Review by Choice Review
Unlike William Miller's definitive work, Dorothy Day (1982), Coles's book is hardly a traditional biographical study. Rather, this noted psychiatrist has written a work that is part memoir, part oral history, and part meditation on a remarkable life. Relying largely on his own interviews with Day (many excerpts of which appear in his account), Coles tries to get at the core of this influential radical's beliefs and thought. A political and social activist in the 1920s, Day converted to Catholicism and, with Peter Maurin, founded the Catholic Worker movement. She remained ``radical'' in her pacifism, in her suspicion of large organizations (including the state and, in some moods, the Catholic hierarchy itself), and in her dedication to alleviating human suffering on the local level. Central to her worldview was her vision of biblical truth as she sought to live a Christlike life, unadorned by pride or material possessions. Because it was both spiritual and secular, Day's deep commitment, her ``radical devotion,'' makes for a moving story. Coles essentially is nonjudgmental (and ``nonpsychological'') as he basically lets Day speak for herself. This readable, compelling book is highly recommended for all major academic and public libraries.-A.O. Edmonds, Ball State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
While not the first biography of Dorothy Day, this contribution by Pulitzer Prize winner Coles will be a welcome addition to religion and history collections. Coles invites the reader to experience firsthand his remarkable 35 years of friendship and correspondence with Day; two years of taped interviews provide the biographical data through which he portrays the central puzzles, loves, and dreams of the great woman's life. Communism and Catholicism, sexuality and motherhood, social conservatism, religious obedience, and radical politics: all intertwine to illumine the inspiring and controversial life of this American woman who perhaps above all others of the twentieth century made it her life struggle to ask and answer the central moral question: ``How should we try to live this life?'' Notes; bibliography; to be indexed. SEM. 267'.182 (B) Day, Dorothy / Catholics U.S. Biography / Social reformers U.S. Biography [OCLC] 87-981
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Harvard psychiatrist Coles, Pulitzer Prize winner for Children of Crisis, here presents Dorothy Day, whom he acknowledges as spiritual mentor. Coles first met Day, who died in 1980, 35 years ago when, as a medical student, he did volunteer work at the soup kitchen of her famed ``house of hospitality'' on New York's lower East Side. From taped conversations with Day over a two-year period in the '70s, Coles examines the strands of the personal vision of this unusual woman. There are reminiscences of her early bohemian rounds in Greenwich Village with Eugene O'Neill, Mike Gold, Kenneth Burke and others who, like her, were aspiring writers. Before the spiritual epiphany that drew her to Catholicism she suffered sexual conflict and was an unwed mother. A meeting with Peter Maurin, a French spiritual revolutionary, led to the founding of her newspaper the Catholic Worker, still in circulation. Day's compelling point of view is expressed in story format in an unconventional biography that is appropriate for the sensual woman many consider a saint. (June 25) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A biography of the cofounder of The Catholic Worker, by a longtime colleague, friend and admirer. There's rarely a discordant note of criticism here, and because Coles knew Day as a friend, he is able to speak about things intimate to her, such as her love affairs. We do not associate the eventually stern activist with a young woman who recalled of an early lover: ""I loved his lean cold body as he got into bed smelling of the sea."" Coles' first meeting with his subject is a pretty story that epitomizes her attitude to life: Day was conversing with a visibly deranged bag lady, and finally turned to Coles to ask if he was ""waiting to speak to one of us."" This lack of a ""holier-than-thou"" attitude was one of Day's greatest contributions to the Catholic Church. Her supporters always included literary men such as Dwight MacDonald and W.H. Auden, perhaps because of her own genuine love of literature. To those who wished to understand her thinking, she recommended reading Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Dickens, Graham Greene, Ignazio Silone, and George Bernanos. We can be thankful that this ardent intellect and merciful woman has found such an excellent explicator as Coles. An admirable work. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
