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=                        Tuesdays_with_Morrie                        =
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                            Introduction
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'Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man and Life's Greatest
Lesson' is a 1997 memoir by American author Mitch Albom. The book is
about a series of visits Albom made to his former Brandeis University
sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz, as Schwartz was dying from
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Albom's subsequent memoir has
been widely reviewed and has received critical attention after
features by 'The Boston Globe' and 'Nightline' about Schwartz's dying.

The book spent 206 weeks on the 'New York Times' Non-Fiction
Bestsellers List and remained on the 'New York Times' Best Seller list
for several years; as of 2006, it was the best-selling memoir of all
time.


                              Synopsis
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Author Mitch Albom is a successful sports columnist. In 1995, Albom
contacts his former sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz, after seeing
him on 'Nightline' afflicted with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Albom is prompted to visit Schwartz in Massachusetts, where a
coincidental newspaper strike allows him to visit every Tuesday. The
book is divided into 14 days, each containing one of Albom's visits to
Schwartz. Each visit includes lectures from Morrie on life experiences
with flashbacks and references to contemporary events. Schwartz's
final days, ultimately, are spent giving Albom his final lesson of
life.


Mitch Albom
=============
Mitch Albom was born in May 1958 in New Jersey. Originally, he was a
pianist and wanted to pursue a life as a musician. Instead, Albom
became a journalist and later an author, screenwriter, and
television/radio broadcaster  In college, he met sociology professor
Dr. Morrie Schwartz, who would later be the focal point of the memoir
'Tuesdays with Morrie'.


Morrie Schwartz
=================
Morrie Schwartz was a sociology professor at Brandeis University who
was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, at the age
of 77 in August 1994. The son of Russian immigrants, Schwartz had a
difficult childhood, indelibly marked by the death of his mother and
his brother's infection with the polio virus. He later went on to work
as a researcher in a mental hospital, where he learned about mental
illness and how to have empathy and compassion for other people; later
in life, he decided to become a sociology professor in hopes of
putting his accumulated wisdom to use. This is where Schwartz met his
student Mitch Albom, who would later become a lifelong friend.
Schwartz was married to Charlotte Schwartz, with whom he had two
children. After a long battle with ALS, Schwartz died on November 4,
1995. His tombstone reads, "A teacher until the end."


         ''The Boston Globe'' and ''Nightline'' antecedents
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In March 1995, Jack Thomas of 'The Boston Globe' wrote a piece on
Schwartz, titled "A Professor's Final Course: His Own Death."  Ted
Koppel became aware of the article, and a decision was made to conduct
a series of interviews with Schwartz, which began later in March and
which were then edited and presented on 'Nightline'. It was through
this program's airing that Schwartz's former student, Albom, was
reminded of his old professor, leading Albom to reach out and
reconnect.


Popular
=========
'Tuesdays with Morrie' spent 206 weeks on the 'New York Times'
Non-Fiction Bestsellers List and remained on the 'New York Times' Best
Seller list for several years. In July 2006, 'Tuesdays with Morrie'
was the best selling memoir of all time.


Critical
==========
Albom's book has been widely reviewed since its appearance in 1997.


                        Publication history
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*  Hardcover. The ISBN-13 for this version is stated as 9780385484510.
Note, not all Wikipedia Inbox information is confirmed by these
sources.


Other editions
================
An unabridged audiobook was also published and narrated by Albom. The
appendix of the audiobook contains several minutes of excerpts from
audio recordings that Albom made during his conversations with
Schwartz before writing the book. A new edition with an afterword by
Albom was released on the book's twentieth anniversary in 2017.


                            Adaptations
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The book was adapted into a 1999 television film directed by Mick
Jackson, starring Jack Lemmon. as Schwartz and Hank Azaria as Albom.

The book's author, Mitch Albom, and esteemed playwright Jeffrey
Hatcher joined forces for a stage play adaptation that premiered Off
Broadway in November 2002 at the Minetta Lane Theatre. Directed by
David Esbjornson, it starred Alvin Epstein as Schwartz and Jon Tenney
as Albom. A revival of the play, featuring Len Cariou as Schwartz and
Chris Domig as Albom, was presented by the Sea Dog Theater company at
St. George's Episcopal Church in the spring of 2024.


                              See also
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'Articles on other Albom books'
* 'The Five People You Meet in Heaven'
* 'For One More Day'
* 'Have a Little Faith'
* 'The Time Keeper'
* 'The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto'


                          Further reading
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*  Koppel and Albom discuss the origin of their individual
relationships with the late Prof. Morrie Schwartz.
*  Value of this reference is unknown, as it has no online content
whatsoever; it may be to a review of the work, or to a list posting to
call attention to the new audio edition.
*  This citation, when verified and complete, would better appear in
the Publication history section.


                           External links
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*
*
* [http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/morrie Summary and analysis of
'Tuesdays with Morrie'] at Sparknotes


https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/july-14-1998-morrie-man-teaches-live-die-48868897


https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/july-14-1998-morrie-man-teaches-live-die-48868897


License
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All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuesdays_with_Morrie