Terry Gross

Is it ever acceptable for a pitcher to bean a batter intentionally? Baseball expert and obsessive fan Zack Hample gives the answer.

Grammy-winner Ricky Skaggs is redoing his own country hits. On his latest album, The High Notes, the musician gives his older classics a bluegrass twist.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind says that the war in Iraq was based not simply on blunders but on lies. His book, The Way of the World, accuses the Bush administration of burying critical information and forging a letter that linked Iraq to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Journalist Mike Chinoy, author of Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis, discusses North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and America's attempts to stop their program.

Why is it that government has expanded under an administration that claims to be against big government? Social critic Thomas Frank poses this question in his new book, The Wrecking Crew.

As a journalist, John Darnton spent 40 years at The New York Times. As a novelist, he writes colorful mysteries. His newest murder yarn, set in a big-city newsroom that seems awfully familiar: Black and White and Dead All Over.

Twitchy undertaker, cubicle fiend, sassy convenience-store clerk — Rainn Wilson has long gravitated toward eccentric characters. But is The Office actor attempting the leap to sex symbol through his titular role in The Rocker? Given the hair-metal coif and the still-goofy humor, probably not.

United States security has long been a primary issue for the conservative movement. But is an aggressive foreign policy actually counterproductive? Author J. Peter Scoblic says yes.