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Robert Coles
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The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination Kindle Edition

by Robert Coles (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 out of 5 stars 44 ratings
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Children of Crisis, a profound examination of how listening to stories promotes learning and self-discovery.
 
As a professor emeritus at Harvard University, a renowned child psychiatrist, and the author of more than forty books, including The Moral Intelligence of Children, Robert Coles knows better than anyone the transformative power of learning and literature on young minds. In this “persuasive” book (The New York Times Book Review), Coles convenes a virtual symposium of college, law, and medical school students to explore the phenomenon of storytelling as a source of values and character.
 
Here are transcriptions of classroom conversations in which Coles and his students discuss the impact of particular works of literature on their moral development. Here also are Coles’s intimate personal reflections on his experiences in the civil rights movement, his child psychiatry practice, and his interactions with his own literary mentors including William Carlos Williams and L.E. Sissman. The life lessons learned from these stories are of special resonance to doctors and teachers looking to apply them in classroom and clinical environments.
 
The rare public intellectual to be honored with a MacArthur Award, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a National Humanities Medal, Robert Coles is a true national treasure, and The Call of Stories is, in the words of National Book Award winner Walker Percy, “Coles at his wisest and best.” 
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  1. Print length
    244 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Mariner Books
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    December 9, 2014
  6. File size
    4.0 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Using the "documentary study or psychiatric anthropology" approach of his previous works, Coles presents conversations with college, law, and medical school students that focus on the moral impact of their reading. For Coles, the study of literature is not a purely intellectual exercise but an encounter with exempla that bear on everyday moral dilemmas, and he argues that these students have come to see characters in novels as "buddies" that "help them make choices," find a direction, identify moral hazards, and understand their private lives. The argument is interesting, but the most compelling part of this loosely organized book is Coles's own reflections on the development of his own commitment to the moral dimension of literature and his memories of W.C. Williams, L.E. Sissman, and others.
- Richard Kuczkowski, Dominican Coll., Blauvelt, N.Y.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover

'In this persuasive book, Robert Coles makes clear his profound belief in the 'call of stories' and their usefulness, their moral support.' --Helen Bevington, 'New York Times Book Review'

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00Q1UJ7H0
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 9, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4.0 MB
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 244 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0547524597
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 44 ratings

About the author

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Robert Coles

Robert Coles

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Robert Coles is professor emeritus at Harvard University and the author of numerous books, including his series Children of Crisis, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. He has also won a MacArthur Award, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a National Humanities Medal. He lives in Massachusetts.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
44 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Patrick Moore LMT BA
    5.0 out of 5 stars Storytelling is utmost important in Education as well as Therapy!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2018
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This approach should be used in all education!

    Frank McCourt apparently used storytelling in his high school teaching experience, as he describes in Teacher ManTeacher Man [Unabridged] (AUDIO CD/AUDIO BOOK).

    The cover gives a blurb by one of my favorite authors, Walker Percy.The Last Gentleman: A Novel I read Percy was also some kind of doctor like Coles was.

    I have read Coles other books and articles including in the complation by Erik Erikson Youth:change & Challenge which was also very good, and have followed Coles ever since.

    Still I am really happy with this book that describes how important stories are both in education and in therapy.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • bobbalouie
    5.0 out of 5 stars Antidote to Pop Psychology
    Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2014
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Coles skillfully illustrates the utility of storytelling in plumbing the depths of the human spirit. Stories have for aeons taught us more than mere science about who we are -- which is why you can learn more about the human condition from Shakespeare than from a handbook of psychology. The latter provides convenient, and often useful, labels but is in the nature of a shortcut. Stories aren't a shortcut -- they cut to the core.

    I'm an avid reader and this book is one of only a small handful I've ever read that I must have on my bookshelf. I read and re-read it. If I lose it I buy another copy. It's that good. You ought to read it.
    12 people found this helpful
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  • Sue C
    5.0 out of 5 stars Stories are the memories we share
    Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2017
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Great connections between the stories we tell and the lives we lead. I enjoyed this book and found it helpful when reflecting and reading autobiographies and biographies.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Steve De Pangher
    3.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps I was expecting something else? Nonetheless...
    Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2024
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Given the title and that I'm a teacher, I thought there would be a kind of how-to aspect to this book: i.e. how can a teacher use "stories" effectively when teaching. But, to be fair to the title, I missed the importance of the word "call". Coles' focus is on how novels (especially) and poetry (much less so) can "call out" to the human heart and help develop the moral imagination. The book is filled with lengthy quotations (somewhat enhanced?) of students and patients who have heard that call and integrated characters and situations and quotations from novels. Coles pretty much lets the students and patients speak for themselves. Many of the novels that he clearly values and has used in his own teaching were ones I was familiar with. But in reading the reactions to authors or novels I did not know was unsatisfactory. This had the positive effect of encouraging me to read those novels but I think that I, like many readers, have my own "list" and am not always ready to drop that list and pick up a novel obviously useful to Coles and his students/patients.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Music in PA
    4.0 out of 5 stars Love it, but not new!!!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2017
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I am about halfway through this book, and I mostly love it. The author does a wonderful job of relating how fictional stories can help readers dealing with psychological issues or even life issues. My one complaint is that I ordered this book as "New" and partway through, there was a passage that had been starred and underlined. I don't know yet if I will find more. If I wanted to buy a used book (for less) I would have. Not happy with Amazon.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • muriel
    5.0 out of 5 stars GOOD JOB !
    Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2017
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    HIS EXPRESSION OF THE VALUES EXPRESSED IN PEOPLE'S STORIES IS "RIGHT ON" HE SHARES HIS OWN EXPERIENCES DEFTLY.
    One person found this helpful
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  • cardioboy
    5.0 out of 5 stars best book for aspiring physicians
    Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2013
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    my mentors at dartmouth all loved this book and required us to read .. very much on target for the life of a physician .. this is coles best work
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Delia W.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
    Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2013
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Robert Coles is a must-read author for anyone with children -- teachers, parents, school administrators -- everyone. He is a legendary thinker and moral philosopher.
    3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Ho Say Leow
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Call of Stories
    Reviewed in Singapore on February 16, 2022
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Great read about people and their stories.
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  • Lu
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book! Very good bookseller!
    Reviewed in Canada on May 18, 2021
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Robert Coles is a master of telling stories, especially he has a brilliant combination of literature, education and psychology. I borrowed his book “Handing one another along: Literature and social reflection”, after reading it, I decided to buy my own copy and give it to my daughter who is studying literature and psychology in university and aiming for education further.I also bought a copy of this book. I was not satisfied with my first copy because it didn’t match with the description, after contacting with them, promptly, they sent me another copy in better condition, very professional! The book seller “ Thriftbook Atlanta” is excellent!
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