Terry Gross

While he served as a Party leader, Junius Irving Scales was arrested and convicted under the Smith Act. After his release from prison, Scales left the party after revelations over Stalin's actions in the Soviet Union. His new book, called Cause at Heart, recalls his work as a political activist.

Husband-and-wife writing team John and Marina Bear have a new book called How to Repair Food, which instructs home cooks on how to salvage failed recipes.

Only in his mid-thirties, Scott Turre is already a seasoned musician. Jazz critic Francis Davis says his latest album features Turre's newfound maturity as a soloist and arranger.

Actress Carroll Baker launched her career with sexually-charged parts like title role of the film Baby Doll. Disillusioned with the Hollywood system, she moved to Europe. Now back in America, she writes books, including her newest novel, A Roman Tale.

The filmmaker's first American movie, RoboCop, is a critical and commercial success. He joins Fresh Air to talk about his portrayal of graphic violence and his fascination with American culture and politics.

Marty Grosz returns to Fresh Air to perform two songs he learned while starting out in Chicago and New York.

British music critic and producer Leonard Feather worked with fellow producer John Hammond to desegregate jazz in the United States, as well as to promote women jazz musicians. In his new book, The Jazz Years, he considers how racism, radio stations and record labels affected the popularity of different styles like big band and bebop.

Critic-at-large Laurie Stone reviews a new biography called The Dr. Ruth Phenomenon, about the popular sex therapist Ruth Westheimer. Westheimer is a Holocaust survivor and was wounded while fighting for Israeli independence. Stone says Westheimer's history of struggle and survival informs her sometimes fragmented career choices and sanitized public persona; while an imperfect spokesperson for the sexual revolution, Dr. Ruth deserves the fame she enjoys.

Writer John Krich is working on a book about baseball in Latin America. He is particularly interested in the sport's cultural role in countries dealing with armed conflicts and political upheavals.

Novelist and professor John Barth tried to make his mark as a jazz drummer; instead, he became a maximalist writer known for his sprawling, metafictional books. He joins Fresh Air to discuss his early career, the nature of storytelling, and his experiences at John Hopkins University as both a student and instructor.