This I Believe II

The new paperback in the bestselling series of inspiring personal philosophies

This collection of "This I Believe" essays gathers seventy-five 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 professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, 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.

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. This second collection of "This I Believe "essays gathers seventy-five essayists--including writers known and unknown--who complete the thought that begins in the book's title. Among the contributors are musicians Yo-Yo Ma and Bela Fleck, Nobel Prize Winner Elie Wiesel, the founder of the online community Craigslist.org and an anthropology student at the University of Chicago.
Sister Helen Prejean writes about learning what she truly believes through watching her own actions, singer Jimmie Dale Gilmore writes about a hard-won wisdom based on being generous to others, and Robert Fulghum writes about dancing all the dances for as long as he can. A diner waitress, an Iraq War veteran, and a new husband also add their voices to the collection of concise essays about music, skateboarding, success and failure, memory and identity.
Each piece, whether poignant or humorous, compels the reader to think about how they have formed their own personal beliefs and about the extent to which they express them to others. This edition also contains an appendix on how to write a "This I Believe" essay.
"This I Believe II" is also available on CD as an unabridged audiobook. Each essay is read by its author. Please email academic@macmillan.com for more information. "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 . . . Infused with gratitude and hope, these declarations are at once grounding and uplifting."--"Booklist" ""This I Believe II" features 75 pithy essays by authors young and old, famous and unknown, and engaged in every walk of life. In 'The Right to Be Fully American, ' Pakistani-American Muslim attorney Yasir Billoo describes the anguish of being made to feel like a foreigner in your homeland, while virtuoso cellist Yo-Yo Ma expounds the benefits of cross-fertilizing cultures, both in life and in music. In 'The Faith That Brings Me Peace, ' Betsy Chalmers describes how the implicit belief in marital faithfulness has enabled her to remain committed to her 30-year marriage to a convicted criminal; in 'God is God Because He Remembers, ' Elie Wiesel puts the value of shared history into stark perspective. In the foreword, co-producer Jay Allison describes "This I Believe" as 'a snapshot of the convictions of our age.' Even a preliminary reading of the book will reveal that these varied convictions arise from a diverse range and depth of experiences."--Aisha Motlani, "Shepherd Express" (Milwaukee)
"In his introduction to "This I Believe II," Jay Allison writes, 'In an age of irony, an earnest statement is a target.' Yet the long-running NPR series from which this collection of essays is drawn, and for which Allison is the host and curator, is exactly that: the earnest statements of people of every age, gender, race, religion and station of life about what is most significant to them. Almost every one of the 500-word essays is surprising in some way. If you're expecting tired platitudes about religion or family or patriotism, try this one: 'I believe in semi-permanent hair dye.' That's Amelia Baxter-Stoltzfus, who wrote her funny but insightful essay as a high school student. Or how about 'I believe in strange blessings, ' the opening line of the essay by Robin Baudier, a young woman who found her life turned upside down by Hurricane Katrina--and found the good side of living in a FEMA trailer . . . By turns moving, thoughtful, cheering and heartbreaking, in an age of irony these essays offer a little something to believe in."--Colette Bancroft, "St. Petersburg"" Times" "This book opens with a formidable challenge: 'What would you say in five hundred words to capture a core principle that guides your life?' Before you try to answer that question, you might want to read some of the 75 essays collected in "This I Believe II: More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women." Many will leave you breathless. And those that don't astonish may simply humble you . . . Many of th