The Thread®

Is the promise of heaven a coping mechanism that allows us to avoid the inevitable truth of our own mortality? In his new book, funeral director, theology student and author Caleb Wilde shares his thoughtful, unexpected and ultimately hopeful reflections about death, the afterlife and staying connected with those we’ve lost.

The rare and antiquarian books field has historically been dominated by white men, and difficult to enter for anyone without a prior connection. A new fellowship at a Minnesota rare book seminar is aimed at bringing more diverse voices into the industry.

The Voting Rights Act turns 57 this week. But its power to outlaw discriminatory voting practices has been slowly chipped away. On a special Big Books and Bold Ideas, MPR News host Kerri Miller talks with historian and scholar Carol Anderson about what’s next for voting rights.

Each year, thousands of bikes are thrown into waterways. Author Jody Rosen explains the history, and possible motivations for this strange phenomenon.

This Friday’s Big Books and Bold Ideas will feature a conversation between host Kerri Miller and author Caleb Wilde, a sixth-generation funeral director who’s written a new book, “All the Ways Our Dead Still Speak.” It hearkens back to a 2019 discussion Miller had with Dr. Sunita Puri, about her poetic and practical book, "That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour." Modern medicine can help us live longer. But can it help us die well?

The author of “Carrie,” “The Shining” and many other favorites, King has willingly — even eagerly — placed himself in opposition to Simon & Schuster, his longtime publisher.

It's a plot that sounds like a Hallmark movie, but the narrator handles it with a knowing wink and a nod, both celebrating and challenges the tropes of romance.

Poet and novelist Quan Barry says travel both inspired and grounded her new book, which follows twin brothers through Mongolia on a quest to find a reincarnated spiritual leader.

Gabrielle Zevin's beautifully written novel “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” tells the story of two childhood friends who become legendary names in the world of video game design.

A new research collaboration between Harvard University and Oxford University Press aims to compile the first fully-formed dictionary of African American English.