Books

Journalist Steven Waldman is National Correspondent for Newsweek. His new book "The Bill" follows Bill Clinton's plan to revamp the college loan system, from idea to implementation. Clinton first talked about his plan during the presidential campaign, and once he was in the White House, work began on what became AMERICORPS.

Biographer Tad Szulc has a new book called Pope John Paul II: The Biography. It details the Pope's early years in Poland through his climb to the papacy after being elevated to archbishop in 1963. Szulc traveled with the Pope extensively, had access to many of his private papers and interviewed many of the Pope's old schoolmates, friends and fellow priests. Szulc is a former New York Times bureau chief.

In light of the release of the first full-length biography on the African American baseball player, commentator Gerald Early reflects on the life Jack Robinson.

Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Krik? Krak!," the new short story collection by acclaimed novelist Edwidge Danticat.

Kaminer's new book, It's All the Rage offers insights into our culture's larger questions of individual responsibility, victimization, punishment, innocence and guilt. Kaminer is also a contributing editor to the Atlantic Monthly and Public Fellow at Radcliffe College.

Wertheimer has been with NPR since the network first went on the air with All Things Considered, May 3, 1971, which she now hosts. Wertheimer has come out with a book that looks back at some of the key events in American history as they were covered by NPR sations, called Listening to America.

Thupten Jinpa was a refugee in India as a child, became a monk at a Tibetan monastery, and is the translator, editor and annotator of "The World of Tibetan Buddhism," written by the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

We continue our conversation with Professor John Dominic Crossan, whose new book "Who Killed Jesus" has just been released. In this half, he talks about the historical significance of crucifixion, as well as how Crossan has practiced his faith since leaving the priesthood.

Professor John Dominic Crossan is a native of Ireland, ordained as a priest in the U.S. (he left the priesthood in 1969), and now teaches biblical studies at DePaul University. He is a founding member of the Jesus Seminar, a group of scholars who meet to determine the authenticity of Jesus' sayings in the Gospels. Crossan's latest book is Who Killed Jesus: Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of The Death of Jesus.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews two summer thrillers: The Rainmaker by John Grisham (Doubleday), and Poison by Kathryn Harrison (Random House).