Think from KERA

Steve Jobs imagined the iPhone as the one gadget we’d need for everything. Brian Merchant joins us to talk about how arguably the 21st Century’s most significant piece of technology came to be, which he writes about in “The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone” (Little, Brown and Company).

As tensions rose in the 1930s, some Jews left Germany, only to return to Europe a few years later as American soldiers. Bruce Henderson joins us to tell the story of these fighters – known as The Ritchie Boys – who acquired intelligence crucial to defeating the Nazis. His new book is called “Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler” (William Morrow).

Some of us are understandably creeped out by insects. We should probably try to come to terms with them, though – for every human, there are 1.4 billion bugs. David MacNeal joins us talk about the world’s bug-lovers – the people who study them and learn how we can benefit from their presence. His new book is called “Bugged: The Insects Who Rule the World and the People Obsessed with Them” (St. Martin’s Press).

Even if an employee sues a company and wins, that person often finds it tough to find another job. So what’s a worker to do? Laura Beth Nielsen, a Northwestern sociology professor and research professor with the American Bar Foundation, joins us to talk about navigating the tricky process of suing an employer – specifically on grounds of discrimination. She’s a co-author of “Rights on Trial: How Workplace Discrimination Law Perpetuates Inequality” (University of Chicago Press).

Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott called the Texas Legislature back to Austin for a special session on the heels of one of the wilder legislative sessions in recent memory. Lawrence Wright joins us for a conversation about the current state of Texas politics – and how what happens here often is a preview of things to come nationally. His story “The Future Is Texas” appears in The New Yorker. Wright speaks tonight at the Dallas Museum of Art as part of Arts & Letters Live! in partnership with the World Affairs Council of Dallas-Fort Worth.

Philosophers love to discuss what are known as “trolley problems” – thought experiments that force us to choose between two unsatisfactory choices. Binghampton University philosophy professor Lisa Tessman joins us to talk about working through moral quandaries, which she writes about in “When Doing the Right Thing is Impossible” (Oxford).

A focus on wellness essentially means committing oneself to attaining a healthy mind and body. And today, it’s become a buzz word used to sell everything from vitamins to vacations. Amy Larocca joins us to talk about our obsession with living our best lives. Her story “The Wellness Epidemic” appeared recently in New York magazine.

This summer, the biggest debate in Washington has centered on the Affordable Care Act. Princeton professor Paul Starr joins us to talk about how health care evolved into big business. His book “The Social Transformation of Medicine: The Rise of a Sovereign Profession & the Making of a Vast Industry” (Basic Books) won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize and has just been updated and re released.

Earlier this decade, a string of dozens of arsons left a rural Virginia county on edge wondering when the next house would burn. Washington Post reporter Monica Hesse visited Accomack County to cover the case, and the more she learned about the culprit, the weirder the story got. She tells it in her new book, “American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land” (Liveright).

From the Founding Fathers to today, America has struggled with its complicated relationship with alcohol. Christopher Finan joins us to tell the stories of Iroquois leader Handsome Lake, prohibitionist Carrie Nation, AA founders Bill Wilson and Bob Smith and others who’ve tried to get America sober. His new book is called “Drunks: An American History” (Beacon Press).