Terry Gross

Today, Gunter Grass won the Nobel Prize for literature. The Nobel Academy cited his first novel, "The Tin Drum," published in 1959, for ushering in a new era of German literature after decades of linguistic and moral destruction. We're going to hear an excerpt of an interview recorded with Grass in 1992. Although he's now staunchly anti-Nazi, he had been a member of Hitler Youth, then fought in the war. Rebroadcast of 12/16/92

Jose Ramos-Horta ("Joe-zay Ra-MOSH Horta") is an exiled East Timorese resistance leader. In 1996 he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Bishop Belo from East Timor. Since 1975, when Indonesia invaded and annexed the newly independent East Timor, Ramos-Horta has denounced Indonesia's actions and defended the rights of East Timorese, as an ambassador to the U.N. and a representative for independence groups.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter discusses his work helping monitor elections in East Timor at the time of the referendum for independence.

Trumpeter and composer Dave Douglas doesn't like to categorize music. He's currently fronting seven ensembles, of varying compositional, improvisational and instrumental styles, including the Dave Douglas String Group, the Tiny Bell Trio, and the Sextet. He's been a sideman with Don Byron, Myra Melford and Uri Caine. Douglas has many compositions and recordings to his credit. His latest recordings are "Songs for Wandering Souls" (Winter & Winter) by the Tiny Bell Trio, and "Convergence" (Soul Note) by the Dave Douglas String Group.

Historian Christopher Andrew is the author of the new book "The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB" (Basic books). The book is based on the documents smuggled out of the KGB archives by Vasili Mitrokhin, who worked for 30 years in the foreign intelligence archives of the KGB. In 1972 he began making notes and transcripts of the archives which he then smuggled out daily and hid. He defected to Britain in 1992.

Journalist and staff writer for The New Yorker Nicholas Lemann is the author of the new book "The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy" (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux). It's a social history of how reformers in the mid 1940s set upon universal testing criteria (the Educational Testing Service, purveyors of the SAT) as a way of creating a new democratic elite, drawn from every section and every background of America. And it's about how that 50 year old system has failed.

From the WNBA'S Houston Comets, Cynthia Cooper. She's twice been voted the league's Most Valuable Player. She's written a new autobiography about her rise from an inner-city childhood in Los Angeles, to becoming a pro-basketball player. Her new book is "She Got Game: My Personal Odyssey" (Warner Books)

Choying Drolma is a Tibetan Buddhist nun who practices a contemplative system of Buddhism called Cho. As part of that system, she also sings religious songs and chants. Their music was recorded by guitarist Steve Tibbetts who then created guitar arrangements around it. The result was the CD "Cho" (newly released on Hannibal Records). Drolma is currently on tour with Tibbetts and her fellow nuns.

Musician and Artist David Byrne. Byrne is best known for his work with the band the Talking Heads. The 1984 Talking Heads concert film "Stop Making Sense" has just been remastered and rereleased on DVD. (rebroadcast from 8/27/92)