Terry Gross

Former presidential Cabinet member James A. Baker III's new memoir offers some insights right of the bat in its title, Work Hard, Study...and Keep Out of Politics!: Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life. Baker served as chief of staff and treasury secretary under President Reagan, and was also secretary of state and chief of staff under President George H.W. Bush.

As president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Andy Stern led his union -- along with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and several others -- out of the AFL-CIO to start the Change to Win Federation, the first new labor movement in 50 years.

Journalist Bob Woodward's new book, State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III, is a follow-up to his previous books on the Bush administration. In the new book, Woodward says that the Bush administration has avoided telling the truth about the Iraq war to the public, to Congress, and to itself. Woodward is an assistant managing editor of The Washington Post and has been a newspaper reporter and editor for 35 years.

Journalists Mark Halperin and John Harris have collaborated on a new book, The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008. Halperin is the political director of ABC News and creator of "The Note," its online tip sheet. Harris is the national political editor of The Washington Post. They write that the United States is "on the brink of what promises to be one of the most intensely fought and consequential presidential elections in its history."

Journalist Michael Weisskopf is the senior correspondent for the Washington bureau of Time magazine. In 2003, while on assignment in Baghdad, he threw a live Iraqi grenade from the back of an open Humvee. He saved himself, four soldiers and Time's photographer, but lost his hand. Weisskopf's new book is Blood Brothers: Among the Soldiers of Ward 57.

Religion professor Philip Jenkins talks about his latest book, The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South. The book is a follow-up to his 2002 title, The Next Christendom: the Coming of Global Christianity, which was named on of the top religion books of that year by USA Today.

In his new book A History of the End of the World: How the Most Controversial Book in the Bible Changed the Course of Western Civilization, Jonathan Kirsch explores the ways the Book of Revelation has been interpreted since its inception and how the final book of the New Testament has influenced literature, history and popular culture.

Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America, is the first woman, the first convert and the first native North American to be elected to the position. Mattson, who was born and raised in Ontario, converted to Islam in college. The Islamic Society of North America is the largest Muslim organization on this continent.

Writer-director Todd Phillips' new film is School for Scoundrels, starring Billy Bob Thornton as a cross between a self-help genius and a scam artist. Phillips' other films include Old School, Road Trip and Starsky and Hutch.

Former gubernatorial first lady Kitty Dukakis and writer Larry Tye discuss their new book, Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy. Dukakis, the wife of former Massachusetts governor and 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis, battled depression for over 20 years. She says electroconvulsive therapy dramatically changed her life for the better.