Terry Gross

Writer and producer Ed Burns draws on his experience as a former Baltimore detective to create the acclaimed HBO series The Wire, now in its fourth season. It's a crime drama with a central theme of surveillance technology used to capture drug dealers.

Film director Robert Altman died Monday night at age 81. We play back a 1990 interview with Altman, whose work includes M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye, Nashville and this year's A Prairie Home Companion. This interview originally aired on Dec. 20, 1990.

With writer-director Christopher Guest, Parker Posey has poked fun at small-town theater, overzealous dog owners, and folk singers. Now, she takes on the Oscars, co-starring in Guest's fourth parody film, For Your Consideration. Posey has also appeared in films such as Dazed and Confused, Kicking and Screaming and The Daytrippers.

The news parody publication The Onion has released a new compilation of articles, Homeland Insecurity: Complete News Archives Volume 17. Editors Joe Garden and Joe Randazzo talk about the project and poking fun at current events.

Kiran Desai's novel The Inheritance of Loss won the 2006 Man Booker Prize. Her mother, Anita, has been short-listed for the prize three times. Her books include Fire on the Mountain, Clear Light of Day and In Custody. Kiran was born in New Delhi and moved to the United States as a teenager.

Former New York Times crime reporter Selwyn Raab provides a history of New York City's organized crime in his book, Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. The book is now out in paperback. This interview originally aired on Sept. 18, 2005.

Nicholas Proffitt, who covered the Vietnam War for Newsweek magazine and wrote the book Gardens of Stone, died Nov. 10 at age 63. Gardens of Stone was later made into a film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. This interview originally aired on May 25, 1987.

Actor Greg Kinnear stars in the new film Fast Food Nation, based on the non-fiction book about the fast food and meatpacking industries. Kinnear's other films include Little Miss Sunshine As Good As It Gets, AutoFocus and Nurse Betty. KINNEAR got his start as host and executive producer of Talk Soup on E! Entertainment. He subsequently hosted his own late-night talk show, Later with Greg Kinnear.

Cookwise, a practical guide to culinary mysteries and kitchen science, won the 1998 James Beard Award for Food Reference & Techniques. The book's author, culinary expert Shirley Corriher, has a new DVD, Kitchen Secrets Revealed. With Thanksgiving upon us, she offers useful turkey tips. This interview originally aired on Nov. 24, 1997.

Former vice presidential candidate John Edwards has edited a book, Home, in which both public figures and lesser-known professionals reflect on the places where they grew up. The former senator currently lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., and campaigned for Democrats in advance of last week's midterm elections. He talks about the Kerry-Edwards campaign and his thoughts on his own possible presidential bid in 2008.