Tuesdays with Morrie

This article is about the book. For the film, see Tuesdays with Morrie (film).
Tuesdays with Morrie
AuthorMitch Albom
LanguageEnglish
GenreMemoir
PublisherDoubleday
Publication date
August 18, 1997
Publication placeUnited States
Pages192
ISBN0-385-48451-8
OCLC36130729
Followed byThe Five People You Meet in Heaven 

Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man and Life's Greatest Lesson is a 1997 memoir by American author Mitch Albom about a series of visits he made to his former Brandeis University sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz, as Schwartz was dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).[1][2] The book was written in part to help defray Schwartz's medical bills.[3] Originally printed in a run of 20,000 copies, it became a number-one New York Times bestseller and spent over four years on the list.[4][3] It has sold over 17 million copies worldwide and has been translated into more than 45 languages, making it one of the bestselling memoirs of all time.[3]

Background

Albom, then an award-winning sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press, had studied under Schwartz at Brandeis in the late 1970s but lost contact with his professor after graduation.[2] In 1995, Albom saw Schwartz being interviewed by Ted Koppel on Nightline about his experience living with ALS and was moved to reconnect.[2] The Nightline interviews had themselves been prompted by a March 1995 Boston Globe feature by Jack Thomas titled "A Professor's Final Course: His Own Death."[5][6] Koppel conducted three interviews with Schwartz for Nightline over the course of 1995.[7]

A coincidental newspaper strike at the Detroit Free Press freed Albom's schedule, allowing him to fly to Massachusetts every week to visit Schwartz.[8] Albom originally conceived the book as a way to help pay for Schwartz's mounting end-of-life medical expenses, which were substantial because Schwartz wished to die at home rather than in a hospital.[3][9] Schwartz died on November 4, 1995.[10]

Synopsis

The book is structured around fourteen Tuesday visits that Albom makes to Schwartz's home in West Newton, Massachusetts. Albom frames the visits as a "last class" with his old professor, with the book serving as a "term paper."[8] Each chapter covers a different topic of conversation — including death, fear, aging, greed, marriage, family, forgiveness, and the meaning of life — interspersed with Albom's reflections on his own career-driven lifestyle and flashbacks to his college years.[11] The narrative also tracks Schwartz's physical decline from ALS alongside his continuing engagement with ideas and people.[8]

Reception

Sales and popularity

The initial printing was 20,000 copies.[3] After a brief appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show boosted sales, the book entered the New York Times bestseller list in October 1997 and reached the number-one position six months later.[3] It spent 206 weeks on the New York Times Non-Fiction Bestsellers List.[4] By 2022, it had sold over 17 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 45 languages.[3] The book has been widely adopted in university curricula, used as required reading in courses on death and dying, psychology, sociology, and ethics at institutions including Iowa State University, Syracuse University, and the University of Iowa.[12]

Critical response

Kirkus Reviews described the book as "sincere, sentimental, and skillful," noting that it stopped "just short of the maudlin and the mawkish," and suggested placing it "under the heading 'Inspirational.'"[8] Writing in The New York Times, Alain de Botton acknowledged the book's "true and sometimes touching pieces of advice" and the "obvious charm and good nature of both author and subject," but argued that the insights did not amount to a wise book, writing that "just as a well-meaning statement like 'We should all live in peace' doesn't help avert wars, Tuesdays with Morrie finally fails to enlighten."[11] The Los Angeles Times was more favorable, calling it "a wonderful book, a story of the heart told by a writer with soul," while the Philadelphia Inquirer called it "a gift to mankind" and the Boston Globe termed it "an extraordinary contribution to the literature of death."[13] USA Today praised its accessible style, writing that the book was "as sweet and nourishing as fresh summer corn" and "begs to be read aloud."[13]

Editions

The book was originally published by Doubleday on August 18, 1997.[14] An unabridged audiobook, narrated by Albom, includes excerpts from audio recordings he made during his original conversations with Schwartz. A twentieth-anniversary edition with a new afterword by Albom was published by Broadway Books in 2017,[15] and a twenty-fifth anniversary edition followed in 2022.

Adaptations

The book was adapted into a 1999 television film directed by Mick Jackson, produced by Oprah Winfrey, and starring Jack Lemmon as Schwartz and Hank Azaria as Albom.[15] The film won an Emmy Award.[15]

Albom and playwright Jeffrey Hatcher adapted the book as a stage play, which premiered at Vassar College on June 21, 2002, before an Off-Broadway run at the Minetta Lane Theatre beginning November 19, 2002, directed by David Esbjornson and starring Alvin Epstein as Schwartz and Jon Tenney as Albom.[16] The play has since been produced in hundreds of regional and international productions.[15] A 2024 revival starring Len Cariou as Schwartz was presented at St. George's Episcopal Church in New York.[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ DePauw Staff (July 20, 2006). "Bestselling Author of Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom, to Present Ubben Lecture November 13". DePauw News & Media. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Harris, Richard (August 21, 2022). "On the 25th anniversary of 'Tuesdays with Morrie,' the teaching goes on". NPR. Retrieved October 7, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "25 Years Later, "Tuesdays with Morrie" Still Resonates". Library of Congress Blog. August 2022. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
  4. ^ a b Rich, Motoko (August 7, 2006). "Starbucks to Feature Mitch Albom's New Novel". The New York Times. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  5. ^ Thomas, Jack (March 9, 1995). "A Professor's Final Course: His Own Death". The Boston Globe. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  6. ^ Harris, Richard (March 15, 2015). "Nearly 20 years After His Death, Morrie Schwartz Lives On". The Boston Globe. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  7. ^ Koppel, Ted; Albom, Mitch (July 14, 1998). Morrie: A Man Teaches Others How to Live and Die. ABC News. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  8. ^ a b c d "Tuesdays with Morrie". Kirkus Reviews. July 1, 1997. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  9. ^ Pohl, Scott (August 17, 2022). "Mitch Albom's 'Tuesdays With Morrie' play comes to MSU". WKAR. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
  10. ^ "Morris S. Schwartz, Professor, 78". The New York Times. November 9, 1995. Archived from the original on July 8, 2024. Retrieved October 7, 2025.
  11. ^ a b de Botton, Alain (November 23, 1997). "Continuing Ed". The New York Times. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  12. ^ "Tuesdays with Morrie". Penguin Random House Secondary Education. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
  13. ^ a b "Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson, 25th Anniversary Edition". Amazon. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
  14. ^ Albom, Mitch (August 18, 1997). Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man and Life's Greatest Lesson. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-48451-0. OCLC 36130729.
  15. ^ a b c d "Tuesdays with Morrie 20th Anniversary Edition". Crown Publishing Group. February 27, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
  16. ^ "'Tuesdays with Morrie' imbues audiences with resolve to live every day to the fullest". WGCU. February 2, 2026. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
  17. ^ Buchwald, Linda. "Tony Winner Len Cariou to Star in Off-Broadway Run of Tuesdays with Morrie". Theatermania. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuesdays_With_Morrie