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). The book was written in part to help defray Schwartz's medical bills. 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. Koppel conducted three interviews with Schwartz for Nightline over the course of 1995.
A coincidental newspaper strike at the Detroit Free Press freed Albom's schedule, allowing him to fly to Massachusetts every week to visit Schwartz. Schwartz died on November 4, 1995.
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." 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. The narrative also tracks Schwartz's physical decline from ALS alongside his continuing engagement with ideas and people.
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.'" 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." 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, 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. The play has since been produced in hundreds of regional and international productions.
See also
- Morrie Schwartz
- Mitch Albom
- The Five People You Meet in Heaven