Terry Gross

The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, forced many Americans to reshape their lives. For New Yorkers whose plans and priorities were cast loose, the shocking losses were followed by a challenge: what to do next. That dilemma is at the heart of Jay McInerney's The Good Life.

Fear and paranoia often take hold when a disease threatens to become an epidemic. Dr. Marc K. Siegel is the author of the new book Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic.

For 100 years, sufferers of leprosy were banished to Molokai, an untamed Hawaiian island. A new book chronicles how paranoia forced thousands of people to live in exile.