Books & Literature

President and founder of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives Jerome Miller. When he was commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (1969-1972), he closed down the state reform schools and placed residents in community programs because of the brutal, inhumane way the residents were treated. His "experiment" turned out to be a success. He wrote about it in the book "Last One Over the Wall: The Massachusetts Experiment in Closing Reform Schools."

Director of the Brookings Institution Center for Public Management, John Dilulio, Jr. He's also a professor at Princeton University and member of the Council on Crime in America. He's just co-authored a new book called Body Count, in which he and others warn that though violent crime by juveniles may be down now, the worse is yet to come. They blame violent crime not on economic poverty, guns, or the use of lack of prisons.

The novelist has been described by Kirkus Reviews as "The British master of social satire." He's written nine novels, short stories, and written for radio, television, and the stage. His newest novel is "Footsucker," whose narrator is a serious man with a full life and a foot fetish.

He's the man who wrote "Blue Suede Shoes," the hit song sung by Elvis Presley which became the first Sun label record to sell over a million copies. Carl Perkins has also written the songs, "Matchbox," "Honey Don't," and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" which have been recorded by the Beatles. Born in Tennessee, he's a pioneer of rockabilly music. His new memoir and CD are both called "Go Cat Go!"

The sixty-year-old writer talks with Terry Gross about his new book "Angela's Ashes." The memoir recounts his childhood experience growing up in the slums of Ireland. McCourt lives in New York.

Pacino talks with Terry Gross about his new movie "Looking for Richard." He directed, produced and stars in this experimental film. It takes us behind the scenes of a production of Shakespeare's Richard the Third, and features Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin, Vanessa Redgrave and Kenneth Branagh. Pacino currently stars in the Broadway production "Hughie" by Eugene O'Neil.

Rabbi Burton Visotzky teaches at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. Since 1987 he's been leading seminars on the Book of Genesis. The seminars gained a following among novelists, poets, editors, filmmakers, CEOs, and attorneys. The New York Times described the them as "the best conversations in New York City." His new book is called The Genesis of Ethics: How the Tormented Family of Genesis Leads Us to Moral Development.

Book Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new book by Mona Simpson, about a troubled family living on a commune.

Part 2 of Terry's interview with the influential blues guitarists and singers. In this segment, he talks about making it to Memphis, a city that expanded his musical horizons.