Terry Gross

Founder and president of First Nations Development Institute, Rebecca Adamson. The organization helps Native Americans build sustainable economies. They fund projects which rely on traditional values and help tribal communities gain control of their land and natural resources. Adamson started the organization 16 years ago as a single mother. Now the Institute raises and distributes millions of dollars for micro-enterprises from coast to coast. Adamson was the recipient of one of Ms. Magazine's "Women of the Year Award."

Journalist, novelist, and playwright Susan Berman. Her childhood is rooted in the infamous, fast-paced, Vegas lifestyle of a mafia family. Her latest book, "Lady Las Vegas" tells the story of her experience as the daughter of Davie Berman, mafia partner to Bugsy Siegel. She is also the author of four other books, including her acclaimed memoir "Easy Street."

E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., is a research psychiatrist at the Neuroscience Center of the National Institute of Mental Health. He has come out with a new book, "Out of the Shadows: Confronting America's Mental Illness Crisis." Torrey examines the dangers of neglecting the mentally ill and provides political and economic approaches necessary for change. Torrey is the author of 12 books in all, including the best-selling book "Surviving Schizophrenia."

A concert and interview with singer Rosemary Clooney taped before a live audience in San Francisco on January 18th, 1997. The performance was part of the City Arts & Lectures series. Clooney sings some of her best known songs, accompanied by a quintet directed by John Oddo. She also talks with Terry about her life and her 1996 album "Dedicated to Nelson" (a tribute to Nelson Riddle) Her last 20 albums have been recorded on Concord Jazz. (Originally aired 2/11/97)

A live concert in the WHYY Forum with jazz clarinetist Don Byron and his "Bug Orchestra." On their new recording "Bug Music," they play the music of The Raymond Scott Quintette, John Kirby & His Orchestra, the Duke Ellington Orchestra -- and a lot of cartoon music. Byron has become best known for playing klezmer, but musically he's all over the map: he plays jazz with his Don Byron Quintet, modern classical music with the Semaphore quintet, and he toured Europe with Music for Six Musicians, an Afro-Cuban ensemble.

Producer/writer/director Jeanne Jordan. She and her husband Steve Ascher's documentary "Troublesome Creek" is the story of her family's struggle to save their Iowa farm, which had been in the family for 125 years. The film won the Best Documentary and Audience Awards at Sundance in 1996. The film opens nationally in January

Journalist Martin Mayer writes about finance, advertising, education and law, but his expertise is in finance. His written many books. His latest: "The Bankers: The Next Generation: The New Worlds of Money, Credit and Banking in an Electronic Age" is a rewritten, updated version of his best selling book on banking which he wrote 20 years ago.

Mairs is the author of several books, including "Ordinary Time," "Voice Lessons," and "Plaintext." In many of her books she deals openly and honestly about the progression of her multiple sclerosis, and it's effect on her life and marriage. Her latest book is "Waist-High in the World."

Poet and professor Miller Williams. He teaches at the University of Arkansas. He's been asked to read at Clinton's Inauguration. He's also President Carter's poetry mentor. Miller is best known for his narrative, dramatic, poems of everyday people. He's had a number of collection of poems published. His latest is "The Ways We Touch." (University of Illinois Press) which was originally scheduled for a Fall 1997 release, but moved up because of the inauguration.

Higginbotham served in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He's an expert on race and the legal process and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His new book is "Shades of Freedom: Racial Politics and Presumptions of the American Legal Process"