Big Books & Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller

Conversations on books and ideas, Fridays at 11 a.m.

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January 27, 2023 10:30 AM

Clint Smith on how to reckon with slavery as America's original sin

Clint Smith’s acclaimed book, “How the Word Is Passed,” is now out in paperback. In it, he examines how slavery has been central in shaping our country’s collective history, and ourselves.

by Kelly Gordon

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January 24, 2023 10:35 AM

From the archives: Naima Coster on her novel 'What's Mine and Yours'

This Friday, Big Books and Bold Ideas will feature Clint Smith, celebrated author of “How the Word is Passed,” which powerfully examines the legacy of slavery in America. Kerri Miller’s conversation with Naima Coster in 2021 trod a similar path, only Coster used a fiction lens to look at effects of segregation in her novel, “What’s Mine and Yours.”

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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January 20, 2023 12:00 PM

Author Katie Hickman on the women of the American West

Old West mythology is full of dust-covered cowboys, lonesome gun slingers and gold-seeking prospectors. But if you only know the men’s side of the story, you only know part of it.

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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January 17, 2023 10:30 AM

From the archives: Mary Doria Russell on what really happened at the O.K. Corral

This week, Big Books and Bold Ideas heads West. Friday, host Kerri Miller talks with Katie Hickman about her new book, which tells the tales of the women of the American West. To get you in the mood, this week’s archive is a conversation between Miller and Mary Doria Russell about her book, “Epitaph,” which investigates what really happened at the O.K. Corral.

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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January 13, 2023 12:00 PM

Joanna Quinn on her best-selling novel 'The Whalebone Theatre'

This week on Big Books and Bold Ideas, host Kerri Miller talks with the British author whose debut novel took England by storm. “The Whalebone Theatre” tells the story of three children who grow up on a posh seaside estate in the 1920s, and how their imaginations and familial bonds both anchor and inspire their lives.

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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January 6, 2023 12:00 PM

Online disinformation expert Joan Donovan on the power of memes

Memes have been used since America’s founding to motivate political action. But Harvard researcher and online disinformation expert Joan Donovan says they’ve never been so powerful. Her new book says they even incited the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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December 30, 2022 12:00 PM

Formative characters: Three Minnesota authors share their favorites

For the last Big Books and Bold Ideas of 2022, MPR News host Kerri Miller asked three Minnesota writers — Peter Geye, Shannon Gibney and Benjamin Percy — to talk about their favorite literary characters. Their choices were unexpected and delightful.

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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December 23, 2022 12:00 PM

Jane Smiley on her new novel, 'A Dangerous Business'

Two young prostitutes become uneasy when several women in their dangerous line of work disappear. Jane Smiley’s new novel follows them as they try to solve the murders in 1850s California.

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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December 16, 2022 12:00 PM

Canine psychologist Alexandra Horowitz on her book 'The Year of the Puppy'

Dog week continues on Big Books and Bold Ideas with a conversation about what canine researcher Alexandra Horowitz learned by observing and then adopting a puppy. What happens during that critical first year of a dog’s life — and how can learning about it help us become better companions and caretakers?

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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December 13, 2022 12:00 PM

From the archives: What can dogs teach us about aging?

It’s dog week on Big Books and Bold Ideas! This Friday, you’ll hear a conversation between MPR News host Kerri Miller and dog researcher Alexandra Horowitz about her new book, “The Year of the Puppy.” Until then, enjoy this throwback to Kerri’s daily show in 2020 — a discussion about how dogs age and what they can teach humans about aging better.

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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