Terry Gross

Author's posts

After years in conflict zones, a war reporter reckons with a deadly cancer diagnosis

Rod Nordland was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the most lethal form of brain cancer, in 2019. He writes about facing mortality from war and cancer in his new memoir, Waiting for the Monsoon.

As a writer slowly loses his sight, he embraces other kinds of perception

Andrew Leland started losing his sight 20 years ago. He’s now legally blind, although he still has a narrow field of vision, which allows him to see about 6% of what a fully-sighted person sees.

For the intersex community, ‘Every Body’ exists on a spectrum

Alicia Roth Weigel is one of three activists profiled in Julie Cohen’s new documentary. She says intersex is an umbrella term for people whose “anatomy doesn’t fit super neatly into a binary box.”

This ‘full spectrum’ doula helps with birth, miscarriage and abortion

Since 2010, Vicki Bloom has worked with the Doula Project, a New York City-based collective that partners with clinics to support pregnant people — whether the result is childbirth or termination.

This safety-net hospital doctor treats mostly uninsured and undocumented patients

Many of Ricardo Nuila’s patients at Houston’s Ben Taub Hospital are dealing with serious illnesses as a result of not being able to access basic preventive care. His new book is The People’s Hospital.

After cancer diagnosis, a neurosurgeon sees life, death and his career in a new way

Dr. Henry Marsh felt comfortable in hospitals — until he was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. “I was much less self-assured now that I was a patient myself,” he says. His book is And Finally.

The U.S. faces ‘unprecedented uncertainty’ regarding abortion law, legal scholar says

Roe author Mary Ziegler has chronicled the legal, political and cultural battles around abortion, and says the debate is far from over: “We’re at the very beginning of something very confusing.”

The U.S. faces ‘unprecedented uncertainty’ regarding abortion law, legal scholar says

Roe author Mary Ziegler has chronicled the legal, political and cultural battles around abortion, and says the debate is far from over: “We’re at the very beginning of something very confusing.”

After an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, her husband asked for help to die with dignity

Novelist Amy Bloom talks about how, at her husband’s insistence, she traveled with him to Zurich so he could legally terminate his life. Her new memoir is In Love.

How An Anti-Vice Crusader Sabotaged The Early Birth Control Movement

The Comstock Act, which passed in 1873, virtually outlawed contraception. In The Man Who Hated Women, author Amy Sohn writes about the man behind the law — and the women prosecuted under it.