"Howard Reich utilizes his considerable journalistic talents and unique perspective as a second-generation Holocaust survivor to elicit powerful insights from Elie Wiesel. This book will play an important role in making the Holocaust relevant to future generations.” —Marion Blumenthal Lazan, coauthor of Four Perfect Pebbles
“In his struggle to understand his parents’ unimaginable and unspoken past, Howard Reich finds answers in these powerful conversations with Elie Wiesel....Reich’s own poignant narrative is as compelling as the advice Wiesel offers, and in the end it is so satisfying to see how these two brilliant minds find solace through words and through love.” —Mary Morris, author of Gateway to the Moon and The River Queen
“How does one survive the horrors of the Holocaust? Wiesel helps Reich to discover that in shared memory there is hope.” —Sheila Nevins, television producer and author of You Don't Look Your Age...And Other Fairy Tales
“Through his compelling, fascinating and poignant conversations with Elie Wiesel, Howard Reich shares his quest for a deeper understanding of the Holocaust and of the way mankind’s darkest days shaped the lives of his survivor parents and ultimately his own. Reich does a masterful job of weaving his probing questions and the Nobel Laureate’s insightful answers into a tapestry of Jewish identity and morality. This extremely personal and, at times, emotional book...makes clear that descendants, like Reich, of Holocaust survivors are now becoming the witnesses who carry the banner that declares one must never give up or give in to apathy and evil.” —Allan Zullo, author of the Haunted Kids and Ten True Tales series
“Howard Reich’s father and Elie Wiesel shared the unforgettable experience of being liberated from a Nazi concentration camp on the same day in 1945. Bridging generations, this exceptionally thoughtful series of conversations gives the reader a deeper understanding of the meaning of the Holocaust.” —Newton N. Minow, former chair of the Federal Communications Commission and author of Inside the Presidential Debates
"Reich does an admirable job of complementing his subject's sage words with his own perspective without in any way detracting or distracting from it—no easy task yet one the author accomplishes with aplomb." —Kirkus Reviews "Irreplaceable thoughts from a vanishing generation." —Kirkus Reviews
"In Wiesel's words, 'To hear a witness is to become a witness.' Anyone who reads Reich's book will become a witness too." — Chicago Tribune
“A sobering and needful meditation on the enduring themes of remembrance and guilt, mercy and justice.” —Newcity Online
The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel
Narrated by James Foster
Howard ReichUnabridged — 5 hours, 55 minutes
The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel
Narrated by James Foster
Howard ReichUnabridged — 5 hours, 55 minutes
Overview
The Art of Inventing Hope offers an unprecedented, in-depth conversation between the world's most revered Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, and a son of survivors, Howard Reich. During the last four years of Wiesel's life, he met frequently with Reich in New York, Chicago, and Florida—and spoke often on the phone—to discuss the subject that linked them: both Wiesel and Reich's father, Robert Reich, were liberated from Buchenwald death camp on April 11, 1945. What had started as an interview assignment from the Chicago Tribune quickly evolved into a friendship and a partnership. Reich and Wiesel believed their colloquy represented a unique exchange between two generations deeply affected by a cataclysmic event. Wiesel said to Reich, "I've never done anything like this before."
Here Wiesel—at the end of his life—looks back on his ideas and writings on the Holocaust, synthesizing them in his conversations with Reich. The insights that Wiesel offered and Reich illuminates can help the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors understand their painful inheritance, while inviting everyone else to partake of Wiesel's wisdom on life, ethics, and morality.
Editorial Reviews
James Foster’s narration of this audiobook is a good match of text and voice.The author, whose parents endured the Holocaust, recounts his discovery of their survival stories, which led to a friendship and partnership with the late author Elie Wiesel. Reich’s father, Robert, and Wiesel were both liberated from Buchenwald on April 11, 1945. This work provides many insights on the Holocaust and the repercussions of that evil, which Wiesel articulated throughout his life and work. Foster narrates with restrained passion that evokes the tone of the author. His pacing is a bit quick at times but always easy to understand. His enunciation is clear, and his overall performance makes a deep impression on the listener. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
★ 2019-02-03
A collection of final timeless reflections from Elie Wiesel (1928-2016).
Chicago Tribune veteran Reich (Portraits in Jazz: 80 Profiles of Jazz Legends, Renegades and Revolutionaries, 2014, etc.), whose parents were survivors of the Holocaust, looks back on his greatest opportunity as a writer and journalist: numerous conversations with the Nobel laureate. This brief but moving work artfully intertwines Wiesel's words of wisdom with Reich's quest to further understand his own family's untold story. The author recalls a youth colored by his parents' trauma and yet lived in silence, as their experiences during the Holocaust were utterly unspoken topics. Only later in life, when Reich's father was dead and his mother was struggling with the delusional effects of PTSD, was he able to fully understand their stories. His fortuitous friendship with Wiesel helped him in this quest. In many ways, Reich's book is a reflection on the lives of the children of Holocaust survivors rather than the survivors themselves. This generation, raised in the shadow of the Holocaust but often without a clear picture of what it really meant for their parents, carries its own particular burden. It is a burden Reich feels keenly and which Wiesel fully appreciated. Beyond calling on the children to do away with feelings of guilt, Wiesel embraces their worth: "To be a child of survivors is to be miraculous. What had to be done for a child to be born! For the survivors to overcome fear." In their conversations, Reich and Wiesel cover many topics, including anti-Semitism, Israel, forgiveness, and faith. Wiesel's mindset is almost universally positive, and he never judges the conclusions of other survivors, consistently choosing a path of hope and compassion. Reich does an admirable job of complementing his subject's sage words with his own perspective without in any way detracting or distracting from it—no easy task yet one the author accomplishes with aplomb.
Irreplaceable thoughts from a vanishing generation.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169552669 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Blackstone Audio, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 05/07/2019 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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