Episode #34
Airdate: 5/18/10
Forty Years of Friendship
Jeffrey Zaslow, in The Girls from Ames, tells the story of eleven childhood friends who formed a special bond growing up in Iowa. As young women, they moved to eight different states, yet managed to maintain an enduring friendship that would carry them through college and careers, marriage and motherhood, dating and divorce, a child’s illness and the mysterious death of one member of their group. The Girls from Ames is a testament to the deep bonds of women as we experience life’s joys and challenges — and the power of friendship to triumph over heartbreak and unexpected tragedy – and reveals how such friendships thrive, rewarding those who have committed to them. Meet Jeffrey and some of the “Girls” who share universal insights and deeply personal moments.
Jeffrey is a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and is the author or coauthor of three bestselling books.
The Last Lecture, written with Randy Pausch, has been translated into 46 languages, and has remained on The New York Times best-seller list for more than 90 weeks.
Jeffrey’s book about female friendship, The Girls From Ames, spent 16 weeks on The New York Times list, rising to #3. People magazine named it one of the “Ten Best Books of the Year.” Lifetime Television is adapting the book for a movie.
Most recently, he coauthored Highest Duty, the memoir of Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who famously landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River.
Jeffrey was drawn to the story of Randy Pausch — and the Ames girls — because while The Wall Street Journal covers the heart of the financial world, he tends to the hearts of its readers. There are thousands of emotional transitions that people face, and that’s the territory of his column.
