Terry Gross

Pop icon Tom Jones first gained fame with the 1960s hits "It's Not Unusual," "What's New Pussycat?" and "Delilah." In the last 40 years, he has released more than 30 hit singles and several gold and multi-platinum records. In his heyday, he was famous for live performances and the frenzy he caused among his female fans — many threw their underwear onstage and rushed the stage. Jones' name today connotes hipness and romance. His newest release, Reloaded: Greatest Hits, is made up of 19 new and re-mastered tunes.

The 82-year-old historian and rabbi has been at the center of events that shape American Jewish life for more than 50 years. He is the former president of the American Jewish Congress, and helped to found the movement called Peace Now in Israel. His 1959 book, The Zionist Idea, is considered a classic. Last year he wrote his memoir A Jew in America: My Life and a People's Struggle for Identity. His new book is The Fate of Zionism: A Secular Future for Israel and Palestine.

Goemaere is head of Doctors Without Borders ( Medecins Sans Frontieres) in South Africa and a leading AIDS activist for South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign. He was recently featured on a Frontline report, "AIDS Treatment for Africa: The South African Struggle," that appeared on PBS.

Kushner adapted his epic Tony-award winning play Angels in America into a screenplay for HBO (broadcast this month in two three-hour parts). The play is set in New York in the mid-1980s during the midst of the AIDS epidemic. The HBO film is directed by Mike Nichols and stars Al Pacino, Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson. Kushner also has a new semi-autobiographical musical Caroline, or Change at the Public Theater in New York.

Throughout his life he struggled with a weight problem. Last year he underwent gastric bypass surgery, an operation that reduces the size of the stomach and helps the patient lose weight. Roker lost 100 pounds. He talks about his operation and his new cookbook Al Roker's Hassle-Free Holiday Cookbook.

He's starring in the new film The Cat in the Hat with Mike Myers, and in the upcoming film The Cooler with William H. Macy. Baldwin's other films include State and Main, Glengarry Glen Ross and The Hunt for Red October. He's appeared on Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire and Loot. He is also serves on the boards of People for the American Way and the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund, named for his mother.

It's been 70 years since the repeal of prohibition in America. Behr is the author of Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America (now in paperback). He has written a number of other books including The Last Emperor, The Artful Eater: A Gourmet Investigates the Ingredients of Great Food and Hirohito: Behind the Myth.

Playboy is the best-selling men's magazine in the world. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 and assembled at Hefner's kitchen table. The magazine turns 50 years old this month. There will be a special 50th anniversary issue in January.Enter Me

He is senior counsel for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, D.C. Kennedy thinks Bush will be considered the worst environmental president in history and is concerned that Bush will dismantle 30 years of pro-environmental legislation.

She is senior policy analyst for energy and environment at The Heritage Foundation. Coon researches and writes about energy and environmental policy, such as oil drilling in Alaska and the recent blackouts in California. The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.