Authors, Philosophers, Leaders, and Plain Folk Pen This I Believe

In 1951, journalist Edward R. Murrow debuted his This I Believe series on CBS Radio. And now, more than a half-century later, essays from both the original series and the relaunched This I Believe NPR radio series will be published in September in paperback in This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman (Holt).

Booksellers will be introduced to a national media project centered on the book when the This I Believe media kit for booksellers, librarians, and teachers arrives in the September Book Sense White Box. The book will be in stores on August 21.

The revived This I Believe radio series, produced by Allison and Gediman, in association with National Public Radio, consists of individual three-minute essays, aired each Monday on more than 600 public radio stations. These dissertations seek to accomplish Murrow's stated goal -- encouraging Americans "to point to the common meeting grounds of beliefs, which is the essence of brotherhood and the floor of our civilization."

In speaking with BTW about the project, Richard Rhorer, Henry Holt's director of marketing, noted that the current series has generated considerable interest: 25,000 contributions, all available on the This I Believe website, have been submitted by a wide range of individuals affected by the broadcasts.

"The essays read on National Public Radio are selected from the large pool of submissions," Rhorer said. "The book is partly a collection of the contributions from this vast number of 'participants.'" Some are very well known -- Colin Powell, Penn Jillette, Gloria Steinem, Bill Gates, while others are not.

Rhorer envisions the new, related project to have an impact much broader than the book alone. He described the value of the materials included in the package. "The idea behind the kit is to take what is a solitary event -- an individual submitting an essay -- and use it as an opportunity to have the individuals that form a community discuss the values and beliefs that they share, to ask themselves what do we -- as a community -- believe."

The broadcasts have generated much interest from educators, community leaders, and reading groups. According to Rhorer, "Many of the materials that make up the kit, particularly the tips for launching a community-wide reading event such as 'one city, one book', the reading group guide, and the teachers' guide, came about in response to the ways that the This I Believe concept and essays were already being used in communities around the country.

"Teachers would contact [Allison and Gediman]," Rhorer said, "and tell them how writing the essays inspired their students in ways that nothing else they taught did; churches and civic organizations were reporting using the book as the basis for reflective examinations of the larger purpose they serve in their community."

Rhorer pointed to the testimonials on the This I Believe website by teachers, and others using the materials in classrooms, as indicative of the worldwide response to the power of the concept.

He also discussed how bookstores, such as the Joseph-Beth Booksellers stores (with locations in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina) have scheduled events to coordinate with the paperback release of This I Believe. Gediman, a resident of Louisville, is appearing at events. But, Rhorer said, stores can mount successful events without any authors present.

"Since independent bookstores are already cornerstones of their communities and already organize events with other community organizations," Rhorer said, "our hope is that the kit will [include] all the 'idea' resources that booksellers need to launch a This I Believe event in their community. The kit offers many different levels at which a bookseller can build an event around This I Believe."

For example, Rhorer said, "The bookstore can organize an event on its own and use the reading group guide to coordinate discussions with the book clubs that meet in their store.  For a bigger event, the bookstore could partner with a local school, church, or civic organization and use the teacher's guide and the community events ideas to build events in the store and off-site at a school, church, or town meeting hall."

An ultimate objective of these events, according to Rhorer, is to have the book selected for city- or community-wide reading events. The town of Bettendorf, Iowa, has already selected This I Believe as its One City/One Book title for the year. "The book is ideal for [that] in many ways: It prompts a meaningful discussion of the core values that unite a community; the content is ideal for schools, churches, and all the other community organizations that participate in these events; and there is an obvious local media partner to work with in promoting the events, the local NPR affiliate."

Such events, Rhorer explained, can be successfully constructed around community members writing and reading their own essays, rather than a sole author, who may or may not be available.

"Henry Holt will happily work with any bookseller organizing an event to create promotion material -- such as easels and e-cards -- and to utilize co-op funds to promote the events the store organizes," Rhorer told BTW. He can be contacted via e-mail at [email protected] with any questions or requests. --Nomi Schwartz