This I Believe II: More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women - Hardcover

Allison, Jay; Gediman, Dan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805087680 ISBN 13: 9780805087680

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co., 2008

Synopsis

A new collection of inspiring personal philosophies from another noteworthy group of people

This second collection of This I Believe essays gathers seventyfive essayists―ranging from famous to previously unknown―completing the thought that begins the book's title. With contributors who run the gamut from cellist Yo-Yo Ma to ordinary folks like a diner waitress, an Iraq War veteran, a farmer, a new husband, and many others, This I Believe II, like the first New York Times bestselling collection, showcases moving and irresistible essays.

Included are Sister Helen Prejean writing about learning what she truly believes through watching her own actions, singer Jimmie Dale Gilmore writing about a hard-won wisdom based on being generous to others, and Robert Fulghum writing about dancing all the dances for as long as he can. Readers will also find wonderful and surprising essays about forgiveness, personal integrity, and honoring life and change.

Here is a welcome, stirring, and provocative communion with the minds and hearts of a diverse, new group of people―whose beliefs and the remarkably varied ways in which they choose to express them reveal the American spirit at its best.

About this title

About the Author

Jay Allison is one of public radio's most honored producers. He has produced hundreds of nationally broadcast documentaries and features for radio and television. His work has earned him the duPont-Columbia and five Peabody Awards, and he was the 1996 recipient of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's Edward R. Murrow Award for outstanding contributions to public radio, the industry's highest honor. He was the curator and producer of This I Believe on NPR and he produces The Moth Radio Hour. Before his career in broadcasting, Jay was a theater director in Washington, D.C. He is also the founder of the public radio stations for Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Cape Cod where he lives.

Dan Gediman is the executive producer of This I Believe. His work has been heard on All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Fresh Air, Marketplace, Jazz Profiles, and This American Life. He has won many of public broadcasting's most prestigious awards, including the duPont-Columbia Award.

Reviews

Starred Review. Allison and Gediman's newest omnibus highlights 75 more essays from the archives of the successful NPR program, a contemporary version of Edward Murrow's classic radio show. Culled from writers both legendary and previously unfamiliar, each essayist presents what he or she believes in 500 words. From Robin Baudier's tract on Strange Blessings, detailing her experience living in her parents' FEMA trailer after the devastation of Katrina, to Michelle Gardner-Quinn's credo for upholding reverence for all life (Quinn was tragically murdered after completing this essay) to Kim Phuc's essay on Forgiveness, borne of her experience as that girl in the picture running naked, napalm-burnt on a road near Saigon, each micro-essay stuns with its singular beauty, lucidity and humility. Icons like Helen Prejean, Studs Terkel and Elie Wiesel find estimable company in heretofore unknown writers who distill their individual truths with affecting sincerity and admirable aptitude. (Oct.)
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In the second collection derived from the extraordinarily popular and influential National Public Radio program This I Believe, pithy, personal, and stealthily affecting essays grapple with life’s big questions from myriad perspectives and with refreshingly positive energy. Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk tells us to do what we love. James Loney, a peace activist held hostage in Iraq, believes that “there are many ways we can hold one another captive.” Nature writer David Gessner believes in wildness. Readers will also discover what invaluable life lesson neurobiologist Jimmy Liao learned from studying fish in turbulent waters, why Susan Cooke Kittredge believes in mending, and what “strange blessings” a woman whose family lost their home to Katrina gleaned. Other voices include war veterans, a Muslim immigrant, and a poet who became addicted to crack. Beauty, duty, forgiveness, and remembrance—all are considered in 75 earnest and revealing credos, which, as astute series editor Allison observes, are not sermons but, rather, the results of soul-searching in the wake of anguished experiences. Infused with gratitude and hope, these declarations are at once grounding and uplifting. --Donna Seaman

Edition details

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0805087680
• ISBN 13: 9780805087680
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Allison Jay, Gediman Dan