Committee members commented on the book’s readability, range, immediacy, quality, as well as diversity of stories as powerful oral histories. Teaching and learning, and community building possibilities include campus screening and discussion of documentary films engaging diverse cultural and affinity groups and collaborating with KBCS 91.3 FM to collect local oral stories (StoryCorps) from the college and surrounding community.

From Publishers Weekly: Four years ago. StoryCorps set out to record an oral history of America with the voices of everyday people. This book is a collection of the most compelling excerpts from more than 10,000 interviews recorded, compiled by StoryCorps founder Isay , a radio documentary producer and MacArthur fellow. And they are compelling. Each one captures a moment in time—historical, emotional or personal—that make us who we are. As simple stories of humanity, each one has its own potency, with themes of family, love, dedication and struggle. In one of the most emotionally wrought stories, a father sits down with his daughter and remembers her late mother and older brother, who both died of cancer within months of each other. To gather the stories, StoryCorps provides a facility, recording equipment and a facilitator, then waits for people to invite loved ones, friends, grandparents to sit down for a 40-minute session. A copy of the tape is filed in the Library of Congress, and parts have aired on NPR. As Isay says, ”I realized how many people among us feel completely invisible, believe their lives don't matter, and fear they'll someday be forgotten.” Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Studs Terkel: "This book is absolutely remarkable. Listening is an Act of Love is history in the richest sense of the word, the kind that makes people feel like they count. It's a celebration of the lives of the uncelebrated. In our world today people feel helpless, but once they speak of their lives they become alive! This is what our country is all about. Never has a book been more timely or necessary."

From Dr. Robert Coles, James Agee Professor of Social Ethics, Harvard University: "Here are the observations and memories of a giant, diverse nation's citizens. In its sum, StoryCorps asks Americans to reflect upon their experiences, their times of travail, their achievements. In so doing, these individuals create an encompassing national narration: a people's hopes, fears and aspirations, all rendered poignantly to attentive listeners whose respect has enabled, finally, a presentation of a people's mind, heart, soul."

BC Reads! Selection Committee:
Wilma Dougherty/ Librarian (chair); Lee Buxton/Communication Studies; Jacqueline Drak/Chemistry; Rachel Gootherts/Social Science; Amanda Karim/Writing Lab; Emily MacPherson/Educational Planning; Geeta Sadashivan/English; Lucinda Taylor/President's Office.

Copyright © Bellevue College Library Media Center
September 24, 2009