Terry Gross

Wilson has been called "The Ant Man" by "The New York Times Magazine." He has spent most of his life studying ants and has co-authored the critically-acclaimed "The Ants," with Bert Holldobler. The pair published a sequel to that work, "Journey to the Ants." Wilson also wrote a memoir, "Naturalist" (Island Press), that chronicles his love of ants.

Harry Greene is Curator of Herpetology in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and is a Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California. Last year his book, "Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature," was published. (University of California Press)

The truth about vultures, with Wayne Grady. Grady's recent book, "Vulture: Ghastly Gourmet," (Sierra Club Books) describes in words and photographs the life of the vulture.

We play clips from interviews with two animal scientists. First Dian Fossey, recorded in 1982. She talks about learning how to talk to gorillas. Next, Jane Goodall reflects on over 30 years in the company of one community of chimpanzees in the wilds of Tanzania.

Beverly and Dereck Joubert are wildlife documentary producers. This husband and wife team lived in northern Botswana and captured on film the family relationships of the last free-roaming elephants left in Africa. Their 1994 film "Reflections on Elephants," contained ground-breaking footage of lions attacking an elephant calf. Previously, such attacks were thought to be only mythical. Their book "Hunting With the Moon: The Lions of Savuti" was published last year by Random House.

On this, the Christmas archive show, we feature an interview with the late Marion Williams -- one of the greatest gospel singers of her generation. She refused to sing secular music even though she was offered lots of money to do so. She influenced such singers as Little Richard and Aretha Franklin.

Al Green will tell us about his musical life before and after he was born again.

Johnson tells us about his experiences playing in churches, where some people think of the saxophone as the devil's instrument.

Rhino Records has just released "Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman." a new four CD box set that includes an entire disc of Newman's previously unreleased tracks. Newman's most popular songs include "Short People" and "I Love L-A." He's also written music for the films, "Ragtime," "The Natural," and "Toy Story," among many others.