Arts & Drama Audio

“Rise, let us be on our way.” “Let us go forth full of trust in Christ. He will accompany us as we journey toward the goal that He alone knows.” — John Paul IIDrawing on the period when - as Karol Wojtyla - he became a bishop in 1958 through his appointment as the first Polish Pope in 1978, Pope John Paul II fills Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way with both recollections of his own life and his thoughts on issues facing the world now. Pope John Paul II reminisces about everything from being called to Warsaw during a canoeing trip to be told he was being named a bishop of Krakow to his clashes with authorities to protect the church in Poland and the clandestine meetings he organized to find help. He also discusses topics like his passion for theatre and the controversy of celibacy amongst priests.

More than just a collection of memories, however, Rise Let Us Be On Our Way is also a call to action. In discussing issues like the strength of mercy, the importance of harmony between faith, reason and the heart, and the necessity of encouraging children to pray, Pope John Paul II shows us that with little steps, we can change the world.

Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way

Few works have so firmly established their position in American literature as The Education of Henry Adams. As a man of extraordinary gifts and learning and a member of one of the greatest American families, Henry Adams wrote an insightful exploration of himself and the tumultuous age in which he lived. In the words of Van Wyck Brooks, he “revealed a phase of American history with unparalleled boldness and truth.”In spite of his illustrious background and Harvard schooling, Henry Adams asserts that his conventional education was defective because it did not prepare him to live in a world transformed by the new science and the new technology. His intention was to write a kind of handbook to prepare “young men, in universities and elsewhere, to be men of the world, equipped for any emergency.” The result is what many consider to be one of the finest autobiographies ever written.

 The Education of Henry Adams

“I’d come from a long ways off and had started a long ways down. But now destiny was about to manifest itself. I felt like it was looking right at me and nobody else.”

Bob Dylan’s Chronicle: Volume One explores the critical junctions in his life and career. Through Dylan’s eyes and open mind, we see Greenwich Village, circa 1961, when he first arrives in Manhattan. Dylan’s New York is a magical city of possibilities — smoky, nightlong parties; literary awakenings; transient loves and unbreakable friendships. Elegiac observations are punctuated by jabs of memories, penetrating and tough. With side trips to New Orleans, Woodstock, Minnesota and points west, Chronicles: Volume One is an intimate and intensely personal recollection of extraordinary times.

Revealing, poetical, passionate and witty, Chronicles: Volume One is a mesmerizing window on Bob Dylan’s thoughts and influences. Dylan’s voice is distinctively American: generous of spirit, engaged, fanciful and rhythmic. Utilizing his unparalleled gifts of storytelling and the exquisite expressiveness that are the hallmarks of his music, Bob Dylan turns Chronicles: Volume One into a poignant reflection on life, and the people and places that helped shape the man and the art.

Bob Dylan’s Chronicle: Volume One