entered the White House, Nancy was a relatively anonymous first lady, best known for her strident "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign. But toward the end of President Reagan's second term, it became more apparent that Nancy Reagan's role in running the government was much larger than imagined, and it turns out many of her and her husband's decisions were influenced by a California astrologer. Nancy Reagan has a new memoir, called "My Turn."

Interview
10:31

Mixing the Elegance of Classical Dance with the Freedom of Modern Dance.

Choreographer Eliot Feld. He founded the Feld Ballet in 1974 as a place where classical ballet and modern dance could exist together. The company is still going strong, touring throughout America and overseas. Feld has also created ballets for many of the world's great companies, among them the American Ballet Theatre, the National Ballet of Canada, and the New York City Ballet.

Interview
22:37

Stephen Jay Gould Discusses the History of Life an Myths about Evolution.

Paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould. Gould is a professor of geology and curator at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard. He writes columns for "Natural History Magazine" and "Discover Magazine," and has written several books, including the award-winning "The Mismeasure of Man." Gould uses his writing and teaching to illuminate and demystify the scientific method and to provide a historical perspective on science for the layman.

Interview
23:19

The Hustons of Hollywood.

Writer Lawrence Grobel (pronounced gro-BEL). Grobel has just written "The Hustons," a profile of the film industry's most famous dynasty. The book centers around actor and director John Huston, but also follows the lives his father Walter and his daughter Anjelica, a trio that represents three generations of Oscar winners. For the book, Grobel conducted more than 200 interviews with the Hustons, the friends, enemies, and associates.

Interview
11:24

Squeeze Returns with a New Album.

Songwriter/musicians Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook. They started the rock group Squeeze in the late 70s, broke up in 1982 as the band was about to make it big, and reformed 1985. Nevertheless, the band had a series of hits in their native England and have drawn critical praise in this country. The band's new album is called "Frank."

23:24

George Clinton On His Musical Inspirations, Barbershops, and Being Sampled by Rap Artists.

The master of funk, George Clinton. He began his musical career as a teenager when he formed The Parliaments. But in the early 70s, Clinton put together a second group, "Funkadelic," that became enormously influential on the pop music scene. Their 1970 album, "Osmium," set the tone for Clinton's wickedly ecclectic style; songs ranged from metaphysical gospel to country and acid rock. But their big hit came with the album "Mothership Connection." In songs like "Tear the Roof Off the Sucker," "Get Up on the Downstroke" and "Think!

Interview
11:26

Violinist Shlomo Mintz.

Violinist Shlomo Mintz. Mintz was born in Moscow and emigrated with his family two years later to Israel. He made his concerto debut at age 11 with Zubin Mehta, and has continued to appear with Mehta each season since. Mintz is considered one of the foremost violinists of this generation.

Interview
10:49

What John Haines Has Learned from the Solitude and Work of Living in the Wilderness.

Poet and essayist John Haines. Haines' new book "The Stars, The Snow, The Fire," recalls the 25 years he spent homesteading in the Alaskan wilderness. Haines is "one of our best nature writers," according to Hayden Carruth of Harpers Magazine. Carruth writes that Haines also "knows the ecological crisis ... as a crisis of consciousness, the human mind in ultimate confrontation with itself." (Rebroadcast. Original date July 25, 1989).

Interview

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