This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women

"In the 1950s, the Edward R. Murrow — hosted radio program This I Believe prompted Americans to briefly explain their most cherished beliefs, be they religious or purely pragmatic. Since the program's 2005 renaissance as a weekly NPR segment, Allison (the host) and Gediman (the executive producer) have collected some of the best essays from This I Believe then and now. 'Your personal credo' is what Allison calls it in the book's introduction, noting that today's program is distinguished from the 1950s version in soliciting submissions from ordinary Americans from all walks of life. These make up some of the book's most powerful and memorable moments, from the surgeon whose illiterate mother changed his early life with faith and a library card to the English professor whose poetry helped him process a traumatic childhood event. And in one of the book's most unusual essays, a Burmese immigrant confides that he believes in feeding monkeys on his birthday because a Buddhist monk once prophesied that if he followed this ritual, his family would prosper. There are luminaries here, too, including Gloria Steinem, Warren Christopher, Helen Keller, Isabel Allende, Eleanor Roosevelt, John Updike and (most surprisingly, considering the book's more liberal bent) Newt Gingrich. This feast of ruminations is a treat for any reader." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

A welcome change from the sloganeering, political mudslinging and products of spin doctors.--The Philadelphia Inquirer Based on the NPR series of the same name, This I Believe features eighty Americans--from the famous to the unknown--completing the thought that the book's title begins. Each piece compels readers to rethink not only how they have arrived at their own personal beliefs but also the extent to which they share them with others.

Featuring many renowned contributors--including Isabel Allende, Colin Powell, Gloria Steinem, William F. Buckley Jr., Penn Jillette, Bill Gates, and John Updike--the collection also contains essays by a Brooklyn lawyer; a part-time hospital clerk in Rehoboth, Massachusetts; a woman who sells yellow pages advertising in Fort Worth, Texas; and a man who serves on Rhode Island's parole board.

The result is a stirring and provocative trip inside the minds and hearts of a diverse group of people whose beliefs--and the incredibly varied ways in which they choose to express them--reveal the American spirit at its best. Jay Allison, the host and curator of This I Believe, is an independent broadcast journalist. His work appears often on NPR and has earned him five Peabody Awards. He is the founder of the public radio stations that serve 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. Based on the National Public Radio series of the same name, This I Believe features eighty essayists--from the famous to the unknown--completing the thought that begins the book's title. Each piece compels readers to rethink not only how they have arrived at their own personal beliefs but also the extent to which they share them with others. Featuring a well-known list of contributors--including Isabel Allende, Colin Powell, Gloria Steinem, William F. Buckley Jr., Penn Jillette, Bill Gates, and John Updike--the collection also contains essays by a Brooklyn lawyer; a part-time hospital clerk from Rehoboth, Massachusetts; a woman who sells Yellow Pages advertising in Fort Worth, Texas; and a man who serves on the state of Rhode Island's parole board. The result is a trip inside the minds and hearts of a diverse group of people whose beliefs--and the incredibly varied ways in which they choose to express them--reveal the American spirit at its best.

This I Believe is also available on CD as an audiobook, in both abridged and unabridged editions. Each essay is read by its author. Please email academic@macmillan.com for more information. To hold this range of beliefs in the palm of your hand is as fine, as grounding, as it was hearing them first on the radio. Heartfelt, deeply cherished beliefs, doctrines for living (yet none of them doctrinaire). Ideas and ideals that nourish. You can see it in their faces, in the photos in this book. And read it in their words. I'm so proud that NPR helped carry this Edward R. Murrow tradition into a new century. And so glad to have it in print, to encounter again and again.--Susan Stamberg, special correspondent, National Public Radio To hold this range of beliefs in the palm of your hand is as fine, as grounding, as it was hearing them first on the radio. Heartfelt, deeply cherished beliefs, doctrines for living (yet none of them doctrinaire). Ideas and ideals that nourish. You can see it in their faces, in the photos in this book. And read it in their words. I'm so proud that NPR helped carry this Edward R. Murrow tradition into a new century. And so glad to have it in print, to encounter again and again.--Susan Stamberg, special correspondent, National Public Radio

Reading this gives me a feeling about this country I rarely get: a very visceral sense of all the different kinds of people who are living together here, with crazily different backgrounds and experiences and dreams. Like a Norman Rockwell painting where all the people happen to be real people, and all the stories are true. It makes me feel hopeful about America, reading this. Hopeful in a way that's in short supply lately.--Ira Glass, Producer and Host of This American Life My father, Edward R. Murrow, said that 'fresh ideas' from others helped him confront his own challenges. This superb collection of thought-provoking This I Believe essays, both from the new program heard on NPR and from the original 1950s series, provides fresh ideas for all of us --Casey Murrow, Elementary Education Publisher Now, as then, when Edward R. Murrow introduced the idea of This I Believe, this forward-thinking compilation serves as a wonderful antidote to the cynicism of the age.--Daniel Schorr, Senior News Analyst, NPR, and former colleague of Edward R. Murrow National Public Radio listeners have been moved to tears by the personal essays that constitute the series This I Believe. Created in 1951 with Edward Murrow as host, the sometimes funny, often profound, and always compelling series has been revived, according to host Jay Allison, because, once again, 'matters of belief divide our country and the world.' Oral historian Studs Terkel kicks things off, and 80 personal credos follow. Essays from the original series are interleaved with contemporary essays (selected from more than 11,000 submissions) to create a resounding chorus . . . Appendixes offer guidelines and resources because the urge to write such declarations is contagious, and schools and libraries have been coordinating This I Believe programs, which we believe is a righteous endeavor.--Donna Seaman, Booklist In an age of disinformation, spin, and lies, NPR's This I Believe comes as a source of refreshment and useful disquiet. NPR revived this 1950s radio series quite recently, and this collection draws transcripts from both the original series and its newer version, including some remarkable statements from the likes of dancer/choreographer Martha Graham, autistic academic Temple Grandin, writer and physicist Alan Lightman, novelist and social critic Thomas Mann, economic historian Arnold Toynbee, and feminist writer Rebecca West. Wonderful . . . astonishing to hear and astonishing to read and reread.--Library Journal Allison (the host) and Gediman (the executive producer) of the radio show] have collected some of the best essays from This I Believe then and now. 'Your personal credo' is what Allison calls it in the book's introduction, noting that today's program is distinguished from the 1950s version in soliciting submissions from ordinary Americans from all walks of life. These make up some of the book's most powerful and memorable moments, from the surgeon whose illiterate mother changed his early life with faith and a library card to the English professor whose poetry helped him process a traumatic childhood event. And in one of the book's most unusual essays, a Burmese immigrant confides that he believes in feeding monkeys on his birthday because a Buddhist monk once prophesied that if he followed this ritual, his family would prosper . . . This feast of ruminations is a treat for any reader.--Publishers Weekly (starred review) Table of Contents

Foreword

Studs Terkel

Introduction

Jay Allison

Be Cool to the Pizza Dude

Sarah Adams

Leaving Identity Issues to Other Folks

Phyllis Allen

In Giving I Connect with Others

Isabel Allende

Remembering All the Boys

Elvia Bautista

The Mountain Disappears

Leonard Bernstein

How Is It Possible to Believe in God?

William F. Buckley, Jr.

The Fellowship of the World

Niven Busch

There is No Job More Important than Parenting

Benjamin Carson

A Journey toward Acceptance and Love

Greg Chapman

A Shared Moment of Trust

Warren Christopher

The Hardest Work You Will Ever Do

Mary Cook

Good Can Be as Communicable as Evil

Norman Corwin

A Daily Walk Just to Listen

Susan Cosio

The Elusive Yet Holy Core

Kathy Dahlen

My Father's Evening Star

William O. Douglas

An Honest Doubter

Have I Learned Anything Important Since I Was Sixteen?

Elizabeth Deutsch Earle

An Ideal of Service to Our Fellow Man

Albert Einstein

The Power and Mystery of Naming Things

Eve Ensler

A Goal of Service to Humankind

Anthony Fauci

The God Who Embraced Me

John W. Fountain

Unleashing the Power of Creativity

Bill Gates

The People Who Love You When No One Else Will

Cecile Gilmer

The Willingness to Work for Solutions

Newt Gingrich

The Connection between Strangers

Miles Goodwin

An Athlete of God

Martha Graham

Seeing in Beautiful, Precise Pictures

Temple Grandin

Disrupting My Comfort Zone

Brian Grazer

Science Nourishes the Mind and the Soul

Brian Greene

In Praise of the Wobblies

Ted Gup

The Power of Presence

Debbie Hall

A Grown-Up Barbie

Jane Hamill

Happy Talk

Oscar Hammerstein II

Natural Links in a Long Chain of Being

Victor Hanson

Talking with the Sun

Joy Harjo

A Morning Prayer in a Little Church

Helen Hayes

Our Noble, Essential Decency

Robert A. Heinlein

A New Birth of Freedom

Maximilian Hodder

The Benefits of Restlessness and Jagged Edges

Kay Redfield Jamison

There Is No God

Penn Jillette

A Duty to Heal

Pius Kamau

Living Life with Grace and Elegant Treeness

Ruth Kamps

The Light of a Brighter Day

Helen Keller

The Bright Lights of Freedom

Harold Hongju Koh

The Power of Love to Transform and Heal

Jackie Lantry The Power of Mysteries

Alan Lightman

Life Grows in the Soil

A welcome change from the sloganeering, political mudslinging and products of spin doctors.--The Philadelphia Inquirer