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Former fire commissioner of New York City, Thomas Von Essen. He led the department through the Sept. 11 attacks and during rescue and early recovery efforts. During the attacks, the department lost 343 men, many of them Von Essen's friends and colleagues. Von Essen stepped down as fire commissioner on December 31, 2001. He's written a new memoir with Matt Murray, Strong of Heart: Life and Death in the Fire Department of New York.

Leo Litwak is a retired San Francisco State University professor of English. He's the author of the new memoir, The Medic: Life and Death in the Last Days of World War II (Penguin Books). Litwak was a 19-year-old medic. One reviewer writes, "[A] book that should be given to every schoolboy in the country at the age of 13... the Medic teaches us so much, makes clear that sometimes the monsters in war are not only the enemy."

British actor Terence Stamp is best known for his roles in the 1960s films Billy Budd and The Collector. He also was in Far from the Madding Crowd. After working with Fellini in Italy and with other Italian directors, he took a nine-year hiatus. He returned to the screen in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and recently in The Limey and Star Wars: Episode One. His latest film is My Wife Is an Actress.

Asian longhorned beetles are eating their way through hardwood trees in New York and Chicago, and experts worry the pests are spreading. A new tool, using acoustic clues, may make it easier for inspectors to detect the beetles. NPR's Melissa Block reports for Morning Edition.

India has lost one of its most important birds, and no one knows why. Since the early 1990s, hundreds of thousands of healthy-looking vultures have literally dropped dead there. Scientists say they've never seen anything like it. NPR's John Nielsen reports for All Things Considered.

Columnist Robert Wolke writes Food 101 for The Washington Post, a syndicated column that won the James Beard Foundation Award for best newspaper column. He's the author of the new book What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained. Wolke is also professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh.

Forty years after Andy Warhol's first exhibition, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles is hosting a retrospective of the artist's work. The exhibition boasts 200 works spanning Warhol's career, including examples of his most famous series like Campbell's Soup cans and Marilyn Monroe. Eric Roy of member station KCRW reports for Morning Edition.

From almost the beginning of the broadcast era, audiences have had a taste for seeing -- and before that, hearing -- themselves on the air. On Present at the Creation, Peter Sagal, host of NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, explores the origins of the quiz show.

We remember Timothy White, the editor in chief of Billboard Magazine. He died Thursday at the age of 50. He was in his office at the time. This interview first aired January 12, 1995.

Centuries ago, the Silk Road snaked across Asia and Europe. Now the Smithsonian Folklife Festival celebrates the ancient trade route by bringing 350 singers, dancers, artists and storytellers from over 20 countries to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Robert Siegel travels the route for All Things Considered.