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10 Works 1,641 Members 44 Reviews

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Works by Dan Gediman

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2008 (11) 2012 (5) anthology (17) ARC (8) audible (23) audio (19) audiobook (27) belief (16) Belief and doubt (17) beliefs (24) biography (8) book club (5) celebrity (13) conduct of life (25) ebook (5) essay (8) essays (126) ethics (9) history (14) inspiration (17) inspirational (22) Kindle (5) library (7) life (18) memoir (29) NF (5) non-fiction (169) NPR (40) own (8) personal philosophy (5) philosophy (103) read (5) religion (10) short stories (17) spirituality (9) tearjerker (5) This I Believe (5) to-read (60) unread (5) WWII (21)

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I loved the first collection of essays edited by Jay Allison. I found them powerful and challenging and insightful. I don't know if it's the time of my life or another factor but I was severely underwhelmed by this collection. It may be in part because these essays are much shorter and there is less time to really delve into each person's story before moving on to another one. I wasn' very impressed.
 
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mlstweet | 3 other reviews | Feb 5, 2024 |
I love This I Believe. I first heard the radio show on NPR and then went out and bought the book when it came out. A lot of the statements are memorable, but the one that sticks out for me is by a woman who earned advanced degrees and then decided what she really wanted to do with her life was to be a personal assistant. People at parties treated her like she was dumb or unimportant when they found out what she did, but she learned not to let it bother her. She chose a job she liked over a job that would impress people, even though she could've easily found a job that impressed people.… (more)
 
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LibrarianDest | 32 other reviews | Jan 3, 2024 |
The story of World War II has been well-mined by historians over the past 80 years. It’s hard to provide a new angle on the action, yet this series of podcasts does just that. While many histories focus on stories of foreign battles, this history tells America’s domestic challenges around the war. It does so using audio footage of interviews from people at the time. While I’ve heard some of these narratives before (e.g., women undertaking industrial work), many of the episodes covered ground that was new to me. Compiling these stories concisely in one place will be an asset to readers in future years.

This series of podcasts gather original source information from disperse archives, each with its own angle on the war. Thus, it can say, through primary sources, what it was like to live in America during World War II. Many accounts of domestic life are whitewashed with a strong, but false sense of united patriotism. This account avoids that by sharing the anxiety and hardships firsthand in observers’ very words and voices.

America transformed because of the war. Racism and sexism were exposed. The infrastructure of scientific research changed. American isolationism, prevalent after World War I, receded. The military grew dramatically and remained large even after V-J Day. Each of these storylines is handled with care using first-hand accounts. Yes, you’re able to hear the voices of people in that time expressing their thoughts on then-current events.

Again, a broad take on the domestic narratives of the war is one that has not been well explored in prior accounts. Each episode’s main storylines has been explored, but this rendition weaves them together and preserves them for future generations. This is a real contribution to American historians, to students learning about the war, to writers of historical fiction, and to curious Americans. The first-hand accounts convey a sense of uncertainty that is often not shared when telling the story of World War II. They show how our society has grown because of the war and how we risk relapse if these lessons in the future aren’t conserved.
… (more)
 
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scottjpearson | 3 other reviews | May 10, 2023 |
You're sitting in traffic on 101 and you hear Helen Keller's voice (her actual voice!) And Thomas Mann. And Jackie Robinson. And of course Edward R Murrow who I can't help but picture as David Strathairn holding a cigarette. But the best part is hearing a railway porter and a doctor and a civil right activist -- the normal extraordinary people we encounter every day of our lives.
 
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TeresaBlock | 32 other reviews | Feb 14, 2023 |

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Martha Little Executive Producer
Mary Cook Contributor
Jackie Robinson Contributor
Helen Hayes Contributor
Martha Graham Contributor
Warren Christopher Contributor
Niven Busch Contributor
Brian Grazer Contributor
Isabel Allende Contributor
Colin Powell Contributor
Errol Morris Contributor
Sarah Adams Contributor
Phyllis Allen Contributor
Benjamin Carson Contributor
Greg Chapman Contributor
Elvia Bautista Contributor
Arnold Toynbee Contributor
Robert A. Heinlein Contributor
Leonard Bernstein Contributor
Rick Moody Contributor
John Updike Contributor
Thomas Mann Contributor
Brian Greene Contributor
Albert Einstein Contributor
Alan Lightman Contributor
Studs Terkel Foreword
John McCain Contributor
Rebecca West Contributor
Temple Grandin Contributor
Bill Gates Contributor
Penn Jillette Contributor
Helen Keller Contributor
Newt Gingrich Contributor
William O. Douglas Contributor
Martin Sheen Narrator

Statistics

Works
10
Members
1,641
Popularity
#15,656
Rating
3.8
Reviews
44
ISBNs
44
Languages
1

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