The Good Book: Writers Reflect on Favorite Bible Passages

In The Good Book, thirty-two of today’s most prominent writers share never-before-published pieces about passages in the Bible that are most meaningful to them.

The Good Book, with an introduction by Adam Gopnik, collects new pieces by writers from many different faiths and ethnicities including literary fiction writers (Colm Tóibín, Edwidge Danticat, Tobias Wolff, Rick Moody); bestselling nonfiction writers (A.J. Jacobs, Ian Frazier, Thomas Lynch); notable figures in the media (Charles McGrath, Cokie Roberts, Steven V. Roberts); and social activists (Al Sharpton, Kerry Kennedy). While these contributors are not primarily known as religious thinkers, they write intelligently and movingly about specific passages in the Bible that inform the way they live, think about past experiences, and see society today. Some pieces are close readings of specific passages, some are anecdotes from everyday life, and all will inspire, provoke, or illuminate.

Addressing some of the best-known and best-loved characters and stories from Genesis to Revelation, The Good Book will be a beautiful, enlightening gift for secular readers and readers of faith as well as a collection of interest to reading groups, readers of creative nonfiction and personal essays, and fans of each of the individual contributors.

Andrew Blauner is the editor of five anthologies: The Good Book: Writers Reflect on Favorite Bible Passages; Coach; Brothers; Our Boston; Central Park, and In Their Lives: A Chorus of Writers Sing the Praises of Their Favorite Beatles Songs, and is the co-editor of For the Love of Baseball. His writing has been published in The New York Times, and he has appeared on NPR’s On Point, The Leonard Lopate Show, ABC, CBS, NBC, and other media outlets. He is the founder of Blauner Books Literary Agency; a graduate of Collegiate School, Brown University, and Columbia Business School; and a member of PEN American Center and National Book Critics Circle.