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Author Mitch Albom writes of his relationship with his old college teacher, Morrie Schwartz, who is dying of Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS). The title comes from the idea that Albom always visited Morrie on a Tuesday. But more than a simple recounting of their final days, the book is an analysis of Morrie's life and the things he has learned about living and dying now that he is faced with the nearness of his own death. It is also a book about Mitch and his own journey, the lessons he learns still from his old teacher, friend, and mentor.

Biographies of Mitch Albom and Morrie Schwartz

Mitch Albom is a successful sports writer for the Detroit Free Press and has been voted #1 Sports Columnist by the Associated Press ten times. He has written the sports books Bo and Fab Four as well as several collections of his columns. He has appeared frequently on TV sports programs and also has a radio show in Detroit. In addition, he is a composer, a professional pianist, nightclub singer and an amateur boxer.

Morrie Schwartz was born in Chicago of Russian Jewish immigrants and brought up in a New York ghetto. He attended New York City College and then studied sociology at the University of Chicago. After graduation, he worked in a nontraditional psychoanalytic mental hospital. In the introduction to Morrie: In His Own Words, Paul Solman writes,

He was watching the troubled and tormented, observing the staff and their relationships with patients. What struck him was the huge influence the attitudes of those around them had on the patients. Morrie was there to observe and talk with everyone--even those patients crouching alone in the corners. He related to them civilly, humbly. He opened his heart as best he could. Gradually, he got them to respond. The importance of opening oneself to others, no matter who they are, and the impact of community on the individual became clear to him.

From this experience, Schwartz co-authored The Mental Hospital. Soon after, Schwartz accepted a position at Brandeis University where he taught for nearly 40 years. His widely known wit and his penchant for aphorism attracted attention of a friend who contacted the Boston Globe newspaper which carried some of Morrie's words. This in turn spurred the now-famous Nightline interviews with Ted Koppel. Morrie died peacefully at his home on November 4, 1995.

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Discussion questions for Tuesdays with Morrie:

1. Discuss Morrie's words: "When you learn how to die, you learn how to live."
2. Morrie faced his death honestly; sometimes he was confident and resigned, but at other times, he was afraid and resentful. Do you think that since he had time (the disease, ALS, took years to end his life) to think and work through it all that he was wiser than if he had suddenly died?
3. Morrie tells Mitch that it is never too late to forgive (164-168). Discuss Morrie's ideas here: 1) that forgiving ourselves is important, and 2) that forgiveness is healing (and not forgiving is painful).
4. In an interview with Koppel, Morrie refers to a letter he had received (71-72). He tells Koppel that he lost his mother when he was very young and that he was so lonely. "Morrie," Koppel said, "...that was seventy years ago your mother died. The pain still goes on?" "You bet," Morrie whispered. (72). This points powerfully to how death feels like a taking away. Discuss these ideas.
5. Comment on Morrie's ideas that
   

   as long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live — the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here... Death ends a life, not a relationship. (174)

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Web Sites

• Author Albom's home page, with biographical information:
  http://www.albom.com/
• "Morris S. Schwartz--The Teacher", from the Brandeis University Senior Student Forum Homepage: http://library.brandeis.edu/about/ssf/albom/the_teacher.html
• Focus on ALS, with page about Morrie: http://www.focusonals.com/morrie.htm
• Morrie: In His Own Words, Morrie's final words of wisdom on living and dying:
  http://www.bookfinder.us/review8/0385318790.html
• A reading group companion to Tuesdays with Morrie, with a summary and questions for discussion:
  http://www.randomhouse.com/resources/bookgroup/tuesdaysmorrie_bgc.html

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