Think from KERA

Eden Malcolm spends each day in his hospital bed, unable to communicate with his wife and young daughter. That is until the day he wakes up alone and rediscovers the spark of life. Eden is the creation of Elliot Ackerman, who joins us to tell the story of a soldier coming to grips with his life both before and after war. Ackerman’s new novel is called “Waiting for Eden” (Knopf).

It feels as if America is split down the middle between liberals and conservatives. The truth, though, is that we’re divided into even more significant, smaller factions. Researcher Daniel Yudkin joins us to take a more accurate and nuanced look at what separates us from our fellow Americans. He’s an author of the report “Hidden Tribes: A Study of America’s Polarized Landscape,” which was produced by More in Common.

Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton each served as president of the United States — and each faced impeachment while in office. Jeffrey A. Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History at SMU, joins us to take a balanced look at the practice, which offers a check on tyrants while also nullifying the will of the voters. He’s a contributor to “Impeachment: An American History” (Modern Library).

“Gaslighting” is the manipulative technique sociopaths, narcissists and others use to control people. Family counselor Stephanie Moulton Sarkis joins us to talk about how we can spot this pattern of lies, distractions and distortions of the truth, which she writes about in “Gaslighting: Recognize Manipulative and Emotionally Abusive People – And Break Free” (Lifelong Books).

The self-help industry exists to make us think we could be living our best lives if only we tried a little harder and spent a little more. Heather Havrilesky joins us to make the case that we should embrace our imperfections and come to peace with the idea that maybe we are who we are for a reason. Her new collection of essays is called “What If This Were Enough?” (Doubleday).

Since his election, President Trump has been at odds with the United Nations, NATO and many of our traditional allies. Ohio State political scientist Randall Schweller joins us to explain how the president’s foreign policy strategy has bolstered the nation, which he writes about forForeign Affairs magazine.

American democracy is dependent on the sanctity of the ballot box. So what happens if our election results come into question? Kim Zetter joins us to talk about how bad actors can actually tap into voting machines with relative ease – and about how the makers of voting machines are reluctant to even share how they work. Her story “The Crisis of Election Security” appeared recently in The New York Times magazine.

Nicole Chung was raised by white parents in Oregon after her biological Korean parents placed her up for adoption. Chung joins us to tell the story of her search for her birth parents – and what that process taught her about her own identity – which she writes about in “All You Can Ever Know” (Catapult).

Democracy should be a pretty simple idea. But since its invention, societies have struggled with how to truly deliver power to the people. New School professor James Miller joins us to tell the stories of how cultures through the ages have tried – and often failed – to implement democracy, which he writes about in “Can Democracy Work? A Short History of a Radical Idea, from Ancient Athens to Our World” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

Parental decisions are often made not out of a sense of what’s best for the child, but instead out of fear of making a choice others will see as wrong. Kim Brooks has experiences that parental blowback, and she joins us to talk about raising kids in a judgmental world. Her new book is called “Small Animals: Parenthood in the Age of Fear” (Flatiron Books).