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The Best of NPR : Biography and Autobiography |
List Price: $12.98
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Reviews |
Description:
Biographies, says NPR commentator Neil Conan, are well suited to radio, "the perfect medium for storytelling." There really is something about the immediacy of the spoken word that makes the lives of the 10 extraordinary people we meet here capture the imagination--and renders their humanity clear to us. On side 1, we hear from the biographers of "some of the century's most inspiring, complicated, and enigmatic characters"--Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Elvis Presley, physicist Richard Feynman, and pianist Glenn Gould--along with audio clips from the subjects themselves. We learn not only the type of detail one needs to fully understand the life of a human being, but also how the contradictions inherent in all lives weave together into recognizable personalities. Side 2 discusses the challenges faced by the writer of the autobiography. Finding the truth about oneself and one's family and revealing it to the world isn't easy--especially since the truth "isn't always pretty." But writers Cyra McFadden, Mary Karr, James McBride, Frank McCourt, and M.F.K. Fisher do just that, with no trace of bitterness and a loving honesty that pays tribute to the powerful complexity of human relationships. This is a wonderful collection of insights into other people's worlds from which we can "draw lessons for ourselves." (Running time: 90 minutes, one cassette) --Uma Kukathas
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