Matti Friedman Introduces Us to Heroes

Totally Booked with Zibby

Zibby Owens

Inspiration, Moms, Reading, Books, Literary, Parenting, Entertainment, Arts, Connection

4.5 • 643 Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

I spoke to Matti Friedman right before the war with Iran began. He remarked that he and his family couldn’t make any plans as they waited to see what would happen. I’ve been thinking of him as Israelis rush to shelters as Iran retaliates. In his book, Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe, we go back to an earlier war.

Matti, through extensive research, recreates the mission of select airmen and women who fight for freedom, explaining how and why certain streets in Israel are named after these heroes. In writing about them, he has become a hero in his own right.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Zibi Owens, and you're listening to Totally Booked with Zibby. Formerly, moms don't have time to read books. In my daily show, I interview today's latest, best-selling, buzziest, or underrated authors and story creators, whose work I think is worth your time. As a bookstore owner, publisher, author, and obviously podcaster, I get a comprehensive
0:24.0	look at everything that's coming out and spend my time curating the best books so you don't
0:29.3	have to.
0:30.3	Stay in the know, get insider insights, and connect with guests like I do every single day.
0:36.2	For more information, go to zibbimedia.com and follow me on Instagram
0:40.2	at Zibby Owens. Maddie Friedman is the author of Out of the Sky, Heroism and Rebirth in
0:49.0	Nazi Europe. Maddie is an award-winning journalist and the author of four nonfiction books. His work
0:53.9	has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet, Smithsonian, and elsewhere,
0:57.7	and he is currently a columnist for The Free Press.
1:00.9	He is also the author of Who by the Fire, Leonard Cohen and the Sinai,
1:04.8	which was selected by Vanity Fair as one of the year's best books.
1:08.9	Also, Spies of No Country, Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, which won the year's best books. Also, spies of no country, secret lives at the birth of Israel,
1:12.9	which won the 2019 Natan Prize and the Canadian Jewish Book Award,
1:17.6	pumpkin flowers, a soldier's story of a forgotten war,
1:20.6	which was chosen in 2016 as a New York Times notable book,
1:24.1	and one of Amazon's 10 best books of the year,
1:26.3	and the Alepho Codex, which won the 2014 Sammy Roar Prize and the ALA's 10 best books of the year and the Aleppo Codex, which won the
1:27.9	2014 Sammy Roar Prize and the ALA's Sophie Brody Medal. His books have been translated into more
1:33.4	than a dozen languages. Maddie was born in Toronto and lives in Jerusalem. By the way, when we were
1:38.6	speaking on the podcast, he expressed concerned about how given the current climate, it was impossible to plan anything.
1:46.5	And then I think two days after we spoke was when the U.S. attacked Iran.
1:51.7	So as I'm recording this bio even, Israelis continue to go back and forth into bomb shelters, Maddie included.
	...

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