Terry Gross

Accordionist William Schimmel explains how his instrument lends itself to stylistic mash-ups and improvisatory approaches to composition.

Bill James publishes yearly collections of baseball statistics. From the data he compiles, James sees narratives emerge about the sport and its athletes.

Impresario Joseph Papp helped launch Broadway hits like A Chorus Line and The Pirates of Penzance, and founded the New York Shakespeare Festival. He talks about the political aspects of theater casting, production, and criticism.

Stephen Schiff reviews Prick Up Your Ears, about the relationship between playwright Joe Orton and his partner Ken Halliwell -- which ended in a murder-suicide.

Harry Shearer got his start in show business at the age of seven. He now writes comedy for television and radio. Shearer joins Fresh Air's Terry Gross to discuss his experiences onstage, finding an outlet for his political humor, and his love of bad TV.

Time Magazine film critic Richard Schickel's new book compiles promotional photographs of film actors that were taken while they were under contract with movie studios -- a publicity model which became obsolete with the advent of television talk shows and the decline of studio contracts.

Former Democratic congressperson and presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy has a new memoir about his political career called Up 'til Now. He talks to Fresh Air's Terry Gross about the tumultuous Vietnam War years.

In his new memoir, The Body Silent, anthropologist Robert Francis Murphy explores his experiences as a quadriplegic, a condition brought on by a spinal tumor.

Stephen Frears directed a new biopic about the life and death of the gay British playwright called Prick Up Your Ears.

Celebrated political journalist and commentator David Broder writes for the Washington Post. He joins Fresh Air to discuss the ethical issues raised by stakeout journalism, especially the kind that scrutinizes the personal lives of politicians like presidential hopeful Gary Hart.