Terry Gross

Director Curtis Hanson and actor Russell Crowe from the new film "L.A. Confidential" which is adapted from the 1990 novel by James Ellroy. (James Ellroy is a previous Fresh Air guest whose memoir "My Dark Places" was about his mother's murder in L.A. in 1958) The film, which has received a lot of attention at film festivals including Cannes, and Toronto, is about corruption and retribution in L.A. in the 1950s and 60s. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW)

Veterinarian Nicholas Dodman, the author of "Dog Who Loved Too Much" and a recent Fresh Air guest. He has a new book about cats, "The Cat Who Cried for Help" (Bantam Books) which, among other things, is about mortifying cat behaviors like aggression, and out-of-the-litter-box wetting.

Novelist Paul Auster has written a new memoir about his struggling years as a young writer, "Hand to Mouth: A Chronicle of Early Failure" (Henry Holt). Auster has written eight novels, including "The New York Trilogy" and the screenplay for the film "Smoke."

Ann Marie Oliver and Paul Steinberg, at Harvard University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies Department where they have been visiting professors since 1993. They also lived six years in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip where they studied and researched the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas. In their forth coming book, they look at the psychology of the young men in the Hamas movement, by interviewing one of them who survived an attempt at a suicide bombing (to be published by Oxford University Press)

Sun Studios founder Sam Phillips. He is revered as one of the leading catalysts in post WW II American music. As a record producer in the 1950s and 60s his recordings launched the careers of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis and that’s just to name a few. Next Month, Phillips will be a celebrity host on the public radio program Beale Street Caravan. Phillips is now in his mid 70s.

Canadian writer Alice Munro. Her latest book "Alice Munro: Selected Stories" will be published in paperback this November by Vintage. Alice Munro was born in 1931 in Wingham, a small town in southwestern Ontario, to a family of small farmers. Alice Munro is the author of one novel and six collections of short stories. She is a three-time winner of the Governor General's Award for Fiction which is Canada's highest literary prize. (Originally aired 11/7/96) (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Patrick Murphy is the Public Guardian of Cook County, Illinois. He represents abused or neglected children in Chicago’s . In his new book Wasted: The Plight of America’s Unwanted Children (Ivan R. Dee, Inc) he argues that while keeping families together may sound like good public policy, there are many cases in which it only endangers the lives of children. His previous book is titled Our Kindly Parent the State. (Viking) (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Dr. Charles Gerba is an expert on germs and bacteria. As a microbiologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson , Gerba says to many people’s surprise it’s the kitchen not the bathroom that has the most germs and bacteria. Gerba talks about why germs and bacteria thrive in the kitchen. They colonize your sink and sponges and rags, and grow by the billions overnight.. In addition, Dr Gerba has done extensive research on public bathrooms and has found more bacteria in women’s washrooms than men's. (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Novelist Edmund White has just completed his semi-autobiographical trilogy. The new novel The Farewell Symphony (Knopf) focuses on gay life from the 1960’s to the present. His other books include A Boy’s Own Story,The Beautiful Room is Empty,Genet: A Biography, Forgetting Elena, Nocturnes for the King of Naples, States of Desire: Travels in Gay America, The Joy of Gay Sex, and Caracole.