Think from KERA

In the last decade, we’ve seen increasingly militarized police departments, invasive surveillance by the NSA and highly sophisticated propaganda. Columbia law professor Bernard E. Harcourt has followed these trends, and he joins us to talk about how these tools of counterinsurgency are being used to govern Americans. He writes about the topic in “The Counterrevolution: How Our Government Went to War Against Its Own Citizens” (Basic Books).

Paul Chappell graduated from West Point and served in the Iraq War. And today, he’s one of America’s foremost voices for peace. He joins us to talk about nonviolent tools available to solve conflict in the world.

The Endangered Species Act requires that we try to help all species threatened with extinction. Critics argue, though, that resources would be better spent helping the creatures that contribute most to their ecosystems. Jennifer Kahn joins us to talk about how this conflict is currently playing out on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, which she writes about for The New York Time magazine.

In the later years of Lyndon Johnson’s administration, the president’s attention was divided between the unwinnable Vietnam War and civil unrest at home. These turbulent years are captured in Robert Schenkkan’s play “The Great Society” – his follow up to his Tony-winning “All the Way.” The play is currently on stage at the Wyly Theatre, and director Kevin Moriarty and actor Shawn Hamilton join us to talk about how LBJ managed this difficult time. “The Great Society” runs through April 1.

Tara Westover grew up in a family of survivalists, living way off the grid and learning only what her family taught her. She joins us to tell the story of how she finally learned of the outside world – and how that knowledge led her to Harvard, Cambridge and beyond. Her new memoir is called “Educated”(Random House).

Turn on the news and you’re bombarded with plenty of reasons to think humanity is a lost cause. Not so, says Steven Pinker! The Harvard psychology professor joins us to talk about how we’re actually living in an age of unprecedented safety, peace and prosperity, which he writes about in “Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress” (Viking).

During the Great Depression, there was a push to preserve jobs for white Americans by deporting Mexicans – and in some cases, Mexican-Americans. TCU assistant professor Melita M. Garza joins us to talk about how this story was covered in the media and how that coverage contributed to racial “othering” of Mexicans in Texas. Her new book is called “They Came to Toil: Newspaper Representation of Mexicans and Immigrants in the Great Depression” (University of Texas Press).

The next time you blow a deadline, remind yourself: Some of history’s greatest minds were lousy when it came to being on time. Andrew Santella joins us to talk about why punctuality is an overblown character trait, which he writes about in “Soon: An Overdue History of Procrastination, from Leonardo and Darwin to You and Me” (Dey Street Books).

First ladies of the United States have no formal power – and yet many are among the most influential people in American history. A new exhibition at the George W. Bush Presidential Center tells the stories of each first lady – from Martha Washington to Melania Trump. We talk with George W. Bush Institute Deputy Director Natalie Gonnella-Platts about the roles these women have played in American life. “First Ladies: Style of Influence” is on display through Oct. 1.

People living along the coast of Senegal have relied on the ocean both for food and their livelihood. In recent years, though, the fish that were once plentiful have disappeared. Anna Badkhen visited these fishing villages to find out how people are surviving in an era of upheaval. She joins us to talk about what she learned, which she writes about in “Fisherman’s Blues: A West African Community at Sea” (Riverhead Books). Badkhen speaks tonight to the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture.