Readers' rating:
Published Sep 2009
272 pages
Genre: Advice
Publication Information
What if our beliefs were not what divided us, but what pulled us together?
In Have a Little Faith, Mitch Albom offers a beautifully written story of a remarkable eight-year journey between two worlds - two men, two faiths, two communities - that will inspire readers everywhere.
Albom's first nonfiction book since Tuesdays with Morrie, Have a Little Faith begins with an unusual request: an eighty-two-year-old rabbi from Albom's old hometown asks him to deliver his eulogy.
Feeling unworthy, Albom insists on understanding the man better, which throws him back into a world of faith he'd left years ago. Meanwhile, closer to his current home, Albom becomes involved with a Detroit pastor--a reformed drug dealer and convict--who preaches to the poor and homeless in a decaying church with a hole in its roof.
Moving between their worlds, Christian and Jewish, African-American and white, impoverished and well-to-do, Albom observes how these very different men employ faith similarly in fighting for survival: the older, suburban rabbi embracing it as death approaches; the younger, inner-city pastor relying on it to keep himself and his church afloat.
As America struggles with hard times and people turn more to their beliefs, Albom and the two men of God explore issues that perplex modern man: how to endure when difficult things happen; what heaven is; intermarriage; forgiveness; doubting God; and the importance of faith in trying times. Although the texts, prayers, and histories are different, Albom begins to recognize a striking unity between the two worlds--and indeed, between beliefs everywhere.
In the end, as the rabbi nears death and a harsh winter threatens the pastor's wobbly church, Albom sadly fulfills the rabbi's last request and writes the eulogy. And he finally understands what both men had been teaching all along: the profound comfort of believing in something bigger than yourself.
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Mitch Albom, 58, is a bestselling author, nationally-syndicated newspaper columnist for the Detroit Free Press, nationally-syndicated radio host for ABC and flagship station WJR-AM in Detroit, and television commentator who regularly appears on ESPN's Sports Reporters.
Mitch Albom is the author of seven books, including Tuesdays With Morrie, the New York Times bestseller that first appeared on that list in October 1997 and stayed atop the list for four straight years. Oprah Winfrey produced a major television movie for ABC based on Tuesdays With Morrie that aired in December 1999 and starred Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria. A phenomenon in its own right, the movie was not only the most-watched on any network for that year, it also earned four Emmy Awards in 2000, including those for "Best ...
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Author Interview
Link to Mitch Albom's Website
Name Pronunciation
Mitch Albom: al-bum (as in record album)
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