Conversations with Elie Wiesel

by Wiesel, Elie, 1928-2016

Format: Print Book 2001
Availability: Available at 3 Libraries 3 of 3 copies
Available (3)
Location Collection Call #
CLP - Main Library Second Floor - Non-fiction PQ2683.I32 Z4618 2001
Location  CLP - Main Library
 
Collection  Second Floor - Non-fiction
 
Call Number  PQ2683.I32 Z4618 2001
 
 
Mt. Lebanon Public Library Non-Fiction 940.5318 Wie
Location  Mt. Lebanon Public Library
 
Collection  Non-Fiction
 
Call Number  940.5318 Wie
 
 
Northland Public Library Nonfiction 813.54 W63
Location  Northland Public Library
 
Collection  Nonfiction
 
Call Number  813.54 W63
 
 
Summary
Conversations with Elie Wieselis a far-ranging dialogue with the Nobel Peace Prize-winner on the major issues of our time and on life's timeless questions. In open and lively responses to the probing questions and provocative comments of Richard D. Heffner--American historian, noted public television moderator/producer, and Rutgers University professor--Elie Wiesel covers fascinating and often perilous political and spiritual ground, expounding on issues global and local, individual and universal, often drawing anecdotally on his own life experience. We hear from Wiesel on subjects that include the moral responsibility of both individuals and governments; the role of the state in our lives; the anatomy of hate; the threat of technology; religion, politics, and tolerance; nationalism; capital punishment, compassion, and mercy; and the essential role of historical memory. These conversations present a valuable and thought-provoking distillation of the thinking of one of the world's most important and respected figures--a man who has become a moral beacon for our time. From the Hardcover edition.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "Wiesel, distinguished author, Holocaust survivor, human rights advocate, and Nobel Peace Prize winner, addresses a series of intellectually stimulating and spiritually challenging contemporary issues. Formatted as a dialogue between Wiesel and interviewer Richard D. Heffner, host of public television's The Open Mind, this fascinating conversation ranges widely in both tone and subject matter. The timely topics considered include political correctness, religious tolerance, unbridled nationalism, capital punishment, and mercy killing. The things that shine through most prominently in these exchanges are the wisdom, the compassion, and the profound humanism of a renowned critical thinker and moral compass. This absolutely mesmerizing little book provides both spiritual comfort and literary enrichment. --Margaret Flanagan"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Nobel Peace Prize winner, Holocaust survivor and prolific author Wiesel (Night; etc.) continues to challenge political injustices and to keep memories of the Holocaust alive in the interest of preventing further horror. Over several years, Wiesel appeared on the PBS show The Open Mind, hosted by his friend Heffner (A Documentary History of the United States), professor of communications and public policy at Rutgers. These conversations, culled from the show's transcripts and from a video series called Dialogues, cover everything from the role of the intellectual in public life to the state and nationalism, religion and politics, capital punishment and euthanasia. Throughout, Wiesel speaks with prophetic authority, philosophical wisdom and a storyteller's verve and vivacity. On changing values in language: "We don't talk. We shout.... The civility is gone; not only the tenderness, but the friendship in discourse... we have to start again to teach our contemporaries how to speak.... When language dies, then violence becomes another language." On capital punishment: "I do not believe any civilized society should be at the service of death. I don't think it's human to become an agent of the Angel of Death." On the holocaust and memory: "people took the Holocaust and made it... commercial, they made it kitsch why not say it? kitsch. They trivialized it. In doing so, I think, they caused great harm and prejudice to memory." Always self-effacing, Wiesel repeatedly insists that he possesses no answers: "Actually, it's with questions I am good." These lively, engaging talks offer candid glimpses into the life and work of a leading moral thinker. (Nov. 1) Forecast: Wiesel's moral and intellectual clout will draw even more interest than usual in the wake of the terrible events of September 11. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Subjects Wiesel, Elie, -- 1928-2016 -- Interviews.
Authors, French -- 20th century -- Interviews.
Authors, American -- 20th century -- Interviews.
Publisher New York :Schocken Books :2001
Distributed by Pantheon Books,
Edition 1st ed.
Contributors Heffner, Richard D.
Vinciguerra, Thomas J.
Language English
Description xi, 175 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN 0805241922 (alk. paper)
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