This I Believe II

"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)

 

"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 these speakers articulate beliefs 'forged in hardship'–sometimes horrific experiences of tragedy, illness, or loss. Yet over and again they affirm the good to be gleaned–by those willing to recognize it–from the largest and the smallest lessons of human experience . . . The book’s purpose, says Allison, is to 'counter . . . divisiveness' and 'raise a flag for thoughtfulness.' These essays do that but they also do something more: They speak to the best in all of us and leave us in awe of the unheralded virtue that surrounds us every day."—Marjorie Kehe, The Christian Science Monitor

"With times as bad as they are, perhaps a bit of inspiration is needed. If so, This I Believe II, More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women fits the bill. The This I Believe project invites people to write 500-word essays on their personal philosophies. The result has been thousands of essays, which can be read on ThisIBelieve.org., where philosophies are continually added . . . Edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman, with John Gregory and Viki Merrick, in association with National Public Radio (NPR), this little volume will make you stop and think—and perhaps pick up a pen."—Chris Stuckenschneider, The Missourian