Terry Gross

Stephen Colbert has a new book called America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't. It explores the dichotomy between thinking America is perfect — and feeling the urge to save the country from disaster at every moment.

The director of Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood talks to Fresh Air's Terry Gross about his new film, The Master, a tense drama with indelible performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams.

Waging Heavy Peace is about his music, raising two sons with special needs, and his own medical conditions, which have included polio, epilepsy and a brain aneurysm.

Steve Martin went from performing in an empty San Francisco coffee house to hosting the Oscars. In between, he spent 18 years as a stand-up coming -- four of them, but his account, successful years. His early standup routines, TV special and other TV appearances have been released in a new DVD box set.

Frances Ashcroft's new book details how electricity in the body fuels everything we thing, feel or do. She tells Fresh Air about discover a new protein, how scientists are like novelists and how she wanted to be a farmer's wife.

The Oscar-nominated actress plays the forbidding wife of a cult leader in Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master. She tells Fresh Air it was an opportunity to play a character type she'd never played before.

In his first novel, J.R. Moehringer writes from the point of view of Willie Sutton, whom he calls the "greatest American robber." Moehringer says writing historical fiction helped him deal with the anger he felt toward banks after the global financial crisis in 2008.

The actress played Kelly Kapoor on The Office, a role she also wrote and produced. Now she runs a new Fox comedy, The Mindy Project, in which she stars as an obstetrician whose personal life is a mess. Kaling tells Fresh Air that her late mother inspired her character's career.

Kaling's Hulu series, The Mindy Project, recently ended after six seasons. In 2012, the actress told Fresh Air that her character on the show was inspired by her late mother, who was an obstetrician.

Journalist Robert Draper's article for The Atlantic traces how the redistricting process has been manipulated for electoral gain. It has created increasingly solid Republican or Democratic congressional districts, which has led to more representatives who are unwilling to compromise, Draper tells Fresh Air.