Mpr News With Kerri Miller

Joy Womack made history when she became the first American to join Russia’s famed Bolshoi Ballet Theater. But getting there was a journey that took a grueling physical and emotional toll. Her new memoir, “Behind the Velvet Red Curtain,” written with MPR News journalist Elizabeth Shockman, is an intimate retelling of what happened when Womack moved to Moscow at age 15 to train under Russian greats and immersed herself in ruthless competition, obsessive training and tenacity in the face of challenge.She talks about what it took to be an American ballerina in Russia with Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas. Guest: Joy Womack is a ballet dancer and choreographer, currently based in Paris. Her new memoir, as told to Elizabeth Shockman, is “Behind The Red Velvet Curtain.” Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS or anywhere you get your podcasts.Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recomme

Honor Jones’ debut novel, “Sleep,” begins in the damp undergrowth of a blackberry bush, where main character Margaret is playing a game. It’s a quintessential childhood moment that ends with trauma that marks her forever. But like many kids, Margaret doesn’t quite know how to hold this painful thing, and the adults in her life are no help. So she stuffs it and believes it will stay buried, where it can harm no one.And then she becomes a mother. Jones asks many psychological questions in “Sleep.” Maybe the most poignant: How does a parent keep their own trauma from hurting their kids? How do you raise a child to be safe without infecting them with a sense of fear?This week, on Big Books and Bold Ideas, Jones joins host Kerri Miller to talk about that, as well as the power of secrets, the complexities of mother-daughter relationships and the tenuous balance between protection and hypervigilance. Guest: Honor Jones is a senior editor at The Atlantic and a writer. Her debut novel, “Sleep,” was named “one of the

If you’ve spent time this week doomscrolling on your phone — even though you know it’s not good for you, that it ramps up anxiety and you’d be better off taking a walk or just going to bed — Emily Falk’s new book is for you. “What We Value” is a peek behind the mental curtain. Why do our brains intend one thing and do another? Why is lasting change, even desired change, so hard? Neuroscientist Falk says it’s because our gray matter is silently making value calculations, which don’t always benefit us. If we can identify those calculations, she writes, we can harness them to make more meaningful choices. Falk joins Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas to explain her thesis. Along the way, they touch on the addictiveness of Minecraft, why habits — both good and bad — are so hard to change, and how a book about Benedict Cumberbatch impacted Falk’s research and life. Guest:Emily Falk is a neuroscientist and a professor of communications at the University of Pennsylvania. She also directs the Commun

Amanda Nguyen was aiming for the stars when she was accepted as a student at Harvard. She dreamed of becoming an astronaut. But in her senior year of college, she was raped. That propelled her into a public role as activist to change an infuriating gap in the law when it comes to rape survivors. “When I found out that my rape kit could be destroyed, untested, in six months — even if the statue of limitations was 15 years — I felt like that was against everything I was taught about the criminal justice system,” she told Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas. “It was [at] that moment that I decided I would actually be fighting the criminal justice system to reform it, because that was my definition of justice — to make sure that no one else would go through what I had to go through.” Nguyen’s new memoir, “Saving Five,” is an inspiring, infuriating and ultimately hopeful testament to how one courageous woman fought the system and won. Guest:Amanda Nguyen is an astronaut for Blue Origin and an acti

A neighborhood bar is a peculiar thing. The people who frequent it develop a rapport, a kind of familiarity that makes them feel ownership. But time rolls on, and no place is untouched by the changes it brings — not the bar nor the people in it. Texas native Callie Collins knows a thing or two about bars. That’s why she set her newest novel, “Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine,” in an Austin saloon, circa 1970s Texas. The story unfolds from three different viewpoints: the lead guitarist of the new house band; the bar owner trying to help the establishment and herself find a future; and a kid from East Texas desperate for direction and kinship. Collins talks bars, the blues and belonging with host Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas. Guest:Callie Collins is a writer and editor from Texas. “Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine” is her first novel. Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS or anywhere you get your podcasts.Subscribe to th

How do you carry someone else’s memory — both in body and in mind? The prairie witch in Karen Russell’s fantastical new novel, “The Antidote,” describes it as a pressure and a weight. She has the ability to receive the memories of her fellow citizens in a small failing town in Nebraska, which offers relief to anyone who feels like their pasts are too heavy to bear. “Whatever they can’t stand to know,” she says, “the memories that make them chase impossible dreams, that make them sick with regret and grief. Whatever cargo unbalances the cart, I can hold on to anything for anyone.” But when a Dust Bowl-era storm blows through, the deposited memories likewise rush away. What happens when the past is forgotten? Russell’s long-awaited novel contains epic calamity, deep friendship and just enough magic to stir the pot as she reckons with the consequence of collective forgetting. Guest: Karen Russell is the author of many books, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist, “Swamplandia.” Her new novel is “The Antidote.” S

For many people, a good life is a stable life — a life that’s predictable and filled with purpose. For others, happiness the point. They embrace moments of bliss and satisfaction. But what about a life that’s focused on curiosity, exploration and a variety of experiences that broaden our world? University of Chicago psychology professor Shigehiro Oishi says that’s a psychologically rich life — and in his new book, “Life in Three Dimensions,” he argues that a psychological rich life is just as important as a life filled with happiness and meaning. Professor Oishi joined Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas to discuss the markers of a good life. They talk about the value of risk, the importance of awe and how the American individualism can hinder a good life. Guest: Shigehiro Oishi is a celebrated professor of psychology at the University of Chicago. His latest book is “Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life.”Subscribe to Big Books and Bo

“A Lesser Light” is Minnesota writer Peter Geye’s sixth novel, and he says he couldn’t have written it earlier in life. The story revolves around a cold and often hostile marriage. It’s 1910, and husband Theodulf is the newly commissioned caretaker of a grand lighthouse situated on the treacherous shore of Lake Superior. His new bride, Willa, has been forced into the marriage by her scheming mother after a family tragedy. The terrain is brooding, the climate unforgiving. Maybe no surprise, the new relationship is equally harsh. But Geye says the complexity of Theodulf and Willa are what make them human, and as he’s gotten older, he appreciates the “many shades” of their rocky marriage. “Of all the institutions in our culture, marriage and parenthood are two of the most fraught,” Geye tells host Kerri Miller. “They can be the most beautiful, the most wonderful, the most amazing — and I don’t know a whole lot of people who end up together like Theodulf and Willa do. But it’s more interesting to me when people l

We could learn a lot from the good boys (and girls) in our life. That’s the main thesis of philosopher Mark Rowlands new book, “The Word of Dog.” He says out loud what many dog owners secretly wonder: Is my dog a better person than me? And while Rowlands certainly agrees that humans remain top of the intellectual pyramid, he does theorize that our canine companions inhabit the world in a uniquely uncomplicated way. “Although dogs have no idea what philosophy is,” he writes, “they live the big questions.”Join Rowlands and fellow dog lover Kerri Miller for this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas to be enlightened and inspired by the dogs in your life. Guest:Mark Rowlands is a professor of philosophy at the University. His new book is “The Word of Dog: What our Canine Companions Can Teach Us about Living a Good Life.” Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS or anywhere you get your podcasts.Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and aut

Rules are good. Discretion is better. So argues philosophy professor Barry Lam in his new book, “Fewer Rules, Better People.” While Lam acknowledges law as the backbone of society, he says America has forgotten the good of discretion. Be it a sports referee, a parent, a police officer or a prosecutor, decision makers need the freedom to exercise discernment about how the rules get applied. Lam joins Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas for a philosophical and practical discussion about how discretion greases the wheels of our culture and why removing it creates a lumbering bureaucracy. Guest:Barry Lam is a professor of philosophy at UC Riverside and host of the podcast Hi-Phi Nation. His new book is “Fewer Rules, Better People: The Case for Discretion.” Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS or anywhere you get your podcasts.Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.

“The story of America in the 21st century is the story of chosen scarcities.” So begins “Abundance,” the new book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson that has politicos abuzz. In it, they argue that progressives have created a culture of scarcity the last few decades, especially when it comes to solving America’s thorniest problem, like homelessness, housing affordability and green energy. The solution, they say, is to face up to the failures of liberal policies, no matter how well intended, and renew a politics of plenty. “If you look back in American history, America used to built things — proudly,” Thompson tells Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas. “And then at some point over the last 50 years, liberalism — which was once defined as the politics of building — became defined as the politics of blocking. [In the book], we’re trying to execute a bit of a paradigm shift here: We want to marry the politics of building with modern progressivism.”Guest: Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atla

Can one decision be the fulcrum of a life?Or is destiny really millions of tiny choices swirled with events out of our control? That’s one of the many questions at the heart of Eric Puchner’s gorgeous new novel, “Dream State.” It’s received a dizzying amount of praise since it was released in February — making the New York Times best seller list, becoming an Oprah Book Club pick. But despite the buzz, the novel is deceptively hard to pin down. Set in rural Montana, the book begins with two college buddies, as one of them, Charlie, prepares to marry the love of his life. But when Cece heads to the family cabin early to prepare for the wedding and meets no-nonsense best friend Garrett, her world wobbles. What happens next — amidst a wedding besieged by norovirus — launches the next 50 years, as the three friends remain intertwined by regrets and grief, possibilities and love. Puchner joins host Kerri Miller for a wide-ranging conversation on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas. Among topics of discussion: why

For more than 20 years, author Chris Bohjalian carried the seed of a Civil War story in his imagination. It was inspired by the true story of a Southern woman who nursed a Union soldier back to health after he was injured on the battlefield. But the idea didn’t grow roots until the racial uprisings after the murder of George Floyd, when Confederate statues came tumbling down. “Years ago, Tony Horowitz wrote a remarkable book called ‘Confederates in the Attic,’ wondering why so much of the South was still fighting the Civil War,” Bohjalian tells host Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas. “Horowitz journeyed through the (region) to understand why the Lost Cause still existed in the minds of so many Southerners. I thought about that book a lot in 2020, as the statues came down on Monument Avenue in Richmond. That’s when it really clicked in my mind.”Bohjalian and Miller also talk about the delicate dance of writing historical fiction — when facts must be accurate but the story enticing — and how

When superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc on Eiren Caffall’s childhood home of New York City, her first thought was: What about the museums? That distressing question provoked her first novel, “All the Water in the World.” In this futuristic dystopia, climate change is unchecked. Cities are drowned, people are adrift. But already, some are thinking of the after by looking to the past. The former curators and researchers at the American Natural History Museum have taken up residence on the museum’s roof, forming a new sort of family and thinking about how to preserve the artifacts still in their power.“Museums are … the repositories of our collective understandings, evidence of discoveries, warehouses of materials that will fuel discoveries in the future,” writes Caffall. “They hold the past in trust for the future.”This week, Caffall joins host Kerri Miller to talk about the hope she wants to see in dystopian fiction. “The narratives we have in the popular culture about what disasters do to people are mostly incorr

Lauren Francis-Sharma was a young law student interning in Johannesburg in 1996 when she was given the opportunity to observe portions of the Truth and Reconciliation Amnesty Hearings, which were set up to expose the horrors of apartheid in South Africa. Listening to testimony of atrocities and knowing that these public confessions came with exoneration changed her. She filled legal pad after legal pad with stories and kept them for decades. “I think it’s brilliant, in some respects — how a country moves forward from such an atrocious history. What can we do to heal a nation?” she tells Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas. “But I was left asking myself: Is this enough? Do people feel satisfied by truth alone?” And in fact, that’s the question at the center of Francis-Sharma’s taut new thriller, “Casualties of Truth.” Shifting between South Africa in the late 1990s and Washington, D.C., in 2018, the novel tells the story of Prudence Wright who is forced to confront a violent past she has tried

When historian Martha Jones began excavating the history of her own family, she found a remarkable story of what she calls the trouble with color. But that might not mean what you think.“In this book, the term trouble has two meanings,” Jones tells Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas. ”I open the book with the lyrics of a spiritual, ‘Wade in the Water.’ You know, ‘God’s gonna trouble the water.’ And that comes from the book of John. In the book of John, we learn that when God troubles the water and we step into it, we are healed. This is the way forward for us. I think in some ways, trouble is precisely what we need.” Her new book, “The Trouble of Color” tells the honest story of her own family — filled with pain but also joy and resilience. Because, as Jones says, she believes we all have the capacity to sit with hard stories and be healed. Guest: Martha S. Jones is a historian and writer with numerous titles to her name. Her latest book is “The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir.”

Why do some people view winter as a magical season when others see it as something to dread? The secret is in the mindset, according to health psychologist Kari Leibowitz. She spent a year doing research in Tromsø, Norway studying how the people who live above the Arctic Circle celebrate deepest winter. What she discovered is that it goes beyond hygge. It depends on where your brain settles its focus. “Winter is many things. It’s paradoxical,” says Leibowitz. “Yes, it’s cold and dark, and it can be gloomy and depressing. But it can also be beautiful and quiet and cozy and magical. The mindset we have about winter helps us make sense of this paradox. Is winter wonderful or dreadful? Is the season a limiting time of year, or is it full of opportunity? Research shows us mindsets matter most in these ambiguous situations.”Leibowitz joins Kerri Miller this week on Big Books and Bold Ideas to explore how shifting your mindset about winter can be a useful life skill. She also tackles the question about who has the

Grief didn’t come easily to novelist Geraldine Brooks. When her husband, journalist and author Tony Horowitz, died of a cardiac event on a Washington, D.C., sidewalk, she was stunned. He was only 60. What happened? But she didn’t have time to mourn, seeing as her boys needed support, her books needed writing, the world needed answers. As she describes in her new book, “Memorial Days,” it took her three years to recognize she was operating on autopilot, disassociated from her life and her body due to unrealized grief. So she traveled home to Australia and forced herself into solitude to relive the worst days of her life and finally give her grief sway. This week, Brooks joined host Kerri Miller on Big Books and Bold Ideas to talk about what happened next. Guest:Geraldine Brooks is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author. Her new memoir is “Memorial Days.” Audio book excerpts courtesy Penguin Audio. Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS or

Lindsay Chervinsky knew other historians had written extensively about America’s second president, John Adams. But none of those books were written before January 6, 2021, when an insurrection at the nation’s capitol ended the tradition of peacefully transferring power in the U.S. — a tradition that started with Adams himself. In her new book, “Making the Presidency,” Chervinsky looks back at Adams life and focuses on how George Washington’s successor shaped the presidency in the final years of the 18th century. She argues that it was Adams who established political norms for the executive branch — norms that are quickly being discarded by the current administration. What can the second president teach us about our country’s 47th? That’s on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas. Guest:Lindsay Chervinsky is a presidential historian and the executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library. Her new book is “Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents that Forged the Republic.”Subscribe to

It’s Valentine’s Day! To mark the occasion, Big Books and Bold Ideas is dipping into the archives to focus on love — and not just romantic love. This show highlights love of all kinds: familial love, love between friends, even the love of books. We start with Leif Enger, who joined host Kerri Miller in Red Wing last June to talk about his novel, “I Cheerfully Refuse.” Enger’s latest book is dystopian in nature, but at its heart, it’s a love story. We then dip into Miller’s conversation with British-Nigerian author Ore Agbaje-Williams, whose subversive and wickedly funny novel, "The Three of Us,” delves into love between friends. Is it possible our friendships are more foundational than the bonds we form with romantic partners? We end with Jedidiah Jenkins and his memoir, “Mother, Nature.” It recounts a five-thousand-mile road trip he and his mother took to retrace the route his parents traversed in the 1970s as they walked across America. It sounds sentimental. But it’s really Jedidiah’s attempt to recon