In the fictional small town of Olympus, Texas, the characters take on epic personalities. Novelist Stacey Swann joins guest host Courtney Collins to talk about interweaving down-to-earth characters, but with the characteristics of the legendary Greek gods. Her book is “Olympus, Texas: A Novel.”

In today’s far right, there are echoes of doctrine that predates the Civil War. Baylor University historian Robert Elder joins guest host John McCaa to talk about the source of some of those ideas – Vice President John C. Calhoun, a man who argued that slavery was a “positive good” and set the stage for the South to secede from the Union. Elder’s book is “Calhoun: American Heretic.”

For a long time, the word “cancer” was whispered, almost in shame. A diagnosis of mental illness hasn’t moved far beyond that today. Richard Grinker, professor of anthropology and international affairs at George Washington University, joins guest host Courtney Collins to talk about how we are on the cusp of accepting a spectrum of neurodiversity and why it’s taken so long to shed stigma. His book is called “Nobody’s Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness.”

What if there was an easy, step-by-step process for strengthening democracy? James Fishkin is a political scientist and director of the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford, and he joins guest host John McCaa to explain the process of deliberative democracy – and demonstrate successes it’s already produced around the world. His latest book is “Democracy When the People are Thinking: Revitalizing Our Politics Through Public Deliberation.”

John McWhorter is a linguist who spends his time thinking about words, what they mean, why we use them and how they’ve evolved — and that includes profanity. He joins Think to talk about his most recent book, “Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever.” Just a warning: there’s uncensored profanity in this language, so it might not be appropriate for younger listeners.

Language helps us to connect with one another – and, yet, so often it seems our words fail us. This hour we’ll talk with linguist John McWhorter about how we use profanity – and which words some of us should never use. We’ll talk with Anna Sale of the “Death, Sex and Money” podcast about strategies for having difficult conversations. And psychologist Katherine Kinzler explains how the actual sound of our voices affects how people hear what we’ve got to say.

A father immigrated from India to America with a thousand dollars in his pocket; now, his daughter straddles the two worlds. Sabreet Kang Rajeev is a social-science researcher completing her doctorate at the University of Baltimore, and she joins host Krys Boyd to talk about understanding her parents’ journey, their hopes for their new life, and connecting those to her own story as a first-generation American. Her book is called “Generation Zero: Reclaiming My Parents’ American Dream.”

(This show originally aired on May 11, 2021.)

When a magician known for sleight of hand turns memoirist, some secrets are finally revealed. Derek DelGaudio is a performer whose off-Broadway stage show, “In & Of Itself,” is now streaming on Hulu. He joins host Krys Boyd to talk about his autobiography, a deep dive into how illusion and identity shaped his life. It’s called “Amoralman: A True Story and Other Lies.”

(This show originally aired on April 26, 2021.)

The idea of a craft beer world filled with bearded white guys and fancy pilsner glasses erases a long history of brewing from Black life and culture. James Bennett II joins host Krys Boyd to talk about why beer is often conflated today with a rich, white world and why something as simple as the backyard BBQ is essential to understanding how America chooses to drink. His article “We’re Reclaiming Beer Because It’s Ours” was published in Eater.

(This show originally aired on March 11, 2021.)

Arguments over the Bill of Rights often come down to court battles deciding winners against losers, leaving no room for compromise. Columbia Law professor Jamal Greene joins host Krys Boyd to talk about why courts have an outsized role in determining what Americans fight for and against, a method he says is out of line with what the framers of the Constitution envisioned. His book is “How Rights Went Wrong: Why Our Obsession with Rights Is Tearing America Apart.”

(This show originally aired on April 2, 2021.)