Feasting the Heart

Ranging from his experiences as a writer to topics of faith and racial intolerance, Reynolds Price''s stories from National Public Radio''s All Things Considered showcase the author''s consistent talent for lyrical prose and insightful observations—and all those stories are now compiled here in The Feasting Heart.

In the fall of 1993, Alice Winkler of National Public Radio''s "Morning Edition" asked Reynolds Price to write a short story for a Christmas morning broadcast. This assignment would result in NPR''s inviting Price to join its varied group of commentators on "All Things Considered." The laws of radio require a concision that became a welcome new discipline for Price; these are all the personal essays which he has broadcast since July 25, 1995.

Whether recounting events from his past, examining the details of his current experience as a writer, teacher, traveler, and general witness of the world, Price demonstrates in his direct prose that a writer can instantly connect with his audience. He discusses a few predictable topics—family, the poisonous mysteries of racial intolerance, and faith—but he also deals with new matters: capital punishment, Gone With the Wind, his adventures while navigating an immensely inaccessible America in a wheelchair; and he provides a memorable piece on childlessness.

Throughout, Price never loses sight of the origin of either the word or the spirit of the essay—the French word connotes a try, an attempt —and each piece here is a well-formed, revealing, often amusing, and refreshing foray into a moment unlike any we''ve encountered in other forms from him. We''re unlikely to read more thought-provoking work from a commentator for a great time to come.