Terry Gross

AIDS researcher Timothy Wright and his brother, criminologist Richard Wright. In 1995, Timothy Wright was in Bolivia conducting AIDS related research. Then during Mardi Gras festivities, Wright was assaulted, robbed, and suffered a severe brain injury. In the years since, his brother, Richard helped Timothy in his recovery. We talk to both brothers about Timothy’s injury and dramatic recovery. The story of Timothy’s recuperation is chronicled in a book written by Helene Wright, Timothy and Richard's mother. Its called Someone Stole Yesterday (Providence House Publishers).

Jazz guitarist Russell Malone. The 35-year-old self-taught guitarist is widely acknowledged as one of the most versatile and complete jazz guitarists of his generation. Malone has played with a diverse group of artists including vocalist/pianist Diana Krall, Harry Connick Jr., Clarence Carter, Little Anthony and Bucky Pizzarelli. He also fronts his own band. His new CD is called Look Who’s Here (Verve).

Journalist and novelist George Packer. Packer grew up in a family with a very strong liberal tradition; his grandfather was a populist congressman from Alabama in the early part of the century. His father was a Jewish Kennedy-era liberal who was a professor at Stanford. His new book, the Blood of the Liberals (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), is a memoir about his family’s liberalism and Packer’s own coming to terms with it. He looks at the history of liberalism in America, and the clashes it caused in his own family.