Think from KERA

Imagine how Jerry Zhang felt when his daughter, Madison, explained that she didn’t want to be Chinese because none of the characters in her books were. The conversation inspired Zhang – an attorney by trade – to try to fix the problem, and the result is “Pepper Zhang: Artist Extraordinaire” (Little Ning Books). Zhang joins us to talk about creating a strong Asian hero – and about the underrepresentation of Asians in pop culture.

Congress is expected to pass the Republican-backed $1.5 trillion tax overhaul this week. To get a better understanding of how the bill will affect everyday Americans, we talk with Chye-Ching Huang, Deputy Director of Federal Tax Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The process by which candidates are recruited for office has changed drastically in recent years. Brookings senior fellow Jonathan Rauch talks about the role of activist groups in the process, which he studied for his report “Re-Engineering Politicians: How Activist Groups Choose our Candidates – Long Before We Vote.”

Native American tribal courts operate differently than the federal and state systems. Rebecca Clarren joins us to talk about how these courts work – and about how their approach to criminal justice has shown a decrease in recidivism, which she writes about for InvestigateWest and The Nation.

Millennials are stereotyped as entitled, self-centered brats – which doesn’t square with the fact that they’re also drowning in student debt as they’re expected to take on internships that don’t pay. Malcolm Harris – a millennial himself – talks about why his generation finds itself in this predicament, which he writes about in “Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials” (Little, Brown and Co.).

Over the course of eight years, Pete Souza photographed President Obama more than 2 million times. The former White House photographer talks about the public and private personas of the 44thpresident, which are captured in “Obama: An Intimate Portrait” (Little, Brown and Co.).

The current generation of American kids, on the whole, is protected like none before. And some parenting experts are concerned that this coddling fails to prepare these future adults to cope with adversity when they grow up. Lenore Skenazy talks about finding the line between hands-off and helicopter parenting. Her story “The Fragile Generation” appears in the December issue of Reason magazine.

In his first year in office, President Trump has been a critic of America’s nuclear deal with Iran and engaged in a constant back-and-forth with Kim Jong-un over North Korea’s nuclear program. Sharon Squassoni talks about the evolution of U.S. nuclear policy this year. She’s director and senior fellow in the Proliferation Prevention Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and she writes about the topic for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile made headlines earlier this year when she revealed that she considered replacing Hillary Clinton at the top of the ticket with Vice President Joe Biden. She talks about dysfunction in the DNC – and about the steps the party needs to take to strike back in 2018 and beyond. Her latest book is called “Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House” (Hachette).

All pet owners think they know the specific personalities of the animals with which they live. And researchers are beginning to understand that creatures across the animal kingdom also have unique personality traits. Wildlife expert John Shivik us to talk about the connection between understanding how animals think and how they evolve. His new book is called “Mousy Cats and Sheepish Coyotes: The Science of Animal Personalities” (Beacon Press).