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All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists
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All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists Paperback - 2005

by Terry Gross

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More than three dozen timeless interviews from the award-winning National Public Radio host encourage revelations from figures as diverse as John Updike, Isabella Rossellini, Conan O'Brien, Samuel L. Jackson, Johnny Cash, and Nicholas Cage.

Summary

This rich collection of interviews will include the gems of the Fresh Air archive. Terry Gross has included an original introduction to each entry in ALL I DID WAS ASK, providing the historical and artistic context for the conversation and introducing the subject to the reader. And while the interviews are all with famous, household names, Gross’s probing, thoughtful interview style allows for content that goes beyond the typical superficial banter exchanged on most talk shows. Terry Gross’s trademark meticulous research lets her link ideas and experience in ways that help even the most reticent guest relax and to open up for interviews that are more informative and more revelatory than those from other shows.While Terry Gross often has politicians and political journalists on her show, the book features contributors to popular culture whose stories are less ephemeral. She has edited down thousands of interviews to feature the classics, the interviews with lasting relevance and interest for readers and those interviews that transcend the radio medium, with such interviewees as Aerosmith, Conan O’Brien, Dustin Hoffman, John Updike, and Chuck Close.

Reader reviews for All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists

From the publisher

A fascinating collection of revealing and entertaining interviews by the award-winning host of National Public Radio's premier interview program Fresh Air.

Over the last twenty years, Terry Gross has interviewed many of our most celebrated writers, actors, musicians, comics, and visual artists. Her show, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, a weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues produced by WHYY in Philadelphia, is one of National Public Radio's most popular programs. More than four million people tune in to the show, which is broadcast on over 400 NPR stations across the country.

Gross is known for her thoughtful, probing interviewing style. In her trusted company, even the most reticent guest relaxes and opens up. But Gross doesn't shy away from controversy, and her questions can be tough--too tough, apparently, for Bill O'Reilly, who abruptly terminated his conversation with her. Her interview with Gene Simmons of Kiss, which is included in the book, prompted Entertainment Weekly to name Simmons its male "Crackpot of the Year."

For All I Did Was Ask, Gross has selected more than three dozen of her best interviews--ones of lasting relevance that are as lively on the page as they were on the air. Each is preceded by a personal introduction in which she reveals why a particular guest was on the show and the thinking behind some of her questions. And in an introductory chapter, the normally self-effacing Gross does something you're unlikely ever to hear her do on Fresh Air--she discusses her approach to interviewing, revealing a thing or two about herself in the bargain.

The collection focuses on luminaries from the art and entertainment world, including actors, comedians, writers, visual artists, and musicians, such as:

  • Conan O'Brien
  • Chris Rock
  • Michael Caine
  • Dennis Hopper
  • Dustin Hoffman
  • Jodie Foster
  • John Updike
  • Mary Karr
  • Mario Puzo
  • Nick Hornby
  • Chuck Close
  • Eric Clapton
  • George Clinton
  • Sonny Rollins
  • Samuel L. Jackson
  • Johnny Cash
  • Isabella Rossellini
  • Divine
  • Uta Hagen
  • Carol Shields

Details

  • Title All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists
  • Author Terry Gross
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 384
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Grand Central Publishing, Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
  • Publication date 2005-10-01
  • Features Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780786888207 / 0786888202
  • Weight 1.25 lbs (0.57 kg)
  • Dimensions 9 x 5.9 x 1 in (22.86 x 14.99 x 2.54 cm)
  • Age range 17 to 18 years
  • Grade levels 12 - 13
  • Category Pop Arts / Pop Culture
  • Library of Congress subjects Artists - United States
  • Dewey Decimal Code 791.447

Media reviews

Citations

  • Ingram Advance, 09/01/2005, Page 107

About the author

Terry Gross started out in public radio in 1973 at WBFO, the NPR affiliate on the campus of her alma mater, the State University of New York at Buffalo. She became producer and host of Fresh Air in 1975, when it was still a local program. Fresh Air won a Peabody Award in 1994 for its "probing questions, revelatory interviews, and unusual insights." In 2003, Terry herself received public radio's highest honor, the Edward R. Murrow Award. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband, the writer Francis Davis.

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All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists
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All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists

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All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists
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All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists

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All I Did Was Ask : Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists

All I Did Was Ask : Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists

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All I Did Was Ask : Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists
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All I Did Was Ask : Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists

by Gross, Terry

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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